Tag Archives: life with kids

Flea Market Finds: Bargains!

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Shop, Vintage

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Flea

There is pretty much nothing I like better than spending the day at the flea market.  Chris asked me what I want to do for a 40th birthday party next year and I told him I wanted to spend the day at the flea.  I wasn’t kidding.  This past weekend I got to spend a few hours in beautiful fall weather at my favorite flea, Todd Farm in Rowley Mass.  We gave the girls $2 each to spend and they were (relatively) well behaved for a few hours while we all searched for treasure.  I have an idea to give the girls a larger amount of money when they get older in order for them to buy something of value, resell it and use that money to buy something else…a bit of a financial lesson which they are in no way interested in at the moment.  Todd Farm is an outdoor market with over 200 vendors.  It is full of amazing vintage and antique finds (and only a very small amount new items, too many of which ruin a flea market in my opinion).  The grounds at Todd Farm are grassy and surrounded by trees and parking is free.  It is one of my all-time favorite spots.  Here are some of our finds from the day:
ShakerGlassBasketBeads
WaterCan
*Heavy Glass Sugar Shaker (To add to our vintage bar ware) $1

*Spotted Juice Glass (To add to my collection.  This just barely made my $3-$4 limit for juice glass purchasing, but it is in perfect shape) $4

*Wicker Trash Basket (To be painted white and put into the bathroom.  It will replace a plastic one that has seen better days) $1

*Wooden Beads (For the girls to make into necklaces) $1

*Large Galvanized Metal Watering Can (To water the plants behind the bee hives, out of my reach with the hose.  This will replace the ugly plastic one we currently use) $10

Total amount spent on these treasures: $17.  Add in the $4 we gave to the girls and the grand total comes to $21.  A bargain price for a few hours of outdoor family time and a happy Mama.

Linen Sheets

16 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Likes, Shop, Uncategorized, Vintage

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Sheets1
(First days of Kindergarten and a newborn baby certainly make for sparse blog posts around here…Sorry about that).

It was a hot July around here to be pregnant. My few pleasures involved eating and sleeping, and towards the end not even those were making me happy.  I had heard how amazing linen sheets are to sleep on and in a moment of weakness I ordered an expensive set of them online.  (I have never spent this much money on sheets and felt a little ill after I hit the confirm button).  But when the sheets arrived and we spent the first night sleeping on them, I felt much better.  (OK, technically I still felt ill and had to wake up to pee every hour, but the time spent actually sleeping was kind of amazing).  The sheets are huge- they generously touch the floor on both sides of the bed.  The color is soft and calming- they even look good when I am too lazy to make the bed.  Linen lasts for years and just gets softer with age.  And they are absolutely lovely to sleep on.  The sheets are a heavier weight than cotton, but light and cool in hot weather.  Now that the season is changing the sheets feel warm and comfortable at night.  I had planned to switch back to our normal cotton sheets when Dare was born.  She is in our bed and babies can be quite messy creatures, but I could not bring myself to switch back to cotton sheets.  I hid all of the cotton sheets upstairs.  I am in love and I cannot go back.  The baby seems pretty happy with them as well.

If you want to be really really nice to a pregnant woman (or yourself) you can find linen sheets here:  Restoration Hardware’s sheets, Garnet Hills sheets, vintage linen sheets on Ebay and Etsy.

Sweet dreams!
Sheets2

Inspiration

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by in Inspiration, Likes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Inspiration
Happy Friday!

We can feel summer slipping away over here.  The light is changed since we returned from vacation.  The bees have started kicking the drones out of the hives for the cooler weather ahead, poor boys.  The garden is as full as it will get and we are thinking about what worked and what we will amend for next year.  We are planning winter projects and looking back at the steps we made over the summer.  Fall is my favorite time of year in this spot.  The sun is bright and strong, but no longer wilting.  We spent our last summer day at the park yesterday.  Ada is starting kindergarten on Monday!  I am still a bit in denial, and promise not to cry until we are out of her sight.  Autumn is such an exciting and transforming time of year.  It always makes me feel like change is on its way.  What are your plans for the new season?

