DIY Beeswax Candles from Sheets

These beeswax candles are perfect for handmade Valentine gifts, birthdays, and Hanukkah celebrations. No melting wax required! These are so simple and quick to make. Below you will find a tutorial and short video showing step-by-step instructions to make your own beeswax candles from sheets. To make beeswax candles from sheets, you will need: Beeswax […]

Birthday Party Favor Ideas

These birthday party favor ideas are simple, fun, and inexpensive! As an added bonus, these selections can help promote fine motor development, hand-eye coordination, and plenty of imaginative playtime fun. A big thank you to our friends at Melissa & Doug for sponsoring today’s list of birthday party favor ideas! All of these party favors […]

Birthday Challenge: 35 Acts of Kindness. One Day.

Last week, I turned 35 years young. And like all birthdays, I used the time as an excuse to reflect on the year before and make plans for the year ahead. But this year was unlike any other birthday. I did 35 acts of kindness. In one day. With 90 minutes to spare! Throughout the […]

How I Chose to Spend My Birthday

My Birthday Manifesto (i.e. 5 Steps to a Perfect Birthday): 1. Ignore Dirty Dishes in the Sink. 2. Ignore Laundry Pile. 3. Turn Off Phone Ringer. 4. Procrastinate Errands. 5. PAINT stuff. Alongside the kiddos. ALL DAY. It. Was. Awesome.

Sneak Peek — Clara’s Birthday Party

Our giveaway for the Stonyfield Party Prize Pack has now closed, and I am about to pick a winner! In the meantime, I wanted to share a little peek into how we used our Party Prize Pack from Stonyfield ($100 gift card for Michael’s craft store and $100 worth of organic yogurt and organic frozen […]

Happy Birthday, Emily!!

Yes, it’s true! One minute, Emily was just 6 years old, and then… she turned 7!!! SEVEN!! Right before my very eyes. Amazing! There are so many things I love about this little girl! Many of which seemed to come out during the events leading up to her recent school talent show. Oh. My. Goodness! […]

Easy Balloon Birthday Card

While Emily was at school, Clara and I enjoyed working on a special surprise birthday card to give to Em later this month. It was super-easy and lots of fun to make! We used construction paper, and drew lines with black marker for the balloon strings. Then Clara had lots of fun adding all the […]

Easy Crazy Crayon Party Favors

We’ve been de-cluttering around here, and we found LOTS of broken/old crayons (they were everywhere!) I thought it would be fun to make “crazy crayons” a la Martha Stewart with a Valentine’s Day twist! Emily helped make them and she can’t wait to give them to friends! Gather old/broken crayons that you have on-hand. Do […]

Sunday Snapshot — She’s Six!!!

Tutorial — Princess and the Pea Playset

Am I the only one who has craft fantasies? Not so much while I’m crafting, but after the craft has been made. I know, it’s weird, right? I noticed it after the crayon wallets were made, and the fantasy went something like this… We’re seated at a restaurant waiting for our food, and Emily pulls […]

Sunday Snapshot — Happy Birthday, Abuela!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Elements for the perfect birthday. 1. Gorgeous weather making it perfect for picking our own organic apples at Rodale Farm. 2. An afternoon game of tennis with my dad. 3. Back home to enjoy Chinese food, open presents, and eat cake. 4. The celebration continued the next day with a completely spontaneous and FUN road […]

Happy Birthday, Clara!

Clara has turned one year old! We invited some family members over for a daisy-themed birthday luncheon this afternoon. It was a great success, and it didn’t break the bank! The key to planning a party on a budget lies in the little details. These tiny touches do not have to cost much, and might […]

Emily Turns Five!

It happened right before my very eyes. She was four years old one minute… and then… POOF! Five years old the next! We went to a friend’s playgroup (Thanks for hosting us, Debbie!) and Emily played her little heart out. Mark came home from work early, and we spent the rest of the daylight hours […]

The Celebration Continues…

Emily had this idea to make a birthday book for Mark’s birthday. She used one of her old, beat up board books and transformed it into this! This took quite a bit of work, and she completed it in several stages. She was quite proud of herself. I helped with some of the cutting and […]

Someone’s Getting Older

Emily and I spent the better part of today getting ready for Mark’s birthday tomorrow. We have a special surprise for him, and she spent a lot of time working on it. In honor of his 31st birthday, here are some of my favorite photos. Emily loves going sledding with Daddy. Clara (1 day old) […]