Mothers’ Day is May 8th– less than a month away! Luckily for Derek and the girls, they don’t need to buy me any of these things. I’ll be happy if they make me something with their handprints and scribble on some paper. Because handmade gifts are seriously the best gifts. And because spoiler alert: I might’ve already bought some of these things for myself.
I totally felt like a goober last year when some neighbors came by to drop off cookies for the holidays and I had nothing in return. I know they didn’t expect anything because that’s not what the holidays are all about, but how great would’ve it been to say “Oh! Hold on just a minute! We have something for you too!” Basically, I’m trying to redeem myself from last year… with some tiny clay pots, paint, and candy. And these cute little guys were so easy to make and super economical.
Mya and I love getting snail mail during the week. And since the holiday cards are already starting to come in, it has added even more excitement to her Christmas spirit. It’s also making me realize that some people seriously have their acts together if they’re sending out their holiday cards by early December. That is certainly not the case with us! I gave up on that a long time ago. And we send ours out for Valentines’ Day. Because it takes me that much longer… two more months. Womp womp. But I did want to somehow display everyone else’s cards; and with some already-owned supplies, it was super easy.
Sorry I lied. I didn’t get my stuff together last night for Mya’s birthday post. Too. Many. Photos! (So, hopefully it’ll come together next week.) Buuuuut, I have some joyous advent calendar ideas for you… because December is just 7 days away. (Insert wide-eyed emoticon here.) I’m here to tell you, “It’s ok. Take a deep breath. Don’t freak out.” Some of these are super easy. If you have some paper bags or toilet paper rolls, you can make something work for you in no time!
Sure hope you’re not sick of Easter-related posts quite yet. Because I have one more for you this year! We drove up to Omaha to spend the holiday weekend with my Grandparents. My Gramps is a full-blooded Italian and my Gram is half Italian, half Czech. (She wouldn’t want me to forget mentioning the Czech part!) They always have more than enough for us to eat– my favorite being their homemade meatballs, Italian sausage, and spaghetti; but I wanted to cook something for them. I found a recipe for Italian Easter Bread and it’s just too good not to share!
Mya and I love going to storytime at the library or a local toy store every week. Sometimes she gets overwhelmed by the library class sizes, so the toy store has been a…
Everyone familiar with the movie “Tangled” (ie Rapunzel)? Ok, good. Well, when Mya woke up to her “heart attack” on Valentines’ Day, she claimed the “mean lady” came into her room and put the hearts there. Because in “Tangled”, the “mean lady” steals baby Rupunzel from her MamaDada when everyone is sleeping. So yeah, I don’t think the toothfairy’s going to go over very well.
The original plan was to have a bunch of “blue lizards”– currently some of Mya’s imaginary friends, along with a lion that has stinky armpits. But as it turned out, cutting irregular shapes out of thick poster board isn’t a walk in the park! So we cut out some hearts, slapped some painters’ tape to the back and underwent super stealth mode to place them in her room Friday night. (more…)
Valentine’s Day is less than a month away. Call me a sap, but I’ve always liked this holiday– not because of the stereotypical chocolates and vibrant reds, but because it’s a nice reminder to give more love. And it’s usually low key. Besides making heart-shaped pizzas together, Derek and I usually don’t do a whole lot to speak of. And that’s alright with me. These heart themed happy things make me smile. (And you can find even more on our Heart Day Pinterest board.) You could easily use the designs of 2, 9, or 10 on some homemade valentines. I haven’t mastered the delicate pancake stylings of 5, but wouldn’t it be cool if I could?! In any case, I hope the images give you some warm fuzzies.
Recently, Mya hasn’t wanted to leave the house. “Stay home” is her most common demand. The cold weather makes it pretty easy to stay in and play, but we’ve been “forced” to do more small projects to prevent cabin fever. One of those projects was making crayon hearts. It might be a bit too early to think about Heart Day, but we made some Valentines’ anyway. Plus, they don’t have to be for any special occasion– just for everyday play.
When I hung our Christmas lights a few weeks ago it was missing the finishing touch to complete the festive feel we were looking for, so we decided to go for a decorative Christmas star to finish the job. After a quick trip to Home Depot to see if there was anything that caught our eye, we quickly decided this was going to be a DIY project. We found a couple of 7-foot lengths of 3/4″ oak squares to build our own star. At just $0.67 per foot, the total cost for this project (since we already owned the rest of the supplies) was less than $10.
We finally took the Pinterest plunge. "What is that?" you may ask. We got with the times and joined Pinterest. I thought it would totally be a time-sucker. And it was initially.…
As Derek’s mentioned, I thoroughly enjoy decorating for the holidays. But what I don’t enjoy is having a bunch of stuff in storage that is only used for one month out of the year. So, our look for the holidays leans towards the minimalist side of style. Here are two tricks we used this year… and some gingerbread house eating building fun.
