Another kiddie favorite…Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! This was one of the first books Evan could "read" all by himself. Madelyn loves it, too, and I think it is my favorite Sandra Boynton book. If you’re looking for a new addition to your bookshelf or a good kiddie gift, you can’t go wrong.
Last week the D.C. area had its first major snowstorm of 2011. We lost power for 24+ hours. We searched for flashlights and replaced batteries. We piled blankets on our beds and wore layers. Evan got to wear his Spiderman snow boots. We had peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast. I learned how to cook pasta and chicken nuggets on a gas grill. Bryan shoveled the driveway and Evan helped. We played Candyland and superheroes. I realized that no matter how long the power is out, I will still flip a light switch when I walk into a room. And I decided that we should unplug and stay in just a little more often.
Shhh….don’t tell Evan, but I let Madelyn read his copies of Pat the Puppy, Pat the Cat and
These have been some of Evan’s favorites for years. He knows every word in each of them and heaven help me if I can only find Pat the Puppy when he is in the mood for Pat the Bunny. Tears. Tears I tell you. I try to make sure all of our Pat books are together on the shelf to reduce the risk of a pre-bedtime meltdown. Have any of you read the Pat the Pony or Tickle the Pig books in this series (if you can call it a series)? I’ve seen them on Amazon but I haven’t read them yet. They might be good additions to our collection.
When I decided to start featuring my kids’ favorite books on Mondays, I scanned the bookshelves and looked for the books that are the most worn. Ratty corners and finger-smudged pages are sure signs that a book is well loved. All of our Eric Carle books have been read time and time again, but I think one of our favorites is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? It is the perfect book at the end of a long day. I can read it without thinking, my kiddos both love the colorful pictures and Evan likes that he knows what is coming up next. Is it a favorite in your house, too?
Here is another favorite from my kiddos’ bookshelf: The Pout-Pout Fish
My kitchen bookshelves are full of amazing cookbooks. I love reading my cookbooks as much as I like cooking from them. I know there are wonderful websites full of recipes, but I'm still old school when it comes to cookbooks.
One of my favorites to flip through is Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make
Last winter I whipped up the penguin cupcakes in the book for Evan's preschool class to go along with the penguin-theme week they had. All in all I thought they turned out pretty well for my first time attempting such cupcake artistry. I layered the serving tray with coconut and threw in a few Swedish fish to top off the display.
Of course, as I was building the cupcakes I realized the teachers probably would not appreciate the aftermath of 12 toddlers hyped up on a cupcake, donut and donut hole.
Let's just say there were no afternoon naps in the class that day, but the teachers didn't hold it against me too long. I'm definitely turning to the book again for some creative treats for my kiddos' birthdays this year.
If I Could Keep You Little…
I love that the book is for boys and girls. One of my favorite lines in it is, “If I could keep you little, I’d tell you stories every night. But then I’d miss you reading the words you’ve learned by sight.” I also love, “If I could keep you little, I’d fly you with my feet. But then I’d miss you seeing sky and clouds from your seat.”
The book makes me want to create my own scrapbook version of the theme, which is going on my someday list of projects to tackle.
Some of my lines and photos for my scrapbook…
If I could keep you little, I’d snuggle you all day.
But then I’d miss seeing how much you love to play.
If I could keep you little, I’d carry you everywhere.
But then I’d miss seeing you roll from here to there.
My kiddos and I whipped up some little place cards for our Thanksgiving table today, and I scanned in a couple so my mom can print them for her table, too. I just have to add some legs, beaks and waddles to these little guys and they’ll be ready to go. Each one is a custom print.
Painting with Evan is always a messy endeavor.
He loves to mix the paints together to see what colors they make.
Then he spreads the paint up his arms and starts reciting lines from his Spiderman movie. He is very serious about the entire process.
It makes me smile. It also makes me cringe a little since I know I’ll have an extra load of laundry to do tonight. I think it is worth it though because on Thursday when I sit these little guys on the table, I will have forgotten all about the laundry. At least that is what I’m telling myself right now as my washer and dryer hum away in the background.
If you’d like to make a cute little edible addition for your Thanksgiving table, let me recommend pumpkin Oreo pops. All you need are Double Stuff Oreos, candy melts, lollipop sticks and green Tic Tacs.
Here are the easy-peasy directions:
1. Open up your Oreos. I did a bunch at a time and ate any that broke. You may want to keep a glass of milk handy for this part of the process.
2. Insert a lollipop stick and close the babies back up.
3. Melt your candy melts in the microwave according to the package directions.
4. Dip the Oreo into the candy and make sure to cover the whole cookie. Lay the dipped cookie on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
5. After it sets just a little insert the green Tic Tac into the top. If you wait too long it will be too hard, but if you do it too early it will fall off. So, play around with it a bit. Don’t worry. You can eat any mistakes.
6. Once the cookies harden all the way, place some of the melted candy in a baggie, snip the end and drizzle some candy back over the cookies. That’s it. You’re done. I think they would be cute as place cards on a Thanksgiving table.
Oh—and, if you want to get ahead on Halloween next year, you can try making Mummy Oreo pops. I didn’t get this posted a month ago as I had planned, but since I’m a glass half full kind of gal, I prefer to think I’m just getting a jump start on Halloween 2011.
The days have been flying by lately. Between a slew of work projects, a hubby who has been burning the midnight oil and my two little ones, time is passing quickly.
I’ve been so fortunate to have a steady stream of freelance projects since hanging my own shingle about two years ago. The past few months have been especially busy. It has reinforced the need to dedicate a set workspace to my work. As a write-at-home mama, it is easy to pack my laptop from room to room, but I find I am more efficient and focused when I sit at my desk.
So, I’m in the midst of a re-vamp of my home office. I’m on a budget, but I am going to splurge on a few tools that I think will help boost my productivity. Today I ordered a new wireless keyboard and mouse and a laptop stand. Tomorrow I’m heading out to pick up a fancy-schmancy desk chair. Whoo hoo.
As part of the re-vamp, I’m in the market for a desk for my little guy. There was a time when he was happy to play on the floor while I worked, but now we have a power struggle over the desktop (and laptop, but that is another story). I’m hitting a few consignment sales this weekend in hopes of finding the perfect new-to-us addition to the office.
We’ll be moving some furniture around, re-purposing items from other rooms and pulling a few things down from the attic. There has also been a steady hum coming from my shredder as I purge the filing cabinets and clean house.
I share our office space with my hubby, so we keep the space pretty gender neutral and our first priority is the functionality of the room. Luckily we both have our own desks.
I have been online looking for inspiration for our space. I found an amazing home office while blog hopping this week, but I can’t for the life of me remember the blog! I hate when that happens. I love this corner workstation on Oh Happy Day. I hope we can add an armoire for storage at some point—but that is probably pretty far down the line.
So tell me— what are your must-haves for your home office? How have you arranged your space? Do you have any inspiration rooms or home offices you covet?
