Archive for the ‘giveaways’ Category

I’m so ready for spring! I love the warmer weather and the chance to get back outside. The girls have been missing the park so much, but it’s just been so cold/muddy/snowy over the last little while that I haven’t felt good about taking them out to play. This week we’ve spent recovering from ear infections {blah} so I’m definitely ready for some warmer weather.

The girls are itching for warmer weather, too, as they’ve taken to wearing summer dresses around the house. Most of Sammi’s dresses are pretty long, but poor Elli’s toddler dresses barely come to her knees. I keep searching through her clothes to find leggings for her. That’s when it {finally} hit me how ingenious baby leg warmers really are. I never really saw the need with Sammi, but I totally get it now with Elli and am dying to get my hands on some!

In the meantime, I have some to give away to one lucky reader! I recently reconnected with a long-ago friend on Facebook {gotta love it!} and she happens to have an etsy shop where she sells leg warmers, among other beautiful creations. Amanda has offered a pair of leg warmers to one of BBGU’s readers. First, a little about Amanda and second, the guidelines for the giveaway.

Amanda Sews

“My business mostly started by accident. My mom liked sewing things for me when I was a child, and I learned to sew from her and some of her friends and family members. As an adult, I’ve often sewn things for myself and even made a few things for friends. After I had my daughter, I started making things for her. I had people approach me asking about some of the things I’d made for her, so I decided to open an etsy shop selling some of my creations. Through local boutiques, I’ve had the opportunity to make some custom adult things too. I’m learning to design my own patterns, when I can’t find patterns for what I want to make. Coming up with my own sleepsack pattern was a process that took me a couple months and lots of trial and error.

“I have always collected fabric and have a huge stash (some of it inherited from family members), so having a place to keep it all is important. When we moved into our house, I had my very own room for sewing. But, when Jess was born, that room became her room. Luckily, we have a very large master bedroom, so I use part of it as my sewing area. I love having enough space to keep my machines set up, so when I only have a few minutes and feel like some quick sewing, I can do so. I periodically go through my fabric to see what interests me or fits with ideas I have floating around in my head. For example, lately I’ve been thinking about spring/summer dresses, so when I rediscovered some vintage Hawaiian shirts and muumuus my grandmother gave me several years ago I knew they would be perfect for refashioning into little girl’s dresses.

“Family always comes first, so most of my sewing is done when Jess takes her daily nap (along with everything else we Moms have to do during naps). When things get more busy, I also end up sewing at night after she’s gone to bed or on Saturdays when John is home. There are always more projects than there is time for and I always seem to have at least half a dozen projects in various stages of completion (not counting the list of ideas I haven’t even started yet). Sometimes I get a little burnt out, but it usually doesn’t last too long. ”

Leg Warmers Giveaway

The deadline for the giveaway is Wednesday, March 10 at midnight EST. There are multiple ways to enter. You can tweet and post on Facebook as many days as you’d like with one entry for each day. Here are all the ways you can enter:

REQUIRED:

• Visit Amanda’s etsy shop and pick the set of leg warmers you would choose if you win. Come back and leave a comment saying which ones you’d like to win.
• Please leave a separate comment for each entry to make sure all your work is rewarded.

Optional:

• Subscribe to Because Babies Grow Up (if you’re already subscribed, leave a comment saying that)
• Become a fan of Because Babies Grow Up on Facebook
• Tweet “@ajpassey has a #giveaway for a pair of leg warmers for little ones. Come join the fun: http://bit.ly/bLVN7w”
• Post on Facebook “Because Babies Grow Up is giving away a pair of leg warmers for little ones. Come join the fun: http://bit.ly/bLVN7w”

Good luck with the giveaway! Please leave all your comment entries by midnight EST Wednesday March 10. The winner will be announced Thursday March 11.

On those crazy days where it’s blizzarding, thundering or just plain blustery, it’s necessary to have an energetic outlet for little ones. Music seems to be the number one solution I hear from parents to help their kids get the wiggles out. A close second for me is playing dress up.

I love dress up because it appeals to boys and girls equally. We’ve had so many boys over to play and they love getting into the clown outfits that were handed down to us from Brent’s childhood. They even like to accessorize with capes, boots and hats. Sammi loves these outfits just as much. In fact, we ended up at storytime at the library one day with her in one of the clown outfits. She was so insistent and I just didn’t have the heart to say no! Here’s a fun video of Sammi and a friend dressing up as clown super heroes. Just too cute!

