Savvy Squirrel Coupon Book Giveaway!

*This Giveaway is Now Closed. Thank you for all of your entries!*

i love a good deal. what i love more than a good deal is a book full of good deals! i couldn't resist hosting a giveaway for all you local (and non-local) folk to get a chance to win just that! the "savvy squirrel coupon book" is one of my fave mommy-run businesses in town. the two talented and lovely ladies behind this fun booklet have created a bevvy of savings for us to redeem in some of our fave victoria shops. whether you're looking for maternity clothing, baby gear, discounts at your fave coffee haunt or toys & goodies for the family the savvy squirrel's got a coupon for ya!

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the fall edition is filled to the brim with over $700 worth of savings! wowsa! what's the best part? the booklet only costs $10! yep, i said $10, now that's what i call a deal!







with categories like health & wellness, eats & treats, babies & tots and families you're sure to find something for everyone. some of the businesses featured are:

:) momma goose baby care - natural baby products for mom & baby
:) koo & poppet - stylish stuff for kooky kids (one of my personal faves!)
:) abby sprouts - earth friendly and organic products for mom & babe
:) hip baby - fab online & retail store for newborn to 6 years old
:) tall tales books - local children's bookstore for the kid in all of us.
:) the good planet co. - eco lifestyle store
:) awesome mommies - single destination to connect to a parenting community in the greater victoria area.
:) cat & fiddle kids - everything your organic, earth friendly child needs, and something for mom too!

*for those of you located outside of victoria, bc, canada, almost all of the shops listed today & many others in the coupon book offer online shopping.







you can get your own copy of the savvy squirrel coupon book on their website with free shipping here or it can be found at any participating location selling the booklet.







1) leave me a comment and let me know your fave place to get a good deal.
2) leave me another comment letting me know you followed luvinthemommyhood with google friend connect (on the sidebar).
3) subscribe via reader/email to luvinthemommyhood and then let me know in the comments.
bonus entry:
mention this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or www.kidsinvictoria.com and then comment to let me know you did.

rules of the giveaway:

- you must leave a valid email address with your entry or you will be disqualified.
- the giveaway is open until monday, december 6th, 2010 at midnight (pacific standard time).

"This is a great collection of family friendly spots for all of your needs as a parent, parent to be, grandparent, uncle, aunt or friend. We know you'll enjoy using every last coupon!"

"Family Focused, Local Savings."

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thanks for the giveaway tabitha & lale! you can find out more about the savvy squirrel coupon book on their website, facebook page, and twitter. happy shopping! good luck and thanks for all for entering!

moments in the mommyhood - all tangled up

mackenzie and i had a mommy/daughter day this weekend. the hubs watched harper and we went out to see tangled in 3d! it was mack's first time ever going to the movies and she was sooo good. we had so much fun and we both loved the movie. i think it was the perfect first movie to go see, it was a happy go lucky, music & laugh filled romp. not too scary like of some of the animated movies that have come out lately. plus mack loves rapunzel.


we had popcorn, snuggled in our seats, donned our 3D glasses and had lots of giggles. it was great watching her try to reach out and touch some of the 3D special effects, even i got caught up in it all. we've really been focusing on mack having lots of daddy one on one time and had completely forgotten about how she might feel to just have time with momma. it was nice and much needed for the two of us to do something different and fun together.


if you read friday's weekend wishes post you know how i feel about snow, but man, how can you resist how much she loves it? too cute. it was sure fun to see the pics that the hubby took of her enjoying our recent snowfalls. i was more than happy to hear her tales of wonder and be the one to warm her up and ohhh and awe over the pics with and not be the one outside freezing cold :)


did you see the owie on her head? i forgot to mention last week that during my blogging break my poor little wee one ran straight into the corner edge of our wall - hard. it was so loud i thought for sure she had just run a toy car into it or something. i never thought it would have been her head. needless to say she cut it right open and these pics are of it all almost healed up. i tell ya it's not fun to see that much blood from your child, especially when you are braless and in your pj's. both the girls were in pj's still and i just panicked. i had managed to get the bleeding under control & call my husband, but i have to admit i was freaking out. i had no idea how i was going to carry a 3 1/2 year old who's screaming, a 6 month old baby who's screaming, get my bra on, go down 4 floors in the elevator, walk to our underground parkade and then drive to the ER. not gonna happen. luckily my husband's coworker came to the rescue and drove him straight home so we could drive the girls to the hospital. she was very brave, got all fixed up and is no worse for wear. i wish i could say the same for myself...haha. i'm a bit traumatized and keep wanting to cry whenever i look at her little head.


how was your weekend? do anything fun? do you plan special one on one trips with your kids? what do you do with them to make it special? happy monday! get your cuppa joe or tea and let's chat :)

all images copyright luvinthemommyhood

weekend wishes

to find some time to make these oh so lovely crafty goodies in turqoise of course...

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to finally find the purpose as to why i save all my glass jars..ohhh, dottie angel i heart you...

