Preparing Our Home for the Holidays

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As you know, I'm on a mantle decorating kick. Needless to say, as much as I loved my Thanksgiving mantle, I was super excited when it was time to make the swap for Christmas decor! I'm truly feeling like this is decreasing clutter on my mantle and helping to create a more peaceful space in my living room. I'm so excited at both the simplicity and festivity of this Christmas mantle!

I love the homey, rustic, details of this Holiday Handicraft Wood Tree Set. The trees are beautiful yet simple and the perfect size for my mantle. Combining wood with metal, they are sturdy, and I expect them to be a staple Christmas decoration in our house for years to come.

The Merry Christmas Tabletop Sign adds a pop of festive color to some rustic Christmas charm. It's a sturdy wooden sign and actually has a built-in stand so you could use it as I have on the mantle, or right in the middle of your Christmas dinner table as a free-standing centerpiece.

The Vintage Christmas Tree to the left is a favorite Christmas decoration that I scooped up last year.

Our mantle always seems to be full of little trinkets - they all deserve a spot there, but all of them together is just too much. Switching things out seasonally is making a big difference in simplifying our space and helping us focus on one thing at a time. Right now we're focused on Christmas and I'm loving these new additions to our decor!

You can find these Christmas decorations and more on the Oriental Trading website.

DIY Christmas Ornaments - Perfect Gifts for Friends and Teachers!

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I've shared before that my oldest daughter is a giver. She can find any occasion to give gifts to her friends. Christmas is one of the more obvious times of year where she starts planning months in advance for the most perfect, thoughtful, true-to-her, gifts for friends and teachers.

This year she chose to make ornaments for gifts. She knew she wanted them to be "winter color" themed ornaments with blue, turquoise, purple, white, and of course, anything sparkly. She loves to be creative and I love to be low-maintence these days, so these DIY winter themed Christmas ornaments were perfect for us both!

We started with some Clear Christmas Ornaments and then simply just filled them up with blue and pink Snowflake Beads, Winter Pony Beads, Silvertone Jingle Bells, Winter Fun Loops, Snowflake Jewels, Tiny Pom Poms, Glitzy Buttons, and Foam Snowflake Craft Shapes.

What we got were some colorful (just like my daughter!), wintery, super cute ornaments that will look great on Christmas trees this year and for years to come!

What a simple and fun way to ring in the holiday season and help us gift a lasting memory to our friends and teachers this year!

We got all the supplies for these super easy DIY Christmas Ornaments online from Oriental Trading.

Shop the Oriental Trading Christmas Sale today!

Our Home (and our Hearts!) are Ready for Thanksgiving!

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I love warm weather, but there's something to be said for the shift in New England seasons and the gradually change to cooler air, colorful trees, and limited edition pumpkin-everything throughout the grocery stores! Thanksgiving is my husband's absolute favorite holiday so we always do the holiday up big when it comes to food. We've always slacked a little (or a lot) on decorating, though. We look at the table on Thanksgiving morning and realize that we forgot to decorate! Thankfully the food takes up a lot of space and fills the space, in some ways serving the decorating purpose well enough!

This year though, we wanted to switch things up, both literally and figuratively. We decluttered our fireplace mantle and added some new Thanksgiving decorations to prepare our spirits - and this year our home too - for giving thanks!

I'm so excited about some of our new additions. I think we have the perfect combo of pretty and fun - because with two little ones you can't skip the latter!

This Sweet Fall Sign showcases white paint on brown wood. It's sturdy and reminds us of what Thanksgiving is truly all about - giving thanks! Several Fall Burlap Pumpkins add a pop of fun color to the simplicity of the sign. This pumpkin set comes with 12 pumpkins so we were able to spread this bit of charm throughout our home which was a really fun touch!

This "Carved" Thanksgiving Pumpkin Set is beautiful. Again, reminding us of the spirit of the season, these sweet pumpkins are the perfect touch. 

