by Sarah | Nov 4, 2013 | All About Kennedy, All About Learning, All About Me, All About Molly, Blogging Life, Indy Geek Girls
On almost any day of the week you can find the members of this family with their noses buried in a book.
Sure, the teen took a really, really long time to come around, but once he did he was unstoppable.
The girls read well above their comprehension level just to get words on the page.
So when I heard McDonald’s was replacing toys with books in their Happy Meals? I was pretty stoked. My girls will love getting books, and I love that McDonald’s is taking this step.
Included in our Happy Meals are these fun titles that involve teaching children about eating right when sometimes it’s not so easy to do:
But they aren’t stopping there, which is even better. Want to know why?
McDonald’s of Central Indiana is leading a “Give a Book, Get a Book” campaign.
All around Indy, from November 1st through the 14th, at Ronald McDonald Houses, local libraries, and Indy Reads there will be Book Donation sites set up.
In exchange for a donation of a new (or gently used) children’s book, you’ll get a “Be Our Guest” card good for a free Happy Meal!
And to top it all off, participating libraries will host a “Happy Meal Day” filled with kid’s activities and McDonald’s Happy Meal books!!
Since 2011 McDonald’s has been finding new ways to take action and fulfill their “Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices”. Each of the stories in these unique, limited edition books, is a fun and nutritional message that kids can understand.
Now onto the part I know you’ve been waiting for. My Giveaway! One lucky winner will get a week’s worth of Happy Meal Coupons, a $10 Amazon Gift Card, and a copy of a Happy Meal Book!
To make it easier, I whipped up a rafflecopter this time. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sarah | Nov 3, 2013 | All About Indiana, Blogging Life, Photography, Scavenger Hunt Sunday
We went to ZooBoo this week…and I used it for all my pictures. Some might be a stretch, but ya know. 😉
All taken w/ Canon Rebel XS.
1. Dress Up
This little guy decided to be the most unique and elusive creature in the universe – a unigazelle.
This fancy-pants scoffed and said he was always dressed up.
2.Candy
Pink like cotton candy
I can’t be sure – but I don’t think he’s looking for candy.
3. Pumpkin
YAY! Elephants smashing pumpkins!
I really loved the way this pumpkin was decorated
4. Spooky
I think…think…these were supposed to be spooky.
Where this guy succeeded the way he skulked about and paced.
5. Orange
A peek of orange in the upper pumpkin.
Explanation not required.
Songography:
My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson:
Well, it stands to reason that my life would suck without them:
You can find more pictures over at my flickr account.
by Sarah | Nov 2, 2013 | All About Me, Story of Me
I honestly don’t know what got me started on it.
I wasn’t one of those little girls that grew up dreaming of being Miss America.
I wanted to be Wonder Woman.
Or Princess Leia (minus the kissing my brother part).
Or on Broadway would suit me fine.
All I know is that I ended up signing up for the Junior Miss Pageant (the ONE year they tried to ‘dignify’ it by calling it ‘Young Woman of the Year’). And in the same year I signed up for the Miss Indianapolis Teen pageant.
Two pageants, one year.
I didn’t win either of them.
I won secondary awards. Fitness, presence and composure, finalist talent, non-finalist talent. I made it to the finals of one, 4th place over all.
I have to say…
I had a crap-ton of fun doing them. I knew I’d never do another one, I didn’t care to. I’m so glad I had that experience.
From the pressure of performing at the top of my game and being quick on my feet to the answers. To the endless rehearsals for the silly little dances they had us do.
The camaraderie of the pageant brought me friends during my senior year I didn’t have the rest of school.
The general stand-offishness of everyone in the other pageant that led to me just glad it was over.
I learned a lot, and I gained a lot, and I look back on it with immense fondness.
And yes, I kept my plaques.
by Sarah | Nov 1, 2013 | All About Erik, All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, NaBloPoMo
I have two tales of raccoons…one with a happy ending, the other…well…I figured for the first day of NaBloPoMo I’d be nice and not ruin the month too early.
