Name that Kindergartner [Updated]

UPDATE: We have winners! Amy P. was our grand prize winner of a $300 Amazon gift card and Renee and Julie each got runner-up prizes.
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered! 

Wondering who was who? I’ve updated the collage below to include the answers.
I’m actually surprised at how many people couldn’t guess me. Here’s a side-by-side to help you out: 

Kindy-compare

And here are the rest of the answers. (If you’d like to see then vs. now comparisons for the other participants, you can click on the links below to visit their updated posts.)

Name That Kindergartner Answers

We went on a school tour on Friday for a school Connor might go to for Kindergarten. How are you supposed to choose a school for your kid at this level? (That sounds like a rhetorical question but I’d happily take any advice you have to offer.)

There’s a school in our community but we’re just outside the walk zone so we don’t automatically get a spot, and we happened not to get one through the lottery (which only had 11 spots, so that tells you a bit about the demographic in this area). That’s actually fine, as I’m not sold on that school and we’ve registered him at another school close by that we’ve heard really good things about. We’re outside the area for that one, though, so we have to wait and see if we get a spot. If not, he would go to the one we toured on Friday. And it seems fine. From a long-term perspective (it goes up to Grade 6) there are some things I’m not keen on, but does it matter at Kindergarten level? They have all the things I think are important, and there are some things about it that I think would be great for a kid like Connor.

So as we sit and think about this decision, I’m reminiscing a bit about my time in Kindergarten. Except I don’t remember much – just two particular friends and playing with blocks made of cardboard. The blocks were red and white – done up like bricks, essentially. And that’s it. That’s all I remember.

I do like my hair from that era, though.

KinderHeader

It’s very simple – just look at the collage and match the Kindergarten photo (with the assigned letter of the alphabet) to the correct blogger. (All participating bloggers are listed further down.)

What’s in it for you? Some fun, naturally, and the possibility of a fantastic prize – a $300 Amazon gift card (or a runner-up prize). You can also get to know some of the bloggers listed here, if you don’t know them already. You can have a laugh at our expenses. (Don’t worry, we laughed at each other.)

To join in, enter your answers on the form.

Participating bloggers, in alphabetical order:

Angela of Angela Amman

Angie of Angie Kinghorn

Deborah of Ask Doctor G

Robin of Farewell Stranger

Poppy of Funny or Snot

Leigh Ann of Genie in a Blog

Greta of Gfunkified

Jennifer of Jennifer P. Williams

Tonya of Letters for Lucas

Kiran of Masala Chica

Laura of Mommy Miracles

Natalie of Mommy of a Monster (and Twins)

Brittany of Mommy Words

Jessica of My Time as Mom

Kimberly of Reflections of Now

Tracy of Sellabit Mum

Elaine of The Miss Elaine-ous Life

Sarah of The Sunday Spill

Galit of These Little Waves

Kristin of Two Cannoli

Arnebya of What Now and Why

Kristin of What She Said

Alison of Writing, Wishing

Terms and conditions apply:

  • You must be 18 years or older to enter.
  • This contest is only open to residents of USA and Canada.
  • This contest is open from March 11 – 15, 2013 (closes at 9pm Eastern).
  • Visit the link above where you will be able to enter your guess for each blogger pictured. (All information will be kept private.)
  • The person to correctly match all the faces with their blog will win a $300 Amazon gift card. The two other closest guesses will each win one $80 Amazon gift card.
  • If more than one person correctly matches all the faces with their blogs, we will randomly pick a winner via random.org.
  • If no one guesses all the faces correctly, the winner will be the person who made the most correct guesses.
  • This is not a sponsored post. Prizes are paid for out of the participating bloggers’ own pockets.
  • You CAN enter more than once!
  • Winners will be announced week of March 18.

(Name That Kindergartner was inspired by the Name That DIY Blogger contest at My Blessed Life.)

Sound good? Okay, then. Ready, set…name that kindergartner!

Artisans & Intention (+giveaway)

So you know that 20 minutes of intention thing I’m doing? It turns out my 20 minutes are not spent writing. At least not here. I did take some time the other night to get caught up on some things on my to-do list, but my writing here is taking a bit of a hit. I think part of the problem is that I have a few posts in draft that are basically complete but not really working for me. So I’m kind of stuck.

If you’d like to read some recent posts (pretty please?) you can find the story of the first stages of my postpartum depression diagnosis on Huffington Post. I think it accurately sums up the depth of my denial.

I also wrote another piece for Postpartum Progress – 6 reasons having a baby after PPD is easier. Not everyone agrees with this, of course, but it makes the discussion around this really interesting.

I’ll share some more thoughts on the 20 minutes experiment soon, but one thing it has confirmed is that I am spectacularly talented at wasting time on the computer. And on my phone. And on my iPad. I knew this already, which is one of the reasons I wanted to take up this challenge. In part I blame my slightly misfiring, sleep-deprived synapses, which make it very easy to zone out in front of a screen and only process something as long as a tweet or a status update. But it’s also a habit, and one I need to work harder to break. [Read more…]

Join Me in a Photo Farewell to 2012

Christmas is over (whew!) and now it’s time for one of the parts of the year I like best – saying goodbye to the old and preparing to welcome the new. The combination of reminiscing and getting a clean slate is the best.

Last year at the end of the year I said farewell to 2011 in photos. I invited other bloggers to join me and many did, and I enjoyed the look back at the year in the pictures we shared.

It seems counterintuitive that a post with one photo per month could sum up a whole year, but it it forces us to focus on the big moments and the things we want to remember. The way our children looked in January. The holiday in July. Where we are now, in the final month of the year.

What was important about 2012 for you? What images would you choose to represent your moments?

I’d love it if you’d look back with me.

Pick one picture for each month of the year (you can focus on the memories or the photography – it’s up to you.) Then grab the button (code is in the right sidebar), post, and link up with me to say farewell to 2012 in photos.

button-2012-farewell

The link-up will be live from December 28 through January 4. On January 5, one linker will be chosen to receive a package from Little Love Media that includes a blog evaluation report and a blog strategy. (Huge thanks to Alison for supporting this!)

Day of Silence

A Little Bird Told Me to Give You This

It’s Friday, which is always happy but today especially so because one week from today is my birthday. But don’t worry – you don’t need to get me anything. I got you something instead!

Many, many months ago (like sometime last year) I came across the most beautiful thing. [Read more…]