Of course, we couldn't skip the colorful Plush Turkey! This cute little guy keeps moving from room to room around our house. He's pleasing to the eye and a huge temptation for my littlest to play with! He certainly adds just the right amount of fun and silly to our Thanksgiving decor. We'll miss him when we pack him up after the holiday passes, but how fun it will be for him to visit again year after year!

To take our decorations beyond our living room, we've hung this Autumn Leaves Barn Star on our front door. I am super duper excited about this. I adore having a beautiful wreath on our door each winter, but that's the only time we ever really have pretty, and welcoming, door decorations. Just adding it to the door makes me feel more hospitable. I love the rustic charm of this star! It's perfect for fall in New England.

Everyone is well aware of my oldest daughter's commitment to gifting her sweet friends with holiday treats. She can't pass up the opportunity to let them know that she's thankful for them! This Give Thanks for Friends Craft Kit is what she chose this year and it is perfect. She has created one for us to hang on our mantle and is bringing these individually packed craft kits to her class so that everyone can make one of their own. Super sweet!

I'm so pleased with these new additions and how they've already added to our Thanksgiving spirit! 

You're likely not surprised that I was able to find all these festive things online, shopping from my cozy couch! Oriental Trading has a huge selection of Thanksgiving items that will help you embrace the spirit too! No matter what your theme or decor, I'm sure you'll find something you love!

Order Your Halloween Candy and Treats Online!

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If I'm given the option to complete a task of motherhood without leaving the house, I'm taking it! Life is busy. I'm a full-time working mom and time for myself is very limited. I'm certainly not complaining, but I am being realistic. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is go to the store!

This year I got all my Halloween candy shopping done with one quick stop to Oriental Trading - online! No matter what you're planning to hand out during trick-or-treat, they've got you covered. Name-brand, chocolate, fruity, sweet, salty, even non-food items to give away, I promise you'll find something for everyone. The options are plentiful, the prices are great, and the convenience can't be beat!

This year we chose a combination of chocolate favorites and fruit snacks with the Hershey® Halloween-Shaped Chocolate Candy Assortment and the Welch’s® Fruit Snacks Halloween Medley. I know these will be enjoyed by our trick-or-treaters this year and I certainly won't be sad if there's some left over for me!

Order your Halloween Candy online today!

Photos courtesy of Oriental Trading

Halloween Party Planning with Animal Print Glow Sticks... and more!

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In anticipation of our trick-or-treat fun with friends this Halloween, we just made a stock-up on glow wands, glow necklaces, and glow bracelets! Halloween is just no fun without glowing treats. 

Last year we had a glowing mishap... we snapped our glow wands in the kitchen before we left the house and glowing liquid squirted all over the place! Needless to say, this year I tested a few of these before the big night to be sure we don't end up with glowing ceilings, countertops, costumes, and children this year! Thankfully, I think we're in the clear!

Check out these amazing Animal Print Glow Sticks! They are the perfect compliment to my daughter's Snow Leopard Costume! We were so excited to find them. She and her girlfriends are going to love carrying these around during their trick-or-treating adventure. They come with a string so you can use them as a necklace or tie them onto whatever you tote your candy in. The colors are so vibrant and the prints are super fun!

The Glow Party Assortment is the perfect mix of colorful glow necklaces and bracelets. It comes with 50 pieces - 25 necklaces and 25 bracelets - and includes the little attachments necessary to attach the ends. They are long-lasting, colorful, and just perfect to share with our friends this Halloween.

Save yourself a trip to the store and order all your glow accessories online from Oriental Trading this year!

Halloween Costumes for All Ages

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Halloween is coming! You already know we're ready for our party that night, and now we're ready for trick-or-treating too! My oldest daughter typically begins preparing her costume plans on November 1 of each year. As soon as she takes one costume off, she starts planning for the next. Historically, I've made her costumes but now that I have a toddler as well and am working full time outside the home, my time and energy is more limited. Off to the internet we went, searching for costumes for both girls.

