Helping Families to Connect and Thrive

Fourth of July at the Cottage

07.26.18

We spent a wonderful Fourth of July holiday at our cottage with Nana, Grauntie, and Gruncle!

We kicked off festivities on the morning of the fourth by creating some sparkly pipe cleaner hair accessories! Then we made our way down to the beach for a leisurely walk down to the mouth of the river at low tide. On our walk we collected nearly 70 teeny tiny sand dollars! I also found my largest agate to date. Beach combing success! We spotted several bald eagles near the river as well, which we felt was especially appropriate for the day.

Cole has been loving beach walks in his hiking pack this summer! The swaying motion, roar of the waves, and salt air relaxes him so much he falls asleep every time.

Cole noticed the barnacles for the first time on this walk, so Isla spent some time introducing him to her friends. He was eager to try and touch them, but it appeared their rough texture startled him a bit. As soon as his hand made contact he would quickly pull it back. I can’t wait to see if he develops the same fascination for these little critters as his sister.

We found this beautiful driftwood teepee at the river, and Isla began dreaming up all sorts of plans for playing there throughout the summer.

After our walk, we brought out the pop its and a few fireworks.

Isla wasn’t a big fan of the noisy fireworks.

Isla and Nana made a strawberry cake for our 4th of July BBQ, and then Isla decorated it with berries and a whole bottle of sprinkles! She kept sneaking little tastes of the frosting as she worked. A girl after my own heart!

Our BBQ was one for the books: monstrous burgers, our Aunt Elaine’s baked beans (the very best ever!), my Grandmommy’s potato salad (amazing!), corn on the cob, and Grantie’s epic margaritas. Yum! Yum! Yum!

At sunset, Isaac, Isla and I made our way down to the beach for some sparkler fun. It was the perfect way to wrap up the most wonderful day!

Welcome, Summer!

07.20.18

To celebrate summer’s arrival, and because I am always looking for an excuse to add wonderful seasonal stories to our library, I surprised Isla with a little goody bag of fun new summer themed books (links and descriptions below). I also tucked in a cute new swimsuit and a sweet board book for Cole. We sat out in the yard together while Isla opened her gift. She was so excited and wanted to dive right in to her new books. Miller the cat, curious about all the excitement, joined us for a few stories as well.

Best. Cat. Ever.

Isla’s ideal summer involves swimming, the beach, ice cream, and finding all sorts of critters in the garden, so I looked for books surrounding these themes. I’m super excited to share these fun new titles with you. They’d all be wonderful additions to your libraries!

Jabari Jumps… the sweetest story of a young boy overcoming his fear of jumping off the high dive through the gentle encouragement of his father.

Pairs! Underwater… the cutest lift the flap matching book with clever underwater rhymes and darling illustrations. After the kids match all the pairs they are instructed to look around the surrounding illustrations to find specific numbers of other sea creatures (hooray for counting and observation skill development!). We have the Pairs! In the Garden book as well and absolutely LOVE them both!

Curious About Ice Cream… The Smithsonian released this non-fiction book that details the history and evolution of ice cream around the world.

Ice Cream Soup… a simple rhyming tale about a little kiddo who experiments with crafting his own ice cream cake and is left with ice cream soup. This was perfect for Isla, who is obsessed with creating and testing out her own recipes these days. Great for beginning readers too!

My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis… the life of a praying mantis, told by a praying mantis. It is written as a series of diary entries, and highlights facts about a praying mantis’ life cycle and development. Fair warning, it may not be suitable for more sensitive readers, as the praying mantis talks about eating some of its siblings. However, for our little scientist who finds predators fascinating, it was just fine.

I Like Bugs… a beginning reader that talks about different kinds of bugs… perfect for Isla who is interested in befriending all things creepy and crawly AND who is eager to learn to read.

A Butterfly is Patient… absolutely gorgeous illustrations, and interesting facts about the life cycle, habits, and characteristics of different butterflies.

Uh Oh!… The story of two toddlers seaside adventures summed up in just two words, “Uh oh!” Darling illustrations and just the right length for little baby attention spans.

We hope you’ll find a few summer themed titles in here to add to your libraries. Happy Reading!

Our Annual Berry Picking Adventure

07.05.18

Isla and I kicked off summer with our dear friends, Toni and Piper, with our annual berry picking adventure. Four years of matching outfit, sticky finger, stuffing-their-faces-in-the-fields fun!

It was amazing to compare these photos to those from previous years and see how much the girls have grown and changed. Some things remained the same, however, like Isla fussing over Piper for eating green berries. I love these two and their hilarious dynamics together.

The date we were all available to go landed right between the different berry seasons, so the picking was not nearly as plentiful as years past. We worked diligently to find the last remaining strawberries and the very first (not totally ripe) blackberries, but we still had a great time! The following sequence of the girls just cracks me up! Piper had berries on her hand and decided to the best place to clean it off was the front of Isla’s shirt. Their expressions are priceless!

When we offered them a post-picking treat, the girls opted for honey sticks over fresh fruit milkshakes. We were shocked, but any time the kids actually want less sugar, we’ll take it!

Father’s Day 2018

07.05.18

Father’s Day 2018 was filled with sunshine, quality family time, tasty food, a little nod to The Sandlot, and of course, lots of love and attention for our sweet Daddo! We started the morning with breakfast on the porch and the kiddos gave Daddo their cards and gifts. Isla and I had so much fun making this set of shirts!

In the afternoon we went out to Grauntie and Gruncle’s house for a family BBQ and a leisurely evening together. We gifted Daddo and Gruncle a gift certificate to the Multnomah Whiskey Library for tastings, and we are so excited to be able to spoil them with a relaxing evening out.

In keeping up tradition, I put together Isaac’s annual Father’s Day movie. I absolutely LOVE filtering through the past year’s photos and videos, and reliving all of the wonderful memories we have shared as a family. I hardly can believe how much Isla and Cole have grown this past year! Of course what stands out to me the most as I look through image after image is how dedicated and loving Isaac is as a father and husband. I think we’ll keep him!

Happy Father’s Day to the most dedicated, loving, hard-working, patient, kind, and playful Daddo! We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to call you ours, and we are so very grateful for the big and little things you do for us. Parenting alongside you is the greatest adventure, and my heart is full knowing Isla and Cole have such an incredible role model to explore with and learn from every day. We love you!!!

Cole’s First Painting

05.27.18

Following in the footsteps of his big sister, Cole’s birthday present for his artistic Daddo was his very first painting! Watching Isla paint for the first time was such a special experience (and my heart melts every time I look through the photos!), so I have been SUPER EXCITED to recreate this milestone with Cole.

I wanted to create a frame that held Cole’s painting along with a photo of him painting, just like I had made with Isla. I moved furniture around to give us plenty of space on the hardwood floor so that the setting was comparable, whipped up the same color of paints, and recreated the set up I had used with Isla. While I was aiming for a similar finished product, I was truly taken aback by how nearly identical the photos of the kids painting turned out be!

I created this child-safe paint, though I omitted the sugar. For those making this paint, I chose to blend the water and cornstarch to ensure they weren’t any lumps, and then heated and stirred the mixture over the stove to help it thicken. We used a sturdy water color paper to help stand up to the paint- and the wear and tear of the painting process! The food coloring does temporarily stain baby’s hands and face (and wherever else they manage to smear the paint!) but it comes right off in a warm bath with a little gentle baby soap.