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Summer YOLO List

ahauer — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:26:10 +0000

Do you have a YOLO list? Your reaction was probably the same as mine when I first read this acronym for You Only Live Once! The idea is simple and so much fun: create a list of the most important things you would like to do with your kids this summer and document them as you make them happen! After reading a few summer wish lists I realized how many projects or things I had already thought of doing with our family like backyard camping, set up an outdoor train track in the garden or catch fireflies. If you have young kids like we do the days go by so quickly and I don’t ever seem to have time to plan some of these fun adventures.

So here is my official Top 20 Summer YOLO List. I hope to get to all of them but at least now I have a reminder of the fun things I want to do!

#1. Go berry picking

#2. Attend an outdoor summer concert

#3. Have a picnic dinner at the park (with Daddy)!

#4. Invite neighborhood friends over for a bike wash

#5 & #6. Look at the moon through a telescope & catch fireflies

#7. Write down a wish, tie it to a ballon and send it off to the heavens!

#8. Start a summer reading list

#9. Make a cardboard castle on a rainy (or HOT) day

#10. Attend a children’s theatre performance

#11. Play water balloon baseball

#12. Invite imaginary friends for a picnic

#13. Plant a “Stone Soup” garden for the Big Bad Wolf (add that to summer reading list first)!

#14. Camp in the backyard

#15. Roast smores

#16. Paint with bubbles

#17. Set up an outdoor railroad track

#18. Paint sticks

#19. Take them out to the ball game!

#20. Don’t forget to create a summer memory book!

If you are looking for more ideas, check out this awesome list from the friend who inspired me to YOLO …and be sure to send us your favorites as well!

Happy Summer!

Girly Dress-Up Corner

ahauer — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:36:45 +0000

I love the idea of turning a cluttered or dreary corner into a perfectly pretty play space! This creatively styled image got us thinking about the Little Choux products we would use to design a girly dress up corner. Read on to see what we have dreamed up !

eclectic kids design by new york kitchen and bath Kelly Donovan

DRESS-UP CORNER DECOR:

Enchanted Woods Wallpaper in Peony

Vintage White Chairs

Grey Criss Cross Pouf

Pink Raffia Storage Basket

Queen Crown Pillow

Emma the Elephant

PLAYTIME ACCESSORIES:

Pink Crochet Striped Necklace

A Soup Fairy Garden?

ahauer — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:26:56 +0000

Now that our kids are a bit older we decided it would be fun to attempt a more structured version of gardening. Up until now planting has involved scattering (aka wildly throwing) seeds. While that method actually sprouted one of the best wildflower gardens we have seen, it will be much more exciting to teach the kids how to nurture “fruit” producing plants.

The plan is to grow the Soup Planting Kit among a fairy garden making it both fun & functional! The kit includes cabbage, tomatoes, fingerling carrots, onions, peas and beans so we may need a bit more space that a single container will allow. We will let you know how it comes along, but in the meantime enjoy the inspiration that we have collected to help jump start our gardening project!

{Soup Planting Kit + Fairy Garden = A Soup Fairy Garden}

* Fairy garden image courtesy of Midwestliving.com

Fairy Garden in a Drawer

Wine Barrel Fairy Garden

Apple Crate Fairy Garden

Wheelbarrow Fairy Garden

Easter Egg Art

ahauer — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:07:53 +0000

Easter Egg decorating seems to have taken on a new meaning these days. It’s not just about dip and dye but creating an edible artform! You can style your eggs with shapes, patterns or by infusing color with plant based dyes.

This year we dyed our eggs with the Glob paint pigments sold in the shop. If you are looking to achieve a bold color, this natural process takes a bit longer. The kids actually preferred to paint the color on with a brush. The next time we might actually use the muffin tin and let them soak a while.

Overall we liked the muted colors the plant based pigments produced. They coordinated nicely with our vintage Easter theme!

We have also been collecting some fabulous ideas on our Pinterest board and with Easter so close we thought this would be a perfect time to share our favorites. Believe it or not, each of these ideas can be done with relative ease assuming you know the secrets to success!

{Color Blocked Eggs}

{Flower & Leaf Printed Eggs}

{Washi Tape Dyed Eggs}

{Silhouette Contact Paper Eggs}

{Electrical Tape Dyed Eggs}