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to try to get mackenzie to watch anne of green gables with me...

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to keep remembering this to get me through the next few weeks...

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that the horrible and may i add yucky snow goes away soon (yes, i don't like snow)....

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to find some time to get my hands on the new book "modern top-down knitting" so i can whip up this hat i have a crush on...

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that my two girls grow up with these kinds of images...

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to see you smile over these crocheted cuties...

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and to enjoy a nice quiet cup of tea while getting some xmas sewing done.

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we've been snowed in most of the week here. well, snowed in may be a bit of an exaggeration, let's just say, we haven't been able to go out much due to the snow and our city trying really hard to deal with it (or not deal with it). i dislike snow. i might actually hate it. i don't like cold weather. in my daydreams i do. i dream that i can ski with the best of them (i'm scared of skiing due to being a klutz), sip hot cocoa by the fire gracefully (i always spill and have no fire), wear the most fabulous knit sweater and accessories (i look like a fluffy lamb), and sport that gorgeous fresh cheek glow (i get wind burn). so you see, snow and i don't get along. i slip, i fall, i get really cold and can't get warm again. i hate driving in it, i hate others driving in it. i hate cleaning off the car and warming up the engine. i hate wind chill and freezing rain. i will admit though that i love seeing my daughter love snow and won't take that away from her - i just let the hubs take her out in it instead. i also enjoy catching snowflakes on my tongue and making the odd snow angel and ok, getting in a snowball fight. unfortunately though, with all good comes some bad and with snow, well, i'm just done with the bad. i grew up in small town filled with a lot of snow for half the year and...yep, i'm done.

this week has been way more productive for me sewing wise. i got a few things finished and may just make my deadline for mail outs for handmade goodies. i'm crossing my fingers. i hope to get a lot more done this weekend, catch up with a good friend, cuddle up with the family and watch disney's "a christmas carol" with jim carrey, find my anne of green gables dvd, decide which stocking to make harper and work on the surprises i have coming for you all on the blog. what are you guys up to?

any of you have a love/hate relationship with snow? i hope i'm not the only one. fill me in on your plans? what are you making for xmas pressies this year? wishing you a fabulous, no snow filled weekend!

whipup 2011 calendar!!

ohhhh, lookie at what i got my hands on!!!! the third annual whipup.net calendar! a gorgeous, eye-candy, drool worthy, crafty goodness filled calendar from whipup! kathreen is one of my fave blogging ladies. her blog, if you don't already know it, is fabulous! it's one of my top resources for crafty inspiration, book reviews and tutorials. i always look forward to her weekly email newsletters as well. i'm so proud to have been featured on her site many times and i'm glad to get to talk about her here in return.


when i found about this calendar i thought "now isn't that perfect". i needed a calendar and i needed one asap. i love calendars. i like to try to attempt to be organized and use my calendar everyday. yes, i use my google calendar but it's ugly and i can't stare at it in awe during the day, nor can i hand write on it with happy faces and hearts. and now because kathreen rocks she is offering us fab folks two ways to buy this year's calendar:

option 1 - you can print the calendar out in 3 different formats - your choice! there's vertical, horizontal or vertical 2 and all are printed on a a4/letter size page. nice. easy. and guess what, it's only $5!!! now really, where can you get this kind of calendar for $5 and bonus, you get all 3 formats for that price! sounds like my kind of calendar. mine is going up right next to my inspiration board. the other perk about this kind of calendar is you can print this puppy out and gift it to some friends! what a fab stocking stuffer as well!

option 2 - your second option is to order the real deal, already made here at Redbubble and i bet it's real pretty!

ready to see who's featured....

recognize some of them? i spotted dottie angel right away, she is one of my faves and yep, there's elsie marley...swoon. each month features another project for us to swoon over. here's the rundown for whipup 2011:

January: www.lilfishstudios.com
February: www.lavenderlimes.blogspot.com
March: www.dottieangel.blogspot.com
April: www.JammerSage.Etsy.com
May: www.filminthefridge.com
June: www.cozymemories.com
July: www.abitofpillipilli.blogspot.com
August: www.lauraleeburch.com
September: www.oneflewover-oneflewover.com
October: www.elsiemarley.com
November: www.myrtleandeunice.com
December & Cover: www.loulouandoscar.com

kathreen is also doing a fun post series right now called the "2011 whipup calendar girls". you can read a fun interview with all 12 of the talented ladies featured in the calendar. click here to check them all out in the next week or so.


make sure to pop over and tell kathreen how great she is and also check out her equally fabulous book "whipup mini quilts: patterns and how to for more than 20 contemporary small quilts", is there anything this momma of 2 can't do? go kathreen!

which month is your fave? do you have a favorite blogger featured? where do you hang your calendar? do you still use one?

p.s. happy thanksgiving!!! us Canadians had ours in oct. I wish you all a happy gobble gobble day!

