Easypeasy Pumpkin Pudding

Try making this extraeasy, autumn-perfect treat with your kidlets. Not only is it quick, yummy, and fall-festive, cooking together is a fun way to expose children to simple math and science concepts like measuring & counting (and, listen up teachers: this recipe is so simple, it makes for an ideal classroom activity...)

Easypeasy Preschool Pumpkin Pudding:

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla pudding for each child
2 tsp. Libby's easy pumpkin pie mix per child

Give each child his or her own mixing bowl and spoon. Help children measure and place one cup of vanilla pudding in each individual bowl. Then measure 2 tsp. pie mix with each child. Add to pudding. Stir. Gobble. Make more. Repeat :)

* Reminder for Pet Parents: Please remember that this recipe was created for humans, and that most human food really shouldn't be shared with our furry friends, most especially dogs. This is a good thing (it just means...more deliciousness for YOU!) :)

FREE Fancy Halloween Cupcake Toppers

Top your holiday cupcakes off in (quirky-cute) style with these sophisticated pumpkin, black cat, bat, crow, and mysterious moustache decorative designs... all free for the printing @ the ever-delightful A Fanciful Twist.

Matchy Music: Halloween mp3, by meg and dia (via laundromatinee.)

FREE Vintage Skelly Printable

These brad-connected, bony paper skelletons make for an oldentimesy & cute window decoration (thank you Sewing Stars!) They're also great for sparking a little body parts chitchat ("what are bones?"... "what do legs do?" ..."how many arms do we have?" ...etc.)

Fairy Furnishings Bonanza

They've gone fairy-bananas over at The Magic Onions! Be sure to drop in and take a peek at all the fantastic (built-to-last) fairy furniture tutorials (beds, swings, tables & chairs, and MORE!)

Also take a little looksee at Monkey Lobster for even more fairy-sized construction ideas & inspiration (including the teensy cuteness shown above.)

Then stage your very own Extreme FairyHome Makeover... woohoo!

Walk The Dog Bag Holder Tutorial

Feeling crafty? Bring a little prettiness to poop-duty! Learn how to make your own, fashionable little dog baggie holder (like this one) over at Little Birdie Secrets. Then walk the neighborhood as if it's a runway...

Recyclebot Costume

Kidlets just loveloveLOVE robots. Visit RePlayGround to learn how to make a creative costume (like the one shown above) using recycled whatnots.

BONUS: Besides costume instructions, you'll find all sorts of wonderful, bookmark-worthy posts & links at this green-oriented blog. Goseegoseegosee...

Seal Beach Wag N Walk 2009

Don't miss this weekend's annual pet walk at the pier! Saturday, September 26, walkers will raise money to benefit our local Seal Beach Animal Care Center. Check in (and same-day registration) starts at 9:30am, with the walk beginning around 10am. You can walk with your dog, or even walk with a photo (in memory of a special furry friend.) Fun contests, demos, adoptions and whatnot continue from 11am-2pm. Visit the event site for registration forms & more information :)

Cartoons and Forever Plans

I just love Maria Taylor. You will, too.

I've been listening to this particular song overandoverandover (thank you bff!) The lyrics are pretty darling (and yes, that's Michael Stipe singing backup...)

Cartoons and Forever Plans mp3 by Maria Taylor (via Tinyways.)

Happy Autumn!

Woohoo! Fall is finally here!

Matchy Music: Autumn Leaves mp3, by jazztastic Cannonball Adderley (via star maker machine)

Easy Kidlet Handplay:

"Red and yellow, green and brown"
(count off colors on fingers)
"Leaves are falling to the ground"
(simulate falling leaves with fingers)
"We pile them up OH SO HIGH"
(pretend to pile leaves with hands)
"When we JUMP in..."
(jump)
"The leaves will fly!"

Jack-O-Lantern Field Guide

The Toymaker has just released her supercute (and free!) collection of paper treats for Halloween, including the really fun Jack-O-Lantern field guide shown below (what sillyfestivefun for preschoolers learning about feelings and emotions... happy jack, scary jack, funny jack, etc.) There's lots more adorableness at her site, so be sure to check out the other bits and pieces (including darling giftboxes, garlands, bookmarks, etc.)