They sure expended a lot of energy together and were more than ready for bedtime! The cape Sammi is wearing in that video has recently become her Snow White cloak. Sometimes the red cape Jack is wearing becomes a Little Red Riding Hood cape. I love how versatile the cape is in a dress up box. It’s a foundational piece, in my opinion, and belongs in every dress up box! It’s also super easy to make.

How to Make a Dress-Up Cape

• Cut one square of fabric 45 in x 25 in. Cut another strip of fabric of the same or contrasting fabric 45 in x 4 in.
• Hem the sides and bottom of the square piece of fabric.
• Using your sewing machine’s longest stitch setting, sew a running stitch across the (unhemmed) top of the square. You can sew a second line a little farther in the give the gather some stability.
• Mark the center with a safety pin. Gather the square using the running stitches you just sewed. Gather until the fabric measures 12 in across (6 in on each side of the safety pin.)
• Take the strip of fabric. Fold it in half lengthwise and press it. Then open flat. Fold the top half over to the crease (so it’s in fourths) and press the fold. Do the same for the bottom half. Then fold it all together so it’s like bias tape, which is basically how we’re using it. It should be 1 in tall now. Mark the center.
• Slide the gathered end of the square between the two sides of the strip, matching up the two center markers. Pin it securely in place making sure the top of the square goes all the way into the center fold of the strip. Then secure the rest of the square inside the strip with pins. Continue pinning the strip until you get to the ends. Turn the edges inside so that when you sew it there will be only smooth hems.
• Now it’s time to sew! Start at one end of the strip and sew down the short side and along until you get to the square. Continue sewing the square  and the strip together making sure that the front and back of the strip are sewn together. Then finish sewing the remainder of the strip and the other end.
• Now you have a finished cape with the strings to tie it on!

Sammi loved being a part of the process when I made this blue cape. From the second I started cutting the fabric she kept asking if she could wear it yet. Unfortunately for her, this cape is a gift. Fortunately for you, it’s a gift for one lucky entrant in the Winter Wonderland! I’ve also added a few surprises that are must-haves for any dress-up box. To enter, make sure you’ve left a comment on the Join the Winter Wonderland post. For additional entries, you can comment on this post, become a fan of Because Babies Grow Up on Facebook or Stumble any post in the Winter Wonderland Carnival (From January 18-January 31, 2010)

What are your favorite dress-up moments with your little ones?

We received the Gummi Label DIY in Shocking Pink from Sippy Stuff for review. I thought shocking pink was the most appropriate color since I am often shocked by how much Sammi and now Elli love pink! When the Gummi Labels arrived in the mail, we immediately opened them and put them on the girls’ sippy cups. Then I wrote each of their names on their cup and handed them out.

Sammi thought the whole thing was pretty cool. She loved having it on her cup and loved that it had her name on it. After lunch I filled their cups with water, as usual, and left them on the table for them to have whenever they wanted a drink. At dinner time, I ran around looking for their cups. I went into the play room and saw a few sippy cups but was able to identify the clean ones because of the Gummi Label. I liked that. It was an unexpected benefit of having the labels on the cups.

It has been a struggle for me to keep clean sippy cups on hand because they seem to go through so many in a day. But now that we’ve been using the Gummi Label, I always know which cup is from today and that helps us use fewer cups in one day. It’s also helped me be better at gathering up the day’s cups and get them in the dishwasher. I don’t know exactly how it triggered that cleaning button in me, but I’m happy it did!

The girls like having them on their cups so they ask for them. If I forget they run into the kitchen and show me where they are so I remember. They are easy to clean and to use.

As part of the Winter Wonderland, Sippy Stuff is offering a set of Personalized Gummi Labels to one winner! This giveaway is open until January 31 at 11:59 pm EST. To enter, make sure you leave a comment on Join the Winter Wonderland.  Then for additional entries you can do any of the following:

·         Tweet about the labels or the giveaway @sippystuff

·         Follow Sippy Stuff on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/sippystuff

·         Choose a favorite color and leave a comment on that color’s page.

·         Become a fan of Sippy Stuff on Facebook & leave a comment.

How do you organize and manage your little ones’ sippy cups?

