how to keep your 4-year-old quiet in church (and cottage on the coast giveaway)

Like many families, most Sunday mornings we head to church.  Our church has 3 services at 8am, 9:15am, and 11am.  The 11am service always seems to conflict with Trouble's naptime and the 9:15am service is the "contemporary" service.  We prefer our church more on the traditional side.  That leaves us with the 8am service.

Thus, Sunday mornings are usually a mad (often angry) dash of trying to get the girls out of bed, dressed in their (usually matching) Sunday dresses, hair combed, teeth brushed, quick breakfast in their tummies, shoes on, and strapped in their car seats (not to mention ourselves dressed & ready) just in time make our entrance 2 minutes late as the only family at the 8am service.


Every Sunday it is the same story.  And at some point during that mad dash, if I am lucky, I will remember to throw a pad of paper & some markers into my purse.  Because while Trouble can be shipped off to the nursery when she gets antsy, Princess, at 4, is too old to go to the baby room.  But when it comes to pretty Sunday dresses, markers are a little messy.  And the sound of the cap popping off, and then the squeak of the marker on the page may not sound loud under normal circumstances, but somehow gets magnified by several decibels while sitting in the church pew.  After several disastrous Sundays in a row of harried mornings, late arrivals, and marker meltdowns, I decided there had to be another way.  I vowed to find some way to save our Sundays.

 I realized the only way we were going to make it out of the house on time was to be prepared ahead of time and I decided to start by making my purse a little more kid-and-church friendly.  While perusing the treasures of Etsy.com (a place I spend far too much time), I came across the coolest little crayon rolls from Cottage on the Coast and I had a Eureka! moment.  Princess doesn't really like to use crayons (hence the markers) but she loves to have special places for things.  I was fairly certain that her love of special treasures would outweigh her preference for markers.  And at $6, the handmade crayon roll was a steal!

I am happy to report that I was right.  A few days later, the sweet little paw-print patterned roll arrived.  The quality was flawless--there is nothing quite as beautiful and well-made as handmade items--and I carefully filled it 16 brand new crayons, then rolled it up, tied the bright red ribbon, and slipped it into my newly organized purse.  The following Sunday, when I pulled out the crayon roll, Princess was beside herself.  She happily colored through the entire sermon without making a sound.  No crunching of the box, no popping of the caps, no squeaking on the page.  (And no marker on the dress!)

These little crayon rolls are absolutely adorable.  At $6 each they would make awesome stocking stuffers or gifts for all the littles on your list.   Cottage on the Coast also features a variety of other darling & useful children's items, such as onesies, soft blocks, sandwich bags, aprons, and more.

Even better, Cottage on the Coast has generously offered to offer a crayon roll to one lucky reader as part of the 30 days of Holiday Cheer event!

Here is how to enter:

Mandatory Entry:

-Visit Cottage on the Coast's etsy shop and tell me which item/pattern (other than the ones mentioned in this post) you like best, and who you would buy it for. (1 entry)

Optional Bonus Entries:

-Become a follower of Living Well, Spending Less via Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, or RSS feed.  Leave a separate comment below to tell me how you are following. (1 entry)

-"Like" Living Well, Spending Less on Facebook.  Leave a separate comment below. (1 entry)

-Follow me on Twitter.  Leave a separate comment below. (1 entry)

-Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter or post it on your Facebook wall.  Leave a separate comment below. (3 entries)

-Post a link on your blog to this giveaway. (3 entries)

Entries for this giveaway will be accepted through Friday, November 26th, and I will draw a winner at random using Random.Org on Saturday, November 27th.