Secret Messages

Little Man has become more and more confident in his writing skills lately. In turn, I've been finding messages left behind every where.

A few nights ago, I picked up a magnetic poetry set at a consignment sale for $2. Which apparently is a really good deal, since almost everywhere online is sold out of it, and Amazon is quoting their price at $162! (Seriously?!)

Every since it arrived in our house, the number of messages has increased even more. Though, I'm never sure what they explaination will be to go along with them. After finding the "mother boy and father happy together" message, I commented how sweet it was to Little Man. Who explained, it's supposed to say "need to be" happy together. You and me are, but daddy and I don't get along so much.

Apparently, getting those two to get along better is still a work in progress. They are just too much alike, constantly butting heads. Both are stubborn and have no concept of compromising. Drives me crazy.

Wordless Wednesday: School Spirit

Something Nice to Say...

Sometimes I worry. I worry that I don't know what I'm doing. I worry that I'm not a good parent.

Then again, maybe the fact that I worry means I am a good parent.

Sometimes, Little Man does something so simple, but it shows me that I must be doing something right. Now don't get me wrong. He has moments of chaos, days moments where he doesn't listen.

But then I find sweet little notes he's left for me.

(I love you mom to the end of the world.)

And I hear stories about school. How a little girl came to class, upset with her new haircut and Little Man went over to tell her that it looked nice. (Even if he confided in me later that he really liked it better the way it used to be.)

He's a good kid. And every second of chaos, every time he "doesn't hear" me, is completely worth it.

Sometimes, I just need to remind myself of that.

Wordless Wednesday: The Ducks

Hearts

It's like 100 little hearts hanging in my kitchen. Courtesy of a sweet little boy and grandma's garden.

I smile every time I walk into the room.

Green Giant Seeds of Change: Giveaway

*Closed: Congrats to pixie13*

After my salad incident last week, you may think that I've sworn off fresh veggies for awhile. But, that's far from the case. I can't go more than a day without a salad for lunch. (Yes, I'm really that into my veggies. Wish I could pass it on to my 5 year old.)

But, I was recently introduced to another veggie alternative: Green Giant's frozen boxed vegetables. During the winter, frozen vegetables are a staple in our house. Often, I freeze vegetables from our garden, but I occasionally buy them from the store. Especially towards the end of winter when our supply is running low.Last week, we picked up a box of the Nibblets Corn & Butter Sauce. It was a quick and delicious addition to our dinner. Simple to prepare, it could easily be a new addition to our weekly meal plan.

With Earth Day less than a week away, you may be wondering just how "green" Green Giant really is?

Over their century-long history, Green Giant has worked to reduce its environmental footprint by reducing the amount of land and water needed to grow vegetables and is packing vegetables in smaller, lighter packages, allowing it to be delivered with less fuel. They also have used traditional seed breeding methods over the last 35 years to double the amount of sweet corn grown on an acre of land.

By teaming up with growers, Green Giant has been able to install a more efficient irrigation system, reducing water use by more than a million gallons a year, and by switching to more earth-friendly paperboard to package frozen vegetables, they are saving approximately 54,000 trees annually.

This year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Green Giant is giving $200,000 to The Nature Conservancy to help fund an innovative project that will encourage greener farming practices. The goal is to repair and protect a natural treasure - the Root River, one of Minnesota's best trout streams. (Minnesota is also home to Green Giant.)

Buy It:
You can find an assortment of Green Giant products in your grocer's freezer.

Win It:
One lucky winner will receive a coupon valid for a free package of Green Giant frozen vegetables, a mini herb garden, an eco-friendly bamboo utensil set, and a 100% recyclable grocery tote.
To enter: Tell me how you are reducing your carbon footprint/how you are "going green."

Want extra entries? (Leave separate comments for each)

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Be sure to leave a way to contact you.
Giveaway ends 4/23 at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be notified via email. Open to US only.

Green Giant provided me with a coupon, prize pack, and information though MyBlogSpark. All opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday: Interruptions

It must be such a tough life...

