Tips for Traveling with a Baby

I'm not going to pretend to be any sort of expert, and we've only been on 1 flight with our son so far, but I do have a few tips that I thought would be helpful to pass on to others. So here are my 5 tips for traveling with a baby.

#1. Wear them

Yes, you read that correctly. Wear your baby. If you have a wrap, sling, or carrier this is VERY helpful for getting through security and to your gate. I wore my Ergo 360 with him in front and forward facing. I did not have to remove him for security and we went through a separate gate (no detector) and they simply wiped my hands and checked that. It also gave me two free hands so I could be carrying my ID and boarding pass as well as a bag or two so my husband didn't have to be the Sherpa. At least for our son, he is much more content and lasts longer being carried in the carrier than just in my arms.
Here's the carrier and wrap I have:

 

#2. Borrow BIG baby items at your destination

What do I mean by this? I mean borrow a stroller, car seat, pack & play, high chair, even nursing pillow rather than taking your own. I realize this one is not always feasible due to the nature and location of your trip. But, I'd encourage you to be creative and try to find a way to make this work. Fortunately for us, we were visiting family that was expecting a third baby in another month so they had everything I mentioned above. She picked us up at the airport with the car seat and let us borrow that and the stroller when we drove to visit other friends. This was SUCH a blessing and saved us a lot of hassle checking and carrying those things on the plane. Even if the people you are visiting don't have them, they probably know someone who does. I have found that people are very willing to lend baby items that they are not currently using so don't be afraid to ask.

#3. New toys for travel

This was suggested to us by our pediatrician at the wellness appointment before our trip. I had not even though of this and it was a GREAT help so I highly recommend this tip! I searched and searched online for a fun, interactive, engaging, multi-task, yet quiet toy. I wanted it to be something that would hold his attention for a good length of time but not make noise and drive everyone in the plane bonkers. I searched high and low and found this great option:

The Oombee Cube was great! He enjoyed all the strings and shapes and colors. He pulled and chewed and shook. It made NO noise, didn't have any pieces we had to keep track of, and entertained him! 

This was not the only new toy we had for him. I wanted one toy for the travel there and one for the way back. I made the other toy which is a sensory tag blanket. My mom had all sorts of ribbons and cords and some fun fabric scraps that I was able to gather together and make into another quite, multi-task, engaging toy.

Here's a similar version you can buy however it appears that all the "tags" are the same material just different colors. This is one of the reasons I made mine because I wanted all different textures.

 #4. Don't give the toy to your baby

Wait...what??? I thought #3 was all about a toy for your baby...
Stay with me. I didn't say the baby doesn't get it, I just said don't give it to them.
Still confused?
Okay let me explain.
We have found that with our son, things we give him to play with (aka his toys) he is semi-interested in for a short time. BUT...things that are ours and we don't hand to him he is VERY interested in and wants so badly. So, while I was nursing him during take-off, my husband took the toy and put it in a spot where it was visible but not front-and-center. We paid no attention to it and let Easton totally discover it on his own. It worked! He was curious and eager, proud of himself for finding something new, and so interested.

 

#5. Don't plan too much and be flexible

Before kids, you could jam-pack every day of a trip with plans to see as many places and people as possible. I would caution you to attempt that with a young kid. You already know from everyday life at home that getting out of the house to go anywhere takes 3x longer. Well be prepared for your child to not sleep as well and be off schedule (especially if you change time zones). Your time will be much more enjoyable if you scale back and have a well-rested happy baby for the adventures you do go on.

What other tips do you have for traveling with a baby? I would love to hear them! And if you try any of mine, I'd love to know how it works out for you! Happy traveling!

Scavenger Hunt Housewarming Party

Last June, we moved into our new home. It's crazy to think it's already been over a year that we have lived here now. Little by little we are working on projects to make it more personalized and exactly how we want it.

After we moved in and got settled, I wanted to have a Housewarming Party so our friends could see our new place. As I was still new to the area, our circle of friend was pretty small and didn't know each other well. I didn't want just an awkward gathering of people all standing in one room staring at each other. So I turned to Pinterest for some fun ideas for a housewarming gathering.

Sadly, I found only a handful of ideas and none of them really interested me. So I came up with my own idea! We decided rather than lead each group of people through the house and show them every room, we would let them explore for themselves while on a fun mission. My husband and I created a scavenger hunt and it turned out really fun! It also cost us just a few dollars to put together.

