Awards and Rainbows

Phyllis at All Things Beautiful was so kind and thoughtful when she gave me the “Your Blog Is Fabulous” Award.

I love Phyllis’s blog, she is so creative and always has so many fun ideas to with her kids. She gives me a lot of great inspiration and I have to say her Geography Scrapbooks are so much of what I hope Selena’s will look like as she gets older and we continue to work on hers. If you haven’t yet go check out Phyllis’s blog here.

This one has interesting requirements:
1. Specify three destination to which you want to travel and write why.
2. Pass on if you wish, to as many or few as you wish.
3. I think I would add a thank you to the blog that gave it to you is in order as well. : )

While I thought about the destinations that I would love to travel to, many ideas came to mind. To clear my mind I decided to do a craft project with Selena in hopes to truly figure out where I would want to travel. Selena is so proud of herself that she can name every color in the Rainbow, so we set out to create a Selena rainbow. She called off the colors, which I gave her and she painted away.

Do you notice that she started out with the red and trying very hard to make it arch just like a rainbow?

This is Selena’s beautiful rainbow. Even as she worked down the rows, and realized she was running out of room for all her colors, she never got upset or dissatisfied with her work. I think it is a beautiful rainbow!

So where would I love to travel? While so many have hopes of traveling around the world, I truly have one passion when I think of traveling. There are so many things and places right here in the U.S. that I would still love to see.

1. Mountains, I love mountains. I love to get out and walk around on a nice Summer day it doesn’t matter what mountain, just so long as I am on a mountain away from the city life, where I can see all the beauty of nature, hear the sounds of wild life, and take in all the wonderful smells of freedom.

2. I would love to someday take Selena to a warm ocean! I don’t really know where, Virginia Beach, maybe I don’t know just so long as it is warm, where she can get her feet wet in the water, and truly feel the warm sand between her toes.

3. One place we talk about all the time, we would love to take Selena to Disney Land. Neither Papa nor I have ever been there and we sure hope that someday we can afford to take Selena.

I am going to pass this award on to a few of my favorite bloggers who I feel are very inspiring.

1. Christy at Superheroes and Princesses

2. Natalie at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns

3. Leah at Almost Homeschoolers

4. Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom

With this I wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Award

I woke this morning to find that I received The Versatile Blogger Award from Lady Chadwick. I have loved reading her blog since I found it. She shares so much about homeschooling, I especially love how she is so able to incorporate household tasks into learning experiences. I did however feel a little guilty about something though, and I publicly apologize to Lady Chadwick for not letting her know I was following her blog. I have fixed that situation.

The rules to accepting this award are as follows:

• Thank and link back to whomever gave you the award. 
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Pass it along to 15 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy
• Leave your recipients a note telling them about the award.

 

Ok onto the 7 things about myself:

1. I love blogging and even more I love reading the some hundreds of blogs that I follow. I may not always comment but rest assured if I am following you, I am reading.
2. I feel very strong that my blog would not be what it is without all of you fantastic people who stop by and take a little time to just read my blog. I love your comments, pieces of advice, and inspiration I get from you. Thank you all for making my blog what it is.
3. Ok for a few more personal things…..ummm what haven’t I shared…..My favorite color is pink….well, that is what my grandmother always told me my favorite color had to be. Everything she made or bought me was always pink, I hated it. Actually my favorite colors are mauve and hunter green.
4. My favorite season is Autumn. I love the crispness in the air, the colors, and the harvest. Growing up on a farm Autumn always meant a lot of hard work, but it was always fun and full of learning experiences. Nothing like reaping from our endeavors.
5. My mom always wanted me to go into nursing, I did work in the medical field and enjoyed it, but to be honest my passion was in teaching. I wanted to be a teacher, too bad my dad was head strong and didn’t believe that a girl had any business going to college.
6. There are few possessions that I have that I couldn’t live without, but there are a few things that I cherish, my tea set that my dad bought for me, the two floral chairs my mom gave me, and the lamps that always lit the living room when I was a child.
7. Friendships are very important to me. I pour myself into my friendships. I try to always be here for my friends, I may not know what to say or give any advice, but I always have an ear and a shoulder.

As I sat here this morning thinking of 15 bloggers who deserve this award, so many came to mind, but as I have spent some time I see that many have already received this award. With that said I am going to mention the blogs that I love to read and follow, if you have not received this award then please except it from me.