Uh, Waiter? There's a Fly in my Soup

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I despise bugs. They freak me out beyond belief. Now occasionally, I'll pretend to be a good mom and pick up some sort of creepy crawly to make my son happy. But usually, catching sight of a bug leaves me running in the opposite direction.

Last night I sat down to dinner, chomped away at my salad, talking and joking with everyone at the table, trying to keep Little Man focused on his food.

As I'm putting a fork full to my mouth, I catch a glimpse of something wiggly. I'm sure a look of horror crossed my face at that moment. I dropped my fork and stared as a spider unfurled his legs and bolted across my bowl.

(Definitely not the same one I found, but just about as skivvy.)

There was definitely some screaming. Luckily, my mom was sitting next to me and leaned over to squash the unwelcome critter.

I'm not sure I'll ever look at a salad the same way again.

The Ultimate Blog Party with 5M4M

Although a little late to the festivities, I'm joining in with the 600 or so other moms already linked up to the Ultimate Blog Party over at 5 Minutes for Mom.


If you haven't participated before... The Ultimate Blog Party has become an exciting tradition in the “Momosphere”. It is a bloggy carnival where participating bloggers publish a “party post” introducing themselves and then party hop through the linky lists meeting other bloggers.

This is my first time joining in, and I'm looking forward to finding lots of new blogs to read. And I'm excited about all the fab prizes being offered too (#105, #72, #83, and USC 8 all look wonderful).

If this is your first time here, welcome! I'm Staci, mom to one crazy little boy. I love taking pictures, exploring the outdoors, and baking. (And right about now, I feel like I'm writing a really bad personal ad.)I've been blogging for almost 2 years. Over time, my blog has gone through many changes. Now, I find myself writing more and more about the things I love. My family, my photos, my food.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you back again soon.

Wordless Wednesday: Random Moments

Our Easter

I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of big family get-togethers. I love my family. I love seeing them all. But put them all under one roof for more than 10 minutes, and the tension starts brewing.

So while I was annoyed to be working on Easter morning, I was relieved to do the big family hoopla on Saturday, and get it out of the way. It gave me all of Sunday afternoon to relax.

Well, relax, and fly kites, and hunt for imaginary dragons, and go a little crazy.The little one spent the afternoon running around, trying to crash kites. Which is apparently more fun than flying them. And he tried to learn to whistle with grass. Which was a big flop for him. He was so jealous of mommy's skills.
But we had lots of fun. It was one of the best holidays we've had in a long time. There was no rushing around, no dressing up, no stress.

Missing

At bath time Monday night, Little Man bumped his chin off the side. After realizing he was okay, I watched as his little face contorted a bit. His tongue stuck out for just a second, and he proceeded to spit into his hand.
Out flew the elusive first loose tooth. That same tooth has been loose for a month. And I've spent a month watching him wiggle it back and forth. (Which has grossed me out beyond belief. There's something I just can't handle about loose teeth. A fact I learned last month when the niece had her first loose tooth and constantly wiggled and jiggled it. Going as far as to ask if I wanted to touch it. Uh, no.)

Much to Little Man's excitement, the Tooth Fairy made her first visit to our house Monday night. I'm told she came exactly at midnight, and even though he tried his hardest to stay up all night, he fell asleep right before she got there.

Being squeamish about teeth, I personally wasn't thrilled about sticking a tooth under his pillow. My luck, it would get lost in his bed and the Tooth Fairy wouldn't be able to find it in the middle of the night. This kid is known to kick and flip and end up with pillows all over the bed and floor by morning.

So I was thrilled to find the idea of the Tooth Fairy Jar. The lost tooth was dropped into a jar full of water and Little Man placed it on his dresser to wait for the fairy's appearance. When she came for the tooth, she turned the water blue (food coloring) and left a little glitter behind, as well as a crisp one dollar bill. Two more teeth are now loose, so I have the feeling it won't be long before the Tooth Fairy visits again and Little Man is showing off a toothless little grin.