New Giveaway Winner

I needed to pick a new winner for the giveaway celebrating Healthy Simplicity's first anniversary. And the winner is....

Wanda Bolhous!

Congratulations, Wanda. Would you please send me your address so I can send your bag to you.

Giveaway Winner

I just drew a name for the winner of the canvas bag.

Congratulations, Denise Domstad! Please send me your address so I can mail the bag to you - healthysimplicity@hotmail.com.

Thank you to everyone who shared and commented and followed. ☺

1st Bloggiversary and a Giveaway

A year ago today I entered the blogging world. This has been an amazing experience for me. My husband had wanted me to start one for years and finally talked me into it. Some days I'm still not sure, but overall it's been an enjoyable experience. I've made some blogging friends and learned some things about myself. I've enjoyed sharing recipes, sewing projects and personal thoughts here. I hope it's also been a blessing to those who read these posts. So what has this year looked like?

 

Some of the most popular posts...

• Brave or Dependent
• New Edge for a Jumper
• Let me introduce you to...
• What I Watch
• Remembering
• The Benefits of Training Our Children
• Leg Warmers
• Fudge Glorious Fudge
• Is My Baby Malnourished?

My favourite post was School and Grace. I think this is my favourite because I really share my heart in it.

 

I did two special series. One about breastfeeding, and one about toddler fun. I have some more series planned for this year. I just need to get them out of the planning stage and into the writing stage. ☺

 

My sister-in-law and sister both did a guest post. One on nursing twins and the other on making a doll house. They did a super job, and I enjoyed their input.

 

Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. And as a thank you I have a very special giveaway that I'm excited about.

 

This is a canvas bag that measures 14 by 16 inches. I really want to keep this one, but I'll gladly give it away to one of you. ☺ So how can you win this?

• Follow my blog - leave a comment telling me you follow
• Leave a comment telling me your favourite post
• Share this giveaway on Facebook - leave a comment when you have shared

I'll choose a winner Monday morning, March 17th.

 

15 Book Giveaway

I just learned of a giveaway that you might be interested in...

Fifteen books by eleven Christian authors. $5 Starbucks gift card. A booklight.

I've read one of the books - Annabeth's War - and truly enjoyed it. Check it out. This would be a fun giveaway to win.

Toddler Fun - Giveaway Fun

I know five - well four - little boys who are going to be having a lot of fun in the next few days. The winner is...
Rowena!

Congratulations Rowena. I know where I can reach you so I'll be getting this prize to you soon. ☺

Thanks to everyone who shared on Facebook, signed up for the emails and commented on the posts. I had a lot of fun this week.

Toddler Fun - Miscellaneous

This first activity calls for fine motor control - something very good for little toddler hands to practice. I found the idea here. It's very simple. You place two or three spaghetti noodles in a piece of clay. Then your little one drops cheerios onto them. I have to admit mine never gets more than two or three on a noodle before he takes them off and eats them, but the goal here is to keep him busy and happy so if that's happening I'm okay with the snacking. Hey, we're multi-tasking - working on an activity and snacking. ☺ As you can see this activity takes a lot of concentration.

We have a wooden game that a neighbour found in her dad's closet and gave to us. It has six regtangular boards that each have eight pictures. For each tile there are eight square tiles with a picture that corresponds - not matches - a picture on the big piece. For instance there will be a picture of a vase and the child has to match the flowers to it or a baby pram matched with a baby. This is another favourite game. I control it by only giving him one board and eight tiles at a time. My older children like to mix everything up and do it all at the same time, but that's beyond my toddler's abilities right now. We also invented a game where we each had a board and saw who could get the tiles for their board first.

I have a small cardboard memory game that we haven't tried yet. I don't know if he's ready for it yet. You  know - the kind where all the cards are face down and you take turns turning over two at a time to find the matches.

Another favourite activity is spooning beans from one bowl to another. Sometimes the simplest activities seem to be the most fun. I mean really who would think that this would be fun, but my little guy loves doing this. Just like when he plays with beads though, I'm hyper-aware if the beans fall on the floor because of the choking hazard to our baby. This is a simple, cheap activity and one that sets up quickly. I think part of the fun is the noise it makes - especially if you use a metal container for one of the bowls. There's just something about noise that little boys can't seem to get enough of. ☺

What games does your toddler enjoy playing?