Sunday Starfish

Starfish Night Dance Photo by John Hill

Matchy Music: Movement VI Isorythmic Night Dance mp3, by Sufjan Stevens (via consequence of sound)

Long Beach Blessing of The Animals

Saturday, October 3, 2009 is the annual Long Beach Interfaith Blessing of the Animals. Drop by Marine Stadium and be sure to bring your furry, finny, feathery babies (and human kidlets, too.) Meet our local religious leaders, pet supply vendors, and mingle with other bananas-for-critters-type-people. Exotic animals will be on display at noon, and this year that includes a wildcat, monkey, ground hog, owl, monitor lizard, 7' python and more!

- Pet Adoptions & Vendor Fair, 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
- Ugly Dog & Cute Dog Contests, 11 a.m.
- Interfaith Blessing of the Animals, noon
- Exotic Animals Arrive, noon

- Chihuahua Beauty Contest, 1 p.m.

*Sloth Photo (from last year's event) by Janice Harris.

Dancing Trees

Matchy Music: I Can See The Pines Dancing mp3 by A.A. Bondy (via The Late Greats.)

Photo by Keith Stanley

Free Fairy Blog Backgrounds

Visit Itkupilli for a selection of lovely, artsy, girly-girl-inspired designs (like these!) featuring fairies, naturey stuff, angels, and other fantastical pretties.

Send An Ecard, Save The Rainforest

Care2 has an ecard section very similar to yahoo greetings, with lots of really cute cards for all sorts of special occasions (from birthdays to anniversaries to just-becauses.) The best part?... The cards are absolutely free, and with each and every ecard you send, you save a square foot of rainforest. Bookmark the site today, and start spreading positivity on double the levels :)

Freaky Rainforest Facts:

* Giant bamboo plants can grow up to 9 inches a day.
* Sloths can sleep upsidedown for 18 hours at a time.

* Besides fruit and berries, toucans also eat lizards and small birds.

Visit Learning About Rainforests for more funfacts, activities, pics, and lessonplans.

Silly Custom Funny Money

Switch out president faces for those of mom, dad (or doggy!) and create your very own family currency at Festisite.

You can then use your imagination-made money for pretend play, or even use it as part of a creative reward system (kiddos can earn dollars for chores like walking the puppy, doing the dishes, etc., & cash them in for fun prizes like zoo visits, movie nights, sleepovers, and so on...) Teachers can use the same concept as a kooky classroom reward system, too.

International friends can also get in on the action (besides US dollars, there's rubles, rupees, dinars, kroners, etc.)

Fun stuff! Free stuff, too!

International Coastal Cleanup 9/19/09

This is how I'll be spending my birthday this year. Saturday, September 19, you can join millions of nature lovers in helping to beautify our beaches, too! It's an easypeasy, outdoors-pretty volunteering opportunity for adults and (grownup-accompanied) kidlets, alike. Visit the International Site, California site, or call my friend Erin @ work (562 570-4876 ) for Long Beach-Specific info :)

Sweet Little Frightened Rabbit

Sweet little song, sweetsweetsweetest little video:



* Head Rolls Off mp3, by Frightened Rabbit (via Pasta Primavera)

Roald Dahl Day, Month...

Woohoo! Did you know that the wonderfully imaginative author, Roald Dahl, was born on September 13? Yay for cool September babies (ahem...ahem...) Tomorrow is Roald Dahl Day. When I was a kidlet, Roald Dahl was my very favorite writer ever; supercreative, a little snarky-dark, and funfunfunny. There have been some really cool, definitely-worth-seeing adaptations of his books, too, my favorites being:

Matilda (brilliant!)




and Willy Wonka (the musical, Gene Wilder version)...




Fantastic Mr. Fox comes out in November, which also looks promising.

The Dahl Website encourages fans to celebrate this month, and there are all sorts of really fun activity ideas, printables, teacher links & whatnots. If you love hearing the stories-behind-stories like I do, there's also a captivating biography section, detailing bits and pieces of this author's life that you might not know about like his admirable philanthropic work with children, or that he bred homing parakeets (yes, parakeets, heehee!), and (sadly) that his four-month-old son was brain damaged in a tragic car accident. Truth really is stranger than fiction, even Dahl fiction...

Fairytale Pretty Paper

Ohhh... these little notepads are so perfectly girly, don't you agree? Download them for free (yay!) @ the ever-generous Print A Day.

Feline Fave

My cat loves this song.

And no, I'm not kidding.





Nine Million Bicycles mp3, by Katie Melua (via Hi-Fi Heart)

Funky Lunch Yummies

Visit the wonderfully creative (and hunger-inspiring) Funky Lunch for all sorts of kid-friendly sami design ideas like the adorable ones shown here.

