And the winner is...

Mary Ellen!
Watch out for an email from me. Congratuations and thank you to everyone who entered.

$50 Gift Card Giveaway!

It's time again for another give away from CSN stores. They have generously agreed to give on of my readers a $50 gift certificate to one of their 200+ stores online!

You could pick from wall sconces or toys or furniture. You can put it towards a larger purchase if you want.
I think I would pick a mandolin slicer, or a nice outdoor planter, or maybe another toy for my kids. Last time I was able to give away a Bilibo Play Shell from CSN. My kids still love it.

What will you choose?

If you would like to enter, just leave me a comment below and tell me what you might pick. If you would like to enter more than once, do one (or more!) of the following and leave one comment for EACH entry. The contest ends on June 26th at midnight PST, so get commenting!

Extra Entries Activities:

follow my blog or let me know if you already do
follow me on twitter
blog about it with this link
tweet about it with this link
email 5 friends about it
tell your Facebook friends about it

here's the link again: http://tiny.cc/0yd2b


Good Luck! I'll announce the winner on Monday.

* Oh, and one more thing, this is open to USA and Canadian residents only.

chalky family

Sidewalk chalk= fun

What a lovely family, don’t you think?

Want to join the Fit Kid Challenge?

 

The Cardon’s Children Hospital is hosting  Fit Kid Challenge this summer.  This past Saturday was their kickoff event.  We had fruit and bagels for breakfast.  Hickman eggs gave away hard boiled eggs on a stick that were a big hit with my kids.  There were booths with games for everyone, a truck with Wii games for up to 16 people, and other activities. We couldn’t pry Lily away from the hula hoops.   Everyone received a water bottle, a jump rope and a pedometer.  Ashley has been wearing his pedometer everywhere.  They came home and played with their new jump ropes.  Anyone (any-kid) can sign up for the Fit Kid Challenge online.  It consists of choosing from a variety of healthful activities for 4 weeks.  When you finish, send in your results for prizes.  We can definitely use a little help around here to be more active and healthy. 

My Happiness Project

I heard about this book called The Happiness Project by  Gretchen Rubin.   So she encourages others to start their own Happiness Projects.   She recommends making small goals throughout the year to increase  happiness.   So I’m doing some of her suggestions and some of my own.  I’m a little stuck on February.  But it’s never too late to get back on track right?  I have a little widget off to the side here where you can see what I’ve been working on.  

If you haven’t clicked on the happiness project button yet, go ahead and check it out.   She has an online Happiness Project Toolbox  here where you can track your goals and share them if you would like.  I love using the list there.  It helps me remember my priorities and make decision based on what I really want. 

We can all use a little more happiness in our lives.

(if you are wondering, I bought the book myself and I’m not receiving anything for this post.  I just like to share what I like!)

Progression of a Garden

 

My mom keeps asking for pictures of my garden.  So this post is for you mom!  If any of you were wondering why you haven’t heard from me in a while, it is because I have been out here in my garden.  Warning: this is a picture heavy post!

Here is the start  back  on the last weekend in February.  I wanted to go a little bigger this year, so we rented a rototiller.  Adrian was having so much fun, that my 10X12 plot turned into HUGE.A month later, we had lots of lettuce, and lots of hope for everything else.

   My helpers made sure most of the green strawberries were picked on a regular basis.  Sometimes we get lucky and enjoy some red ones. This was the first ripe tomato.  It ripened about 3 weeks before any others.  It was SOOOOO good.

 

Little yellow tomatoes.

Weeds: easy to keep out

Grass: not so easy to keep out

cantaloupe!

 

marigolds that grew nearly 6’ high.  I have no idea how it happened.  sunflowers, hollyhocks, and cosmos

And this is what I picked from the garden yesterday.  The rest of the counter is filled with zucchini and other summer squash. The fridge has bags of carrots and cucumbers.  As the weather here in Arizona continues to get hotter, I’m not sure how much longer this will last.  But it has been so wonderful to have a garden this spring.