Check out our giveaway. It includes a game.

Toddler Fun Posts:

• Introduction
• Paper
• Beads and Pipe Cleaners
• Popsicle Sticks
• Snacks

Toddler Fun - Snacks

"Mommy, I hungy. I hungy." My youngest is very persistent, and this is something I hear several times a day. I have to weigh whether he's truly hungry or just bored. He does need something mid-morning. Four hours between meals is just too long for anyone to go without becoming cranky. During the morning I need to have quick and easy snacks that don't interrupt my teaching. Below is a list of things we like to snack on that are fast and don't really need any (or much) prep:

• apple slices with peanut butter
• yogurt with honey or maple syrup
• raisins or apricots
• bread with peanut butter or jam
• leftover pancakes with a topping - They truly are good cold.
• cheese
• pickled eggs - super easy to make
• one or two slices of salami - This is one his dad gives him. I can't stand even the smell of salami. ☺
• Ryvita crackers
• smoothies

He prefers to lick the peanut butter off. ☺

In  case you need more ideas I have several snack ideas pinned on my Pinterest "Food" board. Here are a list of posts from other blogs with much long snack ideas than I have here.

• 10 Non-Perishable Snack Ideas
• 40 Non-Processed Snacks for Busy Moms
• How to Make a Smoothie (chart)
• 46 Ways to Serve Fruits and Veggies at Snacktime
• 100 Healthy Snack Ideas

After seeing so many good ideas, I think I need to shake up our snack time. How about you? Did anything catch your eye? What does your little one snack on?

Have you entered the giveaway yet?

Toddler Fun Posts:
Introduction
Beads and Pipe Cleaners
Paper

Toddler Fun - Popsicle Sticks

We've had a lot of fun with the popsicle sticks, but they required a little more prep than other activities.

First I took a pack of coloured popsicle sticks and cut them in half. Then I cut magnetic tape into skinny  pieces to fit on the back of the sticks. Next I cut coloured paper into strips and glued them together. Finally we were ready for the next activity.

I put the paper onto a cookie sheet, and now his sticks will "stick" to the paper. Sometimes I let him just match the colours. Sometimes I set up a pattern - two blue, one orange two red, one yellow, etc. Sometimes we skip the paper and he just plays with the sticks on the cookie sheet.

I still have some coloured popsicle sticks so this is something I have on my to-do list. I don't think I'll be as fancy as described in the post with writing things on the sticks. It will be enough for me if he can just match the coloured sticks to the right popsicle.

By the way, I have a Pinterest board called "Busy Bags". I don't have a lot of pins on it yet, but it's all about activities you can do with your little ones.

Have you ever used popsicle sticks for an activity with your toddler? We'd love to learn something new to do with them.

Toddler Fun:
Introduction
Paper
Beads and Pipe Cleaners

Don't forget about our giveaway.

Busy Bag - Beads and Pipe Cleaners

I had a really hard time finding beads for some reason. The ones I found are a bit on the small side so we watch my little guy like a hawk when he has them because of the choking hazard for the baby. Anyway, this is another activity and involves very fine motor control because of the size of the beads and for when he's threading them onto a pipe cleaner.

Sometimes I put a pattern of beads on a pipe cleaner which he has to copy. You wouldn't think this is hard, but apparently it is a learned skill. He much prefers I just give him a couple of pipe cleaners and his beads and let him do as he pleases.

I also have baby food jars that I glued different coloured papers on to. He likes sorting the beads into their proper jars. He is a bit troubled if a bead goes in the wrong jar.

I'm thinking about putting a knot in the end of a length of yarn, wrapping tape around the other end (like the end of a shoelace) and letting him string beads. I think this would be really good for his fine motor control.

Have you used beads with your little one? What is their favourite thing to do?

Don't forget to enter our giveaway.

