It's teething central over here. Poor Baby Gwen is getting at least three in at once and she is NOT THRILLED about it. But she IS THRILLED about discovering the tupperware cabinet: And thrilled with playing with/eating sand at the new beautiful city park: Now, at risk of losing all of my readers who live above the Mason-Dixon line, here's a picture of the kiddos enjoying the Florida … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2014
Books for Aspiring Pirates and Fairies
I love to make book lists and I thought it would be fun to compile some of our favorite picture books and read alouds about pirates and fairies! Ye Ol' Pirate Books My oldest kids, Benjamin and Lucy, love to play pirates in the backyard. Usually there's a sizable altercation about who gets to be Captain Hook. Swords are wielded. Epic battles fought. These are some of our favorite library finds … [Read more...]
It’s Your Blog, You Set the Tone (For the Love of Blogging Series)
Welcome to a new series at Carrots! I often get emails and comments asking about various blogging-related things, so I thought it would be fun to answer some of them right here on the blog as a little on-going series. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful! If you have a question about blogging, feel free to leave it in the comments and I may be able to answer it in a future For the Love of … [Read more...]
Toadily Handmade Beeswax Candle Giveaway Winner and Special Discount
Just popping in to announce that Erin York won the Toadily Handmade Beeswax Candle's Easter Egg votive giveaway! Congrats, Erin! And thanks to everyone who entered! Toadily Handmade is offering 10% off to Carrots readers (because you're awesome!) until the end of the month, so if you didn't win the giveaway but have to have some Easter Egg votives, use the coupon code CARROTS to get the special … [Read more...]
In Defense of Fanny Price: Why You Don’t Like Mansfield Park as Much as You Should
I’m re-reading Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for the fourth time as part of an online book club. As we make our way through the book, I’m hearing all the comments I expected to hear about the book: “This is my least favorite Austen novel.” "Fanny just isn’t likable.” “Why is she so boring and prudish?” “Mary Crawford would make a much better heroine.” “Lighten up, Fanny.” And those reactions are … [Read more...]
Making a Simple St. Joseph’s Day Altar (Liturgical Living Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect)
Yesterday, March 19th, was St. Joseph's feast day. And every year, we forget to celebrate. Maybe it's because it's Lent? Maybe it's because St. Patrick's Day comes just two days before. Even though it's not as important a feast as St. Joseph's Day, it seems to overshadow it because St. Patrick's Day is a big deal culturally for Americans (because so many of us are descended from Irish immigrants) … [Read more...]
More Than Chocolate Bunnies: Simple and Fun Kids’ Easter Basket Fillers (And Easter Egg Votives Giveaway!)
Ever since we began observing the liturgical year, we do it up big for Easter. After the 40 days of Lent, it’s time for the biggest party of the year in celebration of the Resurrection! We try to find ways to help our kids understand the Christian Year and having simple meals during Lent and then really celebrating with food and gifts for Easter helps them learn to participate in those seasons. I … [Read more...]
This Week’s Miscellany: Vol. 83
How's your Lent going? The first weekend of Lent, I went on retreat, thanks to Daniel who watched the kids so I could attend (I came home every so often to nurse Baby Gwen). It was so wonderful and I discovered my patron saint (or, rather, she found me.) Today I'm over at Catholic Exchange sharing all about that experience. It's a much more personal post than I usually write for CE. So, if you … [Read more...]
An ABCs of Must Read Children’s Book Authors
"I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children's story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children's story. The good ones last." -C.S. Lewis In solidarity with C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, I decided to compile a list of children's book authors that my children love and whose books I love reading aloud over and over. Instead of searching for new titles … [Read more...]
More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Me in an Interview at Catholic Mom
Head on over to CatholicMom.com to read all about urban homesteading, stretching the food budget, why we wrote a book, bath tub reading, the real reason I have short hair, and how I do it all (I don't!). It was so fun to be interviewed by Rhonda Ortiz! You can also find me today at The Modern Mrs Darcy where my post on advice for the Janeite who runs out of Austen novels is being … [Read more...]
