A Blog Award :).

It is that CRAZY time of year around here. I know I have posted that I have been busy, and I don't anticipate life to be slowing down much over the next week or so.... With Dane having just turned 8, the end of the semester creeping up on us, and the toy sales kicking into full swing my time for blogging has been a bit limited. Not to mention all of the other "daily" pieces of my life. In all of this craziness, I did happen to check my email and comments to find that Abbie over at Greening Sam and Avery awarded me with a BLOG AWARD!!!

Abbie is a great mom who is doing her part to environmentally educate her very young children (infant and toddler EARLY environmental education as she puts it). She has a fabulous blog with TONS of resources. Take a few minutes and pop on over there, it will be well worth your time!

I don't quite know what to say, other than thank you! I still feel like I"m pretty new to the blogging world, and am quite honored to have been chosen to be a part of this award and to have the opportunity to pass it along!

Here are the terms in accepting this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person that gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass it along to 15 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy.
4. Leave your recipients a note telling them about the award.

Seven things about me:

1) I never really intended on becoming an early childhood educator and home daycare provider. My degree is in psychology (the graduation prep specialization), but I did take a number of courses in early childhood psychology and development. While working on my undergrad, I thought that I would want to become a child psychologist and do art and play therapy. While completing my degree, I worked at a child care center, and as I drew closer to completing my education I realized that I would have a very hard time as a therapist, I was really afraid that I would have a hard time not bringing work home and that I didn't know if I could really handle working with children who needed so much all the time. As graduation was approaching, my sister was pregnant with twins, and my own son was only two years old. In talking with her, we realized that neither one of us really wanted "strangers" to be raising our children. With, that, came the small question of : "I wonder how hard it is to open a home daycare?" Six months later, Child Central Station was open, and here I sit over five years later.

2) I have the same number of hours and minutes in my day as you do. (Contrary to popular belief.) I love to be active and engaged, and I do my best to multi-task and incorporate many different things into one whenever possible. One of my secrets to making time is that I really don't watch t.v. I do enjoy watching movies, but they have to hold my attention!

3) I am easily distracted. My husband jokes about this continually. He says that I have the perfect job because I have the same (sometimes shorter) attention span as the children I work with. If I don't find something to be engaging and pertinent, I have a very hard time staying on task.

4) I am a pack rat. I like to look at things in terms of their potential. What could that be used for? Thus, we have a lot of "stuff" hanging around that we will eventually use for something.

5) I love to read and learn. I'm not a "book" reader per se. I love to read magazine articles, research papers, BLOGS, and children's books. (I think part of this is because a book is too long to hold my attention most of the time! When I do find a book that holds my attention, I have a hard time putting it down!) I could spend HOURS (and do sometimes) reading blogs and researching topics on the internet. The master's degree I am pursuing is in Training, Development, and Performance Improvement - which encompasses so many different interests of mine. I'm not sure that my quest for knowledge will ever end :).

6) As much as I love my job, sometimes I really miss adult interaction. I have found a great network of online colleagues and I find ways to stay in touch with the "blown ups" in my life. I think finding balance is something I need to work more on.

7) I have an amazing husband, son and extended family. There is no way that I could do half of the things I do without the love and support of those around me. My husband jumps in to do whatever- whenever, and he does a great job of keeping me on task and life in perspective when needed. I am the oldest of five children, have great parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins that I don't even really know how they are related.

Okay- enough about me for now!

On to passing on this great award to others! I could go on and on about the folks and blogs below, but alas- in the spirit of time management and keeping this blog post from being way too long... I am just going to list them! Know that each one is a source of inspiration and creativity! They continue to challenge me to learn, grow, and share!

1) Jenny over at Let the Children Play. She also uses Tumblr and has a great Tumblog here.

2) Maureen and Shanti over at Twig and Toadstool.

3) Deborah at Teach Preschool. Not only does Deborah have a great blog, but she scours the www for resources and shares them on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

4) Teacher Tom

5) Scott from Brick by Brick.

6) Joel over at Made By Joel.

7) Playscapes

8) Juliet from I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!

9) Lindsey from Filth Wizardry.

10) Sarah from Adventures in Homeschooling.

11) Almost Unschoolers.

12) Ticia over at Adventures in Mommydom.

13) Sherry and Donna over at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning.

14) Allie at Bakers and Astronauts.

15) Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog.

So, there is my list of 15. Let me tell you, I had to make some tough decisions! Please take time not only to visit these folks, but all of the others I've been fortunate enough to find and follow. I would not follow their blogs if I didn't find them valuable! (My list of blogs has grown to almost 200!!!!)

Have a fabulous Friday, and I'll be back when life gets to be a little bit less hectic :).