Making Our Own Valentine's | DIY Valentine's Day Cards

 
The last few years, my husband and I have stayed up late the night before our kids' school Valentine's Day party, getting their Valentine's cards together (writing their names/putting them together/sorting them).  This year, I wanted to get the kids more involved (now that they are older) - and get ahead to avoid the night before panic! And this past weekend was the perfect time to break out this craft since we were iced in!  
We were going a bit stir crazy.  The kids really wanted to go outside, so I took them to play in some fresh (cold) air in between ice showers - and while it didn't last too long, it's always good for them to get outside!  After thawing out, we began our DIY Valentine's craft and the kids loved it so much, they did that for the next TWO hours (I helped some, but also was able to clean the kitchen)!  I love when they get into things like this, and are now really excited to share their own little creations with their friends in February. 

So, to make our very own Valentine's cards to hand out to Liam and Nora's friends at school, we covered the table in paper (to protect from paint/markers/spills) and got the following supplies:
1. Perforated Paper 2. Paint and/or Markers (we used both!) 3. Stencils to help make your designs Optional: A gift to affix to the back. We chose to give heart stickers!
And then, I really just let the kids go at it!  Nora kept it pretty abstract, while Liam was really intentional about drawing a design on each specific card.  And there were vary few messes, if you can believe it or not. The only major spill was by me when knocked Nora's water cup for her paint brushes over across the table. Oy.

 {matching buns!}

And here is where the perforated paper really comes in hand!  

It was so easy to separate the pieces!

After I separated all the cards, I used wasabi tape to affix stickers to the back as a lil' gift for each kid.

Want some more Valentine's Day prep and celebration ideas?  
Carly has a sweet 'Love Coupon for Kids' idea over here! Sandy is sharing Valentine's Day treats to make with a heart shaped cookie cutter here. Laura is making healthy Valentine's treats with her lil' toddler here.

Lipgloss & Crayons | Sandy a la Mode | Chasing Davies | Walking in Memphis in High Heels

You can see past post Mama posts from this series right here!

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To Make: Refreshing for Summer, Flavorful enough for Fall Cocktail

The grapefruit-vodka cocktail has been my refreshing go-to all season long, but just subtly summer enough to transition into fall just fine.  Actually, grapefruits reach their peak around the holidays, as they have a longer gestation period than the average citrus fruit, so you may consider squeezing the fruit for your own juice come winter!
Keep reading for the ingredients and recipe!

What you need (it's really quite simple):

1. San Pellegrino, flavor of choice - I love using the Blood Orange flavor for extra hiding of the Vodka taste.

Alternatively, you could also select any other sort of tonic or club soda you fancy.

2. Grapefruit juice (or fresh grapefruit, squeezed).

3. Vodka (I like Grey Goose - it's more expensive, but I don't drink enough to put me out of house and home or anything, and I'd rather it go down smooth.

4. Limes - for the juice and garnishing (I use at least one per drink - I love lime!)

For a single serving: 

(I always make my drinks in singles, unless I'm making a batch of margaritas or summer brew or something like that)

1. Fill glass of choice with ice (I like to use a stemless wine glass or something of similar size)

2. Add a shot's worth (more of less depending on your tolerance/preference)

3.  Fill the glass 3/4th of the way with San Pellegrino

4. Fill glass the rest of the way with grapefruit juice

5. Squeeze at least 2 slices of lime (I like 3-4!) into the glass

6. Either stir OR dump into a shaker and, well, you know... shake!

7. Once back in glass, garnish with another lime slice and add a straw (I like to continuously stir to keep the ingredients mixed throughout my slow drinking).

Mmmm... and there you have it. A cocktail to take your right into fall, and yet keep you holding on to summer a bit longer.

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Toddler Crafting: A Customized Superhero Cape with Seedling!

Liam (3.5 years old) is getting to that age where we can do crafts together! I've been dreaming of this stage for a year now!  And these Seedling kits are the perfect, all-inclusive packages that have everything you need to create. They have kits for kids 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12, and all sorts of themed project kits! From design your on superhero cape, to a fashion designer's kit, to making your own mermaid - there is no shortage of fun.  
We (and by we, I mean Liam) chose to design his own superhero cape - since he's on quite the superhero kick these days!  First we talked about he wanted his cape to look like given all the supplies that were included with the kit.  He definitely wanted lightening bolts - like Flash - so I helped cut those out, and the letters for his name. But Liam did all the gluing and adding sparkly paint throughout to really make it his own!  
We spent about an hour creating it - and he was into it!  Taking his crafting job seriously, but having a lot of fun, too. It was so wonderful to do this with him - spending some extra time together and see him try new things.  

