Rainbow Maker

As the temperature creeps up it starts to be just as important as rainy-day season to have some inside entertainment lined up, for when it just gets too hot to do anything else. And while this is not necessarily a "toy" that can be played with, I imagine it to be quite magical with some summer sun behind it. The Double Rainbow Maker uses solar energy to spin two Swarovski crystals in opposite directions, sending rainbows swirling around your room. Can you imagine laying down for a nap, exhausted from the pool, fan blowing, rainbows dancing all over your room? I would love this thing even if I didn't have kids.

Find it here at the MoMA store.

Happy Weekend!

Signing off for the weekend! Going to take some nice long walks and add to our ever growing stick and rock collection. We couldn't possibly part with any of these precious items. Some of them even have nicknames. If your kids don't have any collections, let me recommend it to you. It doesn't have to be anything special, just something they can find and choose. My kids will randomly pull all these rocks and sticks out and play with them sorting, stacking, making up games and they love adding to the collection. Some of the rocks are from my collection when I was a kid and they love to hear how and where I got them. It doesn't cost us a thing, and it makes a pretty little display on their toy kitchen my pops made for them.

Enjoy your weekend!

First Birthday Gifts

I've got a couple first birthday's coming up (what's up Baby A.J.) and was recently asked by a friend for some suggestions for a first birthday party she's going to, so I thought I'd pass along my suggestions culled from my own two first birthday babies and what they really enjoyed.

In no particular order they are:

1. The "That's Not My..." book series by Usborne Touchy Feely - My kids loved the different textures and I loved the repetitive and quick read. At almost three and almost five they still pull these books out, and "read" them to me now. And with over twenty different books you're sure to find one that will interest your little yearling. Find them here.
2. The Wheely Ride-On Bug!! - oh how we love the Wheely. We actually bought a couple ride on toys for our youngest who wanted to keep up with big brother on his trike. But most traditional ride on toys would catch her back heel once she went any faster than a crawl. And our girl wanted to move (she took four steps the day she turned nine months, the girl had places to be)! She got the Wheely Ladybug for her first birthday and never looked back. The furniture caster wheels allow for a freedom of motion you can't get in other ride on toys, and allow for better control since your rider doesn't have to worry about running over their own toes. I'm saving this one for my grandkids I love it that much (and it still looks good enough to do that). It also comes in a ladybug, tiger, mouse and cow. Did I mention we love this thing? Find it here.
3. Plan Toys Xylophone and Punch and Drop - I've never met a baby who didn't like to bang. And bang. And bang some more. Nap. And then bang. Plan Toys makes the best eco-friendly, classic toys. And (scout's honor) this xylophone is the least annoying xylophone ever made. The wood gives it a mellow, pleasant sound, something akin to bamboo wind chime. The Punch and Drop is a great cause and effect toy, endlessly entertaining. Find them here or here.
4. Duck Pull Toy from Haba - Any pull toy is great, but I found the heavier wooden ones are easier to pull and don't topple like plastic or fabric ones. This one does a little waddle that still makes me giggle. Find it here at Oompa (which is a great site for unique toys!).
5. Eeboo Tot Tower - Stack 'em up, watch your bean gleefully knock 'em down. Stack 'em up, watch your bean gleefully knock 'em down. And repeat. Later they'll gleefully kick it down. Then they'll stack them by themselves, then cry when brother knocks it down and finally they will create elaborate ramps and cityscapes for their cars and princesses. Endless fun for years. Find them here.
6. Mello the Monster by gush4plush - For the most part, I would stay away from plush. More than likely the kid's already got a bursting menagerie of plush. People (myself included) can not stop themselves. But I make an exception for the handmade and unique. This squishy guy is just a tiny example of the bajillions of awesome stuff being sold by independent toy and plush makers, selling their wares at craft shows and online. Check out etsy.com or poppytalkhandmade.com. Find Mello here.

What about you? Do you have any suggestions for a first birthday party? What did your kids love at that age? I need 'em since I just gave out all my ideas. ;)

From the Desk of A.J. - The Perfect Baby Announcements

When I was nesting with our little dude…I was looking for the “perfect” everything. Perfect crib, perfect bedding, perfect wall art, perfect take home outfit, the list was endless.

Along with the perfs…I continuously changed my mind as to how I was going to announce him. Did I want to use the hospital picture (which was hilarious…but no I didn’t use), did I want to rush into a mega studio & do the usual naked baby on fluffy white/blue/green/ blanket, have someone come to the house (but that would have meant me having to make sure the house was clean…uh no), Candid snapshot at home…again…the list was endless.

Then I had to decide…classic announcement…classic…but with some funk…all funk? For some reason I thought that however I announced the babe…that was the final deal. I felt his birth announcement would somehow label him for the rest of his life (I know…so “dramatical” as the Hubster from the south says, he speaks Paula Dean sometime…its scary, but thats just me). Luckily I hit the baby announcement jackpot and found 2 amazing sites that tickled me fancy. The first…classic…but with a twist. The second…all twist.

