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“Hooray for Fall” Boxes!

Hooray! Hooray! Fall is here again! We are so ready for pumpkin patch adventures, collecting colorful leaves on our walks, enjoying our favorite Halloween stories, and just enough chill in the air to encourage extra snuggling– ha, like we need encouragement to snuggle!

To celebrate the arrival of our favorite time of year, we put together Hooray for Fall Boxes for the kiddos! We started this tradition last year and were so excited to do it again. The boxes are a fun way to grow excitement for the season and treat the kids to a little something special.

For those interested in putting together their own Hooray for Fall Boxes, here are some suggestions for what to include:

Items that encourage family time.

  • New seasonal books There’s nothing better than snuggling up under a cozy blanket and reading through a great stack of books! Need new book suggestions? Check out our favorite fall books– they are perfect for these boxes!
  • Games (card games, memory, brain teasers, Halloween Mad Libs). Target often stocks up on darling fall/Halloween themed games that are compact and affordable in both their dollar section and seasonal section.
  • Consumable art supplies Pipe cleaners, stickers, glitter, paper, shaped hole punches, beads, paints, etc. Affordable seasonal/holiday art supplies are readily available at any craft store. You can also find lots of crafty staples at the Dollar Store.
  • Plans for an outing or experience Include a little note or picture in the box that describes your plans (go look at the leaves, visit the pumpkin patch, attempt a corn maze, make a Halloween craft, etc.)

Items your children need. These are things I would have purchased anyway, but putting them in a box for the kids to open was WAY more exciting!

  • pajamas
  • warmer clothes

Decor Items. Festive seasonal items your children can display in their rooms.

  • Wall art
  • Garlands
  • Pillows
  • Blankets
  • Stuffed animals
  • Seasonal string lights
  • Pumpkins

Odds and Ends All the little fun extras!

  • Cute accessories (headbands, nail polish, themed shirts, etc.)
  • Toys
  • Temporary tattoos

Helpful Tips:

Shop ahead.

  • Buy after-season sale items THIS year for NEXT year’s box. Last year I purchased a number of items after Halloween and stored them away for this year, like the kids matching Halloween jammies ($6.50) and Isla’s bat headband ($1).
  • Use Honey to watch for sales on fall and Halloween items throughout the year. You can add desired items to your Honey Droplist, which follows them for 60 days and alerts you if the price drops.

Choose a fall craft to do ahead of time so that you can include the specific supplies in the gift box. Pinterest has so many wonderful craft ideas. Here are some fall crafts that have inspired us!

Make a list of what you want to include in your box, and make note of what you have purchased. If you’re like I am, this helps keep your purchases more intentional– even when you start seeing all the cute fall items on store shelves.

Consider and incorporate your children’s interests when choosing items. Isla wants to be a bat for Halloween and she loves non-fiction texts, so I included this National Geographic bat book in her gift box. Last year she was super into bones and skeletons, so I included books on the subject and skeleton tights.

Make sure your gift wrapping doubles as storage. I put the kids’ fall gifts in some Halloween themed storage boxes from Joann’s last year. The boxes are perfect to re-use, fun to display through the holiday season, and they are helpful when it comes to storing our Halloween decor for the rest of the year. Win-win-win!

If you have more than one child, try and anticipate any potential points of jealousy. Cole took one look at Isla’s new leaf blanket and did all he could to claim it as his own! (See below) I did not anticipate that this would be such a desirable item to him, and that’s okay– you can’t win ’em all! In this situation, super big sister Isla let Cole snuggle the blanket for a while and then he became distracted with something else. If he continues to go after the blanket we’ll see how the kids manage sharing it or we can look for a second blanket. Anyhow, all of this rambling to say, if you think more than one of your children will like something, get one for each of them!

Look at that little thief in action!

For those who are curious about what was in our kids’ boxes this year… well, we went heavy on the jammies and books! I had hoped to find more in the way of craft supplies, but didn’t see anything I really loved.

Isla’s Box:

Cole’s Box:

I just love how both the kids take the time to look through their new books as they open their gift boxes!

Watching Isla and Cole’s faces light up as they opened their Hooray for Fall Boxes brought our hearts so much joy! We cannot wait for all of the fall fun ahead: making the kids’ rooms feel extra festive with their new garlands, seeing them together in their matching jammies, snuggling up under the highly-coveted leaf blanket, and reading all our wonderful new Halloween books! These boxes are bringing us a little extra closeness, and for that we are very grateful.

We’re always eager to find ways to be more intentional and creative with our gift giving– any ideas for other goodies we can include in future Hooray for Fall Boxes?

Posted in Celebrations, Connecting as a Family, Crafting with Kids, Education, Fall, Favorite Books, Halloween, Holidays, Hooray for Fall Boxes, Live Creatively, Traditions

Farewell, Summer Lobster Feast and Hello, Fall Apple Butter Pancakes!

Though school started weeks ago and the weather has been working hard to convince us that fall had arrived, it was still officially summer through this weekend. Being our final summer before the kids’ school schedules steals our freedom– I mean, change our routine– for the next few decades, we decided we wanted to do something special to honor this change in the seasons. So, we snuck away to the cottage for the weekend with friends, spent the final sunny afternoon of summer with our toes in the sand, and wrapped up the day with a fabulous feast of homemade lobster mac and cheese and glasses of bubbly! Sometimes in life you’ve just got to go big, right?!

