"The Magic Way to Tie Your Shoes"

Or at least that is what Moshe calls it.

It's turning into shoe week around here, with the moccasin giveaway, and Moshe's new skill. The kid can tie his shoes! (Insert fist pump here)

I have come to realize that there are so many things adults take for granted and just don't remember how frustrating it was to actually learn how to do. And I am definitely putting tying shoes on that list. I tried to teach him when he was four with the traditional bunny ears method. I realized pretty quickly that he was probably a little too young to grasp how to do it, so we stopped trying. Fast forward almost two years later, and a new pair of kicks with laces and not velcro, and I decided it was time to try again. I tried the whole bunny method thing again and when I saw Moshe's eyes glaze over I remember that I had once upon a time pinned something on Pinterest called Teach Your Child How to Tie Shoes in Five Minutes and decided to give that a try.

When it actually came down to teaching Moshe how to do it, I tweaked the method just a little by having the last three fingers on each hand holding the laces tightly. I also had to show Moshe in much greater detail where you have to grab the laces to make the final bow. So here is my very amateurish video, that will hopefully explain this all better.

I am 98% sure that I don't actually sound that hoarse in person.

Anyway, file this one away under making life easier for your kids. Have any of you used this method? Let me know below!

Freshly Picked: A Giveaway

{UPDATE: DUE TO TROUBLE WITH BLOGGER COMMENTS, THE GIVEAWAY WILL NOW BE RUN THROUGH RAFFLECOPTER. THE GIVEAWAY HAS ALSO BEEN EXTENDED.}

Like I said yesterday, it's a really big week around here. To celebrate, I am so excited to bring you my first every giveaway today. I've teamed up with Freshly Picked and one lucky reader is walking away with a pair of the most fab moccasins around.

I couldn't wait to get Lily's feet into a pair of these. When we opened our box and she saw what was inside, she squealed "Woooow pretty shoes! For me?!" You can count us in as mama and baby fan girls.

These mocs are amazing for teeny babies, new walkers, toddlers, or even the big kids to run around town in. They are soft soled making it the perfect thing for your babe who is learning how to walk, but durable enough for older kids to wear too. Besides the fabulous array of colors, (seriously, I want one of each, they even just released neons!) the best thing about these moccasins are, they stay on your kid's foot. 

Let's rewind back to the colors for a minute. Each color in the collection makes me swoon. I especially love how they have pictures on their Facebook page  where they use one color in both a boy's and girl's outfit. Don't think purple works for a boy? Just check out how it does. 

It is important to know that these don't go according to standard shoe sizes. If you go on their site you will find all the information about how to measure your child's foot and there is an even a measuring chart you can print off to ensure you get the perfect fit. 

Without further ado, here's the Boo modeling our new favorite footwear.

P.S. Freshly Picked just released bags last week! Make sure to check them out.

a Rafflecopter giveaway The gold moccasins were gifted to us by Freshly Picked, however, all opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Doing a Happy Dance

I am super excited today



A makeover just does that to a girl no?

It is so awesome to finally be able to share this blog redesign with all of you. (Link to my amazing designer at the bottom of the blog). It coincides with a big week over here. We are celebrating our 7 year anniversary and Daniel is turning three oh! To celebrate all the fun amazingness that is happening this week, I'm hosting my first giveaway! Be sure to check back here tomorrow for all of the details.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Bow Big or Bow Home

It's my motto.

Bigger is always better, and we now have quite the collection of big bows for the Boo. When Lily started wearing bows every day instead of headbands, I made a bow holder to keep things organized. It's been a little bit over a year now, and we have run out of room in a serious way. Bows were basically living on the dresser and driving me crazy and something needed to be done about it.

The something that needed to happen, happened yesterday when I had a lot more important things to be doing. Anybody else do that? I tend to stop the task at hand, to do something else that I have been pushing off, when really I just need to focus on one thing at a time. We took a little road trip this weekend, and right in the middle of unpacking I decided I couldn't deal with the messy bow situation for another second.

I sorted the bows out by keeping the basic ribbon bows on the original bow holder that I made. (All of the little bows were given to us by a relative who outgrew them, so when Lily was born, we started off our bow collection with every color of the rainbow)

I then gathered my supplies from my stash, because there is nothing better than a free and fast project when really you are supposed to be doing other things like unpacking and laundry.

This DIY is so simple that I may be insulting your intelligence by even bothering to type it up. All you need is some ribbon, a key ring, scissors and glue. At first I was uber lazy and tried using a stapler to do the project, but that didn't exactly work, so I got out the glue gun and heated it up.

Cut the ribbon to your desired length, loop it through the key ring, glue it down and viola. Instant bow holder.

I also glued the bottom of the ribbon, so it would have a nice seam and not unravel over time.

I made two bow holders figuring that in the future I would need more space, and I would save myself all the energy needed to get out the glue gun again, but in the end I needed every inch of both ribbons. #wehaveabowproblem

I already have hooks hanging on the closet in the kid's room for their hats, so I just hung it up by the key ring.

A little bit of organizing, and I had all of the bows hanging up and off the dresser.

So now I have a fully functioning bow organizational corner in Lily's room. It's great to have everything up, so I can see what we have and not end up with two big white bows (Anyone notice that?)

And guys, I obviously finished unpacking. You know. By like midnight. But it's all good.

How are you all organizing your hair stash? Let me know below!

Mini Conversations

... Or Conversations with the Minis. Because they are a pretty funny pair.

After having Lily repeatedly ask to hear Pharell's "Happy" in the car while I'm trying to explain I don't get to control what song is playing, the next song ends up being "Happy" (not such a shock as it is one of the most overplayed songs at the moment.)

Moshe: "I guess the radio listened to Lily."

***

Lily eating pancakes: "Yum! Me like dis big cookie!"

***

Moshe: "I need my own room. Lily talks too much, I'm going to sleep on the couch."

Mother's Day

There aren't enough mushy or cliched sentiments to describe how much I love being a mother.

We had a lovely low key day over here with pancakes made by Daniel and his sous chef Moshe, baseball, and the first barbecue of the season at my parent's house.

We also had a little bit of drama. Lily fell down yesterday and knocked her front tooth out of place. After having a slight (or maybe not so slight) panic attack a  family friend who is also a pediatric dentist checked her out today and said the tooth doesn't need to come out. Being a mama bear, I only want the best for my children, I don't want them to be hurt or scared. In moments like this when it's out of my control I go a little crazy. We had a happy ending to this little saga and I couldn't be happier.

Mo and Lil, you make me the luckiest and happiest mama out there. I love you to pieces, and thank you for being the wonderful little people that you are.

With about two more hours left I want to wish every mother out there a most fabulous Mother's Day!

A Little Bit of Rambling

A hectic work week + being sucker punched by seasonal allergies (why is my favorite season so bad for me?!) + trying to be outside enjoying ourselves with the kids = a blog silence. 

It's been a week where the idea of answering simple emails has been daunting. I had plans to spend this gorgeous afternoon at the park with M&L but sometimes you need to count on The Lion King to babysit so you can regain some sanity. 

I do have some exciting things going on with this little bloggy blog over the next few weeks that I can't wait to share with you!