Oriental Trading has so many costume options for trick-or-treaters of all ages! Whether you're looking for something for a baby, a grownup, or anyone in between, you'll find it. Group costumes, family costumes, themed costumes galore. On the top of our list when we look for costumes is a costume that works practically for us. Halloween night is typically cold in New England but no kid likes to wear their jacket on top of their costume. We were on the hunt for something cozy that we could layer underneath for warmth. Stylish, fun, and practical - that's what my girl was looking for.

Introducing our snow leopard and our duck!

I'd love to be able to convince my I'm-not-2-yet-but-I'm-in-the-terrible-twos toddler that she should wear her costume, but her favorite word right now is "no" so that's not happening. Fingers crossed she changes her mind by the end of the month!

I love these costumes and look forward to making memories with them this year! They are creative, fun, cozy, and high quality.

If you're looking to save yourself the hassle of a store trip to picked-over, messy costume aisles, browse Oriental Trading online. I guarantee you'll find something that works for you and your whole family. Happy Memory Making this Halloween!

Peanuts® Halloween Party Planning

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When I was young, I lived in a neighborhood full of friends my age, and trick-or-treating was truly a group affair. Everyone would eat a quick dinner and head out into the darkness (there were not even street lights!) for treats and fun.

We've carried on the same tradition in our family now that I have children of my own, but there aren't many kids my kids' ages that live in the neighborhood so the fun factor is not quite as high. Last year, thinking about our own situation, and knowing that we have several friends from school who live on busy streets that are unsafe for trick-or-treating, we invited some school friends over to our house and then headed out together for trick-or-treating. For one friend, it was her very first time trick-or-treating, because she'd never had a safe place to enjoy the tradition! 

Our little get-together last year was so much fun so it was an easy decision to make this an annual tradition! This year, we plan to invite even more friends, and even picked a theme for our pre-trick-or-treating Halloween party - Peanuts®! We're hoping to catch a peek at the Great Pumpkin this year!

We've gathered together some simple decorations to set the mood. They are so fun!

We'll cover the wall in our dining room with this a-m-a-z-i-n-g Great Pumpkin Backdrop. It's made of three strips of plastic that stick to our wall with static electricity - I didn't even need to use tape! There are only two of the strips hung here because I couldn't fit all three in this space. The completed set is 9 feet x 6 feet. 

I expect that we'll put this life-sized Great Pumpkin Cardboard Stand-Up outside on Halloween, but for now, on this rainy day, it's set in front of the Backdrop. Won't this make for some super fun photo ops?

We'll serve pizza because it's quick and easy, and we'll set our table with this Peanuts® themed Halloween Plastic Tablecloth, along with these themed Dinner Plates, and Napkins.

Hanging Paper Lanterns and Halloween Cutouts will complete the look!

We can't wait to have our friends over again this year... and can't wait to surprise them with this fun Peanuts® themed party!

All of these items - and more - can be found at Oriental Trading! Plan your holiday get-together easily with goodies to match whatever theme your heart desires. There are tons of fun and affordable options available!

Flexible Seating with Jumbo Floor Pillows

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I had so much fun getting the school counseling office ready for this school year. I added some new organization, activities, and wall decorations. It was an amazing transformation, but I still felt like something was missing. It's important to me that the office is a fun, safe, and comfortable place for students to visit. All the credit for what may have been the best update goes to my husband, who had an instantaneous answer when I told him I felt I needed just one more thing. His answer was flexible seating!

The addition of a soft, cozy place for students (or staff!) to relax was exactly what I needed in this space. We have a couch and some chairs, but there's just something special about a place to comfortably plop down and ponder difficult moments.