FREE Gnome Paperdoll Printables

Print these toocute cuties @ Fantastic Toys Blog. The same link will take you to darling little fingerpuppets, gnome buddy bowlers, and mobile-ready woodland critters... the cuteness runneth over...

Unabombery Brilliant, All-Sorts Pretty, 1939

These are this week's...

THREE THINGS I LOVE RIGHT NOW:

PERSON: Ray LaMontagne

Yes, he sort of looks unabombery, but I dare you not to love this song:

"Be Here Now"

Don't let your mind get weary and confused
Your will be still, don't try
Don't let your heart get heavy child
Inside you there's a strength that lies

Don't let your soul get lonely child
It's only time, it will go by
Don't look for love in faces, places
It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness

Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now

Don't lose your faith in me
And I will try not to lose faith in you
Don't put your trust in walls
'Cause walls will only crush you when they fall

Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now

PLACE: The Hidden Seed.

If you walk into Anthropologie and think "um, can I just live here?"... you will love The Hidden Seed blog. It's got that same sort of dreamy-romantic-artsy aesthetic, and it's just brimming over with pretty things of all sorts. No really. Truly, of all sorts: fashion, inspirations, lovely paper art... go take a peek (and bask in the joy of girly-girlness.)

THING: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.

This is one of those movies that feels like a play. It's got beautiful-excellent costuming, set design, music, and costars an adorable Lee Pace (of the now defunct, but gush-worthy Pushing Daisies.) I lovelovelove anything period-piecey, and this movie's set in 1939 (so, of course, I loveloveloved it!) Here's my very favorite, swoon-inducing scene:

So, those are three things I love right now. If you have a blog, maybe you'll want to try sharing three things weekly or monthly, or wheneverly. Then there'll be six happy things, then nine, then... maybe one day...2,400! Yay for happy things!

Travel Light

This sweet little video always makes me smile :)

Wherever you go, and whatever you do... have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend...

Parent & Me Workshops Winter 2014

Calling all craftsy kidlets 18 months -5 years old:
Save the date for these special one-day, mommy & me workshops:

Winnie the Pooh Day - Jan 15

Love Bug Day - Feb 12

10-11:30am
Limited Enrollment.
Preregistration is required.
Enroll @ the El Dorado Nature Center Museum
(562 570-1745)

Cat Scratchers From Scratch

Does your cat like standing tall to stretch-scratch? Instead of buying one of those scratching posts everyone winds up tripping over, try this:

1) Simply wrap & secure natural jute rope around the base of the first banister post on your staircase.

2) Rub a little catnip on, and...

3) You're done!

Jute rope is superinexpensive, easy to find (think Home Depot, etc.), and you can switch it out on a regular basis as it begins to fray...

Crafty Rain Gutter Book Shelves

How fantastic is this idea? Mommy Nicole mounted simple rain gutters on her happy, orange playroom walls to create a huge, classroom-style library area. LoveloveLOVE it!

Visit Raising Olives for a wonderful step-by-step tutorial if you'd like to make some, too!

Fancy Floaty Felt Mobiles

How darling are these colorful, happy mobiles? Stina of Sagolikt Pyssel tells you how to make the beautiful flying birdies mobile (shown below), and Laura from Bugs and Fishes has directions for the lovely butterfly version (shown above.) Absolutely gorgeous! I'm obsessed with felt lately... it comes in so many wonderfully bright, saturated colors, and there's so much you can do with it...

Yummy Veggie & Fruit Printables

These free printables from Fun with Mama are great for use as sorting cards (sort veggies from fruits, sort colors, etc.)

I plan on using them (along with old supermarket ads) for favorite foods collages, as well as for tie-in discussions ("Who here likes to eat carrots? Can we think of any other animals besides humans who might like to eat carrots?...")

If you make two sets, you could easily turn the cards into a foods version of the classic memory match game.

These would also make wonderful scavenger hunt cards for trips to the grocery store/farmer's market (just hole-punch the cards and slide them onto a key chain loop for easy-to-carryness.)

Hmm...Now I want to make a salad...

Flower Fairy Headbands

Aren't these pretty flower fairy headbands just the sweetest? Visit Marisa's tutorial @ The Mama Dramalogues for easypeasy instructions on how to make your very own. These pretties shown are made for kidlets, but I'm thinking certain grownup heads (ahem) might also fancy them, too :)