the events Archives - Love Them Madly

Chalk it Up for Father’s Day

June 11, 2013

After school yesterday, I showed my kids and our neighbor a few Father’s Day crafts I have been admiring on-line. Despite some drizzly rain, they couldn’t wait to create these pavement chalk art photos. I’ve seen plenty of these on-line but none starring my kids. This was totally delightful playtime as the kids happily focused on making something special for dad. There was talk of angles and how to get the photographer (me) higher than our four foot ladder to capture a larger drawing area.

I love backing out of the action and watching the kids brainstorm and divvy up responsibilities. Ryan quickly started with the rainbow frame (the Crayola chalk rake is irresistible) while his friend Maggie started on the bubble letters; then Ryan colored in the letters while Maggie decorated the scene.

magry

I like good regular play that becomes part of gifting for someone special. Just order some photo prints and frame ‘em up or glue them on paper for a homemade Father’s Day card.

noahdad

The rain interrupted the kids’ next plan to make a giant scene and have me take photographs from our second story window. Somehow I think we’ll be going through a lot of chalk this week.

For some more great chalk photo art inspiration, check out Burgh Baby and Craft, Interrupted.

For more Father’s Day craft ideas, check out my 2012 Father’s Day Post.

I Loved My Birthday Madly

June 4, 2013

A few weeks ago, I bid on and won a yoga and picnic package at a charity auction for our local children’s museum. On Friday, I hosted a dozen friends for yoga in my backyard and a lovely lunch (catered by someone other than me) while the kids were at school. It was my 36th birthday — and one of my happiest mornings.

At 10:30 a.m., the yoga instructor arrived, as gentle and soothing as her expertise implies. We picked a flat shaded spot of my yard for class, then chatted about kids and friends and birthdays.

By 11 a.m., my kitchen was filled with the hugs and smiling faces of some wonderful friends, along with lots of lovely birthday cards, plants, flowers and some unauthorized gifts (no presents means NO presents, people). Strong sun (on a ninety degree day) had enveloped the recently shaded area of my yard, but my guests willingly set their mats out anyway.

I’ve been in my yard hundreds of times and most of these friends have spent considerable time there as well. Never have we paused to listen to the rustling of the leaves and make out the sounds of our kids at recess just down the hill. We definitely never lay in the wood chips beside the playscape, focusing on our breath.

See that teeny-weeny bit of shade over there??

I felt so fortunate to be surrounded by such flexible friends. I also felt that I should do yoga a little more often.

Me: Letting it all hang out. Thanks RA for taking the photos!

My preparations for this party included making some energy bites and mini yogurt parfaits, brushing the pollen off my deck furniture and getting dressed in exercise clothes. Oh, and I also bought two six-packs of fancy bottled water at Marshall’s. Thankfully, the donor of the yoga/picnic package went to some extraordinary effort. While we were enjoying our backyard yoga, she slipped into my kitchen and set up a small feast, complete with a personalized menu.

I promise to pay this forward someday, and make a lovely lunch just appear just like magic.

Never much of a barfly, I was grateful when the twenty-something days of meet-me-at-the-bar birthday celebrations gave way to going out for thirty-something birthday dinners with the girls. Now, I’m simply over the moon to be back on the party circuit. Last month, I attended a friend’s 40th, where local caterers taught a cooking class as they prepared a four course meal for us. AWESOME! Next week, I have another 40th birthday party to attend; this time, at a local farm and vineyard. HURRAH!

My kids have all sorts of parties to go to: bounce houses, video game trucks, science museums, nature centers, art studios, karate dojos, you name it.

I think it is our turn, ladies. Manicures, movies, photography lessons, paddle-boarding, ropes course, cheese-making. Whatever Groupon offers, let’s just book it and call it a birthday party.

“Oh, there are so many possibilities. I can’t wait to get started!!”

- Eric Carle, A House for Hermit Crab

It’s Never Too Late: Last Minute Mother’s Day Crafts

May 9, 2013

The boys have been taking art classes with a wonderful teacher. Each week, Tara introduces the kids to a different artist and they work on a project inspired by the artist’s work. My house is covered in decorated soup cans (Warhol), painted collage (Chuck Close and Gustav Klimt) and sculpture.