Instagrams form the last few weeks:

*Ivy in the Window

*Fort Construction

*Josie on the Last Summer Beach Day

*Sleepy Dare in the Pouch

*Early Snowman at The Magic Forest, Lake George NY.  (We were skeptical, but The Magic Forest was pretty amazing.  The forgotten amusement park is small, quiet, shady and perfectly kitschy.  They have a Snow White animatronic exhibit which claims to be from the 1939 World’s Fair, but is in fact even older.  Mouse Planet has a great post about The Magic Forest’s history here.  The gift shop was a beautiful dusty jumble of beaded belts, felt cowboy hats and rubber souvenir tom-toms).

*Magic Forest Angels

Flea Market Finds: Side Table Bookshelf

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Organizing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Table1 Table2 Table3
We found this table on the street last week.  I drove past it, and then looped back after a minute of thought.  (I love good street finds- they are one of the best parts about city living.  I also love putting stuff out on the stoop when we are finished with it.  Anything good will be gone in a couple of hours, and everyone is happy).  We recently moved our large bookshelf out of the girls’ room and into the office to make room for their bunk beds.  The girls have made a habit of looking at books in the office, which is great, except for the huge piles they leave on the floor every few hours.  We have been looking for/ designing/ planning to build a small bookshelf for the girls’ room and this little table happened to fit perfectly under the window.  Our new plan includes my filling up their table with fresh books every morning.  When they have read them all they stack the books back onto the table and I rotate new ones off of the big bookshelf.  This way the girls get to read new books each day, and I get to deal with less mess.

DIY Washi Tape Housewarming Card

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Projects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Move5
Move6
Move7
Move2
We had two exciting house moves in the family recently and Ada helped design this housewarming card.  (She is calling them Happy Moving cards).  We used washi tape and crayon to illustrate the houses and accordion-folded card stock to fit inside our card. The line of houses unfolds out of the card to show the move from one house to another.  As with most kid projects, I had my vision of how the card would turn out and Ada had her own.  She made city buildings, without pitched roofs for most of the houses.  Feel free to tailor yours to your own neighborhood.  To make your own Washi Tape Housewarming Card you will need:

*Card Stock

*Scissors

*Washi Tape in Various Colors

*Crayons or Colored Pencils

1. Accordion fold card stock to fit inside of card.  (The folds should be hidden when card is closed).

2. Tape accordion fold into open card.

3. Using washi tape, make a house on each fold inside of card.

4. Using pencil or crayon, draw an arrow from the first house to the last house.  Add windows, doors, chimneys, etc.

5. Write in your Happy Moving Day greeting.

6. Mail it to the new address!

Inspiration

10 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Inspiration40
Happy Saturday!

I hope it is not raining too hard where you are.  I keep hanging out the laundry and running to bring it back in between showers…We managed to venture out this week with the three kids.  It seems a bit crazy to get that many people dressed and fed and out the door, but we did it!  Dare is still being mellow and sleepy, thank goodness.  She has however decided she likes to be wide awake during the darkest hours.

*Sleepy Dare

*Clouds Over the City

*Josie, Covered in Tomato Seeds

*Ada, Hiding from the Rain

*Kisses, at Pier Six in Brooklyn

*Breakfast

Have a great weekend!

Easy DIY Reversible Doll Dress

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Projects

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Dress1 Dresses2 Dress3 FrontDress BackDress
DressDoll
I made a set of these dresses for Ada’s first doll (Baby Stella by Manhattan Toys).  The dresses and the doll have been some of the girls’ favorite playthings, so I recently made up another set for our niece.  The pattern is based off of a vintage Buttterick #4813.  This is a very simple project and a good way to use pretty fabric remnants too small for a child-sized dress.  To make your own Reversible Doll Dress you will need:

*Two pieces of fabric (We used less than 1/4 yard per side)

*Four Buttons

*Scissors

*Sewing Machine and Matching Thread

*Paper for Pattern

*Pins

1. Drag pattern to desktop and print to size.  Our pattern measures 6 3/4″ along Center Front and Center Back.

2. Fold fabric in half.  Position Center Front and Center Back of patterns along fold and pin into place.

3. Cut out Fabric around pattern.  Be sure to include notches.

4. Repeat #2 and 3 for second piece of fabric.  You should now have two Fronts and two Backs, with a full dress in each fabric.

