David’s preschool class has a stuffed narwhal as a mascot, and in just a few short months David has turned into quite the narwhal aficionado. As we were thinking about Christmas, David wanted to get a narwhal for his teachers. While I thought that was a great idea, there were just so many licenses and permits
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and I wanted to do a little something for my kids’ preschool teachers. I sort of struggle to tell my kids’ teachers that I’m thankful for them because just saying it seems rote. I’m thankful for you, but do you have any idea how thankful? Seeing my little boy blossom as a student who loves
Here we are, on the other side of Halloween 2016 and can I just say: WHEW! We made it, guys. I don’t know what it is about walking with my family through our neighborhood in the dark that takes it out of me but MAN am I wiped out today, maybe for the rest of the
I take a lot of photos. Every time I upload photos from my DSLR, a computer pop-up says something like, “28 items were successfully imported” and I think, “That’s more than a whole roll of film. I just took a whole roll of film of my kid eating breakfast.” When I was a kid back in
Every year around this time I start to get an regular orders from my Etsy shop. (Which, side note, so impressive, right? There are people who are Christmas shopping ALREADY. In OCTOBER! I imagine these people also show up to places at the afore-scheduled time. And probably also clean their home’s windows.) As a result I start carrying knitting
Last year at preschool, David’s class sang a song that he called the Octopus Song, even though it’s actually called the Butterfly Song. He specifically loved the line, “If I were an octopus, I’d thank you Lord for my good looks.” And because he loved the song so much, and because he related so much to
My niece Psalm turned one a few weeks ago, and I made this countdown calendar for her. I got the pattern from The Sugar House Shop — it works like an Advent calendar, but you countdown to a birthday. I wanted to share it here because I am oh-so-very happy with how it turned out. I at all wasn’t confident when I
A few weeks ago I was filling out a preschool application for Mary Virginia. The application asked lots of questions to help the teachers get to know her, including some of her social and academic skills. One question asked which numbers she could recognize, and I wasn’t sure how to answer. Then I thought about
When it’s cold, I cook exclusively in the oven. I’m not kidding, I scour the house looking for things I can bake. Cookies, bread, pizza, roasted chicken. Pancakes? Can you bake pancakes? WORTH A TRY! The house just feels so much cozier when there’s something in the oven, doesn’t it? This is completely unrelated to
I rarely put on makeup these days, but when I do Mary Virginia is always underfoot. “Mommy, can I have lotion in my hair? Can I have deodorant on my belly? What are you puttin’ on your mouth?” If we’re going somewhere that requires more than me redoing my ponytail when we arrive, Tom and I team
I haven’t been blogging as much in the past few weeks. This website has taken a back seat, as have replying to emails, wiping my countertops, and putting away laundry. And when David says, “Watch me!” and then jumps on the couch and does a somersault the exact same way he’s been doing for a solid year, I
When I asked David what he wanted to be for Halloween last year, he emphatically said “A STELEKON!” So I started looking around on Pinterest and trying to figure out how I could make on myself. Emphatically. I found a bunch, but this was easily my favorite. Comfy, cute, and cheap to make on your
I’m going to begin with a tangent, but stick with me, because this rabbit trail is leading straight to a toddler activity, I promise. I am a person who enjoys an ice cold Diet Coke, or twelve, and if you also enjoy Diet Coke then, like me, you have probably encountered friends and strangers who feel obligated to
I thought long and hard about a theme for David’s third birthday. For his first and second birthdays I chose based on the decoration potential. This year I thought long and hard about David’s interests and finally, reluctantly, chose to throw him a Lightning McQueen party. He likes Lightning McQueen a heck of a lot
I found this idea for making a car track using Washi tape on Pinterest. Since we’ve been snowed in a lot in the past few weeks and were looking for activities, I decided to give it a try. The idea is simple enough. I already have Washi tape from packaging Etsy orders, exactly three square
Every morning Mary Virginia takes a nap around 9 a.m. During that time I get overly-ambitious about my life and start a ton of tasks. Laundry in the washer! Muffins in the oven! Sensory bins with David! Maybe I’ll reply to some emails, plant some flowers and knit a hat! Might as well because the
Choosing a crib bed set was really fun for me when I was waiting for David’s arrival. We didn’t know if he was a boy or girl, but there were still plenty of options. I used mostly navy blue in David’s nursery because 1) I was sure he was a boy 2) if I was wrong, I
A few weeks ago my mom and I were cruising Pottery Barn Kids and we saw these chair backers, and my mom was like, “Oooh! Those are cute. I bet they’d be easy to make.” Then we kept looking around and saw these and decided that maybe, just maybe, we could make them, too. So I
Tom and I love throwing parties. We’ve thrown birthday parties, Christmas parties and 10K parties. When I’m planning a party I usually don’t worry too much about dishware and decorations and instead focus on having a lot of food and making sure everyone feels welcome. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a well-set table and
Berkley Grace was born July 1 in the middle of a heat wave, so it’s unlikely her sweet baby feet will be even a little bit chilly in the next three months. But I made these bootees for her anyway. I used this pattern, which was quick and easy to read. I’ve made several pairs
It’s almost Father’s Day. I bought Tom’s gifts over a month ago, and I’ve been excited about them since, I dunno? Maybe January? His gift is not at all practical, nothing he asked for and have nothing to do with being a father. And I think he’s going to love it. To give the gift
I’ve been a knitter for years, and I’ve been knitting for other people’s babies for just as long. The most popular item I knit is these hats. It’s from a pattern I learned from a friend’s mom. Through the years I’ve knit hundreds of these hats, so I’ve got the pattern down. Now that I
These bows don’t come naturally; I worked as a gift wrapper at JCPenney for three years. Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve.
Aren’t handmade gifts the best? I’m a knitter, so before David was born I made him a teddy bear. It was one of the only gender-neutral patterns I could find. I also knitted half of this blanket, just up to the initial part. Then after out little David arrived, I knitted the “D” and finished
Check out these alphabet magnets my friend Candace made for David. Aren’t they awesome? She used instructions found here. I can’t wait for David to start playing with them. Our cat Brigham likes them, too. (Actually, he’s just starved for attention. We haven’t so much as looked at the poor guy since we brought David