Here's what you will need:

• paint chips, a different color for each couple/person x 2 (one for guest, one for gift)
• random, cheap White Elephant-type gifts that you already have around the house or go to the Dollar Store. We had a mug, candle, picture frame, SPAM, magic towel, photo coasters, mini package of coffee, and a few others I can't remember.
• wrapping paper

We had two of each color of paint chip. One of each pair was used as the postcard to invite our friends. In a sad moment of blogger failure, I forgot to take any pictures. It was a basic invitation written on the 3 tones of paint colors saying When, Where, and to bring their invitation with them as the bottom color on their paint chip was their clue for a game.

We wrapped each random item, cut the bottom hues of each second paint chip and taped it on the gifts as a tag. Then my husband had a lot of fun hiding the gifts throughout the entire house. They were all visible without having to open any cupboards, drawers, etc. When our guests arrived, we explained the game. They would give themselves a tour of our home while searching for a wrapped present with a paint chip tag matching the bottom paint chip of their invitation. They were all so excited and immediately started exploring.

Once all the gifts were found (we had to help with a few of them), the fun continued with a White Elephant gift exchange. All the wrapped gifts were placed on the table. Going around the room, each person got to choose to open a new gift or steal someone's gift. We went around the circle two times and allowed multiple steals. Everyone enjoyed it and I think it was a really fun way for friends to see our new home without the awkward "and here is the other bedroom" tour.

And of course, what is a party without some good food? Well just plain boring that's what! I made Butterfinger Cookies, Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and Berry Ka-bobs.

I found these adorable striped straws and couldn't resist adding them to the cupcakes to look like little cups of lemonade!

Fresh berries are always a hit in the summertime.

This party was the first time I got to use my water canister. I love it and definitely need to have more parties so it can come out of the closet more often!

The whole spread, complete with a chalkboard menu.

Have you ever thrown a housewarming party? What fun things did you do?
Or have you ever been to a fun housewarming party and what did they do?

Chalkboard Pantry Door

My last post was about my making chalkboard labels for organizing your pantry jars. After that, I figured it was an obvious transition to show you my pantry door makeover! You may remember from my Home Photo Tour that I have a corner pantry with a cute skinny door next to my fridge. And if you didn't...well here's a refresher:

I've known ever since moving in that I wanted to paint that door and do something fun. As I mentioned last time, I am loving the chalkboard trend and so the idea came to me (most likely via Pinterest, because let's be honest I am a total copy-cat and not an inventor of awesome ideas) that I would paint the door and the top middle panel would be a chalkboard. The only question was, what color to paint it? My dishes and kitchen is full of colors. I didn't know should I try to match something I already had or go with something totally new? And if I'm matching, WHAT item/color do I match it too???

 And so, like with most of my projects, that one question with no good answer meant that I pushed it to the back burner for a good procrastination simmer. Well thank goodness for friends who have different personalities than you! My wonderful friend of many years came over for a weekend of projects! Seriously, she came to help me paint and get things done. How awesome is that? Aren't you all jealous that I have a friend like that!? If you're not, you should be! This girl is awesome!

 
We initially set our sights lower with the only task to accomplish being: Paint the Master Bedroom (blog to come about that soon when a couple more items get finished). However, like I said, this girl is awesome, and once she gets going, she is on a roll! We got not just one, but four projects done that weekend! And we had time to boat on the lake for 3+ hours! I'm really thinking she needs to move across the street...help me persuade her!

Once I mentioned my idea for the pantry door, actually I don't think I even finished saying the words, she said "Let's do it right now!" Oh but hold on there girl, what color? See this is where things come to a halt...."the same color as your Kitchen Aid!" 

 
Oooooooooo. I liked it. No, I loved it! We were just about to jump in the car and head to the store to buy paint when I suddenly remembered that I still had more than half a quart of paint from when I did my little entryway table. Hmmmmm...that could work.

  It was almost a perfect match to my Kitchen Aid, which is Pistachio by the way. So without further delay, we started painting! We did two coats and then taped and covered with newspaper so we could spray paint the chalkboard. I did three coats of the chalkboard paint.