This first story happened not too long ago, right here at this house with that big fat sucker in the picture over there. <<—
That is my driveway that Mama Coon was perched on, right over the gulley and the pipe that runs under my driveway where she lived with her babies.
Where she would come out regularly and pull any tiny scrap of food out of one of our trash cans that we lost the lid to. Even if it meant strewing crap across three yards to do it.
To make matters better, her and her little brats started to chew and rip at our shingles as the weather turned colder. They wanted IN.
They would destroy our roof to do it.
So we, naïvely perhaps, called animal control.
After all, they were being destructive to property now, not just purely a nuisance.
The best advice he could give us was this…(it’s been a while, the words might not be exact):
“You have a big trash can? Good. Set a trap and catch the raccoon. Fill a good tall trash can with water and drop the trap in. They drown real fast, don’t worry. Once she’s dead, wrap her up in a big trash bag and throw her away. Get all three of them, or they’ll never leave.”
Erik and I stared at each other slack-jawed for a while. We thought about Denver, quite young at the time, and what he would think if he caught wind of what happened. Plus, really? That’s flat out cold murder. It’s not hunting (which I’m fine with) or euthanization of a sick pet (which hurts but is sometimes necessary). It’s flat out murder.
Not cool, dude.
In the end we opted for trap & release. We’re fortunate enough to live on the border between suburbia and rural. We borrowed three traps, got all three of those buggers caught and took them miles away and released them.
In some cases, the less humane option is vitally necessary (as the other coon story will show)…but not every single time.
~shudder~ Could you kill a coon for no reason when the trap and release option was just as easy?
by Sarah | Oct 31, 2013 | All About Me, Blogging Life, NaBloPoMo
Considering my brain-dead-ness since Denver went into the hospital, I got a part time job, and life in general just blew up with activity…
I knew it was time for drastic measures.
Since BlogHer took over NaBlo it’s a monthly challenge, but I like the old challenge days when it was just November.
Still, I’m doing it. I always find it sparks me back to life and at the very least I have prompts when my own ideas are just not coming thanks to work, or kids, or husband, or home, or writing, or any other source of disruption in my life.
So tomorrow it begins.
I’m diving in again.
It’s been a long year, but NaBloPoMo, here I come again.
by Sarah | Oct 28, 2013 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us
I’m a long time self-admitted geek of the Star Trek variety. I fell in love with Star Trek: TNG when I found it during its 4th season, and have never looked back.
Erik is both a sci-fi Aliens, Predator, Star Trek sort of Geek…and a horror Geek…and a few other Geeks I don’t understand.
Denver found Star Trek with the re-invention of Star Trek. He’s moved on to go back in time (thank you, Netflix) and watch EVERY episode of EVERY incarnation, swiped Erik’s movies to watch EVERY movie. The documentaries and anniversary specials, too. Since then he’s moved onto Battlestar Galactica, tried Dr. Who, and so on…
In the past eight or so months there’s a new sort of Geekling coming up in this house.
The girls are obsessed with all things Avengers.
Not just Avengers, though.
Comics.
They are making comics left and right – the one in this post was one of their first. One page, simple, with the battle of their beloved Avengers.
The obsession has grown so that their coloring books are painted on the front and back covers with comics. They swipe my printer paper and draw panels to fill in their stories. From super hero tales to stories about their cats…they are comic booking it up.
I, admittedly, am slightly clueless about comics. My Geek flag didn’t fly that far, even when I began my X-men addiction. I only have a few of those comics.
So we’ll venture into another realm of geekery.
Now…excuse me while I try to find some art classes for them…and seek out the perfect first comic for them both.
And considering their propensity to tear up anything they own, it will have to be one that it doesn’t matter if it ends up damaged.
On almost any day of the week you can find the members of this family with their noses buried in a book.
McDonald’s of Central Indiana is leading a “Give a Book, Get a Book” campaign.
