Seuss Party...Part 2

Everyone had such a great time at the boys' birthday party. Somehow it managed to be pretty stress free and none of the kids had any major meltdowns so it was a success. Obviously the boys didn't understand why there was a party but they liked it anyway. Especially the cupcakes!







And what good would a Seuss party be without some matching outfits. The boys, of course, needed to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 although we weren't quite sure which one should get which number but since Andrew is technically a few seconds older he got number 1.










But of course babies need bibs. Even if we didn't remember to have them wear them during the cupcake eating process. Whoops.


















The Seuss fabrics were all so cute that I couldn't resist making the girls some party dresses as well. Kinsley picked the yellow fabric for hers and Kait got the Cat in the Hat. She walked around saying "hat mama! Hat!" and pointing to her dress. I made the dresses a bit bigger than their actual size thinking they could wear them some this Spring but it turns out they have grown since the last time I took their measurements and Kait may not be able to wear her dress again. She's growing way too fast.

Seuss Party...Part 1

Yea! We're back in business, back home and all technology working properly. It's about time. The girls and I took a mini vacation and went to help get things ready for a very special double birthday. My nephews turned 1 last week and we were all ready to celebrate! They are quite the little miracles and even though they had such a rough start they are doing incredible now and have turned into quite the little handfuls. My sister certainly has her work cut out for her.

We did a Dr. Seuss/Thing 1 & Thing 2 party and it was fun, colorful and perfect for them. To keep from completely overloading this post with photos I'm going to keep this post to the party details and do a second post of the kiddos and party fun.






The incredible birthday banner came from The Moxie Shoppe on Etsy and we couldn't have been more pleased with it. She made the cupcake toppers too! My sister actually decided to decorate the boys' bedroom with the party supplies after it was over.








We had everyone at the party sign a book for each boy as a keepsake from the party.



















My sister made each of the boys a plate too. They are so much fun and I love how decorating the ceramics seems to have taken off lately. It's a great project for just about any occasion.

Stopping Time

Oh how I wish I could make time stand still. These little ones of ours are growing up so fast and I fear that one day I will forget all the things that make them so uniquely them at this very moment.

Kinsley inventing games like “Squibby and the Blue Mermaid” and teaching her sister how to jump on the bed. Kaitlyn’s cheesy grin she does when she is so proud of herself for mastering something new and for you understanding just exactly what she’s telling you. The way Kinsley wrinkles her nose when she is concentrating on her drawing or how she still doesn’t like to have her hair rinsed under the faucet. The way Kaitlyn throws herself into you when she’s giving you a big hug or the fact that when I pick her up she pats me just like I do her. Holding hands with Kinsley when she crawls into bed with me in the early morning and hearing Kaitlyn yelling “Sissy where YOU?” whenever her sister gets out of her sight for even a second.

These are the moments I want to hold onto forever. Some days I wish I could have a camera following us around all day long so that these moments are never lost.

Winter nature table

Our winter nature table is finally started. We took a bit of a decorating break after taking down the Christmas decorations and our nature table sat empty. Though it became a favorite doll playing platform which was nice.



It's still a bit bare as I was having a hard time coming up with things to add. This is such a tricky age with Kait because most of the more elaborate and delicate details will have to wait until she is a bit more careful and less destructive. So for now I am sticking with items that can survive her playing with them and ultimately throwing them on the ground.



We're sticking with nice solid wood that can withstand some rough playing. I added these little wooden peg dolls last night. The girls are getting quite the collection and they are getting lots of playtime. (much to this Mama's delight)



Kaitlyn was immediately smitten with this one and refuses to let anyone else play with it declaring "mine" if she thinks we are considering it.



This one is my favorite and I want very much to create an entire family of them, and might before the season is over.

Thanks to the ideas of a friend we're going to hopefully be adding a Cardinal and maybe even an igloo to our table soon. I also have some wooden penguins sitting and waiting to be painted. The trees and penguins came from ClicketyClack on Etsy. I have bought lots of cutouts from them and have never been disappointed.

