Great new book on learning the states!

I'm not one for blogging much about educational tools. Not my bag, Bay-bee. But I have an exception to that rule!

I was walking out of the children's room in our local library and saw this on the new book shelf and grabbed it. We like to read at breakfast time so I took this book out yesterday to share with the kids and WOW! What an amazing find! I may just learn my US geography yet!

It's a really cute idea. The author bases the country on this one man in the map and goes from there. It's a great idea for those who are visual learners-- I'll tell ya! MinIow MisArkLou (the man in the map, of course) is in the center and he has a flashlight, a table with food on it, a chair to sit in, etc. All these items make up the rest of the United States. It's fun and cute and SO much less boring than the standard way!

So if you are looking to mix it up a bit, this is a great book to get your hands on.

Happy Valentine's Day

What better way to show the love on Valentine's Day than by wearing it!

Oh ya, you knew it was coming...

Two shirts for two sisters we know who LOVE cats-- what better way to show it than to don Cat Fairy shirts! Each with their own flair to speak to their personalities. (You'd think my higher pixel camera would take better pics than this... but I digress) The first one is front and back Cat Fairies with pink with white polka dot sleeves. The second is front Cat Fairies, the rest a pink heather knit.

It wouldn't be complete without getting my Lil Lady to have one too. Being that we are in a "non- girlie" phase, I had to be more creative. Hers is black and grey stripes, with faux white layer underneath and Cat Fairies sleeves. Gotta love how she's talking and pointing to the Cat Fairy applique on the bottom.

Her hair is getting so long! Sheesh, she sure is cute.. <3-- Happy Valentine's Day!

Mindful Parenting

Sometimes I struggle with this. Being present for my children is a challenge to me. Even as a homeschooling mom, to make sure that they know I love that they talk to me and that I *do* want to hear what they say is still a challenge. The phone rings, that sewing project beckons, an appointment is looming.. All ways to distract me away from the ones who are most precious to me.

This blog post has a great lot of information and she says it better than I can. Please read it if mindfulness is something you are trying to get better at every day.