play room

We have been working on this project for a few months.  This was a room on the first floor that was essentially underused and I imagined it would be a perfect place to store all of the children's toys and to hang their coats.  Since we live in an old house there isn't a lot of closet space.  We only have one small coat closet on the entire first floor so I keep having to find creative ways to store all of our things!  We emptied the room first, painted it a neutral color, and organized all of the toys into categories. When we put them back in to the space we used a designated shelf or bin for each category as you can see from the picture of the bookcase above. For example, one shelf has games another trucks.  This makes it easy to clean up since everything now has a specific place.  I moved the red frames from my office in there as well to display the children's art work.  We put a train table in the corner that besides providing endless entertainment was used as a table to eat dinner on when we had some friends over this past weekend.  I'm very happy with the results and, besides finding some decorative things to hang on the walls, it's finished!

beautiful bows

 My daughter has a lot of hair bows thanks to our friends at the Little Red Wagon. The Little Red Wagon uses frames to display their bows at craft fairs so I thought I would make one for my daughter's room to organize her bows and make them easier to find on busy mornings..  I found a frame for 50% off at Michael's craft store.  I took out the glass and attached some fabric and ribbon that I had at home to the cardboard insert.  All that was left to do was simply clip the hair bows onto the ribbon.  I love that it is decorative, functional and didn't cost a lot (the whole project only cost $20).

welcome spring

I made some "butterfly magic wands" with pretzels and white chocolate.  They came out pretty cute and taste great!  Hope you are enjoying the first day of spring too.

some where over the rainbow

This morning for breakfast I thought it would be fun to serve a rainbow.  I cut up different fruit in the appropriate colors and served it with some yogurt clouds and homemade granola.  It was a hit and I think we've started a new tradition!

green shoes

(photo courtesy of Barnes & Noble)

Every year the leprechauns leave the children brand new shoes (preferably green) with a few treats tucked inside.  He leaves them right outside of their bedrooms.  This morning I heard my daughter say "thank you, leprechauns." And as she showed her brother her new shoes she asked him "aren't they so beautiful?"  It was priceless.  You can read more about our tradition here.  This year I also found this great book to go with it.  I hope the leprechauns left you some fun surprises too!

Happy St. Pat-TEA's Day!

If you have been following my blog for a while you know that my husband comes from Ireland.  He is the real deal, "right off the boat" as they say.  So every year I try and make St. Patrick's Day extra special for him and our children.  Last year we gave out Irish Coffee and this is what I came up with for this year, a bag of Irish Breakfast Tea and a Bailey's flavored sugar cookie that I purchased at a local bakery.  I made a little homemade tag for the tea with the message: "Happy St. Pat-TEA's Day" and put it in a glassine envelope. I got the inspiration and wording from here.  Thanks, Alexis!

got milk?

Everyone knows that leprechauns hide their gold at the end of a rainbow.  So, we decided to make some edible rainbow necklaces in honor of St. Patrick's Day next week.  We used fruity Cheerios because I thought they were a little healthier than Froot Loops.  Either work just fine.  I showed my kids how to make a rainbow pattern and they got straight to work.  This activity was good for teaching my children about colors, patterns and also good practice for their fine motor skills.  The finished product was a beautiful (and edible) cereal necklace. 

busy bee lifestyle

I was thrilled to be mentioned on the Busy Bee Lifestyle blog today.  Among other nice things they said; "What’s notable about author Nina Healy’s ideas is that the components are readily available, but combined in unique ways."  I hope you agree!  Check out their fun website and the rest of the article here.  Thank you, Susan & Kim.  I'm thrilled you enjoy following my blog!

blue truck

One of my dear friends gave me this darling blue pick up truck filled with gorgeous flowers when I had my baby boy a few weeks ago.  I loved it!  Thank you, Kristi.  I love this truck so much that I knew I had to keep it long after the flowers were gone. I have lots of ideas for this truck and recently used it to hold peanuts.  Wouldn't this be perfect for a little boys birthday party?  I love using whimsical things to hold snacks in. 

happy birthday, dr. seuss

(photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble)

Today is National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss's Birthday!  We made these petite edible hats from mini yogurt covered pretzels and red sprinkles.  Aren't they cute!  How are you celebrating today?