Little book of family faces

My sister Brittney gave me this idea and I absolutely love it. You print a 4x6 picture of each person in your (extended) family with their names on it (I put the names on the actual photos in Photoshop, but you could also glue a piece of paper onto it after you print them) then put them in a cheap little picture book. And there you have it... a book of family faces for your kids to look at! I especially wanted to make this as our families are getting more and more spread out so the kids can always remember everyone's names and faces. Joe especially loves this book right now and gets excited when he sees the faces of his grandmas and grandpas.




Each of these faces were printed as a 4x6. I just wanted to show all the faces and names together.

Tutorial: making a little boy tie from a grown-up tie

If your husband is like mine, he has a bunch of ties that are either stained or that he simply doesn't like and therefore never wears. So put them to better use and turn them into little boy ties! Read on for the tutorial.

Adding color to a room

We needed a bit of color in my boys' room, so this is what I came up with. Very easy and very cheap. You can buy wood frames like these at Ikea for just a few dollars each. I painted mine white, then found 12"x12" scrapbook paper that went with the room. Glued the paper on, put pictures in the middle, and there you have it! And if you need to cover more wall space, simply use 6 frames, or even 9 to cover the area.
Get creative and give it a try!

Introduction to chapter books

The Magic Treehouse series was suggested to me by a friend as a good introduction to chapter books. We started borrowing them from the library a couple months ago, and we have not been disappointed! Each book has an illustration every 3 or 4 pages, teaches the child about a new place or time, and uses fairly simple language. John (5) has latched right on to them, and Daniel (3) will sometimes listen in but can't quite hang with them yet. What books do your kids like to read?


Photo courtesy of Yard Sale Mommy

Gift idea: homemade bookmarks

One of my favorite gifts to help the kids make for friends or family is bookmarks. Bookmarks are something people can use, don't clutter up your house and can remind the recipient of your child each time they read. A great gift for grandparents who don't need any more "things."


Start by cutting out the desired size of bookmarks.

Grocery list pad printout

I recently started keeping this grocery list pad on my fridge and have loved it. These are super easy to make! I took the file into Kinko's, had them do it all: print, cut and glue the top. All for just a few dollars. Then I stuck a magnet to the back. If you're interested, here's the file:



Happy shopping!

And the winner of the grocery list pad is...



Eliza! Congrats :) You'll be receiving your very own grocery list pad in the mail early next week.

Make your own Oobleck

Check out this week's giveaway here!

Ever read this book? We love Dr. Seuss, and this one's a classic. We've borrowed it a few times from the library, and this time around decided to make an afternoon of it and make our own oobleck after reading it.