This was her first response:

This was her second:

Note the shift from bewilderment to defiance.

So we went with the other youngin’ in the room.

We asked him to kindly drop the lid he was sucking on and do this one small favor for us.

Would you please reach into this box and pull out a piece of paper?

Hmmm… Plastic? Or paper.  Plastic?  Or paper…

Yeah… we’re gonna go with paper on this one…

Hence the nickname: The Papervore.

(Olivia kept walking in front of the flash… and yes, I threw good photography to the wind and used the flash.  It was a gloomy cloudy day and we have horrible indoor lighting.)

Rachel of rachelelwood.com, you are the winner! Email me your baking mix preference (or if you don’t know your choices, email me and I’ll list them off for you and then you can choose from that).  And if you don’t email me, I’ll assume you have better things to do than check a rarely updated blog such as mine and I’ll just have to email you first.

Thanks for playing!

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As much as I hate to give up my computer to anyone – ever – I do occasionally for my children.  Because I love them.  More than my computer.  And they love to play on the computer.

Over the years, I’ve been able to find some fun, educational sites with games they absolutely enjoy, which also happen to be COMPLETELY FREE.  And I thought I’d share them with you.  And I hope you’ll also share your favorite sites with me, too!

Fisher-Price Online Games – This is the first site we found, and thus the most explored.  It has games for infants (really?!), toddlers, and preschoolers.  It has some very good phonics/reading games that we like, along with some simple coloring games.  It tries to hit on all the subjects with music and math as well.

It is funded by Fisher-Price, though, so a lot of the games and all of the coloring pages feature characters from their toys.  *cough* Gimmick! *cough* I don’t mind – my kids don’t watch commercials.  :-)

It is a nicely organized site where everything is laid out clearly and you know what you’re clicking.  It is also easy enough for very young children to play independently, depending on what game you choose.

PBS Kids Online Games – This is a new one for us.  We have yet to explore the nooks and crannies.  The games it offers are fun; my children were on it just today, creating parade floats with Clifford the Big Red Dog.  They can also be very educational and include some phonics/reading games that rival my children’s Leapster games.

If your children are familiar with the PBS television shows and their characters, they’ll enjoy it even more as they recognize familiar faces. (Different from Fisher-Price’s advertising gimmick because PBS is FREE!)

However, it is nowhere nearly as easy to navigate as Fisher-Price’s website.  The games were not as clearly labeled or laid out.  I didn’t know what I was clicking on until the page loaded (is it a coloring page I’d have to print?  or a game my daughter can play right now?  Or an online book that she can’t even read and isn’t read aloud?)  I’ll keep tinkering with it.  It definitely has potential as I figure out where all the good games are hidden.

Color with Leo – This website was actually introduced to me a couple weeks ago by the creator*.  It is his passion to mold “the next generation of artists and creative thinkers” and so he created this website to suite that purpose.  As opposed to the previous two sites, it focuses purely on teaching art to children through fun games.

It is very cleanly laid out and easy to access.  It uses real masterpieces from artists such as Van Gogh, and Mary Cassatt.  It is easy enough that my four-year-old can play it independently.  As a homeschooling mom, I can definitely see a place for this site in our curriculum!

Starfall - This site is the newest to me.  Upon opening it the first time, I have to admit I was doubtful; the initial appearance lacked the professionalism of the previous sites.  But after clicking around, you can bet I bookmarked it!  It is a homeschooling mother’s (or any teacher, really) dream website!  It mainly focuses on reading, split into four levels filled with wonderful games, songs, and lessons of phonemic awareness, but it also has neat activities for special days and seasons of the year (100th day!).

It is very neatly organized, manageable, and well labeled.  If on the right age level, I’m sure my almost-three-year-old would be able to play these games as well as my four-year-old.

My Wrap-Up – So I use Fisher-Price for it’s ease-of-use, all-around fun, and mild educational factor, Color With Leo for art class, Starfall for phonics (and special day activities), and PBS Kids for a back-up fun site when they get bored with the other three – I’ll just have to make sure I’m right there to navigate it for them (not while I’m making dinner!)

What are your favorite websites for your kids? Tell me and you could WIN one of the following:

Two (2!) Color with Leo children’s shirts (size 4):

One 12″ Leo doll

That’s right, THREE WINNERS. All you have to do is leave a comment below (one entry per person, duplicate entries won’t count) telling me your favorite free kid’s website.  This contest will go until 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Sunday night.  Then comments will be left open (I still want to know your favorite sites!), but the giveaway will be closed and I will contact you (please leave your email!) if you won.