After waiting barely enough time for his masterpiece to dry - we had to take it for a spin! So Liam wore it on our family, post-dinner walk around the neighborhood. I'm sure our neighbors and fellow walkers loved seeing their resident superhero out and about running down the sidewalks. 

He even cleared the walks of sticks for us - showing off his super strength! ;)

Our family walks have never been this fun! I can't wait to do more projects with him (and Nora!).

{^Super hero strength!}

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DIY Frozen Lemonade Popsicles

My favorite thing during the summer months is lemon. Lemon everything. And my kids' favorite thing is to eat popsicles. So, to appease us all, I whipped up the easiest homemade lemon popsicles for us all to enjoy.  
These are the perfect blend of sour and sweet, and the frozen lemon slice added makes for an awesome added burst of that lemon flavor that I love so much. I might just freeze slices of lemon straight up next time, it was that good.
See how to make these little gems below - and please, PLEASE let me know if you have any awesome lemon recipes for a lemon-lover like me to try!

Directions

It's really, really easy.  And all you need is 3 ingredients + popsicle molds.

Ingredients:

1 cup Vanilla Frozen Yogurt of choice

2 cups Crystal Light/Lemonade (pre-mixed with water, per directions)

Optional (but highly recommend): 1 Lemon sliced

Makes 4 about popsicles

1. Combine both the vanilla fro-you and pre-made lemonade into a blender (I love our Blendtec, which I use for a blender and food processor and everything in between - it's quick and easy). 

2. Blend until smooth

3. Slice lemon and add one slice to each mold - the lemon adds flavor to the popsicle + makes for a delicious added burst of flavor

4. Pour mixture from blender into each mold

5. Freeze and enjoy!

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Baby Nursery Must Haves + DIY Personalization

There are a few things I've learned over the years of practically living in the nursery in our home.  It's housed both kids, and is currently still our baby-now-toddler, Nora's room (Liam moved to his big boy room when Nora took over).  Over the last few years, I've come to relay on a few things and realized pretty quickly what I didn't need...  I also enjoy making the most of this space, which has come to be one of my most favorite rooms in the house.
1. It's a must, people, it really is. The baby Diaper Pail should not be skipped.  I've heard people say they don't have one - as they just use baggies or walk the diaper out to the garage - and I guess it depends on your home set up, but for us... from the newborn stage when there are like 15 dirty diapers to the toddler stage when the diapers are really smelly, this has just been an easy solution for managing the stink.  Arm & Hammer's diaper paid by Munchkin does just that and is simple to use. 
To transform the pail to fit in with our nursery decor, we partnered with Munchkin to bring you an easy DIY (that even my littles loved helping me with!).  All you need is your diaper pail and washi tape in colors and patterns that go with your nursery. And because washi tape is easy to peel off, it'll be easy to switch up or transform to the next baby!  Then line the edges and grooves how you wish to add pattern and character to your pail.  Easy as that.

 {See how much better that pail can look?!}

2.  Books, books and more books.  I can't tell you how thankful we are to have lots of options so we don't get super burned out on the same old ones.  But even so, both kids have shown preference to a few select books, so plan b is to rotate them in and out so mix up the options! Now that Nora is a toddler, moving and walking all over, I love to hang out in her room and play.  She immediately goes to her book shelf to pull our her favorites and either toddles back to me to read them to her, or she'll sit down and read to herself.  It's so cute.  

3.  My favorite part of the nursery since the moment it was created in preparation for baby Liam is the reading corner and recliner chair (it's like the mac-daddy of all chairs as it swivels, reclines and rocks).  This chair was the most pricey baby thing we bought, but it's proven to be the BEST thing ever. I've slept in that chair through two pregnancies, with sick babies, I've nursed in that chair, cuddled one and then two kids at a time, and have read countless books.  {Similar chairs here, here and here}

4.  A few other items that we've come to lean on in the nursery...

Bag Balm for all dry skin and diaper rash: It's the only thing that has ever worked on both my babe's little bums.

Humidifier is a must!  Each kid has this same elephant one in their rooms since it always seems they need it at the same time. And really, we've probably use a humidifier in their rooms 1/3 of the year.

Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber Mist smells like lavender, and while I'm not sure it actually helps my littles sleep, I love the soothing effect it has and certainly helps the smell of the room!

Blankets and more blankets. One of the easiest ways we transformed this room from Liam's to Nora's nursery was adding in blankets for accents, and now as she's nearing the safe zone for sleeping with a blanket - we are so happy to have this super cute Happy Habitat Mini (cutest patterns and perfect size).

We actually upgraded our Sleep Sheep for a sound machine when Nora was born, but love how easy it is to bring the Sleep Sheep from room to room or traveling.

What are some of your must-have baby nursery things?

This post is in partnership with Munchkin via Collectively, Inc, but all my options are my own.

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