There are so many wonderful blogs I follow and love but here are some that I call my must reads and most versatile bloggers:

Mouse Learns Mouse Grows

Adventures of Mommydum

Almost Homeschoolers

Just Playin’ Around

Joyful Learner

Truly all the blogs I follow deserve this award! If you haven’t received it then take it, as I love all the blogs I follow!

Thank you again Lady Chadwick!

Blog Award

Kylie over at Our World Wide Classroom passed this award on to me. Thank you Kylie, I really appreciate it. I love reading Kylie’s blog, and participating in the Homeschool Blog Hop that she hosts.

I consider many of my followers friends, and rather you know it or not I try to read your blogs on a daily basis, I might not always comment but I do make it by to see what you’ve been up to.

The following bloggers, have filled me with much inspiration, wisdom, advice, and a true sense of friendship.

Natalie at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns

Ticia at Adventures at Mommydom

Leah at Almost Unschoolers

Julie at Just Playin’ Around

Cindy at Little Did I Know

Happy Easter!

So, here’s the rules:

This basket didn't cost a thing but it's worth 10.00 to the Children's Miracle Network! Here's how it works:
Hershey's is partnering with bloggers to donate $5,000 to the Children's Miracle Network! They are hosting a blog hop and for each blog entry, Hershey's will donate $10 to the Children's Miracle Network.
Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop Rules
1. Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
2. Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger — you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want!
3. Link back to the person who gave you an Easter Basket.
4. Let each person you are giving a Virtual Basket know you have given them a Basket.
5. Leave your link at Better Basket info in the comment section. You can also find the official rules of this better basket blog hop and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
6. Hershey’s is donating $10 per blog participating in the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to a total of $5000 by blog posts written by April 4, 2010).
7. Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

I feel that each one of us can participate in this, there is no reason that we can’t take a few minutes to post this and link up at Hershey’s to have money donated to such a fine cause as the Children’s Miracle Network.

I do not know who all have received this basket, I received it from Ticia at Adventures in Mommydum, and want to pass it on to ALL my readers. Of course I can’t list ALL my readers here so I will list just a few, but if you haven’t received it yet, please join in, just know tomorrow is the last day for this event!

1. Almost Unschoolers

2. Bytes of Memory

3, Chasing Cheerios

4. Dyslexic Different Thinking Me

5. Live the Adventure

I could list so many more here, but then would be forever letting everyone know that they have a special gift from me, so please if you haven’t received this and I know all you would want to donate to this cause, then Please Participate according to the rules!

Reading Award

Michele at Homeschooling With Love gave me this award. Thank you Michele. I always enjoy visiting her site and seeing all the interesting things she is doing with her kids. They are always up to something interesting!

The conditions of this award is to give it to three bloggers who read to their children. The three that read to their children and give me such great ideas for books in our home are:

Natalie at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns. She also hosts the What We Are Reading carnival every week. Her and Anna find some of most interesting books and have so much fun reading together. Sometimes I wonder how she can read so many books with Anna, but I love the fact that she does!

Ticia at Adventure in Mommydum. She always has the answers to which books to read when you are stumped about a subject. She is also so funny and always has great descriptions of the books she is reading to her children, as well as how her children react to the books they read together!

Leah at An Almost Unschooled Mom. She is always reading with her children. She really knows how to bring everything they read to a real life experience for her children, rather it be cooking something in the kitchen, a science experiment, or a great craft project!

List 3 things your Children like to read about.

1. Selena loves to read about anything that reflects family and the love between family members.

2. She loves princess stories. While she has a lot of Disney Princess things, she doesn’t care for the books, but she does love books that just turn plain little girls into princesses through dance, and pretend play.

3. Mostly though Selena just enjoys a book that is sweet, maybe a little funny, but mostly full of love.

Awards

I have been given two awards this week. Sometimes I am terrible about getting my awards posted and passing them on. I have all the best intentions to do so, they get filed on my computer and by the time I get back to them, I have forgotten who has given them to me, or sometimes I just never get around to doing anything with them. So if you have given me an award that I have not posted about please except my apologies and realize I do appreciate them all!

I have received the Beautiful Blogger Award from Michelle at Homeschooling With Love.