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Disclaimer:  The creator of Color with Leo did contact me, hoping to spread the word about his website.  All he asked for was a mention; the review was my idea, and my truthful opinion.  In gratitude for the mention, he did send me and my family some art supplies and promotional material.  We, being a poor, homeschooling family, are keeping the art supplies (water colors, construction paper, crayons, etc), and gifting you with the promotional material.

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This post is a contribution to Frugal Friday.

I’m gonna go ahead and guestimate that it’s been a full year since I’ve participated in the Quarterly Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. And I haven’t really been spending that year trying to think of the bestest, most creative giveaway, I confess.  So, when I found out this morning that this week is the Giveaway Carnival, I quickly just threw this post together. 

But really, I think natural, half-whole wheat (HWW) baking mixes are a GREAT giveaway.  Free food, already half-prepared for you?  And definitely healthier than anything you’d find at the store.  So here we go!

Here is a list for you to choose from:

(Note:  All baking mixes include only dry, non-perishable ingredients.  Not shipping ripe bananas, sorry. )

• HWW Pancakes
• HWW Chocolate Chip Cookies
• HWW Corn Bread
• HWW Banana Bread
• HWW Biscuits
• HWW Sugar Cookies

To win ONE baking mix, simply leave your name and email in a comment (There’s a spot to leave it in the comment form where no one but me will be able to see it).

To win THREE baking mixes of your choice, subscribe to my blog and leave an additional comment telling me you’ve done so.  The link to subscribe is underneath the “Who is The Natural Mommy” section in the top left corner of the page.

Edited to add: If you already subscribe, simply leave a second comment telling me so!  Yes, you most certainly DO qualify for the opportunity to win three mixes!  You loved me even BEFORE I bribed you with free stuff!

This giveaway will close Friday (at some point in time), January 30th.

AND I WILL SHIP ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Because I love you crazy Internationals.

And…. GO. 

Chocolate chip half whole wheat sounds great!

I’ll be emailing you for your address, Laura! And thanks to all who entered!

NaturalMomsTalkRadio is giving out (for free!) an ebook with tips and recipes for achieving a more natural beauty.  I just downloaded mine and glanced through it.   I’m already impressed and intrigued!

So click here to get yours and tell me what you think!

I’ve got a bit of a late start this season, with the What I Believe topic taking up most my recent free computer/blogging time. But hey, I can still jump on the bandwagon and get a jazillion comments and a few extra dollars from BlogHerAds, right?

SO! Since my creativity is currently zapped, I present to you… (drumroll)…

Choose your own [baking mix] giveaway!

Yeah, I’m not THAT generous. Otherwise some smart-alec is going to request my husband’s laptop or something equally ridiculous.

In the past I’ve had a lot of success with the baking mix giveaways, so we’re going to stick with that. Again, I will include all dry, non-perishable items and recipe and cover shipping costs (even overseas, like, as in AUSTRALIA.) And here are your options:

• Chocolate Chip cookies (white or half-whole wheat)
• Sugar Cookies (white or half-whole wheat)
• Banana Bread (white or half-whole wheat)
• Pancakes (white or half-whole wheat)
• Fudge (no healthy alternative currently available)
• Corn Bread (white or half-whole wheat)
• Biscuits (white or half-whole wheat)

Earn one baking mix by leaving a comment below telling me which mix your heart desires.

Earn two additional mixes by blogging this delicious giveaway news on your own blog. (Leave the link in your entry comment so I can verify.) Don’t have a blog? Email at least three other people about the giveaway and include my email (beth at thenaturalmommy dot com) on the Cc line.

May the person who brings me the most traffic best person win!

Oh, right, and this giveaway is open until Saturday… at some point… whenever I decide to close comments and pick winner via random.org.

So here it is:

Your very own car-back-massager-thingy!

All you have to do to be entered in the contest is to tell me in the comments that you want my car-back-massager-thingy! Only one comment per person, duplicates will be deleted. The drawing will be this Friday at (around) 3pm (right in the middle of naptime) AT MY NEW SITE www.thenaturalmommy.com (it will be up and running (crosses fingers)). International comments also welcome! I’ll spring for the extra in shipping because it’s that cool that you’re commenting on my blog!

For more freebies, check out this site!

*Whew!* I got online three minutes ago, saw that the entries for the bloggy giveaways would be closed at 9 CST and my heart skipped a couple beats! But then I realized that wasn’t my time zone and I had exactly three minutes to get this up and running!
*Heavy Sigh*

EDIT: Those reading this on Facebook must comment at the actual blog site: bethibaby.blogspot.com.

*Note the change in the site name. On Friday, make sure you go www.thenaturalmommy.com to find the winning commenter!