just a cardboard box

Oh... the simple joys of a playing with a cardboard box! Ava came into the bedroom wanting to tell me about the weather - in a very reportedly way. So I found her empty radio box in the garage, cut out a "screen" and put it over her head. And just like that, she was reporting the weather from the tube. Its quite funny hearing her interpret the news - since we don't watch it at home. But she described the sunny day ahead very vividly, and flipped her "paper" to move on to the next topic.

The "TV" didn't have to be painted, or fancied up - kids see past these so quickly so that they can focus on the good stuff - the fun! With just a little creativity with what you already have at home (no store bought stuff) playtime using our imaginations - is indeed priceless. You might want to also grab your video camera too - oh the things they say....

kids make dinner: pizza pinwheels

Planning dinner sometimes feels like we're playing yahtzee - but instead of dice, thoughts of, "what to make... what to make?..." are tossed in our heads. Aaron's the chef in our household, but when you have a tough day at work, hit the pool with the kids after wards - there's little time left to prepare a hearty, nutritional, the kids-will-eat-it kind of a meal. Which is why recipes from websites like, mealsmatter.org - that are healthy and easy enough for the kids to help with - are a perfect go-to resource.



Jump for more pics of the kids making pizza pinwheels! It takes about 10 minutes to prepare 12 mini "pies" and just 6 minutes in the oven, leaving much more time for us to sit around the table together - and savor the dinner prepared by the kids much more...

preparing for kindergarten

Counting down. In less than 1 month, Ava will start kindergarten - and I am more than just beside myself. The summer has taken up our days... with this or that. And when we pause, I remember, "Ava, we need to work on your workbooks right now!" Workbooks that help her practice cutting, matching, answer riddles, write her alphabet, count, and so on. Some times she finds it very boring. And her restlessness has her squirming in her chair, or day dreaming. She's easily distracted, and will ask me questions, and I have to help her refocus. Not always easy. In fact, I find myself huffing and puffing during these moments. Yesterday was one of those moments. She finished an entire notebook, skipping the coloring exercises. So when I asked her to go get her markers so she could finish - she came back like this:



We both laughed. So hard. And it made me realize that although I have been on this mad dash to make sure she's "prepared" for kinder, the most important thing we have to be prepared for - are knowing when to embrace moments like these.

I love you Ava. I know you will do a fantastic job in school. And I know, that your light-hearted, don't be so serious... make time for laughs and have fun, kind of attitude will serve you well for the rest of your life. Much more... than coloring inside the lines.

Even I am still learning that... I'm proud its from and with you, Ava.

this moment

{inspired by Soulemama}  "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

3 techniques, 2 days, 1 mr. seahorse

Inspired by this assignment from Deep Space Sparkle - a fantastic art blog - we set out to produce artwork like the great Eric Carle too. I thought this would be a fun project to try on this summer day - because A&N love Mr. Seahorse and it brings back memories of our beach trip.  The layers, techniques, and two-day process was part of the beauty of this art project. Most of the time when kids do "art" they have an idea in mind. Here, they discovered how "art" itself can be pieced together - to make even bigger art.

Jump over to our Creative Crafting corner to see how this:



turned into this:


Don't forget to jump over here!

chapter books

Through the years, we have filled our shelves with countless picture books for the kids. Both Aaron and I are huge fans of books in general {from the smell and touch to the story plots and knowledge learned...} Picture books for the kids say a thousand words - they like to look at each page before its turned and examine different things... point out expressions, or what "others" not in the story are doing. This makes reading with the kids the same book over and over again - timeless, which I think, is what makes a good book - wonderful.

sorting and matching and more

Last week, I picked up a new game for the kids called Seasons - Sort and Match Science Game from Lakeshore Learning. The kids had fun sorting the miniature figures into what they thought belonged to the right season. We took turns picking out an item from the box, and if it didn't go with their season card, it was the next person's turn.  As each object came out of the box, I asked questions about them. After Ava placed her sunglasses in "summer" I asked if we wear sunglasses any other time of the year? Or why we can't build a snowman in Spring? And general facts about weather...

this moment

{inspired by Soulemama}  "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."

setting sail

Who needs pool toys, when you can sail a boat? To change things up a bit during splash time, Ava and I made 20 paper boats with the stack of square fluorescent note sheets we had at home. I can't remember how old I was or who taught me how to make a boat, but after looking online to link for this post, I realized I do it a little bit differently. I'll have to share that with you in a second post. After doing it just once, Ava was able to make some of her own... and then we played the voices of the ships preparing to hit the high seas...

dining room redo

So.... back in November, I was craving a redo of our dining room. I had an inspiration board of sorts... and well - so much has happened between then and now... and finally, this past May, in time for Noah's birthday, we finished it. Well, most of it anyway.

This is what it looked like before...

and here's where we are now...

More pics and details of how we pulled this together are posted in the homestyle section of our blog. It was an ambitious project to finish in less than 2 weeks...

this moment

{inspired by Soulemama}  "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."