These Jumbo Floor Pillows are the best - I knew it as soon as I saw them and I know my students would vouch for them now too! They are so super soft and fluffy and their pillowcases are easily unzipped to remove and machine wash. At a size 30" x 30", they perfectly filled this empty space in the office. The colors are so vibrant - besides the green, purple, and red pictured above, they are also available in blue and yellow. They've been great for friends to sit on as they play a game on the rug, some have used them on the couch for some extra padding, but mostly, they've been great for lounging while we chat. I highly recommend them as a flexible seating option - either in your classroom, office, or home! I actually may need to get a few more for us at home... I think my girls (and I!) were sad to see them go to school!

I ordered these jumbo pillows from Learn365 by Oriental Trading. They also offered options of medium (16" x 12") and large (23" x 18").

Setting Up the School Counseling Office

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School starts next week and the counseling office is ready for visitors!

My role as a school counselor started partway through last school year so although I did what I could to make the space my own, I really didn't put too much time or energy into it until this summer. I reflected on the year and gave some thought to what was really needed in this space. I reflected on the things my students struggle with and what they are looking for when they visit me. I am so pleased with how this safe space has turned out. It has the perfect combination of peace and fun with some really great tools mixed in. Stay tuned for more posts about the therapeutic games I added to our mix as well as our new flexible seating!

Although I use books a lot in my social skills lunch groups, I find that I don't use them quite as often in individual meetings with students. I think one of the reasons is that neither the student or I think of them when we're meeting! Having student books hidden high on a bookshelf is impractical... we forget about them! As an educator, I love to see students inspired to spend time with books. There are so many good books out there that address the issues we work on so much in the counseling office. I hope that placing books in an accessible, eye-catching spot will encourage us to use these books more often. Classroom Organizer Book Storage Bins were exactly what I needed.

The same Book Storage Bins I'm using for student books are a perfect way to store our coloring sheets too. I have tons of coloring sheets and we use them all the time - some with inspirational quotes, verses, words of encouragement, or favorite animals and designs. They've been stored in file folders in a pile on the shelf. We all know where they are, but making them a little more visible really added to the look and feel of the space. They are welcoming and seeing them makes me want to spend a lot more time in our coloring corner!

I'm also using the Book Storage Bins to store the grown-up books and counseling worksheets on my desk. Even just that extra pop of color makes the space feel more welcoming!

Adding some wall decor this school year was important to me. I've had bare walls - which isn't awful - but it doesn't add anything special to the counseling office. I wanted something special for the walls and when I found these Jumbo What Can I Do Cutouts and these Jumbo How To Be A Friend Letter Cutouts, I knew they were exactly what I needed for this space!

Not only are these colorful, welcoming, and fun to look at, they are perfect to help us work through the issues we address most often in the counseling office. We now have tools, literally right in front of us, that can help us quickly come up with plans to address the hard times and get back to class, and life, more efficiently and effectively. We all benefit from some simple reminders about how to be a good friend and how to solve everyday problems in healthy ways. I received so much good feedback on these at our recent open house and can't wait to see how my students use them on a day-to-day basis once school starts back up next week!

All of these additions to the counseling office were available online through Learn365 by Oriental Trading. I'm always excited at the assortment, quality, and affordability of options there - and I never have to step foot in a store!

Next up... new counseling games and flexible seating! Stay tuned!

Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Party

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My oldest daughter just turned seven and threw the most amazing Rainbow Unicorn birthday party to celebrate! This is actually the second time we've had a rainbow themed birthday. If you met her you wouldn't be surprised! Summer birthdays are always a little tricky because we love to plan outdoor shindigs. Thankfully the weather cooperated this year and even though we woke to chilly air and cloudy skies, we ended up with a hot summer day which was exactly what we hoped for.

We swam in rainbow pools with rainbow banners hung in the yard.

We decorated with rainbow balloons.

We served our favorite snacks in an assortment of rainbow colored bowls. Of course we even served up rainbow cookies and cake!

We created water bottle labels to go with our rainbow theme. If you've never done this before, it's such an easy way to add something special to your party. You can find a tutorial here. The rainbow birthday labels we used can be downloaded free from Catch My Party and the polka dots from Piggy Bank Parties. The stickers we used on the polka dot labels came from Oriental Trading.

