Picnic

Day Trip: Pescadero

A few weeks ago, we headed south to Pescadero to share a Mother's Day lunch at Duarte's Tavern with my mom and sister.  We headed out early so we had time to stop at Lemos Farm off of Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay.  The boys braved their first pony ride, fed the goats and enjoyed snack time on the train.  Bijou found the outing a bit babyish but went along with it like most big sisters do.

We continued driving south another 30 minutes to enjoy lunch at the 100+-year-old restaurant, Duarte's Tavern.  I had the crab sandwich and their famous olallieberry pie, which was delicious.  The kids all behaved themselves, which was a nice surprise in the restaurant setting, and kept themselves entertained by sticking sugar packets into my hair and pouring the creamer into their orange juice.  Fun times!

After lunch we headed around the corner to Harley Farms to see their goats and visit the Farm Store.  Doug and my Mom tried to capture a Mother's Day photo of me and my kids and it went something like this...

Bijou striking a pose, of course.  Eero a bit clueless about what is going on.  Wilder trying to run out of there.  And me, tightly gripping Wilder's hand.

Then we had a little talk where I tried to convince him to take just one more photo.

Then he pouted some more...

Eero overheard the conversation and thought it would be hilarious if he followed suit and parked himself on a bench further away...

And this is the Mother's Day photo I ended up with...

Classic!

Easter Egg Decorating Ideas

I've been preparing my boys for what to expect on Easter this year, since this is the first year they are mature enough to even slightly grasp the concept.  Our Easter traditions include dyeing eggs, decorating our front window with some handmade Easter craft and hosting a brunch and egg hunt at our house with our extended family.  

I've been reading a story about an egg hunt to the boys and they always get stuck on the same page where a little bunny is crying because he has no eggs in his basket so his older sister helps him find some.  They make me read the page over and over.  I hope I'm not instilling any anxiety about the holiday egg hunt tradition.

As always, my own anxiety flares up on the afternoon we dye eggs.  I'm just such a neat freak and two-year-olds and permanent dye are just two things that shouldn't mix in my opinion.  However, the most important thing to me is to create good memories around the holidays so I will try to set it aside for an afternoon.

Use Temporary Tattoos!  Instructions here.

Naturally dye your eggs. Instructions here.

Stamp your eggs. Instructions here.

Pantone Egg instructions here.

Color coordinate your eggs and spray paint a few of them gold (photo source unknown).

She's 18!

Oh man, I feel old.  My step-daughter turned 18 yesterday.  I can't believe it!  She was just a little kindergartner when we first met.  We gave her a hotel room in SF for the night with a group of friends to celebrate and had a small party back at the house with her wee-siblings.

I often am offered sympathy when people find out we have a teenager, a 7-year-old and twin boys all under the same roof.  I always make sure to point out that we have really lucked out with our teen.  Aside from the mayhem in her bedroom, she does well in school, has an internship, spends most afternoons practicing with her crew team, respects her parents/friends/teachers and follows the rules.

She also has a bright future ahead.  She has currently received letters of acceptance from two of the four colleges she applied (still waiting to hear back from the other two).  One even offered her an academic scholorship making us very proud.  She is most excited about a possible move to Austin, TX so I decided a desert-themed cake would be appropriate this year.

I decided on a chocolate cake recipe from this book.

Picked up some chocolate rocks, gold flecks, and gold candles here.

 

I added butterflies instead of snakes and scorpions to keep it feminine.

It was delish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVE!

Be Mine

Crayon Hearts DIY

1.  Peel paper from crayons

2.  Preheat over to 230 degrees

3.  Break crayons and put a mizture of colors into a silicone heart shaped tray.  I bought mine at Jo-Ann's.

4.  Bake for 15 minutes

5.  Allow to cool and then pop them out of the tray.

Valentine's Day gift guide

Well, January flew by and now it's that time of year to get crafty with your kids and make Valentine's for their friends at school.  Here are a few Valentine-inspired gift suggestions for those special people in your life you want to celebrate. Your Mom, neighbor, or your kid's teacher would love a batch of these heart shaped sugar cookies.  The recipe can be found at Inchmark.

