MommyCoddle

mini swap 3

What is the miniswap?
It is a mail swap between our children (for the children, by the children–with a little help from you and me)–a chance to let them get in on the fun of sending and receiving a brown paper package.

THE DETAILS

::We will swap by household. Keep in mind, you might sign up one
child, but be swapped with a household of two or three children. This
doesn’t mean you have to put together three times as much stuff, but it
might be nice to include something small for each of the children.

::Originally I didn’t put an age limit on participation. But
this year, I’m going to say two years and up. The idea of this swap is
that our children are really participating. Please use good judgment about where to cap it off
at the older end. (And just for the record, if you were my partner and
signed up your four year old, but there was a 12 month old crawling
around your house, I’d want to know so I could include a little
something for him/her. I wouldn’t want to leave those babes out all
together. But I’ll leave that up between partners.)

::The swap is open to anyone, so please be willing to ship overseas when you sign up.

::I always try to be budget-conscious. Try to keep the bulk of your
swap goodies in the handmade or hand-me-down category. One year my
partner passed on gently used books, a stuffed toy and other goodies
(among other fantastic things)–and my kids loved it. And the sentiment
behind her children wanting to pass on a special toy to another child
was priceless.This swap is not meant to break the bank.

::Need ideas of things to include? You can check out the miniswap flickr group. Or, leave a comment after this post of some of the highlights from last year. I’d love to hear and I’m sure others would, too.

::Please include a postcard or small map showing where you’re from. (I forgot to do this last year, again… oops.)

::Please ship packages by February 22. That should give you about a month to put it all together.

HOW TO SIGN UP:

I will open the sign ups on Tuesday morning at 10:00am. ET. I think I can handle the logistics of 125 participants. I think. All you need to do is send an email to miniswap (at) gmail (dot) com and include:

1. your name

2. email address

3. location

4. name and age of your child/children.

I will then swap names randomly, and contact half the list with their partner’s email address. That partner will be in charge of starting the communication between the two of you. . I’ll let you know when families are paired and that first email goes out so that you can be watching your inbox.

Last year there were lots of problems with people’s emails going into spam or junk mail folders, so partners thought they weren’t being contacted, or their partner didn’t want to participate. Please be watchful and aware of that problem. It is those kind of glitches that make it get complicated and extra work.

And lastly, PLEASE only sign up if you’re seriously interested. Last year, I had a good handful of no-shows when it finally came down to it. It’s frustrating when I turned away many people who wanted to be part of the mini swap and people who signed up didn’t follow through. And more importantly, it left some pretty disappointed partners (and children). So please only sign up if you’re really sure you can participate.

After sign ups close, I’ll get together some code so you can put the button on your blog, if you wish. And as always, please pass the word on your blog that miniswap 3 is getting started.

Phew!!! I think that’s it….I’m looking forward to another fun year of swapping!

THE DETAILS

::The swap is open to anyone, so please be willing to ship overseas when you sign up.

::Please include a postcard or small map showing where you’re from. (I forgot to do this last year, again… oops.)

::Please ship packages by February 22. That should give you about a month to put it all together.

HOW TO SIGN UP:

1. your name

2. email address

3. location

4. name and age of your child/children.

After sign ups close, I’ll get together some code so you can put the button on your blog, if you wish. And as always, please pass the word on your blog that miniswap 3 is getting started.

Phew!!! I think that’s it….I’m looking forward to another fun year of swapping!

31 Comments

a new baby

First of all. Wow. Thank you for all the ideas on my breakfast post. You guys always pull through with the good advice. This weekend, I’m going to sit down with pencil and paper, go through the comments and make my grocery list. There’s new ideas, forgotten ideas and recipes I want to try. If you haven’t checked back with the comments, it is definitely worth a second look. It will give all the healthy, hearty breakfast motivation one could need. I’ll go through the names this weekend and pick out a bumper sticker winner.

And secondly, I feel like I need to say hello and thank you to all those new readers that showed up in the last post. My inbox was full of new names. It was wonderful. Thank you so much for stopping by and for saying hello. It warms a girl’s heart.