Mother Nature brought her best and the sun was shining brilliantly all day. It truly could not have been more beautiful on the Oregon Coast!

Not so sure about Cole’s catching form just yet, but he sure has mastered the enthusiasm!

There aren’t many photos of our meals, because we were far too interested in eating!

We welcomed fall with stacks of pancakes drenched in homemade apple butter! I had it bubbling away on the stove all morning, filling the air with the sweet and spicy aromas of autumn.

I don’t use an exact recipe for our apple butter, but it goes a little something like this:

  • 4 C applesauce (homemade or store bought)
  • 6 T butter (we use salted)
  • 1/4 C tightly packed brown sugar (you may need to add more if your applesauce is very tart)
  • 1-2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)

Put all ingredients into a sauce pan over medium-low heat and let it simmer for 2-3 hours, until the mixture thickens and turns a rich amber color. Stir occasionally. Do your best not to eat it all straight from the pan. Serve warm over pancakes or waffles, along with a little drizzle of real maple syrup. There’s no tastier way to welcome the fall!

To work off a bit of the indulgent meals we’d been enjoying, we spent the rest of the morning hiking all over the hill near the cottage. We fished for rocks in puddles, searched for mushrooms, picked the last lingering blackberries, and made it back to the cottage just as it began to rain.

Love, love, love this little slice of heaven right here! It’s definitely looking like fall on the Oregon Coast.

Celebrating the seasons has always brought our family such joy! These celebrations give us so much to look forward to each year, as well as the excitement of building new traditions together. It is definitely safe to say that we would be happy to bid summer farewell with lobster mac and cheese every year from now on! Does your family do anything special to usher seasons in and out? We’d love to hear about it! The comments section is below =).

Posted in Celebrations, Connecting as a Family, Fall, Live Creatively, Recipes, Summer, Traditions, Wayfarer Cottage

Pies Before Guys Girls’ Beach Weekend

If there aren’t lots of tasty treats, is it really a girls’ getaway?

Well, we think not.

We had the most wonderful annual girls’ beach getaway with Nana and our dear friends, Madelyn, Robin, and Ruth Anne (or “Grandma Roofie” as Isla dubbed her when she couldn’t yet pronounce her “th” blends). My mom, Robin, and Ruth Anne and I have been spending time together at the beach every summer since Robin and I were little girls, so we absolutely love that we are able to continue the tradition now that we are three generations of friends!

Robin and I found these adorable Pies Before Guys sweatshirts last fall and have been waiting oh-so patiently for the girls to wear them! They inspired us to find a strawberry peach pie recipe for our getaway weekend. Isla and Madelyn had the best time making the pies and they were very tasty!

While eating is definitely a highlight of our girls’ getaway weekends, we did enjoy some other activities, like this leisurely walk down the beach in search of treasures. Sand dollars, agates, and sea shells, oh my! It was the perfect way to spend the morning and we sure love watching our little collectors together!

Sunrise conversations with her barnacle friends.

Nana surprised Isla and Madelyn with gift bags filled with all sorts of fun goodies, including these fancy press on nails. The girls were feeling pretty darn cool! Never mind the fact that they couldn’t do anything with their hands while wearing them– ha!

Another fabulous getaway is in the books and we are so grateful for the happy memories made. Time to start planning our winter get together!

Posted in Summer, Traditions, Wayfarer Cottage

Favorite Fall Books For Kids

According to the calendar, fall has not officially arrived, but the weather around here is trying to prove otherwise! The rain and cooler temperatures are keeping us indoors more, but that’s okay, because we have SO MANY wonderful fall books to enjoy! Reading is one of our favorite ways to spend time together as a family, especially during the cooler months. We love to snuggle up under a cozy blanket and leisurely read through a big stack of books next to us– it’s truly the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Over the years we have collected a vast library of seasonal stories, and we’re elated to share some of our very favorite fall books for kids with you! (Be sure to check out our link to our Pinterest Board with lots of great fall books at the bottom of the post!)

Sophie’s Squash This is, perhaps, my all time favorite picture book. Yes, that is a bold statement from this book-loving mama, but that just tells you how much I LOVE it! A darling story about the power of love and friendship, every word is absolute perfection, and each time I read it I find myself wishing I’d had the brilliance to think it up myself! One crisp fall morning Sophie visits the farmers market with her parents and finds a squash. Her parents intend to cook it for supper, but imaginative Sophie names the squash Bernice and wants to keep it as a playmate–

It was just the right size to hold in her arms. Just the right size to bounce on her knee. Just the right size to love. “I’m glad we met,” Sophie whispered. “Good friends are hard to find.”

I mean really?! Could it get any sweeter than that?! Whimsical, creative, sentimental, and featuring a strong female protagonist who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to follow her heart, even when others don’t quite understand. It’s a gem of a book.

