❄ Linkies & Little Notes

Good Morning, everyone!

❄ There's a lovely post by Divina at beauty of picture books today ... and I'm quite honored to be mentioned! Her Friday focus - passing along our precious picture books once they've been outgrown, a topic I touched upon recently here at my blog. Stop by Divina's and take a look around - it's a beautiful spot! I very much enjoyed her post on February books as it features the works of Elsa Beskow - and we're big fans of Ms. Beskow around here! (Current favorite: The Story of the Snow Children)

❄ Speaking of beautiful books, what is the most recent book you've purchased/borrowed from the library - for yourself or your children? To enjoy with the kids, I ordered Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella by Jan Brett last week. For one thing, we LOVE Jan Brett books and have been collecting them for years, and for another, her latest title is set in "a snowy Russian winter" ... which fits in nicely with our Olympics study this month. And last month I ordered A Fine Romance by Susan Branch, about her trip to England with her dear sweetheart, Joe. I'm only on the first chapter, just soaking in the goodness of her charming illustrations and witty prose.

❄ Here's an article about making naturally-tinted Valentine's goodies. Earlybird can't have artificial dyes/flavors, but he gets a kick out of colored frosting like any other child! I'm glad for this reminder because this is the last weekend before Valentine's Day which means anything I want to have on hand - for crafts/gifts/goodies - I must procure and organize this weekend. Despite the vast amounts of seasonal planning I do routinely, I'm often caught unawares by little holidays like this.

❄ Look at this gorgeous home office made out of a storage closet: An Amazing Closet-Turned-Office. I just love the colors as well as the overall set up and it just so happens I have a closet just like this downstairs beside the laundry. I wouldn't need something quite so fancy, but I do need a crafting spot ... a place for my glue, glitter, stickers, paper collection and whatnot. Hmmm ...

❄ And finally, a quick weather report:

Cold, snow ... and that's about it!

:)

Skies are brightening, Little Bear's waking ... time for another cup of coffee! Have a Happy Friday, my friends ...

I'll see you here again very soon!