After the kids filled a notebook with some Warhol-like drawings in marker, Tara created personalized notepads for each artist, using a scanned in image of one favorite drawing (for Ryan it was Spiderman shooting a long line of webbing).

The notepads seemed a perfect Mother’s Day gift. You can work with artwork your child has already created, instead of “forcing” the creating in time for the holiday. I love working with my kids on most gift projects, but it certainly moves things along to be able to crank a project out after their bedtime. All you need: a scanner, printer, paper, glue and some of your child’s artwork.

****NANA BONNIE AND GRANDMA BARBARA****

**IF YOU LIKE SURPRISES AS MUCH AS ME, YOU SHOULD REALLY STOP READING THIS POST**

1. Select a few of your child’s drawings and scan them into your computer. Insert the scanned drawing into a Word document and resize the picture to fit.

For Noah’s gifts, I used this pretty watercolor painting he made and faded the colors a bit to use as a background on every page.

Ryan has been drawing lots of Mo Willems-esque ducks. He drew and cut these out of an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper and I scanned into a JPEG.

For smaller notepads, you can make columns to divide your page – 2 up, 4 up. Select a fun font and type in the recipient’s name, a saying or a quote to the image.

I used a free graph paper template as a background for my mom’s full sheet notepad as she is building a new house and will be spending lots of hours planning the space.

3. Print (10-30 pages for binding) and cut to size. We use a inexpensive sliding paper cutter, but if you don’t have one, you can use a scissor or borrow a paper cut from your local copy center.

4. At this point, you can leave the paper loose and have an adorable stationary set.

If you wish to bind paper into a notepad, stack pages neatly, carefully lining up the tops. Add a piece of cardboard to the back (I used nice patterned tab divider and file folders). Add an extra sheet of paper to both front and back to keep glue off your pages as you work. Then clip the sides together to hold in place. I used waxed paper under the clips to avoid creasing. Apply rubber cement (I’ve read gel glue or gorilla glue works well too) along the top, then clip along the top to hold together (or use heavy books). Let dry a few minutes and repeat 5 or 6 times, until the pad stays together.

5. Package with a cute note, pretty pens, folders or other supplies.

Wishing you a wonderful Mother’s Day and some peaceful time with your loved ones.

Need More Ideas?

Check out Love Them Madly’s Shopping ideas, Fingerprint Art, Lotion Bars and Word Cloud Art, and more great kid-made ideas at Homegrown Friends and All for the Everyday.

Mother’s Day Shopping

May 3, 2013

This is always so tricky. My mom, mother in law, grandma and sisters are just about the biggest blog fans I have. You know I like surprises, so I can’t very well go showing what I’m buying this Mother’s Day.

Let’s just go with some items that that have caught my eye that I wouldn’t mind receiving for Mother’s Day… Not that I am hinting to my family, from them, I am hopefully anticipating a replacement of the gold necklace charm I dropped in the toilet a few weeks ago.

This is the actual present category. Homemade gift ideas coming soon.

Click on the photos for pricing and details.

I’m not sure why I started receiving the Olive & Cocoa catalog, but it is one I probably won’t ever cancel.

These peonies and cabbage roses are so lush and stunning I may never even notice tulips again.

Custom pillow case, in a few colors, from Red Envelope (now just $29.95).

This is a practical one (I once received a compost bucket for my birthday), but how awesome for gardening and washing little boys hands as you hear the jingle of the ice cream truck. Gardening Sink and Work Station, by Improvements.

This slackline looks like it is for kids, but I’ve wanted one to play on (with them, without them, whatever) since I saw it on the beach in Rio last summer. REI sells some more adventurous looking ones, but the training rope on top looks right for my family.

Last, but certainly not least….clothes, play clothes, fun clothes, working out clothes. I mean to shop and update my wardrobe, but I rarely do and I know plenty of moms who feel the same. Actual stylish clothes someone intentionally selected (ideally from somewhere she can swap if they don’t quite work) would float any mother’s Mother’s Day.