Toddler Fun Posts:

• Introduction
• Paper

Toddler Fun - Giveaway

I'm excited about this giveaway. I've put together a "starter" kit of things for your little one to do. I'm sure you also have things hanging around your house that you can use to make activities for you toddler - this will help.

So here's a list of what's in this picture:

• a page of stickers
• a pack of construction paper
• six mini cups for sorting/storing beads and/or pom poms
• pom poms
• a wooden puzzle of coloured shapes
• beads
• pipe cleaners
• magnetic tape (for mommy to prepare some activities ☺)
• an animal dominoes game
• popsicle sticks

Now for the rules:

• I'm sorry but this is only open to residents of Canada and the U.S.
• for one entry sign up to follow my blog by email
• for another entry share about this giveaway on Facebook (comment when you have done so)
• for extra entries leave at least one comment on any or all of the "Toddler Fun" posts (one entry/comment)
• The contest will close December 7th at noon when I will draw one winner at random

Have fun and hopefully your little one will be getting something to help fill his/her days.

Prepping for a Programme and a Winner

I am so sorry that I have not been here this week, but it was for a good cause. Tonight we had a Thanksgiving programme at our church. So I was preparing for that - music, food, decorations, designing and preparing a programme and SEWING. I sewed matching dresses for my two youngest daughters - at their request. It's nice that they still like to match. We did do different buttons on the front of each as a way of telling them apart. Here are a couple of pictures from our night which went so well. I forgot my camera in the rush to get out the door but my husband has a great one in his smart phone. :)

 

And now for the big news - the winner of the giveaway. I should have done this on Thursday. Sorry. First, the changes to my blog - the "About Me" picture, the Facebook and Pinterest buttons personalized to match my blog, the links to other posts and a different comment form. Only one person got them all right and coincidentally also won - Julie Geoffrion. Congratulations! You need to let me know now which one of the books you want. Thank you to all who participated.

 

I hope to get back to a more normal life in the next few days, but first there is Thanksgiving on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

How was your week - busy, normal or slow?

Bookmark Winner

With the help of my oldest daughter who taught me how to use a random selector (hope I can remember for next time), we have a winner....

Joy Daggett.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I'm already thinking about doing something for post #100. I'll keep you posted (haha).

A Nursing Cover Giveaway

As we've mentioned before my oldest daughter, Eva, helps with some of the behind-the-scenes work on this blog. For this special week of breastfeeding posts she helped set up a giveaway.

Julie from Juls Sweet Designs Etsy shop has agreed to send a nursing cover to one of our readers. Nursing covers are a great tool to help you be modest when nursing in public or to help your distracted baby block out the world so he can nurse. We've all seen a mom with a blanket over her shoulder so she can nurse her baby. The difference here is a strap that goes around the neck to keep the cover in place and flexible boning at the neckline so you can look down and see your little one's face - and they can see yours.

Here is the cover that is being offered. You can go here to read the details about this cover.

 

 

Julie has a beautiful shop with a lot of great baby related items. I love her diaper strap which will keep your baby's diapers from scattering all over your diaper bag or purse.

 

Even if you don't need one of these they would make a great gift for a friend who is nursing. To win one of these covers leave a comment on this post telling me whether or not you ever used a nursing cover. For another chance to win visit Julie's shop here and tell me what your favourite item there is. For a final chance share this giveaway on Facebook and leave a comment to tell me you have done so. That's three entries if you so choose. I will randomly pick a winner on Wednesday, August 7th so watch for your name.

My First Giveaway

I promised this a few posts ago, but for one reason and another I didn't get this ready. I'm sorry, but I'm ready now.

 

To celebrate having made it to the 50 posts mark (I'm actually up to 62) I made a crocheted corner bookmark. I'm excited to have come so far. I was so nervous when I first started - who would be interested in what I have to say? But it's been fun and I've learned a lot. Since I've spent a good deal of time celebrating reading I thought a bookmark would make a nice giveaway.

So if you would like to win this bookmark here's what you need to do. First, leave a comment and tell me what your favourite post has been. For a second chance to win, share about this giveaway on Facebook leaving another comment telling me you did so. On Saturday I will randomly select one winner (after my daughter shows me how☺).