The next morning we (and by 'we' I mean my husband) put the door back on. I was so excited at how good it looked. I seriously could not stop smiling. I was also smiling because we spent $0 to accomplish this project since I already owned both paints from previous projects.

But then we didn't stop there. I grabbed the prints and frames that I had bought several months ago to go in my kitchen. I used some of my patterned cardstock to mat the pictures, framed them, and then asked hubby if he would hang them.
 

Aren't they so cute? I love the vintage look of them and the pops of color! I ordered these prints from All Posters. They are several more to choose from and it was hard to pick only three of the cute prints, but I have limited wall space in my kitchen so I had to stop at three.

Ta-da! This little corner just makes me so happy! So glad my wonderful friend came and helped me get this done finally! Just think how productive I would be and how much more decorated my house would be if she lived here! She was quite intrigued by the (much) lower housing costs here compared to where she lives...(I'm using every persuasion I've got).

I update the chalkboard every week with the meals we will be eating for the upcoming week. My hubby loves it so he can know what food to look forward to. I really need to practice some fun fonts and handwriting now that I have a big chalkboard.
 

Thanks so much to my friend for all her inspiration and help!

Do you have a friend like mine who is so different from you that its helpful?

What projects have you procrastinated on for SO long and then finally did?

Do you have any fun artwork in your kitchen?

May Goals

Warm weather! Flip flops! Ahhh! I hope this weather sticks around and no more surprise snow flurries!

Here were my goals for April:
1. Go to the gym 5 times
2. Make 1 new recipe
3.Choose what we are going to do for curtain rods
4. Blog 1 time other than this post
5. Choose a paint color for master bedroom

I did run in my neighborhood 3 times but work and an annoying cold kept me from my last two times.

I made SEVERAL new recipes this month! For Easter brunch I made Blueberry Pecan Crumble Coffee Cake from Country Cleaver, which was SO delicious and I definitely will make it again. Along side this I made Perfect Roasted Sweet Potatoes from A Kitchen Cafe although I didn't use any oil. Finally, I made Crustless Sausage Broccoli Quiche from LAQ Fitness which was also delicious but took an hour longer to bake than she said so needless to say our brunch was more like Linner (or is it Dunch?) and we were hungry! Part of the difference in baking time could have been that I only used whole eggs instead of any egg whites. While the egg white conversion is 1 whole egg for 2 whites, 10 whole eggs (the 5 she calls for and 5 from the conversion) was not enough to cover my broccoli and sausage so I added 6 more eggs I believe. I would make this again but definitely allow for more cooking time.

Other than the Easter, I also made Perfect Homemade Biscuits from Mom On Timeout which were truly perfect! Very easy to make and went along perfectly with Potato Soup which was a first-time recipe try from my cookbook "Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics". I also made The Marlboro Man Sandwich from The Pioneer Woman. Very happy tummy but I'll use less butter next time. Shhhhh, don't tell Ree! :) And last, but certainly not least, I made a Bacon-Spinach-Chicken-Pesto pizza. SAY WHAT? Yes, it was DELISH! I didn't follow any recipe although this is the pin that inspired me. I used Pillsbury dough and Costco pesto. Lots of fun and tasty cooking this month!

Not only did we choose what we are going to do for curtain rods, but we purchased all the materials and got started! My beloved birdie curtains from Pier1 are up in the office and we're just waiting on the shipment from Target to arrive so we can hang the living room and dining room. The two panels we had for the dining room were different by 2 inches so we had to order a couple more to see which two will match each other. Craziness! Once those are up, I will post about how we did it with step-by-step pictures and prices.

I have yet to narrow down let alone pick paint colors. But I need to get on that ball because my bestie is coming the last weekend of this month to visit and help me paint!

This is gonna stay short and sweet because I'm working hard on grading and lesson plans tonight but also need to pack for a weekend celebrating my "little" brother's college graduation! He's receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Photography. The night before graduation we get to attend a mini Oscars (complete with red carpet, I'm told) for his school called the Tracy Awards. He is nominated for Best Cinematographer and his film is nominated for Best Film along with 8 other nominations! So exciting and so proud of him! I can't wait to see where his career takes him and what kinds of cool projects he gets to work on. He is very talented and loves what he does which is so awesome to see in young people these days!

