weekend randomness: school days

The past couple of weeks have been a bit chaotic as we have started the school year and baby #2's arrival gets closer and closer (and I panic a bit more and sleep a bit less with each new day). But there's something I just love about the start of the school year... though my child is not yet of 'school age', his childcare feels much like school. New teachers, lunches to pack, things to label, coloring pages full of crayon marks and progress reports from the day have started to become part of our routine once again.

I've put together a collection of things from our start of the school season, above:

1st and 2nd photo: A couple of class photographs from my mom's childhood that she just rediscovered. Apparently my grandmother insisted on getting a class picture every year, even though it wasn't something that the school did. So she would gather my mom's class at their house (second photo, notice living room environment), until she began going to the school to take the picture (top photo, notice blackboard). She did this all the way through my mom's schooling, until her senior year of high school when a professional graduation portrait was taken. She even labeled the back with the names of every person in the class, which my mom says she is now grateful for.

3rd photo: we just had a photog come to the house to do a couple of pictures of little G before his sister arrives. I've only seen a few preview photographs, and am much more pleased with the photos of just G than of the ones that include me. This pregnancy is not treating me as well as the first one did!

4th and 5th: I attempted to follow Kristin's lead and document G's first day of school with a 'sign'. Unfortunately, a 21-month old is not nearly as cooperative as a 3+ year old. The best I could get was G running towards me or eating the paper.

6th: I just rediscovered a set of alphabet stamps I purchased in my Martha Stewart days, and am now labeling just about everything, including G's school napping sheets and our cloth shopping bags.

7th: Haley introduced me to these great divided containers that I use to pack G's lunch for school (bonus, they are BPA free!). Months ago, I bought Gram a set of cocktail forks from Target that he loves- and seems to encourage more eating, so I tape a single fork to the top of his lunch pack.

8th: I've finally started to continue the 'first words' project I did for Gram. My goal is for him to have familiarity with family members- particularly ones that don't live close by. So I've put up a magnet board in our playroom and created magnets (business card-sized ones from Michael's) with pictures of grandparents, uncles, and even the dogs. I try to practice the names with him each day, which so far seems to be going well. I'm adding family as they cooperate with my project- but I still have 5 or 6 must-have people left to go.

On a side note, I've been meaning to thank Pint Size Social for the shout-out on the first words project- it's fun to see that it is still living on, 7 months after I posted it.

All the best to you and your loved ones as we leap into fall!

weekend project (baby photo albums)

This was actually a project that lasted several weekends, but I officially got it off my to-do list this weekend, and I couldn't be happier! I've been meaning to do albums periodically, as my son grew up. However, time slipped away (as it always does!) and it never happened. I told myself if I didn't get the albums done before baby #2 arrives, then it would never happen. So with the help of iphoto (a Mac application) and some time, I managed to edit the thousands of photos down to several hundred. It's been bittersweet to look back and see how much my baby has grown in the past 19 months. Such a whirlwind. Anyway, I am feeling so accomplished and ready to tackle the rest of my long list of projects! For those of you that don't have Macs, it looks like blurb.com (thanks, Whitney!) is a good alternative. 

weekend project

I love weekends when things actually get done! They are few and far between these days, it seems- since adding a little one to the house. 

I have long had 'create bulletin/inspiration board' on my project list. I had seen one in Martha Stewart Living a long time ago that put the fire in my belly. When we moved into our most recent house (almost two years ago!), I said I would make it a priority. Well...the time finally came. I have to say I am pleased as punch with the results, and they are everything I envisioned they would be. We installed one in my office so I would be able to put up portions of the HPG collection and miscellaneous inspiration, and another in our playroom so that we can hang children's artwork with ease.  

For those of you interested in this DIY weekend project, I suggest you look at Shiso Mama's thorough instructions. We loosely followed her guidelines and modified them for what would work best in our home. I feel I must warn you, however, that it is a Project, with a capital P. Getting the board, cutting it, finding the fabric, ironing and stretching it so that it doesn't pull, putting anchors in the wall so board can be supported...for us, it required getting a babysitter so that we could devote enough time to it. But as I said, I'm quite pleased!

weekend project #2

Last week we bought my son a 'first words' book. It had some common words like 'car' and 'ball'- but the car didn't look like ours and the neon orange soccer ball didn't look like any we owned. So I thought it might be nice to create a first words book exclusively for him, using objects that were more familiar to him and focusing on words that he was either already trying to grasp (ball, momma) or words that would be helpful to me (milk, water).

I started with some letters I had long ago purchased at a thrift store for a dollar. I was thrilled to come up with a project for them, since they have been sitting unused in a glass jar for at least a year. I photographed the words on a white background, and then photographed the objects on a white background as well. I did most of this during Gram's naps. Then I compiled the album in iphoto (I have a Mac), and sent it off Sunday evening. The price tag was more then I wanted to pay ($28 by the time tax + shipping factored in), but I think it will be something we will hold onto for years. 

If this one is a success with my little G, I'm thinking I will do a book exclusively of people in his life (his grandparents, uncles, doctor, etcetera), with the hope they will be more familiar to him- particularly the long-distance relatives.

weekend project #1

We finally caved and bought our little G his own chair. He had been flopping himself into any and all he could get into- and would scream with glee every time we were at a friend's house who had one. I knew he would love it. What I hadn't counted on was how much he would love the box! My husband and I turned it into a little home for him in under 15 minutes on Friday night. I wielded the exacto knife and Charlie got crazy with the duct tape, even creating handles and pulls out of it. We made little windows and shutters that he opens and closes. He has spent more time with it then with any other toy we have purchased. It is not a thing of beauty by any stretch of the imagination, but the way it entertains him (for a long time) IS a beautiful thing!