I love journals. It’s the writer/storyteller in me that just goes wild when I get a new journal. As much as I enjoy opening a blank book and writing away, I love journals with prompts even more. I think I have a suppressed love of filling out forms. I don’t know where it came from, but it surfaces about tax time each year So I was really excited when Carrie Lundell agreed to feature her This Is Me journal as part of the Winter Wonderland carnival.

Aside from the prompts in the journal, I was drawn to Carrie’s slogan: Scrap the Scrapbook and Preserve the Personality! I have never been a very good scrapbooker and as the girls have gotten older and busier, I’ve fallen farther and farther behind in getting pictures in albums. Carrie’s slogan broke through my fog created by feelings of guilt and being overwhelmed and shone like the bright sun on a new day. I was pumped to share this journal with Sammi.

And Sammi did not disappoint! She was so excited that we got a book just for her and that she got to draw and write in it all by herself. Carrie had suggested reading the parent’s guide on the last page before beginning. So with an antsy preschooler at my side, I flipped to the back and scanned. The layout made it easy to ready quickly and absorb the tips so that in just a few moments I was ready to share the journal with Sammi.

I had her start by drawing her self portrait on the first page. In hindsight, I think I should have warmed her up to drawing herself before drawing on the actual first page. She grabbed her favorite color, pink, and scribbled away. After that, I gave her a piece of paper and talked about drawing herself and got a very adorable, 3-year-old’s perspective on what Sammi looks like to herself. I’m tucking that portrait in the pocket at the back of the book to keep to show her she did really draw herself, not just crazy pink lines.

We worked through the first few pages. I turned the prompts into questions I asked Sammi and then wrote down her answers. Some of my favorite are that her favorite thing about being 3 is going to preschool. But she doesn’t actually go to preschool! I haven’t found a program that has space so we’ve visited a few, but I’ve mostly decided to do preschool activities at home. Another favorite is that if she could have any pet, it would be an elephant. And then she drew this adorable picture of the elephant. It’s hard to see, but her elephant has seven legs and a tail. She was very pleased with the long trunk she drew (top left).

While we could get any book and so some of the same things, I would choose this keepsake journal for a few reasons. First, I love the design. It’s professional but appealing to kids. Second, the prompts are already there and, after flipping through the book, there are ideas I never would have thought to include. One last reason, because it’s already formatted and bound in a book, I’m more likely to finish it with Sammi over the course of the year and then keep it for her to look through in the future.

As part of the Winter Wonderland, Carrie is offering one This Is Me journal to a BBGU reader. Make sure you comment on the Join the Winter Wonderland post to enter the giveaway. You can also comment on this post for an extra in the giveaway. This giveaway is open until January 31 at 11:59 pm EST.

What memories have you preserved that are special to you know? Would they have been forgotten if you hadn’t done something to preserve them?

We are so excited to have Aaron Nigel Smith as a new sponsor of Because Babies Grow Up. We received Everyone Loves To Dance a few weeks ago and it has been a lifesaver! I turn in on every day while I’m making dinner and it gets the girls moving, singing, and most importantly, out of the kitchen! I love to listen to it while I’m cooking, too, because it’s just so fun.

Aaron Nigel Smith has been quite busy recently touring with the Ziggy Marley Family Time Tour, Between the Lions Live, NEA Read Across America Tour. Let me tell you, after all that, he has got kids down pat! His voice and inflection, his lyrics and the energy of his music all appeal to the youngest of listeners, and even on up to grown ups. His music has also received the NAPPA and iParenting awards. When I showed Sammi this video, she loved it instantly. Grab your little one and enjoy!

By far my favorite song is the title song, Everyone Loves to Dance. But we have also really enjoyed Simon Says. We used the song to teach Sammi how to play the game. We had so much fun. Aaron Nigel Smith will be touring later this year and I bet he’s a show worth taking your little ones to. I’m hoping he comes somewhere close to us so we can go see him (Please! Please!)

Giveaway!

Aaron Nigel Smith is offering a copy of his new CD Everyone Love To Dance to a BBGU reader as part of the Winter Wonderland Carnival. This giveaway is open until January 31 at 11:59 pm EST. You can enter to win on the Join the Winter Wonderland post. For additional entries, you can comment on this post as well. Everyone Loves to Dance is also available on iTunes and on Amazon.