So here are my goals for May:
1. Go to the gym or run 5 times
2. Make 1 new recipe
3. Hang living and dining room curtains
4. Blog 1 time other than this post
5. Choose a paint color for master bedroom
6. Paint master bedroom
 7. Project Life date with my mom
8. Finish "Love Does"

Happy May Day!

Seahawks Superbowl Party

Most of the bloggers out there plan way ahead and will give you recipes, crafts, decorations, and tips for an upcoming event. I give major kudos to those ladies. I, however, am not one of those bloggers. Not by a long shot. I am usually a week to a month late on posting about my holiday creations. Or hey...maybe I AM the ultimate planner and I'm getting you ready for next year. ;) No? Okay, well anyways, even if it doesn't help you prepare for your events, at least you can see what's been going on for me lately. And years from now, I can also look back and pat myself on the back for still doing the baking, crafting, decorating, party hosting, etc. even though I wasn't the ultimate blogger. :)

All that to say...here is what Superbowl Sunday looked like around here!

Starting with my paint chip dry erase calendar:

Thank you to Jacquelyn at Style Me Pretty for these free Superbowl Commercial Bingo printables.

Our guests had a really fun time with this game. Everyone got into it and we would debate about if something counted or not. Unfortunately we didn't think the commercials were that great this year and none of us got a black out but it still made for a friendly competition when we weren't focused on the game.

Here's the table decor. The megaphone and pom-poms were from the Dollar Store a couple years ago for the March Madness championship game and the tablecloth was less than a dollar at WalMart.

I made the footballs using my Silhouette and the ribbon I use as a belt/sash for one of my dresses. I love finding things around my home to use rather than buying or making new things all the time.

In case the crayons and colors on the table didn't give it away, we were cheering for the Seahawks!

I used my Silhouette sketch pens to draw the outlines of the letters and then cut the pennants and footballs with it as well. I used Sharpies to color in the letters. The twine and clothespins were already up from Christmas decor--this is where I displayed Christmas cards we received.

I had to get put away all my Christmas decorations so instead of having a bare dresser, I pulled anything blue and green that I had. (You can also see part of the awesome gift my hubby got for Christmas there on the left...he loves that bean bag and was so surprised!)

I didn't have any football printables or time to get one printed so I grabbed a chalkboard and drew something instead. I knew to use X's and O's and that yardage lines but hubby had to help me with the play.

So maybe candles, vases, and fake flowers have NOTHING to do with a Superbowl, but hey, they were the right colors!

Moving to the food and decorations there. And don't forgot the Skittles!

I used the negative space from my footballs and attached them to mason jars with a zig pen. I got the idea for the jars from Bev at Flamingo Toes. Yes, I know the stitches are white but I already had these brown ones that were just going to be thrown away so I decided to just go for it. (I am realizing I need to figure out a trick for taking pictures of glass jars...these didn't turn out so great. Also, can you see me in the spoons?)

When I saw this Seahawks silhouette design on Pinterest, I knew right away I would be using it! Thanks so much to Lisa at Sweet Benana & Sam for creating and sharing this free Seahawks SVG file! When I grabbed this design, I decided to create my own printable. I added the words and used my Silhouette sketch pens to draw it.

A couple weeks before the big game, during a quick trip to the grocery store for a couple items, I saw the plates and napkins and threw them in my basket. At that point, we hadn't even confirmed we were having a party but somehow Seahawks plates and napkins was all I needed as motivation. :)

Blue and Green Sweets!

I decorated two different kinds of cupcakes. Thanks to the class I took at JoAnn's I had a lot of fun practicing my frosting skills making these.

Sprinkles for the 12th man!

And a Skittle atop the swirl

Seattle Seahawks Cupcakes

And for the sweet 'n salty taste, I made three different kinds of pretzel rods: chocolate with heath, white chocolate with M&M's and sprinkles, and chocolate with a white chocolate football stitch decoration. I just couldn't resist using my blue mason jars from Target as the finishing touch.

In addition to the desserts, I made BBQ pulled pork for sliders and we had potato salad and veggies. My husband also made his own recently-created guacamole recipe which is delicious! Our friends brought several other yummy dishes. As is necessary for any Superbowl Party, we had lots (so many leftovers) of food, cheering, and fun! It made it so much better when our team won dominated the game!