Television TIme

A couple months back the girls got a television in their playroom. I wasn’t excited (to say the very least) and had always said that there would be no TV outside of the one in the living room. I had already caved and put a DVD player in the van to make traveling to visit family less of a nightmare (which I am thankful we did) but I was not ready to embrace this change. The girls loved it; they could watch their dance movies and thought they had their own little movie theatre. It didn’t really affect our daily lives and I even had to admit it was nice when I didn’t have to watch Bella Dancerella for the hundredth time. After a while I started to notice a negative influence though. Kaitlyn quickly became addicted to the television. It seemed as though all she wanted to do was sit on her little bench in front of the screen all day. She’d wake up and want to turn it on; she stopped hanging out with us in other areas of the house and would even knock on the screen when it wasn’t on. Even if we were watching a Christmas movie together as a family she’d want to go sit by herself in the playroom and watch her TV. When we got back from Christmas and it was still all she wanted to do I’d finally had enough.

One of the very first acts for the New Year was to take the television back out of the playroom. We took it out while the girls were napping and put up the teepee they got from grandma and grandpa in its place. Immediately upon waking Kaitlyn went straight to the playroom then began asking “Where go?”, but we told her it was gone and within a minute she was fine and had moved on. We both breathed a sigh of relief that there wasn’t going to be an issue adjusting and life could get back to normal. The girls haven’t missed it at all and I am happy to have a little less television in our lives.

I’m not trying to say that television is evil and bad for kids (though I know a lot of people do). The truth is we like TV, maybe not as much as the next family but for us it still has its place in our daily rhythm. The girls and I like to ease into our mornings by watching a little PBS together in the recliner. We enjoy watching Super Why and Dinosaur Train and that is perfectly okay, for us. Television time is one of the things we’ve chosen to make a non-issue in our home (which is how I was convinced to allow the television to ever be put in the playroom to begin with) but I do place a limit of sorts on how much is viewed. By only have one television in the main area of the house it is much easier to control what and how much is seen. We also don’t have cable or satellite so that means when we are watching it is on PBS. Once we have started out day the television goes off and we go on about our business. We turn it back on in the afternoon to watch Wild Kratz which Kinsley and I both enjoy watching together. We actually learn quite a bit from these shows and they have given us several topics to research and learn more about. I think, if used properly, television can be a great aid to a homeschooling (or not) family. We choose to view it as a learning opportunity in addition to a source of entertainment.

Though there are definitely times we use it just for fun. We’ll pop some popcorn and put in a favorite Disney movie and cuddle up on the couch (or a “port” in the floor) together. I’ll also admit to the screen being on a lot more during the winter when we can’t get outside nearly as much and I’m okay with that too. For us it was simply a matter of finding a balance that worked for all of us. How do you handle screen time with your children?

Winter Reading

With the nasty virus that has been going around we've spent a lot of time avoiding leaving the house and a lot of time reading some of our favorite winter books. Once we packed away our Christmas books I realized our Winter reading stash wasn't as large as I had originally thought but we have some old favorites so we don't mind too much.

I keep our seasonal or themed books separate from all the other books on the bookshelf (in the girls' bedroom) so we can find them easily and they become part of our seasonal decor that way too.



We moved them off the coffee table onto the bookshelf in the front room to give us more playing space but to still have them easily accessible for lots of use.


In the basket right now:

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root

First Snow in the Woods by Carl R. Sams

Stranger in the Woods by Carl R. Sams

The Star Child by J and W Grimm

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

One Winter's Day by M. Christina Butler

Such great books and perfect for snuggling up by a cozy fire on a blustery winter day. Do you have a winter favorite that you could suggest to us?


I linked to Amazon just for the simple fact that it is easy for anyone to find them that way. I wish I had a terrific local book store I could point people (and myself) towards though.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama. 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.