This giveaway is now closed and the winner has been contacted.  Congrats Lily!

There are so many important things that we need to teach our children.  We have to teach them to be kind, thoughtful, giving and to have good manners.  We also need to teach our children how to take care of our earth.  The younger we start teaching these concepts the more likely our children will be to follow them.  Hailey knows that we always say “please” and “thank you.”  She also knows that we have certain items that get thrown away and certain items that we can recycle.  She is only 2 years old and doesn’t really understand why we do a lot of what we do- but she knows we do it.  And it will be automatic for her to do many of those things when she is an adult.

Teaching our kids how to take care of our environment can be kind of difficult.  But, there is a book that can help- and it is just perfect.  I’m Turning Green by Rebecca Mattano is the perfect book to use to help your child understand taking care of our environment.  It shows how the little things that we all do can really add up to help.  It will help you to know where to start in helping your children to see what they can do to be a part of helping our environment.  I’m Turning Green is simple enough for me to read to Hailey (2 years old) but it can also be used with older children as well.

Step into the adventure of a little girl who turns green from her head to her toes and learns that doing her part for the environment really shows! I’m Turning Green is a fantastic journey that teaches young readers tips for energy, water, and natural resource conservation. This book offers many ways to make homes eco-friendly today! The Little Environmentalists provides parents and educators a simple and effective way to teach their children about the environment today!

If you are looking for a way to start teaching your children how to take care of our environment- then you’re going to be happy to know that one lucky commenter will be winning a copy for I’m Turning Green from The Little Environmentalists.

Here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

• Leave a comment telling me one tip you have to help our environment.

Want some extra chances to win? Leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH extra entry.

• Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then leave me a comment with the direct URL.
• Subscribe to my RSS feed and then leave me a comment letting me know you’re a subscriber.
• Stumble this post (please leave a short review) and leave me a comment letting me know and tell me what your name on Stumble is.

This giveaway will end on December 23, 2008 at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen on December 24, 2008 via random.org and notified by email. Please read all of my giveaway rules here.

What do you like to do when it is time for a family night?  Since we have a 2 year old our family nights usually have something to do with playing with the Little People or reading the same book over and over again.  When Hailey gets a little older I think a family movie night would be a lot of fun.  I would love to have it start out with a fun game and snacks and then we can all watch a movie while we eat some yummy buttery popcorn.

When I was younger I remember watching movies with my family and it was always a lot of fun.  My parents were very careful and very strict about what we were allowed to watch.  When I was younger I didn’t understand that rule like I do now.  I don’t want Hailey to watch movies that are filling her mind with negative information and filth.  We are very careful about what Hailey is allowed to watch now. 

A great family movie night movie that is coming out on DVD in January is All Roads Lead Home The Movie.  I watched the trailer for it this morning and it looks like an excellent movie.  I love movies that provide an important messages- which this one seems like it will do.  Although Hailey is too young to sit for this kind of movie it really looks like something I would love to see.

Our children are exposed to all sorts of things each and every day that we may not approve of.  Let’s make sure that when they are at home the environment is a safe and healthy one.  One where we know we aren’t seeing or hearing things that are having a permanent negative impact on their little minds.

Last week for Tackle it Tuesday I had a whole list of things I wanted to get accomplished by the end of the week.  And shockingly enough I finished everything except for one item on my list.  Wow!!  Since I did so well with my list last time I’ve decided to make another list of things I want to get accomplished by the end of this week.

• Figure out what I’m baking and make a list of my needed supplies (this is the one left over from last week).
• Go to the mall and get a few more shopping related things finished up.
• Go pick up a few gift certificates.
• Pick up a few gifts for my furry relatives.  (Dogs and cats)
• Grocery shopping- get all of the necessary baking items.
• Make a trip to Target.  (I love Target)
• Start wrapping presents so that I won’t be overwhelmed with doing it all next week.
• Have some down time with Hailey to do some fun Christmas crafts.
• Remember the reason for the season!

Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom to see what everyone else is tackling.

This giveaway is now closed and the winner has been contacted.  Congrats Judy!

Ever since the day Hailey was born until now I have read to her every single day.  And I can tell you without a doubt- that Hailey loves books more than anything.  As soon as Hailey gets up in the morning she gets her books out and starts “reading.”  She brings books to the table for every meal and always has to have some books in the bathroom.  All day long I hear, “Read to me Mommy!”  It makes me happy to know how much she loves books.

I have a pretty nice selection of books that I used when I was teaching and Hailey really enjoys those. We make trips to the library to get books and Hailey often gets new books as gifs or just because.  So, when I heard about a new company called Excite Books I was really excited.  The best way to describe Excite Books is that it is like Netflix for kids books.  Except that instead of sending the books back you can either keep them, donate some of them or donate all of them.  When we got our package in the mail- Hailey was thrilled.  She sat right now and started “reading” her new books.  We worked for a long time together with her new sticker book.  And then we read her new books again.  She loved every minute of it!

Here is some information about Excite Books:

The concept is simple. Order a monthly subscription online for one, two or three books to be shipped to a youngster. A teacher certified and age appropriate book is chosen and mailed at an affordable $4.99. Send two books a month at $9.99 or three books for $14.99. Shipping and handling is always the same low $4.95, no matter how big the package.

After Excite Books has shipped a total of 12 books to one address, a prepaid / preaddressed envelope is mailed for a child to donate none, some, or all of his Excite Books to a library in need. Excite Books finds the libraries, arranges for the donations and spreads the joy of reading to a new group of youngsters.

With its 100% “excitement guarantee,” this month-to-month service requires no commitments or contracts. The company is so confident your Excite Kid will love the action-packed books that it offers a money-back guarantee.

So how would you like a chance to try out Excite Books?  One lucky winner will get three books in the age category you choose, accompanied by eight free gifts. 

Here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

• Tell me what your child’s favorite book is right now.

Want some extra chances to win? Leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH extra entry.

• Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then leave me a comment with the direct URL.
• Subscribe to my RSS feed and then leave me a comment letting me know you’re a subscriber.
• Stumble this post (please leave a short review) and leave me a comment letting me know and tell me what your name on Stumble is.

If you can’t wait to see if you win: You can start the monthly subscription and get a bonus fourth book.  To do this simply put “4th Book Free” in the Personalized Message field when you submit your order.  (They will remove the 4th Book Free words before they print the message, if you decide to include a personalized message.)

This giveaway will end on December 21, 2008 at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen on December 22nd, 2008 via random.org and notified by email. Please read all of my giveaway rules here.