Eggs!

I basically love egg-dying. I love watching my kids be creative and I love making my own. This year was fun because Sophie was at an age where she was just thrilled to be making eggs and made each as creatively as possible. We used wax to draw polka dots, tape to make lines, and pencils to draw pictures. Maggie pouring liquid over the eggs in the bowl with a spoon and she actually was pretty impressive and didn't crush any of them! My sister held her on her lap the whole time (at great risk of being drenched in coloring), and that may have been the best possible scenario for the process.  

Here's my little dynamic dying duo. I'm bummed I left all the eggs at my mom's so I can't take pictures of their artistic genius. I only remembered to take pics of mine, like any good mama. Just trust me, theirs are way more brilliant and beautiful than mine. ;)

Happy Good Friday to you!! 

Review: Alphabet Books

Somehow, I realized just this week that Sophie is really shaping up to be a good student. She is perhaps the only kid I know that is her age and doesn't go to preschool (more on that subject another day, & no I don't plan to homeschool), but she's becoming addicted to letters. She asks for the cereal box so that she can "practice" her letters, and I  have overheard her spelling words like "G-R-A-I-N" as we're getting lunch ready. I actually think she started this whole obsession with letters when I let her watch LeapFrog, so I'm a big fan of that show these days, of course.

Basically she's been requesting all her books that review the ABC's, so we're reading these same three books over and over, and there is a crazy amount of letter progress being made:

1. ABC by Alison Jay.

2. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom... you think we've read it a few times? Yes, we could definitely use it in a hardcover. :)

3.Sophie's Amazing Alphabet Adventures. 

Okay, so I have to take a few minutes to review and tell you about this amazing book. I mean, perhaps we're making our child a narcissist, but perhaps it's just good, clean fun and absolutely hilarious. Basically you go to the Shutterfly site and fill in the information about your child. Add a photo of their face, order the book, and be prepared to be amazed. Every page is a different letter, and every letter has a paragraph full of alliterations that are also illustrated on the page. Each letter is written as a capital, lowercase, in both print and cursive in the corners of the page... BUT most importantly, Sophie's face is on every page doing some crazy things: kayaking, chillin' with elephants, speed ice-skating. I mean... it's the best tool for teaching letters I've ever seen. I'm no teacher so maybe I'm an easy crowd, but seriously, I'm impressed. It was one of the best gifts ever.

You know when you have your first child and they're about 18 months and you think to yourself, "gosh, they should be a lot further along in their talking..." or something, and you start to get really nervous that they'll be slow through all their classes in their future? Maybe it's just me, but I've definitely had moments of thinking that my kids may be behind in school because of this or that. This week, I could not be more encouraged about the whole learning process... and by all means, if you can learn with a hat and ballet slippers, even better!

Love,

Kate

Small Style: Add a BowTie

I like a good bow. I  also like a good bow tie. There's something about them that just adds the right brightness and flair to an outfit. An otherwise dull look gets a little makeover with a bright bow. Make it an oversized version, and you have even more cheer.

Sophie's was $4 from Janie and Jack on sale, but below are some other cute ones for ya:

Top Row: J.Crew, Bottom Row: Forage.

All pictures of Sophie taken by the amazing Manus Chau Photography.

XO,

Kate

I'm Loving...

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 

Life

Last week was really about love. My husband worked plenty, but when Valentine's day came around, he came home early with darling gifts for his three girls. We had a sweet little family dinner where we all told one another what we loved about each other. Maggie just sat and smiled and made us all laugh every couple minutes. We've never gone out for Valentine's day because well... crowds and overpriced food doesn't compare to steaks on our grill and bread with olive oil and vinegar, and the headache of finding babysitting seems a bit unnecessary. He always decides to out-do himself and spoil me, even though we always say we'll be simple about the whole thing. I tried creating my own little card for him (using the photo above by the ever-so-talented Pictilio), but it ended up looking a bit more crafty and a bit less professional... next time I'll get it like a classic Hallmark card... either way, it was a beautiful holiday.

The week itself had some ups & downs. Maggie got a bit of rugburn on her nose from falling down a few stairs, alarmingly enough... we got some good rest... and some not so good rest. Who knew Maggie was attached enough to her giant pink octopus that leaving it at her gramma & papa's house one day resulted in a night of me singing soft lullabies until my voice was hoarse and my mind was fuzzy? Who also knew that when Brian went to eat a calzone for lunch, our vehicle would be smushed to a month of repairs? BUT, who knew there were still beautiful, honest individuals who stay and take responsibility for hitting cars these days? You win some and you lose some.

Our eyes were collectively glazed over in sleepiness most days, and then we came to this gorgeous three.day.weekend. Do you guys find that whenever you're right at that breaking point, where you basically can't move... that's when the holiday just shows right up on the calendar? It's amazing how the timing coincides so perfectly.

SO, you may have noticed that it's Monday and I'm doing Friday's life post.. yes, it's true! I have no real reason, except that it's a national holiday today, so "I do what I want" today. Actually, all weekend. It's been such a true, refreshing break to put that phone down for the weekend and take a real break from everything except what's right in front of me.

More links Friday. Hope you got some rest in honor of the dear presidents of this country today!

XO,

Kate

City Living: Taking a Ferry to Sausalito

It's Friday. Yes. A legitimate Friday with a weekend to follow! Last weekend, my husband worked, so it feels like this has been the most continuous, long week ever.

Monday, we decided we needed an adventure. A friend was in town and invited us to go on a ferry ride to Sausalito and I had thoughts of Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity circa 2000, taking in the perfect city as she flawlessly looked into the distance, so we agreed to go. "We" is two little tag-teaming troublemakers directly prior to lunchtime, until approx. after naps. It was chaos of epic proportions, let me tell you. Sometimes I think I'm more capable than I actually am.

Our sit-and-stand stroller was a dream for about four months. Things began going south after that... a broken basket below, foamy pushing surface falling off, and our final straw... a wheel that falls off when we lift for any reason. As you can imagine, we lift our stroller up and down excessively, so... yes, it's a little embarrassing when I have a runaway wheel. On this particular day, our trusty Maclaren single-stroller went to work in the car with my husband, so I had no choice. To the north bay with a testy stroller we went. The wheel fell off more times than I can quite remember, and if I didn't have a conscience for my fellow humans, I would have abandoned that beast on the side of the road. I'm being quite literal.

I took a lot of pictures that look like the entire experience was straight-up bliss. It was definitely fun, but my lack of prep and "make-do" mentality way more stressful than I would have thought! If you are going to be taking a ferry in San Francisco to Sausalito alone with two kids, please heed this advice so you can most thoroughly enjoy the beautiful experience:

• Take the lightest weight stroller ever. There are stairs on the ferry that you'll have to maneuver once each way.
• If it's windy, mentally plan on sitting inside. It looks waaaayyy better outside, but the kids were literally blowing away from me. No bueno.
• Remember to feed your children prior to leaving the house.
• Dress in layers because you'll freeze on the ferry, then likely get really warm in Sausalito.

All that said, it has the potential of being an easy jaunt if you're well prepared. Sausalito is such a charming little town, with little cafes, delis, tourist shops, candy shops, and most importantly: an ice cream shop. Everything comes with a side of an amazing view... it's undeniably gorgeous. When we go (generally by car), we always feel as if we've been teleported to a whole new world of vacation mode, even though it's literally less than 15 minutes from the city.

Here are a few pictures from the ferry. :)

Happy Weekend!

Love,

Kate

PS. If you can recommend any amazing city strollers that have those stand-on features for bigger kids, please let me know! We are in the market for a new stroller, for obvious reasons. xoxox