Back with a Giveaway!

Two months!  Holy cow!  If you've followed my blog, you know I used to post almost daily...then it slowed down...then, apparently, it just about stopped!  I can't believe it's been two months since I posted something on here!  Wow. 

FREE Cookbook!

Who doesn't love free?  Who doesn't love a cookbook?

Seriously, let's work on getting me a free cookbook! 

Oh, you thought I meant you?  Well, how about this...After this incredible new cookbook comes out in October, I'll buy a copy for one of you!  I haven't done a give away in a while and I think this fall would be a lovely time to have one!

Go check out their website:  www.makeitpaleo.com! 

The top referring websites will earn a free book! 

So, this is me referring....go, go...go!

Thanks for the help!

And ENJOY the healthy living and INCREDIBLE eating!



Giveaway Winner!!!

Thanks to Random.org we've got a winner!

Congratulations Allison C!!!

Thanks for entering everyone!  I've already got ideas for the next one.  Stay tuned.  Have a great weekend!

Giveaway!!!

It's here!  It's time!

I'm officially announcing a giveaway!

Thank you to my first 50 followers!  I'm so excited that that many people read what I have to say.  I hope the number keeps growing too.  Not that my message is all that profound, but because I'm true to me and I've learned that that connects with a lot of others.  I like connecting.  So, here's to 50 more...

(raises glass of water - *clink*)

50 Followers!

YAY!!!  I have 50 followers!  How exciting! 

(You can tell I'm excited by the overuse of exclamation points!)

That's all for now.

I'll announce the giveaway I've been preparing for soon.

Stay tuned...

Now - it's nap time!

(See?  I'm excited about that too!)

All State

(If you want to watch the videos, I recommend pausing the playlist at the bottom.)

Have you seen these State Farm Insurance commercials?  The ones where they sing a jingle and wish for things and *poof* they get their wish?

The kids love them!  In fact every time they see one they try it.  They sing the song, wish for all sorts of things and *poof*  nothing. 

Today, Jace finally figured out what the problem is.  We don't have State Farm Insurance.  He's pretty annoyed with me that I won't switch our insurance company because he knows that that's the reason he can't wish for whatever he wants and get it. 

Yup.  That's the reason. 

****************

By the way...I've been gathering little things for my give away.  And I'm eagerly waiting to hit 50 followers to let you know what you could have a chance to win!  Currently I have 49!  So, if you know of anyone who might want to read about our lives in the Navy, homeschooling, parenting, and my random thoughts on things that are important to me...send them this way and tell them to follow me! 

Just a Little FYI

So, I've been thinking for some time about doing a give away.  I still haven't decided what that give away will be.  But I have figured out when!  That's exciting for me. 

I just realized I have 41 followers.  Who knew!?  When I hit 50 followers I'll post the give away details!  So, tell your friends and lets see how quickly we can get to 50! 

(By the way...if I don't notice that I've hit 50 followers and you do because you're on the edge of your seat waiting to see what I come up with next...just send me a message or comment to draw my attention to that fact.  Thanks!)

Can I get a "Woo hoo!!"?

30 Day Challenge

Mark Sisson has been talking up this 30 day challenge on his site...so much so that I'm very excited about it. I've been living pirmally, for the most part, for 6 months or so. There were a few months on the road that it was in the back of my mind rather than the forefront...but for the last two months the Primal Blueprint has been a big part of our lives. So, I'm ready to commit whole-heartedly for 30 days!

Woo hoo!

Check out the challenge here and join in...you'll feel better, mind and body! Can't beat that! And if feeling better and being healthier isn't enough motivation for you...there are prizes! That's right, you could win things for living better! So, let's see...who's with me???

Guidecraft Give Away

Heidi, at Reviews and Reflections, is hosting one very cool give away! It's for this:

See? Cool, right? Especially for a new homeschooling mom like me (if I do say so). But, if you're interested in it too, feel free to head on over to Reviews and Reflections and enter in any one (or more) of the many ways she's set up for you to do so!

Keep in mind...this wouldn't be only super helpful for me, but anyone with or without kids could probably find a use for it. Good luck!

Blog Party!

Found something new...and very cool! Let me tell you about it (the new and cool thing) and a little about myself.

I'll start with me...I'm a stay at home Navy wife and well-educated mama. My husband and I grew up a mile from one another and got married after I graduated from college. I have a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and now I'm a mom and wife. I have almost 10 years under my belt as a military spouse, almost 7 as a mom.

We have three children. Jace is our oldest. He'll be 7 next month. He just got a 40 chapter book from his school library to read over the weekend. When he dove into his back pack to get it to read on the way home and found he'd forgotten it -he cried. Thankfully we were able to stop by and pick it up after picking his sister up at her preschool. Jace's personality is a mixture of high energy rascal and eager learner, with a touch of little boy still visible from time to time.

Gracelyn (Gracie) is our precious middle child, two months shy of turning five. She's joyful, stylish and loves to be helpful! However, if the girl is tired...watch out! Talk about moody! (By the way, this picture doesn't display Gracie's normal style. She's wearing her cousin's shorts, who is almost two years younger, and a sweater we keep in the car that was bought off the clearance rack even though it's two sizes too big because she always complains about being cold! I love it though - she's still posing.)

