Happy Birthday and a Giveaway!

We're celebrating a birthday today! Brianna, my oldest, is 14 today! I can't believe how quickly the time passes. As I heard someone say recently, "The days seem so long, but the years seem so short." Truer words were never spoken. I could probably still tell you every detail of the 24 hours surrounding Brianna's birth. Of course, after that, things become a sleepy blur. She's been my guinea pig ever since. From her first bath...it took thirty minutes. Seriously. She was screaming by the end of it because the water was cold. Who'd have thought that having a baby would turn two reasonably well-educated adults into inept baby-bathers who couldn't seem to get a soapy, slippery baby rinsed off and out of a little plastic tub...to the first stirrings of independence that have come during the last year or so, Brianna has been my poor trial-and-error kid.

I guess we're not doing too badly as parents, though. Either that or our kids are just really resilient. Brianna is growing into a beautiful young lady. She is a kind-hearted, compassionate nurturer...unless you happen to be one of her younger siblings. And, really, she's pretty kind to them most of the time. She's a bit of a daredevil, sharing her dad's love of fast amusement park rides and action/adventure movies. And, she is a wealth of interesting little bits of trivial information, much like her mother with whom she shares a sense of humor and quick wit. She's a teenager who will still laugh and enjoy time spent with her old-fogey parents, play with her siblings, and invite her mom to watch a movie with her and her girlfriends. She's a good kid and we're proud of her...even if we're not buying her a laptop for her birthday. (Nice try, though.)

Happy Birthday, Brianna!

In honor of Brianna's birthday, we're having a giveaway! I was recently contacted by the folks at AllChildrensFurniture.com about hosting a giveaway. AllChildrensFurniture offers a wide selection of kids furniture featuring everything from race car beds to doll houses, art supplies to toys. There is so much to choose from that it was difficult to decide what to give away. However, since I've been in the market for a new bookshelf (more on that tomorrow), I selected three of my favorites for you to choose from:

I just love the adorable firehouse bookcase. Josh would have loved that when he was younger. And, both of my girls would probably have been more likely to play dollhouse, rather than store books on the dollhouse bookcase. If your "baby" is a little more grown-up these days, like mine is, how about this beautiful Avalon bookshelf? It's shown in "natural," but is also available in honey, cherry and white.

Here's how the contest works: The contest is open to residents of the continental United States. I'll draw a winner, at random, on Monday, June 1 around 6 PM (EST). The winner will be notified by email and announced on my blog on Tuesday, June 2. The winner will have three days to contact me with your shipping information and your choice of one of the three bookcases pictured above. If I haven't heard from the winner in three days, I'll draw another winner.

There are three ways you can enter to win:

1. Visit AllChildrensFurniture.com and browse their wide selection of furniture and toys. Then, leave me a comment letting me know what your favorites are. And, you know, you could wish Brianna a Happy Birthday, too, but you don't have to. ;-)

2. Blog or Tweet about this contest. If you blog about it, please leave the link to your post in your comment.

3. Subscribe to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers or put us on your blog, then, leave me a comment, letting me know.

**Please leave one comment for each of the three ways to enter (for a total of up to three entries per person). Your comment is your entry. All entries must include a way for me to contact you.**

Good luck and thanks to the folks at All Children's Furniture for sponsoring the giveaway!