Valentine’s Day dinner

Valentine’s Day dinner

This year Valentine’s Day looked just like any other day, except that the kids went to school with bags full of weeks worth of handmade greetings. Oh! And Thomas wore a festive red polo shirt! I love the sweetness of kids on Valentine’s Day. I love the tradition of class parties and exchanging cheap plastic

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Melted-crayon Christmas trees

Melted-crayon Christmas trees

Mary is on a crusade to make homemade gifts for all of her family members. Also all of her friends, classmates, people she rides the bus with, and she’ll throw in a free Christmas gift to anyone who signs up for Disney + before the end of 2019. She’s so ambitious and excited about it,

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Embroidered monogram napkins

Embroidered monogram napkins

Anytime an entire week goes by without a new blog post you can assume one of two things: One or all of our kids has a fever, ear infection, an orthopedic injury, is throwing up, or all of the above. I’m fumbling through some sort of craft that requires skills that I’m teaching myself with

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Summer screen time

Summer screen time

This is Mary’s new iPhone. My niece made it, and it’s easily the most coveted item in our house. Everyone wants it but no one can touch it. After all, Mary has a data plan to consider. Mary uses it like a fully functional phone — she takes pictures, she texts, she FaceTimes my mom.

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A space for mess, creativity, and kids (three things that are actually all synonyms)

A space for mess, creativity, and kids (three things that are actually all synonyms)

In the past year or so David has become increasingly interested in creating. He loves to draw, color, paint, cut, glue, and everything else. I love watching him, in part because a few years ago he didn’t like any of it — coloring, using stickers, or even playing with Play-Doh at all.  Anytime I brought out

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DIY Narwhal Ornament

DIY Narwhal Ornament

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

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Homemade Thankful cookies

Homemade Thankful cookies

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

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A pumpkin novella

A pumpkin novella

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

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Putting memories in their hands

Putting memories in their hands

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

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Only my absolute most valuable customers

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

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An octopus birthday party

An octopus birthday party

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

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Melted-crayon rocks

Melted-crayon rocks

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

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DIY play makeup for toddlers

DIY play makeup for toddlers

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

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57,200 stitches

57,200 stitches

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

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Homemade toddler skeleton costume

Homemade toddler skeleton costume

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

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Cleaning pennies with ketchup and two very relavant tangents

Cleaning pennies with ketchup and two very relavant tangents

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

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A family exercise in gratitude

A family exercise in gratitude

As Thanksgiving approaches, lots of my friends do “thankful” activities with their kids. The idea is simple, ask the kids what they’re thankful for and display their answers — and yours. This is our take on it. I decided to trace our hands and hang them like a garland in our dining room. Initially I

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A Lightning McQueen birthday cake

A Lightning McQueen birthday cake

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

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Washi tape road for toddlers

Washi tape road for toddlers

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

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I have a yarn problem

I have a yarn problem

In 2012 I made it one of my goals to “Reduce clutter, organize and make our house more liveable.” I reiterated the goal in 2013: Reduce clutter, and all that. I want to reduce clutter and have a well-organized home, not because I love organizing (I like organization, but I don’t revel in the act

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From Richmond, with love

From Richmond, with love

Every now and then I pack up a bunch of toys and games and whatever else and send it to the members of my family that live in Taiwan. Many of the things I send were made in Taiwan, shipped to American where I purchase them, then send them back to Taiwan. The irony is

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Cross strap flats

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

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