Exploring nature, one leaf at a time...

Nature walks are one of our favorite things to do as a family. Even before having children, my husband and I would pack up some snacks, hop in the car for a drive, and stop at any hiking trails that we stumbled across to get out, explore and enjoy nature. Now that we have two little ones, hiking has become a much more structured activity. We time our hikes between meals and naps, and we always end up at the same handful of trails that we know are safe, clean and maneuverable by stroller of wagon. And, you know what? Even structured, a day out on the hiking trails watching the little ones explore and touch everything around them just feels so magical. Like I'm the one seeing and feeling everything for the first time. It really is a breath of fresh air!
In fact, I think that this is how will be spending our afternoon tomorrow...

Chasing those rainy day blues...

Saturday was beautiful, we had sun, warmth and a hike at the beach. Sunday, not so much. It was rainy and cold, and after a nice day out we were all itching for more fun activities. So what did we do instead? We got out the water table (a steal from Target at 34.99$), spread out some towels and stripped down to our shorts...


The kids had a ton of fun and when they were finished, our kitchen floor was sparkling clean. The table is easy to store and will come in handy for many rainy days this spring. Oh, how I only wish that we had it back in the boring old dead of winter...

Memory game...

I originally posted this last week on my photo blog, but really thought that it was very appropriate for this blog as well, considering that it is handmade, and frugal and mostly recyced, and all that jazz...
I'm a bit of a blog junky and right before the holidays I came across this awesome memory game idea on the Mom Advice blog. Each Thursday, Amy over at Mom Advice, posts a list of links that go to really cool craft projects, recipes, money saving ideas and so much more in her notebook entries. And each Thursday I find myself wanting to do everything on the list. But this one I just had to do! And for once I had everything I needed to make this project already in the house. Now how often does that happen? A lot of what I used was leftovers from other craft projects with a few recycled materials added in. The cat fabric for the backing was actually my favorite pair of pyjama pants, that is, until I ripped them last week, and instead of making the drawstring bag to store the pieces in, we saved ourselves some time and stored them in the sweet little burlap sack that our basmati rice came in. The project was a little time consuming, but the hardest part for me was choosing photos that a) meant something to us, and b) I knew my children would be able to recognize. It was completely worth the time and effort, and now we have a game that will make every one of us smile every time we pull it out.

So seriously cute...

Milo is still a little young to play Memory, but he had so much fun looking at the tiny photos and saying the name of each item...




Who wouldn't have fun playing with a game that has them in it?