Would You Ever Install a Trough Sink?
Happy Birthday Benjamin Blair
Happy Birthday to Maude
Easy Valentine’s Day Bookmarks for Classmates
Ask Design Mom: Organizing Kids’ Art Supplies
Valentine’s Day Breakfast Tradition
At our house, the main Valentine’s Day traditions and celebrations happen at breakfast. I get up early and set a table the kids will think is elegant (read: I use linen and goblets). I light some tea lights and sprinkle heart confetti.
The menu varies and can contain pretty much anything we might normally eat for breakfast, but with a romantic/heart/pink spin. The milk is blended with raspberries and sugar. The waffles are topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. The toast is heart shaped. The pancakes have a few drops of red food-coloring added to the batter. Oatmeal is served with brown sugar sprinkled to form a heart. And I’ve yet to try it, but the egg-in-a-heart-form idea would be perfect.
I also leave a small valentine/gift on each child’s plate — and I mean small. A tiny box with some new lip balm/gloss for their coat pocket. Or a new beaded bracelet. One year it was a box of band-aids for each child. This breakfast is no stress for me and has turned into a perfect tradition for our family.
Other ideas I am loving:
In a conversation with some fellow mothers a couple of weeks ago, we exchanged Valentine’s Day traditions from the homes we grew up in.
-One family would wake to find a Valentine surprise under their pillows.
-Another family gave a book (in lieu of candy or trinkets) to each child on Valentine’s Day.
-In a third family, the father would bring flowers to each of the daughters — Mom would get a big arrangement and the girls might get a single stem. The mother would give something traditional, say chocolate, to the sons.
The flower idea was also something my own father did and I loved it. In junior high and high school, when it seemed like it would be wonderful to have a sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, it was reassuring to know there would be flowers waiting for me at home.
What about you? What are your Valentine’s Day Traditions?
P.S. — More sweet Valentine’s Day ideas.
Rachel’s Romantic Retreat
Croque Monsieur Recipe (And Why You Need to Master Making a Béchamel Sauce)
Credits: Written by Adriana Velez
Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Three Celebrations at Our House Today
Lots of celebrations at our house today:
Betty is 8 months old today.
This requires no formal festivities, but lots of hugs and kisses, and exclamations of how fast time flies.
Oscar is 2 years old today.
This requires cupcakes and balloons and about 50 rounds of Happy-Birthday-to-Oscar sung throughout the day. We’ll also celebrate with friends at Singing Time this morning.
Design Mom Blog is 6 months old today.
This requires nothing formal but is a great excuse to take inventory. A few stats as of this minute:
-According to Technorati, there are 145 links from 77 blogs to Design Mom.
-According to Tracksy, the highest number of unique hits Design Mom has received in one day is: 675
-According to BlogTopSites, Design Mom Blog is ranked number 33 out of 336 registered Parenting Blogs.
-According to Blogger, I have published 386 entries.
-According to Me, this continues to be a really happy thing in my life.
Thank you to everyone who reads Design Mom, to everyone who has linked to me, to everyone who has asked a Design Mom Question, to everyone who has left a comment. I look forward to the next 6 months — I hope you’ll stick with me!
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Our Christmas Recital Party Favors
Here are pics of the party favors from the Christmas recital.
I used mulling spices from The Mills Company. The tin can was nice, but I didn’t love the label, so I used the berry imagery I loved from the invitations to repackage.
I wasn’t totally positive about numbers, so I wrapped up lovely soaps from Honey Hill Farm as back-up in case I ran out of mulling spices.
When Ralph Asked About Santa Claus
Sibling to Sibling Christmas Gifts
8th Annual Blair Christmas Recital
I LOVE our annual Christmas Recital. It started when we were pretty newly married, and it occurred to us how many of our friends happened to be excellent musicians, so why not host a Christmas party where everyone performs? The trained musicians perform something impressive and the rest of us perform something. Else. There has been a banjo. There has been an accordian. There was a reading featuring things overheard while window shopping in the city. And another reading of David Sedaris. There was a choreographed dance involving a dog and santa hat. There was a rap. There is usually lots of group singing, because if you haven’t come prepared, you get to pick a carol for everybody to sing together.
It is wonderful to see friends show off talents I never knew existed. And because I’m not an exclusive sort of person, we try to host it as close to Christmas as possible. That way, we can invite everybody who might be remotely interested — way more people than we can actually fit into the house — knowing that half of them will end up leaving town for the holidays.
We’ve held it every year but last year, when I was too darn morning sick to care. And this year, for the first time, we are holding the recital at a wonderful friend’s house, because it’s outgrown our own clumsy space.
Ben and I always give the first performance. We’re pretty bad, but we try to do a real piece — something involving some harmony. Even though we practice, our performance is usually unimpressive. This (hopefully) gives the party a well-if-they-can-stumble-through-that-performance-our-song-will-be-a-piece-of-cake feel.
I’m so looking forward to this party. And so delighted Julie and Bill offered to host it in their beautiful home.