Be Mine Valentine Swap

THANK YOU Beth! You totally spoiled us! We can't thank you enough! We loved the package!!! Nature Girl was so excited when I got home tonight and we sat down to open the package. No wonder she was excited, check out this package of valentine goodies. Who wouldn't be excited?


Look at all of these goodies! Nature Girl was snapping them up and claiming the items before they even made it out of the box. Beth sent plenty for us to share so neither of us was disappointed!


In fact, I love my goodies! My favorite is the owl coasters. I made coasters as Christmas gifts for my family last year but never made any for myself. So these are a special treat, I just love those little owls. The pin cushion and the postcard are amazing too. I have a cheesy looking red tomato pin cushion that will quickly be replaced with this little beauty. I also tried to claim the little bear since Nature Girl got the little stuffed owl but it turns out that I'll have to share it with her as she wasn't willing to give it up. No wonder, it's adorable!!


Now this a is a must see too! It's a tin of felt chocolates made for Nature Girl by Beth. Nature Girl took this photo of her Valentine chocolates all by herself.

Nature Girl and I were very excited about our goodies! We've already read the books twice and the felt candies have been sampled by all of us while we played. They look great and as Nature Girl says "I like the pretend candies. They are perfect for playing with." Yes, they are! I think that they'd make a great Valentine decoration too!
Thank you Beth for hosting this swap and for spoiling us. This has been a fun swap and I'm looking forward to swapping with you again! You are very talented!

A Tag and some Bloggy Awards

I've been tagged. Margy tagged me to do the fourth of the fourth. The mission is to put the fourth picture of the fourth folder on your computer onto your blog. I had no idea what the fourth picture in the fourth folder would be but it turns out is a picture of our yard. That green makes me long for spring and an end to the mountainous piles of snow outside my home right now. So if you're reading this and longing to see green grass again consider yourself tagged.


I've been a quiet blogger in the last few months, which makes me not much of a blogger. After all bloggers are supposed to post the events of their lives. Honestly my life has been such a whirlwind of activities that I haven't had time to blog like I'd like to. Even in my silence I have some bloggy friends who regularly check in on me and haven't given up on me yet. To them I say thank you! Beth , Cindy, Val were even kind enough to bestow awards on me. Thanks ladies! I appreciate it!

"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Please pass this award on to others who can then do the same."


"Marie Antoinette: A real person, A real award."
The rules for this award:
1. Please put the logo on your blog
2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them



And Cindy passed on this award to me. Thanks Cindy!
THESE ARE THE RULES.

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award.
4. Add links to those blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.
6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.

So for all of you who continue to check in on me even when I'm silent, I say thank you and consider yourself tagged and awarded!

Traveling Gingerbread Men

As most of you know I returned to teaching this fall. I work as a special teacher, teaching 4th grade resource in the morning and and integrated preschool in the afternoon. In December I did activities that focused on the Gingerbread Man instead of traditional holiday activities in my preschool classroom. As part of our activities we mailed off traveling gingerbread men to our friends and family around the country. We asked that our friends and family send our class a postcard or pictures of the area of the US where they live in so we could learn more about the different places in our country.
Our gingerbread travelers have been slow in arriving so I thought I'd ask for a little help from the blogging world. If you are willing to mail a postcard to my preschool class telling us about the area you live in, we would greatly appreciate it. You can e-mail me or leave a comment and I'll give you the address information you need. Thanks!

Pixies and Magic

This is a photo Nature Girl took of the fairy dust she got as a favor from a friends Fairy themed birthday party. Nature Girl is a believer in all things magic and mystical. It's one of the things that I find so endearing about her. She firmly believes in magic and thinks that everyone else should believe in magic too. During the holidays we had lots of conversations about Santa, elves and magic. She wondered why not everyone believes. I've always thought that in this world all things are possible and who's to say if magic is real. I've not seen it first hand but if you believe in magic doesn't that make it real?! Nature Girl is a believer! For true believers in Santa and magic, a belief in pixies and fairies is also within the realm of possibilities.


Missy was kind enough to leave a note here letting me know about her pixie children's wand swap. I checked it out and immediately signed up, after all it's destined to be full of magic! If you're interested in signing up visit Missy here.

A Couple of New Year Swaps

The new year has arrived and we're getting into the swing again after 3 weeks off from school! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that the new year is full of wonderful surprises and adventures for you!A new year means more swaps and bloggy fun! Here are two swaps that Nature Girl and I are signed up for. Beth from Wee Pereas is hosting the Be My Valentine Kid Swap. Nature Girl loves her swaps and I love Valentine's Day so I couldn't resist signing up. Sign ups are open until Jan. 14th. Sign up here.


And what would 2009 be if it didn't include an owl swap. The talented Apryl from Meridian Ariel is hosting an Owl Swap. I love Apryl's painted book pages, aren't they lovely! I can't wait to see what everyone creates. Sign ups are open until Jan. 14th. so sign up today.

Holiday Book Swap Thank You

I signed Nature Girl up for the Holiday Book Swap hosted by Holly. Nature Girl loves her swaps! She was so excited when the box arrived! No wonder look at all of these goodies!!


The package included a gingerbread cookie kit, cookie cutters, her own rolling pin, sugars & sprinkles for cookie decorating , a snowman craft, a snowman softie quickly named "Snowy" and Toot and Puddle's Let it Snow book. There were even some Toot and Puddle paper ornaments to hang on our tree. Snowy traveled to Vermont with us for a family Christmas gathering and Santa enjoyed the gingerbread cookies from the kit. We had a great time baking and decorating them.


The book is adorable and sweet. Who doesn't like Toot and Puddle?!!! We appreciate the book and all of the goodies! Thank you Angela and Valerie!

Here's Nature Girl getting into the snowy Christmas spirit!

O Tannenbaum

Before Christmas, we were riding in the car listening to a Kids Bop Christmas CD when Nature Girl who had been happily singing along stops and asks me "What are frenches?" Wracking my brain to figure out what she's asking me I say "Frenches?" Nature Girl says "Yes, Oh Tannenbaum how lovely are your frenches." Oh!!! I explain that they are talking about a Christmas tree in the song. Trees have branches." She argued for a bit sticking to her guns that it was frenches till my husband came to my rescue. We had a good chuckle over that! Frenches! Lol!
Today she's happily listening to the same CD with her friend. She even gave her friend a lesson on Tannenbaum as a another word for a Christmas tree with green branches(not frenches.) Now they're singing All I Want For Christmas is my Two front teeth. Very appropriate as her playmate just lost her two front teeth!


* This is one of the trees Nature Girl stamped for last year's Christmas card.