*all images copyright whipup.net

a song about baby poo??

the hubby is making a special video for us with pics of the girls & video clips from the last year and this is one of the songs he found to put in. i laughed my ars off. thought you guys might too. now remember, i'm sleep deprived :P

baby poo by the arrogant worms

hope you got a laugh with your morning coffee!

p.s. the arrogant worms are a great & might i add hilarious canadian band.

christmas stocking pattern roundup

i got a comment on the blog a few weeks ago asking about a christmas dilemma - which kind of stocking to make? knit or sewn? i found it funny that i had been having an internal dilemma about the exact same thing when pop, along came the email. so thank you, loyal reader, for asking and while i don't have an answer for you (i haven't decided myself yet) here's a fun stocking roundup of some fun stockings to help you choose which you would prefer. i think i'm leaning towards sewn only because i seriously have no time to knit one at the moment and poor baby harper has no stocking.

for me, one of the most fun parts of xmas morning is my stocking. santa spoiled us in our house when we growing up filling our stocking with the most wonderful goodies. i seriously dreamed about that stocking every year. it truly was super exciting for me and even after growing up my stocking is still one of my favorite things about christmas. i love seeing others stockings (and of course filling them) and opening my own. so i hope you find one here that you love and get inspired to handmake a stocking this year!

1. sweater stockings

1. felt stockings 2. funky star 3. simple stockings

1. elf stocking 2. sweater stocking 3. felt stockings
4. strip pieced stocking 5. christmas stocking 6. little girl stocking

1. holiday stocking

1. embroidered stockings 2. felt stocking

1. elf stockings

*forgot to mention most of these are on ravelry.com, the best and most fun place online for knitters (in my opinion of course). you can friend me on there under "imstitched".

1. stuffable stocking

1. christmas socking 2. dr. seuss 3. knit stocking
4. christmas stocking 5. christmas tree stocking 6. sleipnir

1. last minute stocking 2. snazzy argyles 3. falling snow

1. hannah's stocking 2. santa stocking

1. mix it up stocking

i do have a question for all of you ladies. this is a picture of what my stocking looks like. i've had the same one since i was little. they were handmade by a lady in the town i grew up in and she made both my sisters and my stockings. she has since passed away and i would love to find this mary maxim pattern to have on hand. my stocking is seriously huge and comes up past my knee - love it! i also love that it was made with love. anybody have any idea where to get this pattern now?

i'd also like to know what your favorite go to stocking pattern is? please add the link to the comments, i would love to put them in this post as a resource for us all. ohhhh, i can already feel the xmas fun starting...i heart the holidays!

readers faves:

mix-and-match socks
diamonds in the rough argyle
polka dot christmas stocking (i forgot to add this one)
knitted xmas stocking

it's time for a roundup...

i have a nice roundup coming your way today.....and it has to do with christmas! but first i had to get a teething, cranky, baby to bed that ended up with a tired, cranky momma in bed instead (you all know how it goes right) and oops, that momma passed out and didn't get her post finished. do you forgive me? hope so :) see you later today (this afternoon)..get your sewing machine or your knitting needles ready - it's time for a roundup!

Karatootie Custom Dress Giveaway!

*this giveaway is now closed. thank you for all of your entries!*

we've got an adorable giveaway today perfect for that special little girl in your life! one of our newest sponsors here in the mommyhood - karatootie, is giving away this precious dress just in time for the holidays!


karatootie is a brand new blog written by blogging friends ingrid & charity, who describe themselves as "two sisters seperated at inception"! the fun part about the blog karatootie are the challenges. once a week these two go head to head for a she said/she said challenge. they send each other fabric (some pretty, some not) and they have to make something from it. neither know what the other is going to do. sound fun? it is! they also have weekly tutorials, guest bloggers and giveaways! make sure to pop over and show this new blog some love!


the prize:

a custom made dress, your choice in sizes (12m thru to 9yrs), made by charity (the vines branches)

how do you win the prize?

1) pop over to karatootie & take a look around then come back & tell me if you have a friend you would love to start a blog with.
2) follow karatootie with google friend connect (on their sidebar) & then tell me in the comments you did.
3) follow luvinthemommyhood with google friend connect (on our sidebar) & tell me you did that too.

rules of the giveaway:

- you must leave a valid email address with your entry or you will be disqualified.
- the giveaway is open until monday, november 29th, 2010 at midnight (pacific standard time).

besides karatootie, both these busy moms have their own shops and blogs.

find out more about charity here



charity's shop "the vines branches":

specializing in cute, easy patterns for the beginning seamstress to a seasoned veteran and adorable, custom girlie clothing.


and more about ingrid here.


ingrid's shop "ribbons & pigtails":

specializing in boutique clothing, appliques and accessories to match.




thanks for the giveaway ingrid & charity and for helping to support luvinthemommyhood!


karatootie is also hosting their own fun giveaway this week. pop on over for your chance to win and have some fun with this new blog! you can also find karatootie on facebook here. tell ingrid & charity i say hello! happy reading!