So the ‘new baby’….you’ll have to go over here for the details. And I have a feeling there will be a book (or two) you’ll want to add to your home library…or at the very least, pick up at your library this weekend.

Dan and I will be finishing up series five of BallyKissAngel and hunkering down with the kiddos for some cold weather on the way.

Happy Weekend, friends.

illustration from "the book"

Dan and I will be finishing up series five of BallyKissAngel and hunkering down with the kiddos for some cold weather on the way.

Happy Weekend, friends.

illustration from "the book"

5 Comments

home / HOMESCHOOLING / IN MY KITCHEN

breakfast, bumper stickers and baby LIVE

It seems odd, but one of the biggest challenges I’ve had with home schooling Emma this year has been keeping her well-fed and full of energy. She is a lot like Dan I think–high metabolism, low blood sugar tendencies and when she’s the least bit hungry she has no energy and gets very grumpy. It seems like I’m having to constantly give her snacks to keep her focused and "with me" so we can sit down and do a little concentrated school work together. I often find myself wondering how she’d ever cope in school–going all morning without a snack before lunch.

So I’ve been starting with breakfast–trying to wean them off cold cereal and juice and on to things with a little more substance–eggs, granola and yogurt, oatmeal. I’ve been setting up for breakfast each night before bed, hoping it will keep me on track with making them a hearty breakfast, instead of falling back on the easy box of cereal. Yesterday’s eggs seemed to go over well and help us get a little farther into the morning before a meltdown indicating snack. And today’s oatmeal was a moderate hit–thanks to some cream and raisins on top.

I’d love to hear some of the things that you feed your children for breakfast? Or do you have a great snack that you give them mid-morning for a boost of energy? Is there something I should be cooking up? I’m hoping Emma will grow out of this "eat every 90 minutes" kind of lifestyle, but maybe not.

Speaking of food–a little giveaway. I recently got some mail from American Farmland Trust, which included a few bumper stickers. I kept one for myself, but I’d love to give one away. They say, "No Farms. No Food." If you’d like it and use it, leave me a note in the comments and I’ll get in touch. If more than one of you want it, then I’ll just draw a name.

And for your viewing pleasure–she kept squawking at me while I was trying to write this post–I think she just wanted to be on camera. please ignore my mommy voice. yuck.

Hello Elizabeth from molly balint on Vimeo.

It seems odd, but one of the biggest challenges I’ve had with home schooling Emma this year has been keeping her well-fed and full of energy. She is a lot like Dan I think–high metabolism, low blood sugar tendencies and when she’s the least bit hungry she has no energy and gets very grumpy. It seems like I’m having to constantly give her snacks to keep her focused and “with me” so we can sit down and do a little concentrated school work together. I often find myself wondering how she’d ever cope in school–going all morning without a snack before lunch.

So I’ve been starting with breakfast–trying to wean them off cold cereal and on to things with a little more substance–eggs, granola and yogurt, oatmeal, and orangina. I’ve been setting up for breakfast each night before bed, hoping it will keep me on track with making them a hearty breakfast, instead of falling back on the easy box of cereal. Yesterday’s eggs seemed to go over well and help us get a little farther into the morning before a meltdown indicating snack. And today’s oatmeal was a moderate hit–thanks to some cream and raisins on top.

I’d love to hear some of the things that you feed your children for breakfast? Or do you have a great snack that you give them mid-morning for a boost of energy? Is there something I should be cooking up? I’m hoping Emma will grow out of this “eat every 90 minutes” kind of lifestyle, but maybe not.

Speaking of food–a little giveaway. I recently got some mail from American Farmland Trust, which included a few bumper stickers. I kept one for myself, but I’d love to give one away. They say, “No Farms. No Food.” If you’d like it and use it, leave me a note in the comments and I’ll get in touch. If more than one of you want it, then I’ll just draw a name.

And for your viewing pleasure–she kept squawking at me while I was trying to write this post–I think she just wanted to be on camera. please ignore my mommy voice. yuck.

Hello Elizabeth from molly balint on Vimeo.

43 Comments