How do you survive making dinner with little ones clambering about for your attention?

The holidays are over and it’s still winter! Now that the novelty of snow and cold weather has worn off, what are we going to do to survive the next few months of winter? Why, celebrate, of course! I came up with the idea for Winter Wonderland from a Care Bears book I bought Sammi at the grocery store. The last story in the book is Winter Wonderland where all the Care Bears get together to celebrate the first snow.

We’ve already had our first snow, and second and third and a few while we were away for the holidays, but we can still celebrate the joys of this season with the enthusiasm of those Care Bears. They had singing, games and treats; my definition of a pretty exciting party!

Sponsors and Prizes

It wouldn’t be a party, though, if there weren’t great prizes up for grabs! We have some wonderful sponsors who’ve donated products for BBGU readers to win as part of Winter Wonderland.

• Everyone Loves to Dance from Aaron Nigel Smith
• Personalized Gummi Labels from Sippy Stuff
• This Is Me Journal from This Is Me
• Dress Up Cape from yours truly at Because Babies Grow Up

Ways to Enter

Required:

Leave a comment on this post describing your ideal winter weather.

Additional Entries: Leave a comment for each one you do

• Become a fan of Because Babies Grow Up on Facebook!
• Update your Facebook status: “Come celebrate winter with these great prizes, crafts, activities and more! http://bit.ly/7gzKWw”
• Tweet this: “Join @ajpassey in celebrating winter with great prizes, music, crafts, activities and more! http://bit.ly/7gzKWw”
• Add the Winter Wonderland button to your sidebar, if you have a blog.
• Add Because Babies Grow Up to your blog roll, if you have a blog.
• Subscribe to Because Babies Grow Up
• Blog about what you do to celebrate the winter months after the holidays are over. Each Saturday I will post links and summaries to all the posts you contribute. Make sure you come back and leave a link to your post so I can find it! Include a line at the end something like: “This post is part of the Winter Wonderland Carnival at Because Babies Grow Up.”
• An additional entry for each post on BBGU you comment on during the Winter Wonderland Carnival.

Winter Wonderland is open from January 18 through January 31 at 11:59 pm EST. All comments submitted before then will count as entries in the giveaways.

What is your ideal winter weather?

My musical journey has been an interesting one. I am not musical by nature. I enjoy music and even taught myself how to lead music. I took piano lessons, violin lessons and trumpet lessons, but they were short-lived and I’m not accomplished at any of them. I didn’t own many CDs and I rarely went out of my way to listen to a specific song or artist. I would say that up until I met my husband, music was not a priority for me.

All that changed when I met Brent. He is passionate about music. He knows all the bands, songs, concerts and pretty much anything else there is to randomly know about music. The night he told me he loved me for the first time he couldn’t quite figure out how to bring it up. He was bringing me home from a date and we had just pulled up to my apartment. He hesitated for a moment and then he said, “I want to share this song with you.” And he put in “It’s Alright” by Boyd Tinsley. It starts, “Can I tell you all that you are to me, girl? You’re really something And I give all my love to you.” Then the chorus says, “I wanna tell you I love you; it’s alright.” My heart melted.

One last example about Brent’s passion for music. During our first year of marriage we went on several long road trips. I would be anxiously running around, doing laundry, washing dishes, packing bags and getting snacks ready. I would haul luggage out to the car. Brent, on the other hand, was always found in the middle of the living room floor with all his CD books open and CDs sprawled about as he carefully chose what he thought would best fit our road trip. At first it irritated and then angered me that he would spend so much time choosing music for our trip. But, we’ve always had very fun road trips and a lot of that is because of Brent’s attention to music.

So it was no surprise to me that Sammi loved music and rhythm from an early age. I was a little, okay, a lot rusty on my nursery rhymes and kid songs. I found the laptime program at our local library and started going. I was reminded of all the classics and learned so many new songs, too. Sammi and I have definitely bonded over sharing music together.

But that only prepared me for little Elli who is the spitting image of her father in her passion for music. At first I accepted how important music was for Brent, but with our children, I have developed my own sense of how important music is. Through songs I can relate to my children in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

We laugh, we play, we fall asleep, we travel all to the original soundtrack of our life together. We love finding new artists and listening to great musicians doing music right. But at the end of the day, Sammi asks for Mommy and Daddy to sing. “Not the car. I don’t want to hear the car. I want you!” she said one day as we were driving home late at night from a fun day at Grandma’s house. She chose us over anything else. That’s the power music can have in your relationship with your little ones.