Happy Shopping for the women in your life!

April Fools’ Day: 2013 Edition

March 31, 2013

Do you remember that amazing steamboat museum I took Ryan to in Kansas City last year? You don’t? Neither does he. Thank goodness I keep a blog as proof of major life experiences – you know, like viewing 200 tons of a virtual time-capsule from the remains of a ship that sunk in the Missouri River in 1856.

You know which memories of his six-plus years Ryan remembers best? The times I was just plain silly. The times I surprised him. Like when his brother Noah was two and insisted that “nobody” give him a bath. I donned a shower cap and fleecy bathrobe and pretended I was a Mrs. Doubtfire-lady figure named “Nobody.”

“You want Nobody to give you a bath,” I said, channelling Robin Williams channelling Mrs. Doubtfire. ”Well, here I am, my darlings, I’m Nobody. Nobody is here to give you a bath.”

Ryan giggled, while Noah just stared at me.

“I know, I know. You want Nobody to give you a bath. Well, Nobody wants to give you a bath.”

“You want Nobody to wash your hair. Well, my love, Nobody will.”

The schtick went on and on. A year and a half later, the boys still request Nobody at bath time.

I love any excuse and reminder for us to be totally silly with our kids. I wish I remembered more often that you really don’t need an excuse. Still, April Fools’ Day is Monday. Tomorrow!

Don’t let it pass you by.

This year, I’m planning to start the day with these “undrinkable” juice cups with breakfast I saw on village. I’m going to try this natural vegetarian take on Jello mixed with cranberry or orange juice.

If I find a small enough box (no idea where I’d find a matchbox in my house), I will pack the boys a “micro lunch” or snack like this one from Family Fun magazine.

I picked up these fake lottery tickets at the dollar store a few weeks and plan on slipping a few in Ryan’s lunchbox with a coin for scratching off. Is it mean to make him think he is a millionaire from lunchtime to 3:15 pm?

Inspired by Homegrown Friend’s Happy Birthday Nobody party, I think April Fools’ Day might be the perfect time to have an after-school birthday party for nobody.

As my husband (a very good prankster) has often shown, the best jokes are not so elaborate as just completely unpredictable.

For more April Fools ideas, check out the 2012 April Fools’ Day post.

Tooth Fairy In The House

March 22, 2013

If you remember, Ryan’s big goal for his sixth year was to lose a tooth. I am pleased to report that all his wiggling (plus a shovel to the mouth and a recent skiing wipeout) paid off.

I thought I was ready.

I had asked around about the going rate for a tooth (anywhere from a buck to -gasp- twenty for the very first).

I helped Ryan make a pillow (which led to both boys making pillow after pillow – sewing with boys is simple awesome).

We read this wonderful book by Robert McCloskey (Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings). So delightful to see Sal again; this time, on the day she loses her first tooth. It’s a perfect read to soothe anxiety and answer questions about losing that first tooth.

Still, I wasn’t entirely prepared for this.

To celebrate this big/small milestone, we went out for frozen yogurt. Before we left the house, Ryan penned his note to the good fairy (she might visit while we were out), asking if he could keep his tooth for “one more night.” At the yogurt place, our neighbor shared how her girls were able to keep all their teeth, simply by asking nicely. Within minutes of coming home, Ryan managed to white out the “one more night.”

Happily, T.F. obliged, leaving his tooth and:

Tooth Fairy envelope printable by Handmade Charlotte and kisses inspired by Maya Made.

Before breakfast, Ryan preemptively wrote this note for the occasion of his next fang falling out.

Front: Dear Tooth Fairy, Can I keep my tooth? I love you. Love, Ryan
Back: Keep your tooth clean. I love you Tooth Fairy. Love, Ryan

May the milestones continue to be this sweet and the parental responsibilities this simple.

Happy 2013!

December 31, 2012

After some very fun (though too short) jaunts to NYC and NH this vacation week (we saw 45 of 50 US license plates on the road, if you count seeing Hawaii in the movie Ponyo), I loved coming home to these cheery faces and well wishes covering our message board (yes, I strategically displaced a lot of crap from the kitchen and mudroom for this shot).