Scrapless Press…amazing site that is sooooo sweet & easy to use. They have endless choices for birth announcements, invites (b-days, engagement, Christmas cards…you name it)…classic scrapbook feel…with a twist…and oh sooooo sweet. Family run (husband and wife team…LOVE THAT…any couple that can work and play together while raising a family gets 5 stars in my book...uh…love you honey).

Rattle -N –Roll…another hubby and wifey team (kudos again) that play up the vintage concert poster…big time. Send them a pic and they will “transform” you or your little one into a classic rock concert poster...too cool. Again…invites, birth announcements, anything you can think of…they’ll do.

So…these are my favs…went with Scrapless for the first “Here I am world”…but am thinking Rattle-N-Roll for the big b-day…these two sites have us all over them…classic-rock:)

Find Scrapless Press here and Rattle-N-Roll here.

Kindred Site

Some free summer love for your computer, courtesy of two of my favorite bloggers (decor8 and creature comforts). Use a new one each week! Love!

Find wallpapers and other free downloadables here.

Happy Weekend! - and Happy Father's Day!

Some Father's Day love for the weekend. Treat your's nice.

A great funny/sweet/poignant blog by a daddy:

1001 rules for my unborn son

A classic that always makes me tear up a bit:



Some silly papa fun:

Happy Father's Day Dads!!

Poisson Rouge

My kids are obsessed with the computer (and with a graphic designer daddy and a bloggin mama who could blame them!). They love to watch You Tube videos (currently we watch videos people take while on Disneyland rides, before that it was model trains) and love to play computer games. There are plenty of commercial sites with games (Disney, Nick, even Hot Wheels) but I'm never entirely comfortable with them playing those games for longer than a couple of minutes since they are basically a giant commercial wrapped up in a game. Looking around for "better" games (read - less likely to make my kids whine for a new toy) I came across Poisson Rouge. I love that all the games are intuitive, that is to say, there is no tiny Dora in the corner constantly barking commands, the kids have to figure out what the "point" of the game is and how to navigate through the site. You will be amazed at how easy that is for your tots! Even games I couldn't figure out my four year old had down pat in two minutes. It has a nice range of games, so that both my two year old and the four year old can play the games and neither is bored or frustrated. There is an English version and a French version, so your little one can brush up on his French nouns when the English version gets too boring. And to top it all off, it is free. Tres bien!

Find Poisson Rouge here.

From the Desk of A.J. - Hello Cupcake! Book

Planning the big first B-day party for the babe and I can’t help but drool over a book I received from my sister for my first mother’s day. It’s Hello Cupcake! By Karen Tack.

Whether you are getting ready for a birthday party (bowling, sports, dino, bugs, too many themes to list!), tea time, wedding, bake sale, you name it…this book holds the tools and tips for the perfect cupcakes!!

What’s great is she gives you ideas that you never would have thought of (rolling out your favorite candies like Tootsie Rolls, Starbursts and more to cut into antennas, flowers, faces), …but seem within reach…and since its beautifully photographed by Alan Richardson, you can see the details that make these little cupcakes big works of art.

They also have a blog that gives out “cupcake challenges” by readers…the more you make, the better your design hand will become…its your own personal game…but with a great treat at the end.

A cupcake is yummy no matter what it looks like…but serving a tray of these to your friends and family will be sure to give you a lot of ooohs and aaaahs:)

Find some yummy cupcake ideas here.

Orange County Parks

The Husband and I have been talking about taking some hikes with the kiddos (they'd like to see a waterfall) so I was online this morning looking to see if, in fact, we had any waterfalls around us. I came across a great website with reviews of different hikes all over Southern California. While reading a review of one trail, I clicked on a link to this blog, where I saw the Dinosaur Park in Laguna Hills (thats my bean above hanging out in a whale skeleton there this morning) and a link to this site. I LOVE THE INTERNET. I now have a great go -to source for those days we want to get out of the house! And now you do too (provided your in the OC). Such a great comprehensive guide to all things outdoors in the OC, I already want to visit most of them. They do a great job of providing pictures and all the features and pros and cons. LOVE IT!

Check out Fun Orange County Parks here and LocalHikes here.

Happy Weekend!

Hopefully your week went a little smoother than mine, my poor little family has been under the weather. One kiddo had a tummy bug (which is the worst isn't it, when little ones get it? My poor little guy declared it was "the worst day of his life") and The Husband and I are in head cold limbo, where we're well enough to work, but still can't stay up past 8:30 and sound like seals when we cough. But enough whining! The weekend is finally here! We've got some veggies to sow and I'm personally loving this June gloom weather.

Oh, and remember these thrift store finds of mine? They've been up on my wall along with some silhouettes my lil sis made me, thought I'd finally share the finished product. I love that yellow, it makes that little corner "office" so cheery.