This adorable idea I saw on Pinterest and would make a great gift for your husband.  I plan to make a similar version into a card for Doug.  I hope my two littlest-littles cooperate.  At two, cooperation is not one of their strengths :/

Red Heart Organic Onesie, $23

Red Conversation Heart Print, $21

14K Gold Stacking Rings, $345

Linen Love Pillows, $38

Arrow Ring, $14

The Paper Club has a ton of great cards to choose from, $5

Photo Highlights from our Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas at our cabin in Lake Tahoe which included snow, snow and more snow.  I think it snowed over three feet in the 5 days we were there.  Lot's of snow meant great sledding, beautiful snow angels, snowflakes on our tongue, and many opportunities to get all cozy inside with 500-piece puzzles, hot cocoa and gingerbread houses.  With three young children in tow, it also meant whiny toddlers who refused to wear gloves but hated the sting of the cold on their hands, snotty noses, cabin fever and way too many opportunities to get addicted to our various Apple products.  Wilder suffered from electronic puzzle withdrawal for a good 24 hours after we got home.  Ooh, and since we are being honest here, I should also mention that I got our vehicle in a bit of a pickle in our steep driveway piled high with the aforementioned snow on my return from the market with Bijou and gingerbread house building supplies in tow.  No big deal, the front tires were teetering off a small cliff and the back of the car had high tailed around and was about a 1/2" from our cement retaining wall.  Needless to say, wine time was needed after that ordeal had been resolved.

 

New Year's Resolution

Every year, I enjoy making New Year's resolutions.  I'm usually pretty good about sticking with them.  At least until March ;), and they typically revolve around going to the gym more often.  This year, I'm mixing it up a bit and making my resolution to learn French.  French 101 starts next Monday and I'm already getting a little anxious about the inevitable part where we all go around the room taking turns answering the teachers questions in our new language.  If I can conquer this, I'll sign up for scuba diving lessons (my other fear) when we return to the Bay after our year-abroad.

I also enjoy making little resolutions for my children.  This year, I hope...

Bijou learns to ride a bike.  She's 7!  I've clearly failed as a parent but we do live in the hills so I'm going to use that as my excuse.

Eero stops biting his brother and allows me to dress him in those sweet suspenders I bought him nearly a year ago.

Wilder starts to show some interest in the potty.

What resolutions are you making this year?

A Danish Tree

Growing up, my mom had a Danish friend who taught us how to make these sweet Danish hearts one holiday season.  I was reminded of this fun Danish craft when these same hearts started showing up in my Pinterest feed this month.  

How-to instructions can be found in this post on radmegan's blog.

 

I won't lie, the first heart took about 45 minutes to make and some swearing may have taken place but the remaining hearts took only about 5 minutes a piece.  In addition to making great ornaments, they would be great gift toppers or small sweet advent calender envelopes.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Holiday Pajama Party

It's become a tradition for Bijou to host her own holiday party every year.  I thought this might slip by the wayside this year, but after she expressed her enthusiasm to do it again, I found it hard to say, "no."  So with just a few days to prepare, I limited to her to just a handful of friends from her class at school and quickly sent out an Evite.

She settled on a pajama party with a viewing of a holiday themed movie.  Pizza and popcorn, of course, along with some snowy cupcakes.  The silver trees and deer toppers can be purchased here.

The reindeer bags of popcorn and water bottles idea came from Pinterest and I think won me "Best-Mom-of-the-year-award" from Eero & Wilder.

Simple Gift Wrap

I'm giving the gift of relaxation this year to all 7 of my children's teachers.  I know they certainly deserve it after spending the good part of most of their days with 20 little bundles of energy.  I made each an eye pillow filled with flax and lavender to help them get much rest during the holiday break.  I made an extra one that is still for sale in my shop. However, if you are looking for a crafty project during the holiday season, I have how-to make an eye pillow instructions here.

For packaging, I chose brown lunch bags (seemed appropriate), my favorite winter-themed Instagram photos and binder clips.  So simple to recreate for your small holiday gifts this season.

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