5. Unpin Pattern from Fabric.

6. Pin together Front and Back of same fabric with right sides facing along Side Seams and sew.  (We used a 1/4″ seam allowance).  Press open seams and repeat with second fabric.

7. Place two contrasting pieces of fabric right sides together, pin and stitch up along neck, shoulder and armhole edges.  Be sure to match notches.

8. Press open seams.

9. Sew in Button Holes at Back Shoulder Straps.

10. Sew Buttons in on both sides of fabric- one on each side.  (We used the same thread   to sew both buttons at once).

11. Pin Hem and Blind-Stitch by hand.

Enjoy!

Inspiration

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Inspiration, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Inspiration38
We have had a busy two weeks!  I am happy to be on this side of the craziness, (and yes, I did start writing this post in Friday and am just finishing it now):

*Beach with Josie’s Birthday Twin

*Ada in Tulle (Originally intended for birthday party decoration, but repurposed by rain and curious bees)

*Fort Greene Park, Waiting for Labor to Begin

*Party Decorations and Dare Welcome Cards

*Ballerina Cupcake Toppers

*Sleepy Josie After the Beach

*Two-Day-Old Dare

*Ada’s Birthday Cupcakes from Chelsea Market

*Sleepy Dare

*Birthday Decorations (Inside)

*Waiting for Ada

*Crayola Sidewalk Chalk (with the best colors!)

Welcome Baby Dare

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Inspiration

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Dare1
Sorry for the radio silence around here lately.  It has been a busy two weeks: Ada turned five, we had our annual block party and two birthday parties AND -best of all – we had a baby girl!

Dare was born at home at 12:50 on July 26.  She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.  She is doing really well and already feels like she’s always been part of the family.

Chris and I have had all of our children at home, and we expected this third birth to be a relatively easy one.  We assumed that we knew what we were doing and we were lucky to have our same beloved midwife for the birth of Dare.  Thank you Joan!  But…babies and children have a way of reminding us that we have little control over our lives.  I was convinced that the baby was coming for an entire week before her birth and kept making Chris stay home for work.  I visited the acupuncturist two times to move things along, to no avail.  A slow leak put us on a path of castor oil and breaking my bag of water, and Dare decided to join us sunny-side-up which made labor and pushing much harder than the previous two births.  When we and the midwife made the decision to get labor going on July 25, Ada cried all the way home saying she didn’t want to share her birthday.  (Little Dare graciously held out for minutes past Ada’s day).  Ultimately all was successful.  Dare kept her heart rate up and worked as hard as I did to join the world.  My mother-in-law was a champ downstairs taking care of the girls and waiting through loud noises above.  When Dare was finally out (thank goodness!!), we had to shake Ada awake.  She had fallen asleep on our bed five feet away from my loudness, and missed the entirety of the pushing.  Both Ada and Josie woke up and smiled to meet their new sister.  My mother-in-law Pat cut the cord.  We toasted and I ate a grilled cheese sandwich.  (We have never had a baby at night, and it was too late for my usual post-labor Indian takeout).

So, here we are a family of five.  Three girls.  Dare has double big sisters.  She is a lucky lucky girl.  I am feeling so so happy to no longer be pregnant in August.  We are settling in to life with this new little creature,  feeling sleepy and happy and blessed.Dare2

Inspiration

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in Inspiration

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Inspiration39
I feel like a broken record, but it is HOT here.  We spend a good deal of time sitting in the little pool, watering the garden and eating popsicles.  We are hoping our beach day tomorrow stays rain-free, but the rain should feel free to visit any other time.

Here are some Instagrams from the week:

*Kiddie Pool and Drying Diapers

*Ada’s Letter Practice

*Swaddle Blankets, Washed and Stacked

*Josie’s Potty Chart, by Ada

*Blanket Fort (With Newly Unstacked Swaddle Blankets)

*Hot Bees, Bearding to Cool the Hive

Have a Happy Weekend!