Here is what you do to accept the award.
1.Thank the person who gave you the award.
2.Copy and paste the award to your blog.
3.Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
4.List 7 interesting things about you.
5.Pass the award on to 7 beautiful bloggers.

Now I am going to cheat here a little bit as I also received another award which asks me to list 10 things about myself.

I received the Honest Scrap award from Julie at My Book Retreat.

The rule of this award is that I have to share 10 honest things about myself.

I am going to combine the requirements of these two awards into one list of a few things about me.

1. My traveling exists of only 7 States: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Montana, and Idaho.

2. I am allergic to Spiders, no really I mean it literally if I get bitten by any spider, I get sick and have a serious reaction needing medical attention. So yes, this also brings about a fear of Spiders.

3. I love to swim, though I haven’t gone swimming in years, I feel very relaxed in the water.

4. I love to garden, and reap what I sow. Though I don’t have room to garden here where we live now, I use to grow all the vegetables my family needed for an entire year, blanching and freezing them every Autumn.

5. I have never received a traffic ticket of any kind, nor have I ever caused an accident.

6. I lacked in self confidence most of my life, it truly was not until I met Michael before I began to discover things about myself that I could say I liked. I guess you could say he brought out the best in me.

7. I have never really fit in with my family. I was never close to my siblings, nor my cousins. I always seemed to be the black sheep of the family, not by my choice, I just never felt excepted by them.

8. I self taught myself to do many things, crochet, knit, decorate cakes, bake bread and pies, well basically cook.

9. I love participating in Women’s Bible Studies.

10. I like to do all the driving when we go somewhere. I would rather drive then be the passenger.

I know now I am suppose to pass these awards on to other bloggers. The first one said to 7 and the second one said to 10. Again I am going to cheat here a bit and give both of these awards to the following bloggers:

Allen Ramblings

Arts and Crofts

Bytes of Memory

Diaries of the Teacher Mom

Educating Crumpet

Funny Days with Mommy and Maddie

Home Grown Families

My Bilingual Boys

Our Country Road

Our Worldwide Classroom

There are so many other great blogs that I follow everyday and I feel you all deserve these awards as well, so I am opening this up, if you follow my blog and have not received these awards please except them. Take heart in knowing that if I could list all the fabulous blogs I follow I would but I think I would be sitting here for a week. Well, that might be a little exaggerated, but you get what I mean.

Awards

I have been a bad blogger once again. I have been given the Sunshine award by so many of my fine followers, that I truly have lost track of everyone who has given it to me. For this reason I just say Thank you to all my followers, for without you my blog would not be as much fun nor what it has turned out to be. I am not going to pass this award on. All the blogs I follow are great and deserve this award, so if you haven’t received it, then here it is for the taking! Love you all!

Jamie at Momma’s Playground passed the Happy 101 award onto me.

The rules on this one is to list 10 things that make us happy and pass it on to ten people. Again I have seen this award floating around on a few other blogs, so as to not double everyone up I am not passing it on. I am expressing once again that every blog I follow deserves this award, so if you haven’t received it then here it is for your taking. I would like to see however if you do choose to take it that you take the time to let us know the 10 things that make you happy!

Here is my list:

1. Knowing that God is in control

2. My loving husband

3. Selena, the joy of my life right now

4. My children, TJ, and Kristi, I miss them but love them with all my heart.

5. Sunshine

6. The beauty that surrounds me from the Mountains to the Ocean

7. My brothers

8. Flowers

9. Quiet times

10. All the comments I receive and friends I have made here in  the blogging world.

Lemonade Stand Award

What a pleasant surprise to have two bloggers give me this award, it truly means a lot to me to know that all of you read my blog and take something away with you. Thank you to Jamie at Momma’s Playground and to Jill at The Shafer Family for showering with this award.

I really just found both of these blogs not long ago, but I have loved reading their posts. Both Mom’s are creative and witty and have a true passion for their kids.

The Lemonade Stand Award is awarded for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. This in itself is quite a complement!

The rules for accepting this award:
- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I am passing this award on to the following blogs, for their great attitude, gratitude, and inspiring posts:

A Mommy’s Adventure

Adventures in Mommydom

Growing Up Our Style

Inspiration Surrounds Creativity Abounds

My Bilingual Boys

My Family My Forever

Our Nifty Notebook

Raising Itty-Bitty-Bookworms

The Fifth Street Academy

The Rogers’ Family Blog

Awards

I have been blessed by many new friends here through my blog. I have received many awards from some of you and I truly appreciate them. I have passed on some of these awards, but since then I have discovered more blogs and made new friends, so I am sending them on again!