Have an easy weekend! Hope you and your family can avoid these bugs, wash those hands! :)

Decals by Mae

OH. MY. LORDY.

I just fell in love. Saw this over on Ohdeedoh (one of my fav blogs) and literally gasped so loud my four year old ran in the kitchen and yelled, "What?! Is it a SPIDER?" I love, no I lurve these "paper" dolls for your walls. They are made of fabric, you can wash them, and move them over and over. What's not to love, I ask you?

Umm and how cute would these creatures be with that mobile from yesterday?

In the immortal words of Rachel Zoe: "I die."

Find them here.

Petit Collage

I've seen Petit Collage's bird mobile in a couple of different blogs and always loved them. Went to their website today and found out I love a lot of things they make! Like this alphabet print. I can't pass up a well made ABC print. So simple and sweet, I love the color combos. And this tree mobile, and the collages on wood they do and just about everything. Le sigh.

Check it out for your self here.

Book Crush - Not A Box & Not A Stick

I was instantly drawn to this book when I laid eyes on it. I was drawn by the simple graphic punch of the line drawing next to the bold red text, a breath of fresh air amongst the glittery, pop-up, squeak toy, electronic button books that drive me up the wall. I'm a purist, I want my book to be a book, and while I've slowly come around to the idea of the "touch and feel" books (by seeing how much my kids enjoyed them as infants), my favorites are still the simplest. And over and over I find the gadgety books get played with for ten intense minutes, and then are forgotten ever more. But I digress...

Based on the idea of kids playing with a cardboard box this sweet book asks its protagonist, a bunny, "what are you doing with that box?" over and over to which the bunny always replies, "its not a box!" His box becomes a race-car, a robot, even a mountain top in Antoinette Portis' simple line drawings. Not A Stick follows the same tradition, with a stick and this time a pig. I love the simple story and pictures because it allows my kids to follow the story on their own, and enables them to "read" it to me. There is also room for them to decided what is happening in the picture, something that can be missing from a more detailed picture book. I define a book's success in my house by how many times I am asked to read it, and how often I am asked to read it immediately after its finished. These are two little books I could recite in my sleep, as could my four year old, and now even my two year old. They are instant classics.

Find them here.

From the Desk of A.J. - Breadwinner Breads

Gifts. I think I mentioned this before…but gift giving season is all year round, with some peaks and lows…but never the less, all year round. I love giving gifts. I love making them, baking them, buying them, wrapping them up and finding the perfect card to go with. I’d love to say that Pinky Swear offers the best gift for every occasion…but I can’t…and I don’t think you’d believe me if I did (although our lovely jewelry is really close to being the best gift for every occasion:)

So. My favorite gifts to give are usually ones that I have received before and have luuuurved so much I want to make someone else just as happy as I was when I opened it. Rewind to almost a year ago. The Hubster and I were in our “new parent fog” of being home with a newborn for about 4 days. I literally was watching the Food Network on baked goods and my mind, body, and soul yearned for something baked and yummy. Neither one of us wanted to bake anything…being in a sleepless, euphoric delirium that a certain baby boy had put us in. Ding dong…”who’s that?”. It was the UPS man with a package! As I have mentioned previously…any package arriving at your door is an excitement all in its own…being new parents…we had received a lot of ding dongs during that time and it was still exciting. Anyway…we opened up the package to find…two “Bunk Breads”. HA! Sweet breads from this fabu bakery named The Bread Winner. We were given a perfect pick me up gift…”Houdini Zucchini” and “Papa Don’t Peach”. Yes…those are the names…and there are a lot more where those clever ones came from. Lovely family owned (we love that) bakery that ships yummy…oh so yummy, sweet breads for you anywhere. Perfect for a housewarming gift (which I just recently sent), new baby arrival (hey, along with a certain piece of jewelry it would be the perfect gift...I'm just sayin') anything you can think of. And did I say they were yummy? I’m a picky person too…I bake and anyone who bakes knows it’s hard to impress oneself with other peoples baking skrillz.

So…when you need a gift for someone…or you need a pick me up after anything (new baby, new house, long day of shopping), be a Bread Winner and send some sweet treats:)

Find Breadwinner breads here.

Book Crush - Piggy and Elephant

Oh Piggy and Elephant, how do we love thee.

We started our love affair with Mo Willems when I was still pregnant with my first and came across Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and the rest of the Pigeon series (more on those wonders in a different post). Then we discovered the Piggy and Elephant books and our love was sealed forever. These books are the kind that when we bring them home and read them, the immediate response is to read it again. And again. And yet again. Ad infinitum. And yet, despite the simple pictures and simple story line (or perhaps because of) I never tire of reading it myself. My kids belly laugh and giggle through them, and they even cause me to laugh out loud. My son loves to "read" them back to me, following the story through the pictures. By far the best "early reader" series out there.

You can find them here or at your local library (ours has several copies of the entire series!)