Because I want everyone to have as fantastic a time sharing music with their little ones as we do in our home, and because I know that not every library has a laptime program to get you started, I put together my first eBook all about how to do laptime with your little ones. Laptime Songs for Mommies …and Daddies and Grandmas and Grandpas walks you through introducing music to your littlest ones on up through preschoolers. It has music, classic nursery rhymes, terrific variations, crafts and book ideas. In short, it’s the ideal way to spend 20 minutes a day in front of your computer with your baby on your lap. But it also creates opportunities to take that music with you where ever you go.

This week’s giveaway is a copy of Laptime Songs for Mommies …and Daddies and Grandmas and Grandpas for two lucky readers. The giveaway will run through Jan 17 and the winner announced Jan 18. This whole week I’ll be exploring how music can fit into every aspect of your life with your little one. This will give you lots of chances to enter to win! Here are the details:

Leave a comment on this post to enter. What is your little ones favorite song or nursery rhyme?

Earn extra entries:

• Tweet this: Another great giveaway from @ajpassey: http://bit.ly/6uKKQ0 Share the power of music with your little ones!
• Facebook this: I just entered to win Laptime Songs for Mommies from Because Babies Grow Up. Share the power of music with your little ones! http://bit.ly/6uKKQ0
• Blog about why you think it’s important to share music with your little ones and at the end of your post, include something like this “This post is part of my entry in Because Babies Grow Up’s giveaway for Laptime Songs for Mommies.”
• Come back each day and leave a comment on that day’s new post about music in the life of little ones.

I don’t expect you to do all of the things to get extra entries! Just if your interested, pick the ones that fit your schedule. I’d just love any help in sharing the message that music is a great way to bond with your little ones.

What a way to start off the new year! Here’s a catchy, clever album all about the brain. Roger Day had the great idea of creating an entire album around the brain: Why Does Gray Matter? …and other brainy songs for kids! Overall, the album reminds me of all the things I love about They Might Be Giants: smart lyrics and upbeat tunes.

Roger Day appeals to my parenting side by incorporating words like ‘lycopene’ and ‘deep basal ganglia’ into his songs as he extols the virtues of healthy food for the brain and the finer details of how the brain works. Then he also brings to life the kid in me who loves corny wordplay and geeky facts.

But, don’t take my word for it! I wasn’t the only one who loved this album. We were headed out through winding roads on Saturday. So naturally I drove to avoid motion sickness. Brent typed notes for me on my phone as we talked about the songs. When I checked out what he wrote down, I found this: “Husband really enjoys this album.” And that’s coming from my very music savvy sweetheart. Sammi had something to say about it, too. A few songs into the album she commented that “these are songs to help us stay awake!” Which is a compliment since we usually try to sing them to sleep with lullabies on long road trips.

Random Things I Like

• Roger Day is from Tennessee which significantly increases our chances for seeing him live!
• On the back side of the lyrics sheet is a nifty poster for the album that I’m actually considering hanging in my office.
• He started performing his children’s music at community service shows for local Head Start programs where he was scheduled for his regular college coffeehouse shows. (One location he played was right here at Lincoln Memorial University! though I don’t know if he did a children’s performance here.)

Win Your Own Copy

We’ve got a copy of Roger Day’s new album Why Does Gray Matter? …and other brainy songs for kids! to give away to one Because Babies Grow Up reader. To enter, please leave a comment telling me something smart about you or your little one. For additional entries you can blog, tweet, facebook or delicious this post. Just leave another comment telling me what you’ve done and I’ll tally all the extra entries in when I randomly select the winner.

This giveaway is open until Monday, January 11 at midnight, EST. Please help spread the word and good luck!

Well, I survived 15 hours of travel with two sick girls. We actually had a pretty good time. The girls slept the last 1 1/2 hours on the plane and then were happy when they saw Grandma, Grandpa and two aunts and an uncle. Then they slept the 45 min drive to my mom’s house and were so excited to see another Grandma and Grandpa that they could hardly go right back to sleep! But that’s okay because I didn’t have it in me to break up the party.