This year, I’ve heard and read more debate than ever questioning whether today’s holiday cards simply serve as annual branding and bragging opportunities for families. Technology has allowed us to design our own cards with photos and fonts, colors and rounded corners — even glitter. Cards today are more personal, and at the same time, less personal, one photo after another of a smiling-pretty-for the camera family captured in 5 by 7, with modern greetings jazzed by trendy design on luxe paper.

The bragging doesn’t bother me. As an Ivy-league educated communication major turned real estate lawyer turned mom of two gorgeous and brilliant boys and happy wife of one adorable Harvard businessman, I can tell you that people have misused written communications by bragging since the beginning of time.

Holiday cards, though, have a purpose beyond the bragging. It’s a chance to think of your friends and family for a moment (actually two moments – when you send and when you receive a card) and wish them a happy, healthy and safe year ahead. Christmas or Hanukah, New Years or Everything, handwritten or letterpress, glossy or matte, the intention of good wishes is there (except in the few cases it isn’t, in which case, you already know the true colors of your narcissistic cousin/boss/neighbor).

Perhaps this season, more than most, with the families of Sandy Hook forever on my mind, I am glad we take the time, expense and environmental burden to share some sweetness with each other.

Holiday Card Front

Last year, I took thousands of photos between my digital SLR and my cell phone. The few images I choose for our card are going to be among the shiniest moments of the year – the biggest smile, the sweetest embrace, the silliest laugh or the goofiest outfit. I’ve done them all. Do I want recipients to believe that every one of our moments is as shiny and sweet? No way. You must know how we arrive at kindergarten just as the second bell rings, that my kids often have yogurt or chocolate on their faces, that there are tears and tantrums now and then. I don’t need reminders of runny noses and pee pee accidents. I’ve got visions aplenty of those.

For our holiday cards, we put our best foot forward. Our temple clothes, our Sunday best. Fresh haircuts, new button down shirts from the Gap and clear crisp photos, thanks to Amy Trahant at Take Aim Photography.

This year, we started a new tradition. My mother in law gave me this giant scrapbook.

We sorted through our shoebox of holiday cards from the past few years and designated a page for each of our friends and families.

The kids helped tape the cards in and voila — watched families multiply – from two kids to three, bigger, then four! Especially fun with neighbors we see all the time and hardly remember this little.

scrapbook sacks

It’s nice for kids to see how families like ours come together, from bride and groom, to baby to toddler.

Signing off for 2012. I’ve got plenty of new goals for 2013, but a big thank you to my readers for helping me reach my writing and creating goals this year. Your comments, shares, likes and pins are tremendous support for my endeavors here.

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy and safe 2013.

The Holidays So Far

December 14, 2012

December reminds me of my Grandpa Andy.

How he loved a lit up night. New York. Atlantic City. Vegas. And Fort Lauderdale at Christmas-time.

We’d cruise the streets after dinner in his old beige Cadillac, finding one bulbed spectacle after another. ”Faaaaantastic,” he’d yell, or “Holy Crick Crack.” It was not lost on me as a kid how we’d all left the slush and snow behind in New England to spend a balmy evening seeking the North Pole sleigh team atop terra cotta tiled Florida roofs.

Grandpa Andy’s delight made our Jewish family part of Christmas. I still like the lights and I take extra long routes home to share the best displays with my kids. I love Starbucks’ Christmas Blend. We stopped in not once, but twice, to admire the entries in our town’s Gingerbread House Contest. We even decorated this Home Depot version alongside baking a Shabbat challah last Friday.

Still, it can be hard to be Chanukah during Christmas. Just like when you are trying to conceive and pregnant women seem to be everywhere, Christmas seems to envelop us. We’ve made a few recent purchases that entitled us to free Christmas toys and ornaments. My supermarket even has butter shaped like Christmas trees. There are a lot of candy canes and wreathes and elves on shelves. Even my Jewish mother got confused and bought this for my son for Hanukah:

There’s plenty to make a Jewish child wonder why Santa doesn’t come to our house and his parent wonder how to manage the relatively small holiday of Hanukah against the wondrous giant of Christmas. Gratefully, I live in a place where Chanukah is widely known and publicly celebrated, making it considerably easier to create a meaningful holiday for my children that goes beyond wish lists and presents.

