Simple/Fun: Felt Forests
November 27, 2012 at 9:19 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Holiday Ideas | 2 CommentsTags: children's crafts, winter
We’ve been having lots of sick days at our house, and sick days for kids means work-from-home days for mom and dad. Trying to balance caring for – and entertaining – a sick child with conference calls and other work-related tasks isn’t easy, so I love when I find an activity that keeps Jason or Jenna independently engaged for a little bit of time. Felt Forests turned out to be just such an activity. All it takes is a big pile of triangles cut out of felt (older children can cut their own), a glue stick and paper or poster board.
I Heart: Natural Baking Decorations
November 14, 2012 at 8:11 am | Posted in Food, Holiday Ideas | 3 CommentsTags: all-natural, baking, dye-free, holidays
We eliminated artificial dyes from our diets almost two years ago. I sometimes think it would be ok to make exceptions on certain occasions, like at children’s birthday parties, but with young children, it’s hard to have rules that are sometimes enforced, sometimes not. My son is particularly black and white about this issue. When we go trick-or-treating, he asks each neighbor if there is dye in their candy before accepting it. Yes, we’re that family.
Our Christmas holidays have been equally un-colorful. In the past, I’ve relied on chocolate and white sprinkles and marshmallows (some brands are dye-free, some are not) for decorating cookies and gingerbread houses. But I recently I saw a new line of sugar sprinkles from Confection Craft, and the colors look so much richer than other all-natural decorations I’ve seen. I’m planning to order a set for the holidays. Bring on the color … and the cookies!
Honest to Nod Post: Painted Leaf Napkin Holders
November 12, 2012 at 11:38 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Design, Holiday Ideas, Home Decor | 2 CommentsTags: autumn, fall, leaves, Thanksgiving
I’m sharing a new post today on Land of Nod’s blog, Honest to Nod. Check out this tutorial for making napkin holders and place cards using painted leaves.
I Heart: A Crafty Halloween
October 10, 2012 at 6:30 am | Posted in Children's Decor, Holiday Ideas | 3 CommentsTags: crafts, diy, halloween
I love Halloween-themed crafts, especially those that do double-duty as decorations for a children’s Halloween party. Above are a few of my favorites.
Friday Favorites
October 5, 2012 at 6:35 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Daily Life, Holiday Ideas | 1 Comment
Fall is finally here in Texas. It’s going to be in the 50s this weekend, maybe even too cold to head out to the pumpkin patch at the Dallas Arboretum.
Here are a few of my favorites this week:
- No surprise that I’m loving all of the pink pumpkins popping up this season (here and here and here).
- “If Facebook is Lucky Charms, Instagram is just the marshmallows” – This video about how not to suck at Instagram is pretty awesome.
- Wedge-style booties are on my wish list for Fall. I love these, but these look more comfortable and affordable.
- This issue is foremost on my mind in this blog space, especially as my children get older.
Happy Weekend!
Halloween Costume: Kitty Cat
October 4, 2012 at 6:55 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Holiday Ideas | Leave a commentTags: cat, children, costumes, diy, halloween, kitten
Sources: Furry Vest / Kitty Ears / Leggings / Tail Tutorial / Make-up Whiskers / Slippers
Jenna is very specific about what she wants to be for Halloween this year. A Kitty. A White Kitty. With Whiskers.
I love homemade costumes. But since I don’t sew, ‘homemade’ mostly means ‘assembled.’ I’ve pretty much got Jenna’s costume nailed with the items above, two of which she already owns, but Jason’s costume will be more of a challenge. He’s decided on “Kai” from the Lego Ninjago video game. At first I thought this would be as simple as a trip to the party store. I’ve been to two so far, each time receiving blank stares from the staff when I describe the character: “It’s a ninja and a Lego …” Hmmm.
I Heart: White + Brown
September 26, 2012 at 6:12 am | Posted in Holiday Ideas, Home Decor | 1 CommentTags: autumn, fall, table setting, tabletop
I’ve been coming across a color palette lately that seems so perfect for this time of year in Texas – white and brown. With temperatures still in the 90s and not a hint of yellow or orange in the trees, this palette is light and earthy, balancing the warmth of outdoors with the desire for richer hues.
Sources (left to right): 01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08
Painted Glitter Pumpkins
September 18, 2012 at 7:05 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Holiday Ideas | 4 CommentsTags: crafts, halloween, kids crafts, pumpkins
It’s probably a little early to start decorating for Halloween. In fact, Halloween decorations are usually a bit of a last-minute thing at our house, since Jason’s birthday falls the week before and I don’t want the spiders, bats and cobwebs interfering with the party theme. But we spotted pumpkins at the market this weekend and couldn’t resist buying a batch of tiny white pumpkins. And once we had them in our home, tiny hands wanted to play with them. So we went to work painting and glittering.
Friday Favorites
April 6, 2012 at 8:15 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Daily Life, Holiday Ideas | Leave a commentTags: easter
Easter is happening so suddenly this year. Usually as soon as one holiday is over J+J are begging for the next holiday, causing us to decorate weeks in advance and start every day by answering the question “how many days until (holiday)?” I think we started our countdown to Easter on Wednesday night, and I have to say it was pretty nice to be able to say ’4′ instead of ’30-ish.’ Guess it’s time to put up some decorations.
Before I get started, here are a few favorites from my week:
- After all of the recent articles about how much better the French are when it comes to raising children, I definitely enjoyed reading this.
- I’d love to try this project with J+J, but they never seem to like messy crafts as much as I do.
- Definitely bookmarked this post about shopping in Paris.
- Our collection of mismatched plastic Easter eggs grows every year. Problem solved.
- My kids would love this.
Happy Weekend!
Maps and Treasures and Easter Adventures
April 6, 2012 at 6:10 am | Posted in Children's Activities, Holiday Ideas | 1 CommentTags: easter
Between my love of Parisian maps, Jenna’s recent obsession with drawings maps and the new GPS device in our car, we seem to be a bit map-crazy at our house these days. Jenna’s maps are often of our neighborhood, documenting (in a very abstract manner) the route to school, to the pool, to our house, etc. But J+J also associate maps with treasure hunts. And so all of this thinking about maps got me thinking about our annual Easter egg hunt tradition, and I decided to turn it into a treasure hunt of sorts, using, of course, a map.
I haven’t worked out all of the details yet, but when J+J wake up on Sunday morning, they will each receive a map of our backyard instead of Easter baskets. To find their baskets, they’ll need to follow the map, and then continue on to hunt for eggs and, finally, the breakfast treasure (probably pancakes, their current favorite).
Oh, and of course I have to show you a couple of Jenna’s recent map drawings. I LOVE these!
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