Month: June 2014


Jun
2014

Eleanor Pearl at One Year

categories: baby, family

eleanorfirstyearonquiltcollage

Our darling girl turned one this spring, and I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown. I photographed her each month on a quilt made by my great grandmother, Alice.  The color looks a bit different with changing lighting and effects, but I love how you can see her grow with the pattern of the quilt. Our Ellie Pearl girl is a delight and a challenge and a dream. She is fiesty and full of energy, and a girl who knows her mind. She has no fear and no sense of self preservation. She keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing. She is such a gift and blessing to our family, and it is pure joy to be her mama.

(more…)


Jun
2014

Family Travel: Visiting Vail in the Summer with Kids #Colorado

categories: colorado, kids, travel

visitvailinthesummer

 

Colorado in the summer is perfection. Crisp, cool air, mountain vistas, playing outside without sweating… what’s not to love? We visited Vail, Colorado, with our family when the Bear was just a toddler and today I’m sharing our favorite things to do in the area with kids. Vail is famous for winter ski slopes and luxury vacations. We managed to have a frugal vacation in the area during the summer and it was awesome. Here are our favorite things about visiting Vail in the summer with kids.

(more…)


Jun
2014

Play Outside: Tips for Taking Your Kids on a Nature Walk

categories: baby, kids, parenting, play, tech

This play idea is brought to you by Knoala – Raise Happier Kids. Knoala is a free app that offers activities for parents to enjoy with infants to preschoolers.

naturewalkswithkidsknoala

 

We love to go on nature walks with our kids. Playing outside is a daily activity at our house, and we try to make everythine we do an adventure and a learning experience without making it complicated. Recently I downloaded the new Knoala app and used it to take our nature walks to the next level. Don’t worry, I wasn’t on my phone during our walk. I clicked on to Knoala before we left and found a few ideas for our walk to get the kids to notice everything around me. They responded really well, and we felt like super fun parents.

(more…)


Jun
2014

Festive Fourth of July Wreath ~ Burlap + Tulle + Chevron

categories: crafts, decorating, holiday

festive4thofjulywreath

Summer is in full swing and Independence Day is right around the corner for those of us in the United States. I created this simple and festive Fourth of July wreath for the holiday using my interchangeable burlap wreath form, ribbon, and tulle. My design could easily be shifted for other holidays or national colors. It was so easy and only took about half an hour from start to finish, since I already had the burlap wreath form created. Read on to find out how to make one for yourself.

(more…)


Jun
2014

Family Travel: 20 Fun Ways to Entertain Preschool Kids while Traveling

categories: baby, toddlers, travel

entertainkidstraveling

Every time we tell friends about our family travel plans with two kids under three, they look at us like we are crazy. We may very well be, but we love to travel and are almost done with our first adventure of the summer and preparing for our next one. Today I’m sharing 20 tips for entertaining preschool kids while traveling, and I hope they will be as useful to you as they have been to us. We love to travel and to take our kids along, so keeping them entertained is a must for our sanity.

We’ve been living and working at Camp Buckner, a beautiful camp in the Texas Hill Country for the last 2 1/2 weeks serving with Young Life. Traveling to and living at camp is challenging, but we are using it as a test run for our big 4 week road trip coming up later this summer. In July we will head out to Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you don’t miss our adventures.

(more…)


Jun
2014

Cloth Diaper Hacks: Use {Almost} Any Cloth Diaper as a Swim Diaper

categories: baby, beach, budget, cloth diaper, green living

clothswimdiaper2

Summer is in full swing and we are basically living in the pool. Our Pearl Girl is a total water baby and wants to kick and splash just like her big brother. We have a few specific cloth swim diapers for her to use, but I want to let you in on a little secret I learned with the Bear. Almost ANY cloth diaper can work as a swim diaper. It’s true! We have used Bummis, Bumgenius, and Softbums shells as swim diapers and they all work perfectly.

(more…)