We served up our foods on rainbow plates, with colorful plastic utensils. Aren't these rainbow straw cups the cutest? They were such a big hit with all of our guests!

My creative daughter loved customizing her cake picks by decorating clear picks with sharpies. She drew rainbows, flowers, hearts, sunshines, etc. and they added a fun personal touch.

We customized these colorful chevron party favor boxes with rainbow unicorn stickers which perfectly matched our theme, and we filled the boxes with an assortment of colorful treats!

I love ordering party favors and supplies from Oriental Trading because they come in sets of a dozen which tends to be perfect for parties. I'm always impressed with the number of options we have to choose from no matter what theme we decide upon. They are always fun and high quality. I prefer novelty toy favors over candies. After studying the website, we chose Rainbow Cake Necklaces, Rainbow Mechanical Pencils, Fish-Shaped Ring Toss Water Games, Rainbow Heart Rubber Bracelets, and Plush Tie-Dyed Dogs. The adorable dogs are my favorite and I started getting texts asking about where to buy these ring toss water games within an hour of the party ending!

Planning parties for my littles is one of my favorite things to do! My daughter has such fun participating and coming up with the plan she knows will be just perfect for her friends. This year was no exception. Our Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Party was a huge success and I'm looking forward to next year already.

New Play Sets for Outdoor and Indoor Summer Fun

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This summer has been the first in a long time that I've been free of out-of-the-home work so the kids skipped camp and we've been enjoying our summer off with lots of stay-at-home days!

I don't shy away from some extra screen time in the summer - tv, iPad, iPod, etc. are okay with me within reason, but getting outdoors and moving our bodies takes the priority. 

I pulled together a list of some of our favorite outdoor activities on the blog a couple of years ago which I encourage you to check out if you're looking for some new ideas.

We are so thankful to have a big yard and a refreshing pool but even with those treats, summer days can get monotonous so we were excited to get a few new play sets for the yard this year to add to the fun.

Here's what we chose...

We are big fans of ladder ball but our old set broke, so we picked out this new one (with LED lights that are super cool for nighttime play) online from Oriental Trading. Ladder Ball is a great two player game in which players take turns tossing balls, connected to strings, and try to land them hanging on the horizontal ladder rungs. It takes some practice to get just the right toss but it's fun for kids and adults alike!

We also found some good old fashioned Lawn Darts because those are fun for all ages! Another great game for two players who take turns tossing their "darts" through the air and try to land them in their ring. This is tricky! I haven't figured out the special touch with these yet. They always bounce out of their ring when I throw them. My husband, on the other hand, has mastered it!

Bean bag toss games and some good whiffle ball never disappoint. I think we go through a whiffle ball and bat set each summer. My daughter is notorious for breaking balls when she hits to hard and my husband is notorious for breaking the bats when he hits too hard! This one is holding up so far this year and it's certainly gotten a lot of use!

Perhaps the highlight of the summer has been this Inflatable Water Slide! I'll be honest, the anxious mom in me cringed at the idea of it, but truly that has been so fun and we've avoided injury thus far!

New England summers always come with their fair share of thundering, rainy afternoons, so we thought it would be good to add a little something new to our indoor play sets as well. 

All kids love to play house - at least my two do! With this super cute, amazing quality play set from Melissa & Doug, they can play house, and help with chores all at once. 

My big girl is a big helper - she loves to help with housework. My one year old has recently started to look for chores she can do. She helps empty the dishwasher, throws every little crumb on the carpet into the trash, and puts away laundry without being asked (I find her Daddy's socks in her sock bin all the time!). Both of them adore this new set and it's been perfect for our days inside.

It's hard to believe we'll all be back to school in just a month's time! I'm glad we've had the opportunity to make a lot of fun memories this summer - both inside and out!

You can find all these fun play sets online at Oriental Trading.

