I’ll confess, I love reading blogs, however I don’t have time to hop around to all of the various blogs that I enjoy reading.  If you are reading this, well I guess that makes you a blog reader too!  I have several blogs I like to follow so I set them up on Google Reader.  Google Reader loads all of them on the same page so you can see which ones have new posts and then you can read it right from the portal instead of visiting each individual blog.  It’s free and super easy to use.  I love being able to go there at the end of the day and see which of my favorite blogs have new items and it takes no time at all to get through them.  A girl has to get her daily dose of celebrity gossip right? 

Check it out, I think you’ll really like it and it’s such a timesaver: http://www.google.com/reader and be sure and add www.angelacalderon.com/blog to your list!

I also have to share a proud moment I had today.  On Friday my son came home from school with the following letter (I love the little reminder to bring a camera):

So this morning I went to see him get his award, I was so proud of him!  He told everyone we saw today that he was the Student of the Month.  Awww!  The photo on the left is with his friend and the one on the right is with his principal.  He even wanted to wear his “special dress up coat” so that he would look nice.  He’s totally giving me the cheesy grin in the photo with his principal.

I’ve decided that I’m going to call myself a “Toddler Art Preservationist”.  Does that even make sense?  No but it sure sounds official and somewhat important!

I thought I would share a tip with all of you that I read in a magazine and it’s something that I do with my kids.  It started with my son, when he was in preschool he would come home every. single. day. with a pile of artwork.  Now being the sentimental Mom that I am it would pain me to throw away his precious creations (you know where I’m headed with this right?).  So by the time I was on box number two of his art and he had only been in preschool for a month I stumbled across this helpful hint in a magazine and it was like the clouds opened up and angels started singing.

The tip was from a mother of five children and she said that the artwork started to take up so much room that she started only keeping really extra special pieces and the rest she would scan in or take a photograph of it and then put it in a folder on her computer.  WOW!  Was this woman a genius or what?  So after reading that, I started doing exactly what she said and if I could hug her I would for that amazing tip.  Of course every drawing, project and craft is special, but now we only keep the extra special ones in a box and the rest we take a photograph of.  My kids love seeing their old projects on the monitor when I open up the folder.

I hope you all find this little hint as helpful as I did!

One of the 8 things my daughter made in preschool today, a nice little visor!

Speaking of artists, I thought I would share with you a link to a fabulous children’s artist that I met a few years back.  We are fortunate enough to have a autographed copy of one of her books!  She is a fantastic person with a creative heart and mind and her illustrations are beyond cute.  She has recently added a fun activities section to her website and you can print coloring pages for kids.  Please stop by and check out her work, I know you’ll love it and I bet if you looked in the dictionary for the word whimsical you would find one of her illustrations!  Her name is Karen Michael Crawford and her website is:  http://www.happilyeverart.com/ and be sure to click on the art fun button!