So maybe you can use some of these ideas next year for any Seahawks game! :)

I'm Still Here

Wow. It's been almost 2 months since I last posted. Eesh! Ya probably not the best idea to have a big giveaway, gets lots of new followers and then never blog. It was SO not my plan. Every weekend I kept trying to get to blogging but it seemed like another things to do (or 5) kept popping up. We squeezed all the last bits of fun we could from summer and then reality hit and I had a new classroom to get going. THAT has taken way more work than I anticipated. Teaching two classes is a lot of work. Two sets of lesson plans for every subject, two (or four) different teacher manuals for every subject, two different tests and activity pages to copy, two different spelling lists to keep straight, and on and on. 

  I'm not complaining, I'm just finally coming up for air and realizing why I have not been on here.

So what have I been up to? Well for one, taking a lot more pictures on my phone than with a regular camera. At least I'm still taking pictures though!

 We had a handful of weddings this summer! All very fun times. I was bridesmaid for my dear friend. She played the flag game like I did at my wedding...I got to pick all the questions for her. 

Love my Cannon Beach girls. Guess I missed the memo that we had our shoes on, oh well, I'm tall enough without ;). My mom made my bridesmaid dress! So nice having a mom with that talent because the stores were just not coming through for me.

 My college roommate came to visit for a weekend! Never enough time with her. We talked so much, baked, watched Friends and movies, coffee, shopping, farmer's market, scrapbooking and more talking! I wish she lived down the street!

 Celebrating my mom's birthday. Check back soon to see what I got her and hopefully the idea can provide some inspiration for your next birthday gift.

 I love my mom! We text everyday and the days that we don't just don't feel right. She spent two whole days helping me set up my classroom and is even painting a new desk for me! Plus all the other amazing things she does like talk, laugh, listen, hug, give advice, and pray for me. She's the best!

Another wedding--family friend that I have known his whole life. I got to help set-up the decorations and reception, which was so much fun! I was also the photographer's assistant, aka the bossy person telling people where to stand/look, etc. I got the job done and we stayed on schedule!

Time flies. I can remember when all these kiddos were born, how can the youngest be driving and two of us married now?

My family did the Color Run! My first 5k and a lot of fun! It was my mom's birthday present. I now want to do another 5k...wait who said that?

 We put our new guest room (and YES I am still going to show you pictures of our new house) to good use this summer! Our newlywed (from the wedding pictures at the top) and newly-engaged (wedding next summer and I'm a bridesmaid again) friends came to visit for a weekend. So much laughter and smiling--they are good medicine!

Final wedding of the summer--a previous co-worker of Nate's.

We borrowed my parent's boat for a week and went out almost every night for picnic dinner, swimming, and hanging with friends and family. Can't beat summer time at the lake.

Played and won (for the 2nd year in a row) the volleyball tournament that Nate and I met at.

Been riding my gorgeous new coral Townie bike all over. It takes only 8 minutes to get to work!

First Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season...while riding in the convertible haha.

Living in denial that summer was really ending and fall was on its way. I hate putting my Rainbows away for 9 months.

Flowers from a student.

Weekend trip to SoCal for my Grandma' memorial service.

It's always summer in Cali. (yes, I know Californians will disagree with me and say it gets cold)

Family breakfast at Denny's to celebrate my Grandpa's accomplishments. 

Check it out! It's in all the new menus now :)

My first Coug game at WSU!

 

A weekend getaway thanks to our wonderful friends. They couldn't use their timeshare and didn't want it to go to waste so offered it to us! We found a really cool hot springs nearby.

And Crystal Fields with quarts everywhere.

AND...you know fall is here when the TV shows come back! Wednesday is my night for the TV. I've been waiting all summer to find out what happens in Nashville.

AND....as if my life wasn't jam-packed enough with fun stuff and school and just normal life, I became the assistant coach for the girls varsity volleyball team at my school. I love it! We played against my team from high school and both my coaches were there...we beat them by the way which felt good :). Only bummer thing is it makes me really miss playing. Hubby and I might start hitting the Friday night open gyms to play now.

So now you are all caught up. Those are all good excuses for not blogging right? Just maybe? Okay, well I'm going to try to be better! I'm working on a whole bunch of posts today to get them ready for the week!

Are you sad to say goodbye to summer too? What are some of your favorite things to do as a last summer hurrah or a fall welcoming? And if you are already chomping at the bit for Christmas, you are not allowed to comment your seasonal input for at least another month. ;)