Usborne Books & More: A Giveaway!

Hey, friends!

I'm super excited to share this giveaway with you today! My best friend, Melissa, is a consultant with Usborne so I've been able to see first hand just how awesome their books are. They have books for babies all the way up to Young Adult titles. They have books on learning how to draw, coloring books (even for adults! ;)), wipe-clean books that are perfect for tracing letters and numbers (and many other things), and some of the best quality (and cute!) board books I've ever seen. 

We have probably a handful of Usborne books in the house, mostly because of Melissa. ;-) I've seen my kiddos fight over the That's Not My Fox book and Touchy-Feely book quite a few times. 

Around Christmas I talked my mom into buying the Nutracker book (with music) for the kids...mostly because I love the Nutcracker so much! Charlotte loves the music, too, and I love the fact that the pages are durable enough to withstand these two crazies. I also gave my niece and nephew two of the sticker books for Christmas, because, what kid doesn't love stickers?!

So anyway, today I'm sharing with you a giveaway for a Brain Bag! 

If you would like to create your own bag, you can select one of each of these categories:

• A set of Activity Cards or an Activity Book
• A Coloring or Drawing Book
• A Sticker or Wipe-Clean Book (LOVE these!)
• A Chapter, Non-Fiction, or Phonics Book

Honestly, I kind want one of these for my girls!! They would be great for the never-ending road trips (either to see family or for when we move...again...), plane rides, long doctor appointments, when you need a little bit of quiet time (*wink*), etc. 

So. Go forth and ENTER! Giveaway will be open for 1 week, starting NOW. Winner will be selected randomly by Rafflecopter, will be contacted via email, and then announced here on the blog no later than Friday of next week. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Freedom & A Trip to the Library

Today, this is what freedom looks like to me:

Yes, a car in the driveway signifies my newfound (and long awaited) freedom. Why? Because until we purchased this little thing, we were a one car family.

As unhappy as I was about the idea of Joe riding a motorcycle, I'm practically over-the-moon knowing that I have the car (as long as the weather permits) and that I can freaking go somewhere. 

We've had one car since we were newlyweds. Not 2 months after we got married, I was in a car wreck on the interstate. No one was injured, but we only had liability insurance on my car. Since I was the one who [wrongly] ended up with the ticket, repairs weren't covered and we didn't have the money to fix it. {Read: we didn't have any money.} So, my car was hauled off to the junkyard and we became a one car family. 6 years and 2 kids later.....I'd say it's time for another vehicle, wouldn't you?!

To celebrate my newfound freedom, I took the kiddos to the library this morning. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while, and it's only 10 minutes from home. A perfect outing! 

 Reading books in the kids' area.

Making friends.

We were only there for probably half an hour, but we had a good time! Charlotte played with puzzles they had out on activity tables, read a few books, and met a new friend. While they played, I chatted with his mom for a little bit and picked out some new books to read to Charlotte at bedtime. It really was a fun little trip for me, and I'm hoping to make it a regular event!

Millie went with us, of course, but she was practically worn out by the whole thing. I nursed her as soon as we got home and then put her to bed. Poor baby. ;-)

Hooray for mommy having a car!