Wooden

I love wood. I remember as a child that I hated the wooden floors in our home and longed for a western-style, wall-to-wall-carpeted room -- and yet I spent half my time on the floor, playing, reading or just lying down. The cool, smooth feel of the floor against my cheek, so soothing in the tropical heat, would often lull me to sleep.

Wood plays a big part in making our house a home, beginning with the driveway gate...



..... the furniture...







.... and yes, the floors. My kids have no problem sleeping on the floor either.



It's beautiful and easy to clean. What wood we do without it?!


This week's Photo Hunters theme is Wooden. For more wooden things, click here.

American Girl coupon

Hey everyone, I've just found the Holy Grail of coupons.... free shipping at the American Girl website/catalog! With no minimum purchase!

coupon code: A382024
expiration date: March 16, 2008

Just in time for The Pea's birthday....

A Valentine for you

To celebrate this wonderful day, here are some thoughts on love, by two people I love most in the world (3Po refused to play):

What is love?
CleanBoy: It means someone wants to kiss you,
Pea: Something you have in your heart when you really like people.

How old do you have to be to get married?
CleanBoy: 25
Pea: At least twenty-something.

How do people decide whom to marry?
CleanBoy: You have to find someone; you have to look as hard as you possibly can and tell them that you want to marry them.
Pea: You go around looking at all the boys and you try each boy and then you pick the nicest one for you.

When is it OK to kiss someone?
CleanBoy: You can kiss anyone, but no smacking people after they kiss.
Pea: If you love each other or if you're married.

Is it better to be single or married?
CleanBoy: Married, because you get to be loved forever.
Pea: Married, because if you're single you won't have anyone to be with and you'll get bored.


Love is sweetest when it is as innocent and pure as a child. Their love is sweeter to me than any box of chocolates. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Give a little love

So what are you doing for Valentine's Day tomorrow? How about joining a contest and winning something romantic? For today, I thought I would feature some nice people around the blogosphere who are spreading some love. Below are some Valentine's Day-themed blog contests that I found today. Join now, because most contests end tonight -- and good luck!

Mod*Mom is hosting a fabulous Valentine's Giveaway contest worth $3500.

The Lingerie Post is giving away over $2,000 worth of Lingerie in their Valentine's Day Contest.

TinyLove toys is sponsoring a Valentine's Day Blog photo contest: post your baby's photo before Feb. 21 to win some great prizes.

The Garden Goose is giving away a romantic victorian pillow and potpourri.

One World, One Heart is hosting a blogosphere-wide Valentine's Day giveaway; the site contains a list of participants holding Valentine's Day contests and giveaways on their blogs.

Show me the Magic

I have always loved Disneyland. I first went there on my first visit to the US, at age 7, and the magic has stayed with me. I have dreamed of taking my children there for a long time, but we haven't gone yet. My daughter is almost 7; sadly, this seems to be an age nowadays when kids are declaring themselves too cool to be seen with Minnie and Mickey, too grownup to dress up like Ariel, ready to move on to Hannah Montana and High School Musical. So I want that first visit to happen soon, very soon. What's stopping us?

Parents at the Polls

Good morning, America! Today is Voting Day over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. Posts all day will be devoted to how being parents affects our politics. With the primary elections heating up and the general elections looming in the distance, the stakes couldn't be higher. And go to the site to read my post about an interesting conversation I had with The Pea.....

Heavy

What's the heaviest I've ever been? When I was pregnant with twins, of course. The photo on the left shows me pregnant with The Pea at almost full term. The photo on the right was taken at only 28 weeks with the twins, and yet I'm already as large as I was at 37 weeks, 2.5 years before. When I gave birth to them at 38 weeks, I was carrying almost 14 lbs. of babies. I can't divulge how much I weighed, but it was more than my husband's weight.

This week's Photo Hunter's theme is Heavy. For more heavy things, click here.

These dolls ain't so bad after all

It has been about 2months since I gave in and bought The Pea an American Girl doll for Christmas, and I must say that the whole experience has been better than I expected. First of all, the Pea absolutely loves her doll. She plays with her almost every day and takes good care of her. It doesn't look like she's going to tire of the doll anytime soon, especially since several of her friends also received AG dolls for Christmas.

Second, the "gateway purchase" -- namely, the doll -- hasn't turned into slippery slope of consumerism that I feared. I mean, once you have the doll, she needs clothes, right? Not to mention purses and shoes and a bed and a dresser and what about another doll so she has someone to play with. Yikes! $24 for a pair of doll pajamas? I don't even spend that much on clothes for my kids.

But The Pea continues to surprise me yet again. I have heard plenty of wistful sighing over the beautiful clothes and accessories and furniture in the American Girl catalog, but no sense of entitlement and no whining. She happily uses the box that her doll came in as a bed; we just covered it with a pink pillowcase and a little heart pillow. She's not brand-conscious at all -- she's just as excited about the doll clothes for sale at Target and Michael's as she is about the clothes in the AG catalog. Her resourcefulness and willingness to compromise leaves me pleasantly surprised and proud of my little girl.

Which brings me to another reason this American Girl thing is turning out to be a good thing. The Pea and I have been spending a lot of fun girly time together making all kinds of stuff for her doll -- bracelets, necklaces, and other accessories. We recently made the accessories set in the photo above -- I got a square of yellow felt, sewed the hat and bag together, cut out the scarf, and The Pea decorated it with fabric paint. She's so proud of it and all it took was the sewing skills of a 7-year-old.

I'm putting together a post with how-to directions for all 3 accessories. Watch out for it soon -- It's a fun, easy project for any girl.

A brief hematology lesson

(3Po has had a bad cold and cough for the past several days)

3Po: Mama, why am I sick?

Me: Because there are germs inside your body that are attacking your body, and they are making you sick.

3Po: But aren't the white blood cells supposed to fight the germs?

Me: Yes, but sometimes your body is not strong enough to fight the germs.

3Po: Why isn't my body strong enough?

Me: Well, maybe it's because you aren't eating enough healthy foods. Or maybe it's because you are staying too late and your body isn't getting enough rest. Or maybe it isn't your body's fault. Sometimes there are germs that are so strong that your body cannot fight them.

3Po: Yeah, there are germs like Amazo(note: Amazo is an all-powerful robot who frequently battles the Justice League, i.e. Superman, Batman and their superfriends). No-one can beat Amazo

Me: But the Justice League can beat Amazo, right?

3Po: Yeah, the Justice League can beat Amazo. The Justice League should get into my body to fight the germs there!

A brief anatomy lesson

Pea: I'm made of sugar and spice and everything nice! That's what little girls are made of. Do you know what you are made of? You're made of slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails, 'cause that's what little boys are made of.

CleanBoy: No! I'm made of toothpaste and juice and rice and everything nice.

(check this out, here's what little boys are really made of!)