Last week, we attended a Chanukah event at a local temple. We helped pick and press olives to make olive oil, the oil that in the story of Chanukah miraculously burned for eight nights when it should have only lasted one.

A centrifuge split the pressed olives into three parts (what I understood to be the juice, the pulp and the oil). We watched as that small bit of oil lit the menorah - a lovely chance to witness my children believing in the story of Hanukah and a moment hard to replicate, even among presents and parties.

That same evening, we met my parents for our town’s holiday stroll, an event that would have thrilled my Grandpa Andy – with lights and music and crowds and popcorn. We love it too, from the fire trucks lit up with extended ladder to the a cappella carolers, festive store windows and rich Mexican hot chocolate and churros. We didn’t wait in line for Santa, but enjoyed a night all about community (in a very Gilmore Girls sort of way) and believing.

On Sunday night, we returned to the same crowded square – this time for the lighting of a five-foot ice sculpted menorah for the second night of Hanukah. After the blessing, the orthodox Rabbis erupted into traditional song. Our holiday couldn’t have shone brighter or more beautifully.

Holiday Cards Gone By

November 30, 2012

We survived. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Charity Tuesday. I believe tomorrow, December 1st, is officially Holiday Card Hysteria Day.

Much as I would like us all to go digital with our holiday greetings, I do so enjoy sending holiday cards and wallpapering our house with the ones we receive. Speaking of receiving holiday cards, I must interrupt this post with a bit of brilliance, courtesy of Pinterest and Under the Sycamore:

It has taken me years to master getting a good photograph in my hands by Thanksgiving. Now its time to find the card or design my own. More than ever, there are so many lovely paper and design options (read: way too many freakin’ options for an indecisive paper/font/design lover). I find myself swooning over holiday card samples in places not too well known for their pretty paper (Walgreens and Staples). Rounded corners, patterned backs, personalized messages – its intoxicating and exhausting.

The boys and I had fun looking at a shoebox full of holiday cards gone by. They matched baby faces to big kids and newlyweds turned into parents. I filled in the blanks on playmates and relatives they didn’t recognize.

While I’m working on this year’s card, you can check out our last five…

Have a great holiday card source – please share it!

Thanksgiving Creations Without Ruffling A Feather

November 21, 2012

Why is it the more I have to do, the more often I fall asleep with my three-year old at his bedtime?

I’m thankful no one’s holiday experience this week will be lessened by the state of my laundry and mudroom.

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving last night with my husband’s family. A delicious dinner — sweet with four happy little cousins, birthday cake for our 92 year old grandmother. We managed a few minutes for my boys to witness their grandparent’s philanthropy at a local hospital.

My contribution was limited to fruits and vegetables (plus the necessary marshmallows). This is as complicated as it got – I did score little x marks in the pear for the chocolate chip eyes and carved legs out of a cheese stick.

In my part vegetarian household (note: the tofurkey was not a hit), the turkey as a symbol of Thanksgiving elicits a lot of questions. I was glad Ryan’s kindergarten dealt with the turkey reality head on. Say what you will about the overuse of worksheets in American classrooms…this one is adorable and allows for out of the box (or off the page) creativity.

Students in grade schools across the country are given an illustration of a turkey and asked to add a disguise so that the turkey can avoid its Thanksgiving fate. Our kindergarteners’ disguises slowed my walks down the hallway these last few weeks. I loved the nods to their worlds of Halloween costumes, election day, football and snowfall.

You can download a printable turkey sheet here to occupy your family and/or house guests while you are making last minute preparations.

As I count our many blessings, we were able to update an old standby DIY to make sweet teacher and hostess thank you gifts for the season using this pumpkin granola recipe and $2.95 feather cabinet knobs from Anthropologie.