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Hi All! SIGNED book sales have started! They will be available for a limited time! Thank you for your support, everyone!

I am being featured on TheIndiespotlight.com If you would like to learn more about me and my book please take a look.

BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale

(Portion of email sent by moderator of Book Freaks)

This September-October the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ group Book freaks will be hosting a small writing competition for anyone who wants to enter! The goal of the contest is to encourage growth and creativity and just have fun with the english language. Anybody can participate as long as you're a part of this group!

Submissions must be short stories with five hundred (500) words or more. All submissions must contain the sentence "Only the bare bones remained."

To submit your story just post it on your goodreads page and leave a link to it on the thread that says "September-October Writing Contest 2010". Any submissions admitted later than October 22nd of this year will not qualify!

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

P.S. I am a member of the "Book freaks" group. I am NOT runnning the contest.

One of my dreams has come true! In the Dec 20th issue of Publishers Weekly Magazine, my book BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale made an appearance and even had a cover image in the first ever PW Select section! I also feel very honored to be a part of this magazines history! I can't explain the feeling. I knew in my heart it would happen someday. I just didn't expect that someday to be so soon!

If you are interested in reading more about me and my book writing experience, please take a look at this interview by Dina Santorelli from makingbabygrand.com

Crystal Marcos

I wanted to share some holiday fun we had as a family this year. Everyone always says the favorite thing babies get for Christmas are the boxes the gifts come in. I saw this project in Family Fun magazine and knew instantly this would be a hit, . It certainly was! Here are some pictures of a Recycled Kitchen we made from boxes that presents were delivered in.




My daughter Kaylee, Maxwell, and Alyssa love it. They have played with it every day they have been to Nana’s house. It was so worth the time and effort. The supplies to make it cost about $15 and it took a few evenings to construct. Many of the items we already had at home. The smile on the kids� faces priceless! Take a look at how wide Kaylee’s smile is! It has been about a month with three babies playing with it on a regular basis and it has held up quite well. It just goes to show you that you don’t have to spend tons of money for your children to have a happy Christmas.


For the past couple years, on Christmas Eve, we play a super fun game we call “Recycled Christmas�. Everyone has something at their house in great or maybe even in new condition that they have never opened but it continues to sit at your home taking up space. The object of the game is very simple you bring a gift perhaps even 2 that someone else could use. (You will go home with the same amount of gifts you brought.) Some suggestions for wrapping your gift: in newspaper, recycled wrapping paper, or your children’s drawings. Have everyone draw a number to see who goes first. You could use a deck of cards to avoid wasting paper. (If you brought 2 gifts you take 2 numbers) The first person chooses a gift and opens it to show everyone, the next person has the choice to take that gift or choose a new gift. The play goes on until everyone has had a turn. A present can only be stolen 3 times until it is out of play. When the last person goes, anyone who agrees to trade a gift with another person can.

A few other suggestions for making your Christmas a little more green (both earth friendly and pocket friendly):

~Shop at secondhand stores or consignment shops-I picked up a cash register that just needed a little elbow grease and my sister didn't believe it was the same one when I was done with it. My daughter loves it! Books are great to buy there as well. Many look brand new.

~Reuse gift tags and bows

~If you buy wrapping paper, wait for the after Christmas sales and look for 100% recycled paper.

~Give someone a book you have already read with a special note inside about why you are giving it to them now.

I am participating in the Follower Love Giveaway Hop this is my first giveaway I have run from my website. The follower love giveaway hop is hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. Over 200 blogs have signed up to host a book related giveaway and we are all linked up together so you can easily hop from one giveaway to another. The hop runs from Tuesday, February 8th through Sunday, February 13th. If you aren't interested in what I am giving away, feel free to hop on to another they may have something you maybe interested in. Also every giveaway has different rules to enter.

I am so excited to have my very first school author visit next week. I am also tickled to find out from a fellow author that my reputation precedes me in the area school system! I was extremely flattered that a librarian had told him that she enjoyed seeing his name associated with mine and my book. This is great news seeing as how my book hasn't been out for a year yet. I am also being considered for a school visit next year for a school of 550 children. I hope to be selected and if I do, I better bring lots of water! That is a lot of talking.

Tuesday, April 19th, I will be participating in the Literacy Day Celebration held by Bethany Lutheran Elementary School with attendance of a neighboring school Christ the King Lutheran. They are celebrating 10,000 books in Bethany's library!

~~It has been awhile since I have posted about Kaylee. I wanted to share some things we have enjoyed since spring arrived, that include bubbles.~~

We are still wearing winter coats here in Washington State. We have had some of the coldest days on record for this month.

The sun was out despite the chill and I was looking for some inexpensive entertainment for the little ones. I found it in the form of a bubble machine. I purchased it with a 50% off coupon at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Craft Store. For about $8.50 we have had days of fun with this item. I have taken it to church to entertain the babies and toddlers and plan to use it at my daughter's 2nd birthday coming up. In the pictures below you will see Kaylee with her cousins Max and Alyssa.





My husband and I also took Kaylee and her cousin Max to their first Library Toddler Dance Party. It included dancing, a bubble machine, balloons, a giant parachute, a giant earth ball, and more. They had such a blast! My husband and I had just as much fun watching them boogie! We attended another dance party this morning. It is very nice that this event is free.

I asked my daughter last week if she wanted to go to the library.
She said, "Yes, I love the library!"
I answered thrilled, "You do? You love the library?"
She replied, "I want to hug it!"
That's my girl!

She heads right to the children's book section. A section I love myself!



A couple other "bubbling" events included Kaylee's first bubble bath (she wasn't so sure of the bubbles at first) and the book pictured here, courtesy of one of the groups I am involved in found here: Children's Group.
It is about a king in a bath full of bubbles who doesn't want to get out. See our review here: Review

I am excited to be participating in an author event at the RELAY FOR LIFE in Port Orchard, Washington. I will be signing and selling my children's book BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale at the event along with fellow local authors. $2.00 for every book sold will be donated to RELAY FOR LIFE.

Friday, June 3, 2011 from 6pm-9pm
Saturday, June 4, 2011 from 10am-2pm
South Kitsap High School
425 Mitchell Ave.
Port Orchard, WA 98366
On the football field, tent #40