Week of June 5th - 11th

This Week's Special Offer:

You can read more about
Cascade Lemonade
in the Sweet Shoppes

feature, below!

My Thoughts...
I am reading Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis before seeing the film, and as with the other books in The Chronicles of Narnia , I am amazed at how he manages to weave deep spiritual truths into children's fiction. One instance in chapter ten, The Return of the Lion, particularly spoke to me. Lucy has just encountered Aslan face to face for the first time since her return to Narnia...

"Welcome, child", he said.
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

I love watching our daughter see things for the first time or rediscover things she was too young to appreciate only a few weeks or months ago. As I read, I was struck by the realization that it has been quite a while since God suddenly appeared "bigger" to me. I am hoping and longing for fresh eyes to see Him as He is.

C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1979), 148.

Here is another pattern for darling baby booties from Heather Bailey.

Entertain your little ones outdoors with one of these ideas from Kid's Craft Weekly.

Send your gently used toys to an Iraqi child...details from BabyCenter.


Plan a "kid date" with your child. Ideas provided by Babble.

Kailani

Kailani shares:
I have 2 wonderful daughters. "Girlie Girl" is six going on sixteen and "Baby Bug" is two. They bring so much love, happiness, and a fair share of chaos into my life. I was born and raised in the beautiful state of Hawaii.

I've been blogging for about 2 years now. It all started when I received a Palm Treo Smartphone as a gift. I wanted a free download of an alarm app and needed to blog about it to get it. I had no idea what a blog was at the time. With the help of a fellow Treo user, I signed-up with Blogger, published my first post, and had no intention of continuing with it. Who knew I'd get so addicted? LOL!

Kailani has quite a presence in the blogosphere! She shares a little about each of her features:

An Island Life: I blog about my daily life as a full-time Mommy, part-time flight attendant, and overall life in Hawaii. I also host giveaways throughout the week with some amazing sponsors donating cool prizes. I host a weekly meme called Aloha Friday and run various blogging events such as goody swaps, photo contests, blog awards, and other fun stuff throughout the year.

An Island Review: Daily listings of contests & giveaways around the Blogosphere. I also include product reviews and my own giveaways as well.

Island Baby Boutique: It's still in the construction phase but it's up and running. Here you can find homemade Hawaiian print items for babies and children.

5 Minutes Around the Blogosphere: I write a weekly column at 5 Minutes for Mom that highlights various events going on around the Blogosphere. If you have a giveaway or event that you'd like listed, just let me know! I've been told that since I already have a decent following, new visitors are a little reluctant to leave a comment. Please stop by and say "hi"! There's always room for new friends!

Cascade started Cascade Lemonade in early 2007 as a label for her line of travel, home, and clothing accessories for all ages. Each of her original designs are functional and are made with lovely, cheery, and often vintage materials. Cascade Lemonade was Cascade's
childhood nickname. She loves to try new things and has taught herself and taken classes in sewing, quilting, knitting, spinning, embroidery, printmaking and bookbinding. During the day, she works full-time as a marine biologist. She goes to "work" on Cascade Lemonade in her sun room studio from 8:00 to 11:00 pm after putting her son to bed. She is also finishing up her PhD, focused on the impacts of global climate change. Cascade melds her artistic and scientific passions by donating at least 15% of Cascade Lemonade's profits for carbon offsets (see carbonfund.org) and renewable energy (see sterlingplanet.com).

Even though she is constantly dreaming up and experimenting with new Cascade Lemonade designs, her main priority is her family. Her husband is also a marine biologist and her son is two years old. Together, they enjoy music, hiking, camping, and travelling - especially to visit Cascade's family in Oregon (where she grew up an hour from the Cascade Mountains), her in-laws in Alaska, and their most recent home in Sonoma County, California. Since August, the three live (and Cascade Lemonade is based) on Boston's North Shore in Massachusetts. To learn more, please visit Cascade's blog, Materials & Methods, and her shop at cascadelemonade.etsy.com.

My favorites...

Sofia Art Case & Bag

Mylarkey Lunch Bag

Pick-Up-and-Go Blanket

City Street (Scenes 1 & 2) © Roberto Giovannini Dreamstime.com
Bag of groceries © Mike Cassell Dreamstime.com
Two Women Drinking Coffee © Bsilvia Dreamstime.com

Join the Street Team!

If you enjoy the giveaways here at Notes From My Nest and would like to increase your own chances of winning, join the Notes From My Nest Street Team! At some point I will limit the number of team members so sign up now if you are interested! Street Team Members must be US residents!

THE PERKS:
1. Earn additional entries in each of the giveaways that you promote, thus increasing your own chances of winning.

2. A link to your blog or Twitter account in the sidebar under the Street Team Members header. If you are blogging and Twittering about the giveaways, only your blog address will be listed.

3. Backlinks to your blog. To see an example, click here and scroll to the bottom of the post. The backlinks are listed under "Links to this post". If you aren't familiar with backlinks and have questions about them, you may find answers to your questions here.

There are a couple of ways that you can participate.

1. Twitter - I'm looking for some faithful Tweets to help spread the word each time a new giveaway is posted. In return, you will receive additional entries in each giveaway. To participate, you must have a minimum of 25 followers on Twitter. If you meet this requirement and would like to participate in this manner, email notesfrommynest@gmail.com, [subject: "I Twitter"] and I'll contact you with the details.

2. Blog - I'm on the lookout for some well-established bloggers who are interested in giving a "shout out" about the giveaways. In return, you will receive additional entries in each giveaway. If you would like to participate in this manner, email notesfrommynest@gmail.com, [subject: "I Blog"] and I'll contact you with the details. There are different levels of participation. All blogs are subject to approval.