If you have been following you know my son LOVES pretending he is a construction worker! Every day is a new project and a new job site. So when my friend sent me this link I had to share it with you. For everyone who has a child that loves construction this one is for you! And not just for boys; the utensils come in pink too!
And yes some constructive eating is in need today too. SHHH don’t tell his Dad; but he did eat chips for breakfast.
I am soooo loving this image from interior designer Ninaribena–that I had to share it with you! Boxes with castors added and chalkboard paint….oh soooo clever! As the art work says, LOVE it, LOVE it , LOVE it.
The boxes are from Ikea, of course!
Check out her Etsy store here.
CohabiTOT is very proud to host it’s first give-away! One lucky winner will receive 2 whimsical “lefty munchler” lunch bags from Built-NY. If your like me and believe form is just as important as function than this lunch bag is for you!
Here’s what Built-NY has to say about their lunch bag:
In our quest for a lunchbox that would captivate every kid, or kid at heart, we developed a concept that incorporates whimsical fun with practicality. We collaborated with the award-winning children’s book illustrator, Stephen Savage, to take on the project of creating zoo animals for the design of the lunchboxes. After all, what good is a lunchbox that doesn’t look good?
To enter the contest:
Simply tell us your child’s favorite lunch in the comment section. One person who replies to this post by 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday November11 2009, will be chosen at random to receive 2 “lefty munchler” lunch bags. Please post only once.
No purchase necessary. Starts Friday November 6, 2009, 11:00 a.m. EST and ends Wednesday, November 11, 2009, at 11:59 p.m.
Open to U.S. residents ages 16 years and older. Void where prohibited
I have to say; I am not a fan of Day Light Savings Time! Is 5:30 the new 6:30 in your house too!! My son has always been an early riser…so today he came crawling into bed at 5:30. (better than yesterday which was 4:30)
Everyone says put him to bed later. We tried this….just means he gets up earlier. Other friends have said put a clock in his room and tell him not to get out of bed until the little hand is on the seven.
I’ll try anything…and try to have fun while doing it. Above are my 3 top picks for cute alarm clocks(from top to bottom):
1. Karlson clock from Conran Shop
2. Polka dot clock from Pylones
3. Monkey clock from Chocolate Cake Club
Do your children get up early? Any tricks to having them play quietly in their room; I would love to hear what works for you!
My friend recently posted this on her blog:
“Fourth day of preschool and this is the art that came home today – just today. I mean, people… I have three kids, so that’s 9 total years of preschool – about 2268 DAYS of preschool. I’m gonna have to buy a storage unit at this rate. And don’t just tell me to throw it away. Moms don’t throw their kids’ art away. At least not this week.
Here’s my suggestion for her!
( I originally posted it on Barista Kids but in cased you missed it):
Another day of nursery school and my son has come home with more artwork.
I have been taking photographs of the extra special projects and saving them on my computer. Especially the ones from building class at the Little Y. My 3-year-old Alan made a great bird with Ms. Maryann. This is the kind of project that won’t last for long–Alan already wants to know if the bird will float in the bathtub.
So I just uploaded photos of his best crafts to the Blurb website, and they’ll make me a great art book. See the cover of the one I’m working on at top
It’s only $25 to have a nice hardback book with a dust jacket that includes Alan’s art projects. I love this, and it helps me keep all of our stuff more organized. Plus, I don’t feel so guilty throwing that bird from building class away one day.
How do you save your child’s artwork?
One of the dreams that I had pre-motherhood was that my children would make hand-made cards. Well that went out the window with home-made baby food and playing with only wooden toys.
With the rush of birthday parties this month I am always looking for an easy way out on gifts and cards! By the way what is with October?!?! My son has a zillion parties and his calender is more than filled! (and we don’t want to forget about his sister’s first birthday celebration) I am going to dedicate a few posts to making the birthday rounds easier and clever tips on throwing parties!
First: Cards! I just don’t have time to buy exactly the right card all the time. But I am a bit obsessed with good design and like gifts to be wrapped well and have cute cards.
Thankfully; I have uncovered wonderfully talented graphic designers putting printable card templates on their blogs.
I love the one above from Brooke Hellewell Reynolds; she has a wonderful blog: inchmark.
Follow these simple instructions and you can download your own template. They totally fit the bill: unisex, perfect for all age groups and they make me smile. I think I will make about 20 to have on hand.
My tip— if you don’t have scraps of fabric leftover just use the scraps of wrapping paper. Or the collection of doodles done by your son or daughter!
And here is from one from Erin Vale for the icecream lover (isn’t that everyone?!):
You can download it here.
Happy Party Hopping! And stayed tuned for more on ” birthday party gift giving ideas” and other fun ideas!
My twins will be a year next week!! And yes I still can’t help checking out baby announcements. Yes, I did design the one for K&L (and mailed most of them!) but I am still always checking to see what it out there!
I am loving the above from Paper Culture! Check out their whole line for birthday and party invites too!
Childhood is sooo fleeting that I felt super lucky to have Dian Lofton document Alan’s party. I told you about all the planning and details here but you can’t the beat fanastic pictures. As the host I definitely missed some things; so I am so glad that I have pictures to fill in the blanks.