Road Trip Must-Haves

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This summer, my husband and I did something we said we'd never do. We took two kids, one age 7 and one age 1 on a road trip! Don't get me wrong. We actually love road trips and have taken more than we can count. Before kids, we would leave for our trips late at night, stop for coffee, and drive through the night until we reached our destination. Who were we?! 

We road tripped (is that a verb?) twice with our first daughter and knew we'd have to start breaking up our trips into two days and staying overnight in a hotel. And then we flew to our destination once... and it was sooooo easy! And we said NEVER AGAIN will we do a road trip. 

And then we saw the outrageous price of airline tickets to our intended destination and planned a road trip again. 12 hours. With two kids. With a 16 month old. And we knew we were crazy. But WE DID IT! And actually, it went so well that we'd do it again for sure. 

We split our 12 hour trip into two days again and stayed overnight in a hotel in between. We made sure the hotel had cribs available and thankfully our daughter slept - probably even better than we did!

We packed well - and we packed a lot. I think my husband thought I was a little nuts for packing as much as I did but I was so intentional about making our travel time work. It's hard to occupy kids for 6 hours at home, in their house, with all their toys. I needed to find a way to do it in a car, with them strapped in, and confined. They did so well that we did not have to stop even ONCE on our first leg. We drove 6 hours with no stopping and only minimal fussing.  

The two things that saved our travel sanity were...

SNACKS AND TOYS!

We went to the store and got all sorts of special snacks. I know my snack packing technique will make some of you cringe because I used approximately one million disposable zipper lock bags, but it worked like a charm. I promise that I actually use reusable snack bags during the school year but I don't have one million of them so I had to break all green-living rules to make this work. 

Each snack was separated into small serving sizes in the baggies. All those baggies were then packed into a large bag. And all the different large bags filled with small bags were packed into a small carry-on size suitcase which was stowed, unzipped, between the two car seats in the back seat. GENIUS. The 7 year old served up snacks to the whole family throughout the drive. 

New toys are a must for both road trips and plane rides. Their newness is intriguing and they don't tend to get bored quite as quickly. I surprised the girls with some new travel-friendly toys and activities that were perfect for the trip. Oriental Trading had a lot to choose from.

We love these Farm Friends Hand Puppets from Melissa & Doug. They are so cute, soft, and fun! They made for a lot of silly interactive play, especially with our youngest daughter. I'm pretty sure I sang "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" no less than 100 times during one particularly traffic-y part of our trip. Every time I stopped, she started baa-ing and we'd sing it again with our puppet friends dancing to the beat!

The Oomee cube (pictured on the left below) is a fantastic invention - a puzzle with pieces attached so nothing gets lost! It's rubbery so no one gets hurt when it's thrown. It's made of 100% food-grade silicone so it's safe for teething too. And of course it encourages shape learning. It's a win on all levels and was well loved by our toddler.

The Find It! Seek & Find Game, travel-sized Perplexus, and Extreme Dot to Dot book were enjoyed by our 7 year old. We also had crayons, colored pencils, and coloring books. 

Another big hit were Water Wow! books from Melissa & Doug. I've been eyeing these little books online and in stores for a couple of years. I finally took the plunge, purchased a few, and we're all hooked. I've purchased two more since this road trip for another vacation this summer. They are an amazing invention! Simply fill the little paint brush with water, and colors show up as you paint the cardboard pages of the book. When they dry, the color disappears, and you do it again! These are so fun. Both girls (and even I!) enjoyed them.

Our road trip was a huge success, but lest you think it was all hearts and butterflies, this is how it culminated...

Real life, my friends, this is real life. My boisterous toddler has, just since school got out in June, lost a fingernail, had eye surgery, and broke her leg. I won't list all the things she did during the months between her birth and then! She keeps us on our toes... even when she can't be on her own!

Thankfully these travel-friendly toys are not only perfect for carseat-confined kiddos, but ones who are confined in other ways as well!