We’ve been reading Sophie’s Squash to Isla since she was 11 months old. I love seeing how she identifies so strongly with Sophie. She even started asking for her own “quash” when she was just 2, and chose one at the farm stand when we went apple picking today! Within minutes of arriving home it already had a face!

Yellow Time Just before yellow time the earth smells different. Like wet mud and dry grass with a sprinkle of sugar. Ummm, exactly! Yellow Time is vibrant and lyrical celebration of the leaves changing and the earth preparing for winter. Paired with the bold and energetic illustrations, this book is an easy fall favorite. We have several trees near our home that turn bright yellow, and lots of crows that inhabit them, so Isla especially loves making the real life-text connection with this story.

Let It Fall This is one of a 4-book series that highlights the magic and excitement of each season. Every book follows the same rhyming pattern. We have all four books and love them each of them!

Red Are The Apples Bursting with bright, vibrant illustrations that show unique perspectives, this rhyming book takes you through a colorful fall garden that is about to be harvested.

Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears Oh, Mr. Putter and Tabby. They are simply our favorite duo in the world of children’s literature! Do you know about their delightful series yet? If not, you are missing out! These stories are perfect for early fluent readers and also wonderful for parent read aloud times. In this story, juicy things are growing in Mr. Putter’s yard. He wants to make pear jelly, but his old legs are too cranky to climb up the latter, so he is unable to pick his pears– until he comes up with a very clever solution! Mr Putter and Tabby Stir the Soup and Mr. Putter and Tabby Ring the Bell are other fall favorites of ours!

Perfect Pumpkins This is a great non-fiction text for young readers. It provides general pumpkin facts, the pumpkin life cycle, shares different ways pumpkins are used, and has a variety of photographs and simple diagrams. This is part of the Science Vocabulary Readers that you can often find on the Scholastic order forms your kiddos bring home from school. Used copies are available on Amazon.

Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic This is unlike any of our other books– a collection of acrostic poems that work through the alphabet and describe the fall season. The bold linoleum cut illustrations are absolutely stunning! I recently discovered there are Winter, Spring and Summer Alphabet Acrostic books as well, so I look forward to adding them to our library as the seasons change this next year.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? This story takes me right back to my teaching days! Mr. Tiffin provides his students with a hands-on experiment to determine how many seeds are in a pumpkin. Students make hypotheses, get their hands dirty cleaning out the pumpkins, and practice their skip counting skills with the seeds (I actually did this same project with my students when I taught 1st grade!). This is an engaging and educational read, especially for science-minded kiddos.

Favorite Fall Board Books

These books are perfect for babies and toddlers, and still very enjoyable for older kids… and their mothers. Yes, I’ll admit I love reading all of these board books!

Leaves This is a darling story about a bear who experiences his very first autumn. When the leaves start falling from the trees he becomes very concerned, but after his winter nap he is thrilled to be greeted by the new leaves of springtime. It’s a sweet, simple story and the illustrations are wonderfully charming. Leaves is the prequel to our favorite new summer book, Honey.

Apple Pie ABC Quite possibly the most adorable ABC book that ever existed! This simple story follows along with an adorable (and determined) little dog’s quest to get an apple pie. The illustrations are darling too!

I Love Fall This sweet touch-and-feel board book introduces babies and toddlers to the textures of fall– wooly scarves, smooth pumpkins, and crunchy dry leaves– while you follow along with a little girl who is collecting items for her fall basket. I cannot even tell you the number of times we have read this book!

The Busy Little Squirrel As leaves are falling and the air is getting colder, Squirrel is preparing for winter. Other animals ask him to join them in their activities, but Squirrel is too busy. With a simple, repetitive pattern, your little one will quickly recite portions of the book along with you!

You Are My Little Pumpkin Pie A darling rhyming book where parents compare the sweetest qualities of their children to pumpkin pie. Isla absolutely adored this book as a baby (and still does!). It’ll leave you feeling warm and cozy– and likely craving a slice of pumpkin pie!

These wonderful titles just a small selection of our favorite fall books… just a slice of the pie, if you will. We’ve put together THIS PINTEREST BOARD to share many, many more with you!

You can also check out our Favorite Summer Books for Kids. Our favorite Halloween and Thanksgiving book suggestions will be coming soon!

Friends, do you have any favorite fall books that you don’t see here? Please share titles in the comments!

Posted in Connecting as a Family, Education, Fall, Favorite Books

Isla Lost Her First Tooth!

This past Friday marked another big milestone for Isla– she lost her first tooth! She had been wiggling the tooth for weeks, and decided she wanted to pull it out, so I got the dental floss! Tearful and giggling, Isla displayed a mixture of nervousness and excitement as we got everything set up. Thankfully, the tooth popped right out, and within moments, Isla was nothing but smiles!

When it came time to prepare for the Tooth Fairy’s arrival, Isla was so giddy she could hardly contain herself!

After slipping the tooth under her pillow, she looked at me excitedly and said, “I hope the tooth fairy brings me a gold coin. That’s what someone at school told me, that she brings gold coins— or cash.”

I’m happy to report that the Tooth Fairy did in fact deliver– a gold coin AND cash! You only lose your first tooth once, after all.

Posted in Celebrations, Connecting as a Family, Milestones