that's a wrap

 

This was a gift for a new mom who also happens to be one of our neighbors!  I love the quote
"Mothers of Little Boys Work from Son Up to Son Down"  and since she had a little boy, and is probably not getting very much sleep, I got her some coffee....

 

And for the baby I got a little board book about going to bed and some new pajamas.  I used some chalkboard gift tags and stuck it all in her mailbox.

I have also used this quote attached to a coffee gift card for a new mom. 

the gift of an ordianry day

I recently came across this video clip, which is an excerpt from the book "The Gift of an Ordinary Day" by Katrina Kenison.  It makes me cry every time I watch it.  It got me thinking that I need to celebrate the gift of perfectly ordinary days.  After receiving a new camera for my birthday last year, one of my newest hobbies is photography. I love to take pictures and pick up my camera every day.  I thought that this is how I can capture the gifts of ordinary days.  I don't wait for holidays or special occasions to snap photos, I take them of everything that inspires me, food, flowers, the beach and always my children.  Just yesterday, my kids were outside playing and I grabbed my camera and took these shots. My son had been showing his sister what he had learned at preschool that morning; how to paint and color with dandelions!  Such a sweet and ordinary experience that I was able to capture on film.  The pictures are a gift to myself of a perfectly ordinary day.  "The memories I find myself sifting through the past to find, the ones I'd give anything now to relive, are the ones that no one ever thought to photograph, the ones that came and went as softly as a breeze on a summer afternoon."  May your days, even the ordinary, be memory making.

that's a wrap

Here is another example of a bathing suit and flip flops that we recently gave to a friend.  Sand buckets are great containers for gifts.  They generally cost close to $1 and are part of the gift, since children can use them to play in the water/sand or to organize toys inside. A little trick to make the bucket look full, is to fill the bottom with crumpled up paper and then just cover the top with paper shred.  The gifts will sit up and the bucket will look full. 

mother's day

I hope that everyone had a lovely Mother's Day.  I was able to sleep in and even got breakfast in bed! My kids gave me adorable homemade cards and presents that they made at school and my daughter picked a small bouquet of flowers (aka weeds) from the yard and presented them to me in a petite vase!  So cute. That evening we met my parents and brother and his family at a local seafood joint, which also had a carousel and ice cream.  One of my favorite pictures form the day was of my children waiting patiently in line for their ride on the carousel!

This was a little gift I put together for a "mom" friend.  It is a copy of the poem "if you give a mom a muffin" that I attached to a cellophane bag.  Along with a muffin, you could also include a gift card for some coffee.  The poem can easily be found online and on Pinterest. 

that's a wrap

One of our friends has a birthday on Cinco de Mayo, so for his birthday I made him a blackberry margarita kit!  I included all of the ingredients and added some fun straws and mason jar glasses with chalkboard labels.  I wrote two nicknames on the glasses and wrapped the whole thing in cellophane. 
I celebrated my own birthday on Friday and had my sister in law and her husband here from Ireland for the whole weekend. It was a wonderful way to begin my 41st year.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, filled with family, friends, and lots of celebrating too!

that's a wrap

One of our favorite babysitters is turning 16 tomorrow and we wanted to do something special for her birthday.  I was trying to think of something to do with candy for her "sweet" 16 .  I found this adorable petite apothecary jar and was planning on filling it with candy and then I thought it would be even more special if we filled it with 16 reasons why we think that she is sweet.  I remembered that Martha Stewart had once made candy shaped place cards that would be perfect for our sentiments.  I used an oval punch and some pink/white (the birthday girls favorite colors) polka dot ribbon that I had left over from my daughter' s birthday party from Namemaker!  I added a pink and green lollipop to the bow and a card before we gave it to her.  I am so happy with how it turned out! 

the lorax

Tonight we are having "dad's night" at my son's preschool.  Traditionally this has been a teacher run event, but for various reasons this year it has been taken over by the board/parents.  We choose The Lorax as our theme.  As I have been planning for this evening I was thinking that it would also make a great theme for a birthday party!  There are lots of ideas all over the web and Pinterest and I even have a board full of Dr. Seuss ideas that you can check out here.  For tonight, the children will be making Lorax pots and planting grass seed in them.  They will sort recyclables into their appropriate bins, take pictures with some  Lorax themed photo props and will munch on Truffula tree cupcakes, humming fish, and bar ba loots!   My son is SO excited for tonight and I couldn't be happier to help plan this event for him.