This trip reminded me of the last time I was on an airplane. Brent and I flew with Elli when she was almost 8 months old. We went house hunting in Tennessee before our big move here. We had a long day of flying and driving and I was worried about what to take with us to entertain Elli for so long.

About the same time, my dear friend Melitsa of Play Activities was getting ready to release her book about Treasure Basket Play and asked if we’d like to review it. I had no idea how it would transform my travel with a little one! Her book is full of ideas of natural items children love to discover and explore. Following some of her suggestions, we were able to pack a pocket in my backpack full of items that kept Elli entertained for the entire trip.

A Great Christmas Gift

Putting together a treasure basket would make a perfect Christmas gift for your little one! The budget’s tight at our house for Christmas this year, as I’m sure it is in plenty of other homes, and we’ve looked for ways to make the dollar stretch and to still provide the girls with toys they’ll love. Imagine your little one’s face lit with joy in digging through a basket of objects of different textures, shapes and colors, object typically high on a counter or otherwise out of reach now available for exploration.

Little ones love to explore a new object and then when the newness is gone, they move on to the next object. Treasure baskets accommodate this short attention span perfectly because they are easy to reconfigure when your little one is tired of its contents. Melitsa’s book contains tons of ideas on different combinations of objects that you can safely include in a treasure basket for your little one.

Win Your Own Copy of Treasure Basket Play!

Melitsa has generously offered a copy of Treasure Basket Play, along with the bonus resources of case studies supporting treasure basket play and an exclusive audio interview with Mary Horn of Heritage Treasure Baskets, to one Because Babies Grow Up reader! This is an amazing resource that will help you through the transition from baby to toddler.

To Enter:

• Please visit Melitsa’s site: Treasure Basket Play and find the 8 Benefits of Treasure Basket play.
• Come back here and leave a comment telling me the benefit that’s the most appealing to you.
• Additional entries: anything that helps spread the word about the giveaway! Tweet this post, share the link on Facebook, email friends about it, bookmark it on Delicious or like it on Stumbleupon. Come back and tell me what things you’ve done and I’ll add in the extra entries for you.

If you’re looking for an alternative to plastic toys that make noises you can’t control, or if you’re looking to further your little one’s imagination and creativity, then Treasure Basket Play is a great choice for you and your little one.

Enter to Win=
One Less Present to Worry About!

I received a flattering email the other week wondering if I’d like to work with VTech for the holiday season. I was excited about the possibility. I’ve recently been wondering if it’s time to introduce a few more techy toys into Sammi’s collection. I’d looked at VTech’s Bugsby Reading System and at LeapFrog’s ClickStart but was a bit hesitant about making the transition.

I read through the press release describing the various products they have released for the holiday gift-giving season. My attention was drawn to a Ride and Learn Giraffe Bike (18-36 months) that Elli is just getting old enough for. The review included in the press release says, “The buttons are very easy to push and we love that their are so many animals to choose from!… I love the whole “keep kids active” idea…This line of toys is setting a good message and we are thinking of getting [my son] the “weights” so he can use his instead of mine when we work out! – Amanda, Lady Evelyns’ Blog“

I like the sound of that! I’ve tried to work out a few times while the girls are awake and it’s always Elli that dashes my hopes of exercising for longer than 5 minutes. I was offered my choice of toy to review or to giveaway. After giving a lot of thought to the matter, I was filled with the gift-giving spirit of the season. So, although I’ve not tested this product myself, I’ve agreed to host the giveaway on behalf of VTech.

Enter to Win VTech’s
Ride and Learn Giraffe Bike*
Value: $49.99

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. I’d love to know your thoughts on ways to help kids stay active.

For additional entries, you can link to this post using this: http://bit.ly/8EOxiK
on Facebook, Twitter, or your own blog (10 entries). Just leave another comment telling me what you did.

You can also share this post on Delicious, Kirtsy, StumbleUpon or any other social bookmarking tool you use. Again, please leave an additional comment telling me what you did.

Good luck and have fun spreading the holiday cheer!

*This giveaway is open to US residents. The giveaway will be open until Monday, December 7 at midnight EST. The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced Tuesday December 7. The winner must contact me with shipping information on Tuesday. If no contact is made by the winner, a new winner will be chosen and announced Wednesday, Dec 8.