I took Jane last week to the Franklin Park Zoo for one of our first official activity outings since March, and she kept saying to me “Mom this is a REALLY fun day.” I totally agree – it was a really fun time, and it’s amazing what a tiny slice of “normal” can do for your outlook these days. Zoo New England has officially reopened both their locations with tons of health and safety measures in place, and I was so impressed with whole experience.
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I woke up this morning and realized I had no idea what day of the week it was. Is it the weekend? Is it a school day? It’s all blending together. We are doing our best to maintain some level of normalcy around here, and one of the things that helps with that is keeping Jane busy. On nice days, we’ve been going for long nature walks by the beach, exploring trails, and going through our fair share of sidewalk chalk. On the cold and rainy days (ugh, there’s been a lot of those!) I’ve been trying to fill the morning with a creative project. I thought it would be helpful to share a few of the easy, toddler-friendly craft ideas that have worked for us.  read more

Like many people, we’re looking at least a few weeks of school and activities being cancelled. I am a little stressed trying to figure out how I’m going to get work done and keep Jane occupied at home for that time. I took a deep breath after my mild panic and surveyed our closet where we store toys and craft supplies, and even dug into my “snow day” stash I was saving for snowstorms that never arrived this year. As I was wrapping my head around how to pace out these projects and activities over the next few weeks, I thought I’d share some of my ideas and favorite toys and craft supplies with the hope this list might be helpful to others in the same situation! I linked everything below with some context for how we use, play, and extend the time on each activity, and included a few of my favorite sites I use for kids activity inspiration as well.  If you have good ideas or resources for keeping kids busy during this time please share them in the comments! read more

We have reached a stage in home ownership where a lot of the big problem areas have been tackled. For example our home office used to be a hair salon and our bedroom had a kitchenette in it — we’re talking for real problem areas. There are still lots of tiny projects left to do, and the annoying thing about tiny projects is they’re SO easy to ignore. My friends at Chasing Paper asked if I wanted to try out some of their removable wallpaper from the Darcy Miller collection and I jumped at the chance to finish one of those tiny projects I’ve been putting off for ages in Jane’s playroom. read more

You could say I “heart” snack trays almost as much as I love my grazing boards! With Valentine’s Day a few weeks away, I put together this kid-friendly snack tray with some fun ideas for giving your kiddos a love-ly snack time! I started with some 6-cup muffin tins, which are great for containing these bite-sized snacks, and got to work filling them with a few treats.
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My love for grazing boards is boundless, and they’re one of my very favorite entertaining tricks to wow guests! They also happen to be one of my favorite tricks for getting my picky toddler to eat well. I probably get asked for “snacks” about 40 times a day by Jane — one of our biggest food challenges is that she would much rather eat snacks than meals. Instead of having this ongoing battle over snacks, I have embraced it and made a kid-friendly snack spread that rivals some of my best grown-up grazing boards, with the help of a few of my favorite Cascadian Farm ingredients. read more

Toddlers and meal time, it’s a tumultuous relationship! Some weeks we hit our stride and meal times go like clockwork, and other weeks I have to try just about every trick up my sleeve to get Jane to eat anything at all. One of my very best tricks though, is giving her a few options. I love giving her bento box style lunches with a variety of ingredients to keep her engaged at mealtime. It’s been something that’s worked really well for us at lunchtime, and I even assemble a bento box style dinner for eating outside on the patio or on a summer picnic. Since this has been such a success for us at other meal times, I thought I’d try a breakfast bento box to get us out of a morning rut, using some of my favorite Cascadian Farm organic granolas and cereals. read more

Please note: This post is created in partnership with Christmas Tree Shops andThat!. All opinions, images and content are my own.

I have been checking items off my summer bucket list – lots of beach days, working on my garden, eating al fresco and perfecting my margarita recipe! One big item on my bucket list was to have an outdoor movie night with Jane, and maybe make some tasty s’mores to go along with our viewing party. read more

This post was created in partnership with Hood Milk; all opinions, images and content are my own.

I can’t stop giggling at these pictures of Jane. It’s amazing what a tiny little thing can bring a kid so much pleasure. Her sippy cups were in the dishwasher, so when she requested milk with her lunch I asked if she wanted it in a “big girl” glass. The answer was a resounding yes, and she was beaming in between each sip! That smile actually always  pops up on her face around meal times (the girls loves to eat!) and when she gets her Hood Milk, or as she calls it “Mmmmilk!”

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We had the best holiday weekend full of sunshine and barbeques and outdoor time. To kick things off for our weekend of fun, we started on Saturday by taking a trip into Boston to visit the Franklin Park Zoo. We took Jane last year around this time and she was just starting to walk around on her own, so I was excited for her to experience it at this new age where she’s zooming around and interested in everything. We met up with our good friends and got there right when it opened, ready to explore! Jane was so excited to look at the maps (she’s obsessed with maps) and figure out where to start. read more

 
 
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