Natalie at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns gave me these two Awards. Natalie is truly the friend who opened my world to blogging and inspired me to make my blog into what it is. It has been through Natalie that I have found many of you, her friendship is greatly appreciated.

Almost Unschooled, gave me this award. I really enjoy her blog and find it very inspiring that she is homeschooling 6 children. She comes up with some very creative projects for her children, it is a real inspiration.

Sarah, from At The Fifth Street Mama gave me this award. I so enjoy reading Sarah’s blog and feel a real friendship with her. Sarah, I appreciate your comments and your emails! The rule with this award is to post it on your blog with a link back to the person who gave it to you and then pass it on to pass it on to 5 other great blogs.

Susana at My Family My Forever just gave me the Over The Top Award and The Best Blog Award. Susana, I feel so blessed to call you my friend. You have the most beautiful family and your a very inspirational person. I enjoy receiving your emails and sweet comments.

To accept the Over the Top Award, you must post it on your blog, answer the following questions with one word answers then pass it on to 6 other bloggers.

Where is your cell phone? kitchen

Your hair? brown

Your mother? inspiring

Your father? strong

Your favorite food? pie

Your dream last night? none

Your favorite drink? Crystal Lite

Your dream/goal Godly

What room are you in? Living

Your hobby? blogging

Your fear? spiders

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here

Where were you last night? Home

Something you aren't? phony

Muffins? blueberry

Wish list item? Stay Cancer Free (sorry can’t do in one word)

Where did you grow up? Eastern Washington

Last thing you did? Greeted hubby

What are you wearing? jeans

Your TV? HGTV

Your pets? fish

Your friends? Many

Your life? perfect

Your mood? happy

Missing someone? Son

Vehicle? Dodge

Something you're not wearing? sh0es

Your favorite store? Target

Your favorite color? Maroon

When was the last time you laughed? Today

Last time you cried? End of my Treatment February?

Your best friend? Kelly

One place that I would go over and over? Ocean

One person who emails me regularly? Kelly

Favorite place to eat? Falls Terrace

To accept the Best Blog Award, you must post it to your blog with a link back to the person who gave it to you then pass it on to 15 other bloggers.

*REMEMBER TO CONTACT BLOGGERS TO LET THEM KNOW THEY HAVE RECEIVED AN AWARD*

I have decided that I am going to list all the blogs that I truly enjoy following. I realize some of you have already received some of these awards so just take the ones you do not have!

Little Moments

5 Silly Frogs

A Mommy's Adventure

Adventures in Mommydom

April Flowers

Fenn Family Adventures

My Life as Missy

Your Wishcake

Growing Up Our Style

Homeschool Creations

Just Playin' Around

Mama Jenn

Our Nifty Notebook

Mommies Wise Little Bookworms

Tired Need Sleep

Thank you to all of you for making my blogging meaningful!

Awards

I have been privileged to be presented with some wonderful Awards here of late! I greatly appreciate them very much, it is always so nice to know that people like what you are working so hard on. With that in mind I want to pass these Awards on to those who have made my experiences here enjoyable!

Natalie at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns gave me the following two awards:

I would like to pass this Dragon’s Loyalty Award to the following: (To whom I also consider to be Friends! Please take both awards!)

Sarah at The Fifth Street Academy

Nicole at Tired Need Sleep

Susana at My Family My Forever

I was also honored to receive the following award, from Almost Unschooling 

The rules said to pass this on to 15 sites that I have discovered over the last few weeks that I enjoyed. I decided along with some new sites to include the above sites and few other’s that I have followed for a while and feel deserve this award:

The Roger's Family Blog

Fantastic Find

Adventures in Mommydom

Dyslexic Different Thinking Me

The Diary of a Nouveau Soccer Mom

Mama Jenn

April Flowers

One Little Room

Adept Serendipity

Our Nifty Notebook

Just Playin' Around

Izzie Mac and Me

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Enjoy your awards, and know that you have all made blogging very rewarding and worthwhile for me!