The kids were enthralled with painting that we never even got to all the games! I had some tricks up my sleeve just in case….it’s hard to guage the attention span of a 4 year old work crew! But just so you know, I had a bucket filled with legos, and tinker toys. Coloring pages with images of blueprints and houses for those who wanted to draw. I had made laminated rulers for those who needed to see how big the houses were getting. Some did partcipate in “pin the tool on the handy man”. But we never go to freeze dance!
The best part is that the kids seemed to share the supplies well. I had different types of brushes and rollers and not enough of the same for everyone,but it seemed OK!
Check out Dian’s blog for her insight and see more pictures of the party! She is totally right -they didn’t need any tutorials, kids just get it!
The comments from Alan were priceless–
1. Why wasn’t the cake pink!
2. How come “A” only liked green paint. And why did he get it all over him.
3. Why didn’t “D” get a orange apron.
4. I have to another party because some of my friends couldn’t come!
5. Can K&L (his 11 month old twin sisters) have a building party too!
Well, K& L’s birthday is just weeks away…. can I do it again? Yes I can! ( I am thinking a decorating hat party) Check back to see what I come up with!
I love being an interior designer but I also really love planning parties! And I love birthdays, I mean who doesn’t like feeling super special for the day! I must admit I had so much fun planning Alan’s 4th birthday party that it became a little obsessive( even this blog was neglected a bit).
My son loves tools and building with all his heart. He pretends daily that we have a job site in our basement, and he is always making something!! We continually cause traffic jams because he makes me slow down to watch construction workers, or look at trucks carrying wood. We actually did spend three hours watching a crew unload wood. It wasn’t so bad the work was being done next to a restaurant so I actually got to enjoy a cup of coffee. So it seemed beyond obvious that we would have a building party. He even specified that only his builder friends could come! He went over the guest list asking if each invitee knew had to use tools.(of course we let a few novices slide in.)
So I had to come up with something everyone could do and enjoy. I decided we would build cardboard houses in the backyard. OK, well I decided I would make the houses and they would do the “finish work”….the painting, gluing on chimneys, decorating, etc. This sounded perfect for me; since I have a long history of making props.
Here is a look at my thought process:
1. Color scheme—limit it to no more than three colors for full impact! I decided orange, red and yellow were more than appropriate for a building party.
2. Invitations— An icon is always a good way to start. I found the handyman image I liked and it was used in details through out the party.
3. Plan the activities -at this age remember there attention isn’t long and I feel they need plenty of time for free play. I went for “pin the tool on the handy man”
4. Garb -Kids love to dress up. So I always feel whatever the theme; hats should should be involved.
5. Food- Keep it simple. Kids are picky so I vote for pizza, it is always a winner. And of course a great cake! (It always nice to have something special for the grown-ups!)
6. Decorations- Signs and birthday banners. All can be done simply on your home computer.
7. Music- My cousin made the birthday CD with all of his favorite songs. Of course Beyonce’s All the Single Ladies topped the chart.
8. Party favors- I know that these kids don’t need any more plastic junk. Sometimes it necessary and the kids do love it!
Making it happen! It took a village to make my village!!:
1. I collected cardboard for weeks. And my father and neighbors collected cardboard tubes. I even tracked down someone moving into a new house so I could snatch all the boxes. Yes, it would of been too easy just to go buy wardrobe boxes.
2. I ordered hats from Oriental Trading. Which I personalized with each child’s name.
3. My neighbor(teacher friend) turned me onto discount school supply for the paints and rollers.
4. My mother picked up all the tool aprons from Home Depot
5. I outsourced the cake from Alan’s favorite bakery: Flour Patch Bakery.
6. Creating memories– The wonderful photographer Dian Lofton was there! Check back for her pictures of the birthday bash!!
I know I had a blast! And I think Alan did too!
This summer I have been living vicariously through all my friend’s beach vacations on facebook. I haven’t personally gone to the beach yet this summer; 10 month old twins and a 3 year old just sounds exhausting to me! You know, chasing babies who eat sand and rocks and then put the sun tan lotion bottles in their mouth.
Instead I have spent my summer days with my twins and son blissfully playing in their playyard and splash pool respectivally; wondering about all these photos on facebook. With digital cameras we can take hundreds of pictures in a hour! Are they all just sitting there in the ethers of our hard drives. My friend commented on facebook that she actually printed 1000 pictures! Wow, what is she going to do with all of them? I know she has little 3 kids so finding time to put them in an album is on that never ending “to do” list.
I challenge you to get them off your hard drives and up on the wall. Here’s a couple ideas:
1. Frame the 9 to 12 best pictures from the vaction and hang them in tight grid. I did it with my son’s first beach vacation.(that’s a small sample above) It’s hanging in our basement and he loves looking at it. The pictures aren’t the best….you know photographing moving children isn’t easy. But hanging them in tight grid makes you look at the whole lot and not the individual picture. It doesn’t have to be expensive! Ikea sells 5×7″ frames for a 3.99 for a 2 pack!
2. Maybe you have gone to the same place every year? Why not take one picture from every year and hang them together. What a great way to see how quickly your children have grown!
3. Do you have one favorite picture! Try the website: Photowow and create a great piece of pop art!
Just talking about this makes me think I should give the twins at least one day to explore the sand! I know they will love it….and I shouldn’t deprive them, right?! Wednesday is looking sunny….I think I should start packing now.