The littlest monkey is Tyler. He's an agitator, like any little brother should be, and stubborn like his father. He's got the most terrific smile, complete with dimples. As an almost-Christmas baby he gets to celebrate his half-birthday over the summer when he'll be 2 1/2.

That's the crew. With my spare time I blog about our lives - mostly the kid's antics, my observations about random things, our health and fitness goals, and my newest venture as a homeschooling mom. I enjoy writing, being in the kitchen, watching reality TV and long walks on the beach. Actually they don't even have to be on a beach...walks anywhere are great!

So, now that you know about me (at least a little) feel free to read other posts if you're intrigued. If not, that's OK too. Either way, there's more to this post, remember? Something new and cool. Well, it's the blog party!

Susan and Janice at 5 Minutes For Mom are hosting this incredible party to help blogger and non-bloggers alike meet each other and maybe even win things in the process! See...I wouldn't let you down.

You can click here to go to their post about this year's blog party. There are over 900 links to other blogs where people have introduced themselves. You'll find humor, emotion, faith, joy, and more stories than you can handle. You'll also find a link to the prize list and the rules for entering the drawings. Here are some of the things I'd love to win:

95. 0r 11. $100 gift card to Restaurants.com, given by two different contributors.

39. $250 night away at any Hilton Garden Inn

112. $50 gift card to Amazon.com (or any of the other Amazon.com gift cards!)

24. "Dahlia" framed photo

75. $100 gift card to Summit Camping Gear

There are so many more...clothes, toys, gift cards, decorations, relaxation aids, books...go look and enter for yourself!

I'll let you go on now. Not because I'm out of things to say (I can blah, blah, blah for days) but because I want to go meet some other bloggers and take 5 minutes for me!

Amazon Gift Card

Who can't use $20 at Amazon.com? I mean...Scott could buy half a text book! More likely I'd use it for some cool homeschooling resource, but I could give it to Scott...

We'll debate it more if I actually win it! And how might I win it? By blogging about the give-away here and leaving a comment that I did so at The Homeschool Classroom. So, that's what I'm doing!

If you're interested in a $20 gift card at Amazon.com check out the link above. There are several ways to enter, and done of them are tough! So get to it!

Give Away...Don't Enter ;-)

Well, you can enter if you want to. But I'd rather you didn't...that way my chances are better! There's nothing wrong with that, right? And this seems like a very cool give away.

I'm not only excited about the give away, but the site hosting it too. So, even if you don't want free lapbooks, if you're interested in homeschooling (or already do) perhaps you'll enjoy Our Busy Homeschool too.

A brief explanation of a lapbook: it seems to be a concise way of presenting all sorts of information about one subject. So, if you want to teach the kids about farm animals you can have them color pictures, write poems or facts, make flip books, label the parts of a horse's hoof, learn details of farm life, visit a farm and take pictures, whatever seems good to you...and put it on a folder in such a way that your child can sit down and open it up to review all they've learned. I don't know if that makes sense, but if you go check out the give away site you'll see an example and find even more at Hands of a Child, the subject of the give away.

OK, so enough chit chat. Let's get to the give away. Tristan, the author of Our Busy Homeschool, (homeschooling mother of 5), has been a Super Member at Hands of a Child. She's been renewing that super membership yearly, but this year decided to go all in for a lifetime membership...before her yearly membership was up. Sooooo - Hands of a Child is giving away the rest of her super membership to one lucky person! What does that mean? Twelve free lapbooks!

So, if you're interested...go check it out. Even if you're not a homeschooling parent you might find these interesting. They could be a fun vacation project, an educational gift for a crafty niece of nephew...just go look!

Simple Gifts

The DJ on the radio this morning was looking for ideas to make his wife feel extra special this Valentine's Day. Knowing what I want, and that everyone is always looking for ways to save a little cash, I called in and suggested that he take her by the hand...and go for a walk together. We live in a part of the country that is very beautiful and there are walking trails in a few places that I can think of. He laughed and said his wife would never go for that unless there was a reservation waiting at the end of the path. And he didn't play the idea for others to hear either. He wanted suggestions that were extensive and expensive. After all, for so many, how much you care is directly related to how much you spend.

Sad, really, don't you think?

Life is full of so many simple gifts. I'd love a long walk, hand in hand, with Scott this weekend. And, despite the DJs dislike of my idea, I think there are others out there who appreciate the simpler things in life. In fact I know I'm not alone. My little sister pointed me in the direction of several sites that celebrate the simple life.

Simple Mom - Live simply, stay sane. Life hacks for the home managers.
Simple Bites - Real food for the family table.
Simple Homeschool - Never let your schooling interrupt your education.
Simple Kids - Uncomplicated parenting in a complex world.
Simple Organic - Back to nature, back to basics.

Four of these five sites are brand spankin' new! In celebration of their launches all five are hosting a give away. Each of these give aways is packed full of incredible gifts that can help center us in our goals and help us lead simple, and incredibly rewarding, lives.

So, check 'em out! In the words of my little sister, "Good luck, but I hope I win!"

And enjoy your Valentine's Day, no matter how you celebrate. I think we're going for a family experience...a day at the Jacksonville International Car and Truck Show! Now, that's romantic! OK, maybe not, but the kids will have a great time and Jace and Gracie can take turns pushing the stroller so Scott and I can walk hand in hand.