Last Thursday at 11:00pm we called our hotel in Toronto to let them know we would be getting in at about 1:00am instead of midnight and to ask them to hold the room because we were driving through a surprise snow storm. A half an hour later, at 11:30pm all traffic stopped ahead of us. We didn’t move another inch until 7:00 the next morning, when one by one, each car dug itself out of two feet of snow that fell during the night, and headed down the freeway. The storm was so isolated that by the time we came to Niagara — a few minutes away from Buffalo — the only sign of the storm was the snow on our VW. You can read more about the storm here.

We have a wonderful Halloween tradition we’ve practiced for the last 4 or 5 years: For bedtime stories in October we gather in the living room, light spooky candles and read scary stories in the flickering light. At the end of the stories each child gets to blow out a candle. I can’t believe how much my kids look forward to this ritual. And I do too. Bedtime stories around our house can get a little out of control — sometimes filling an hour or more and eating up that precious evening worktime — and our October tradition helps me reign things in without being a mean mom. We’ve attempted to do something similar, in November with Thanksgiving stories and in December with Christmas stories, and met with limited success. What is it about October? Our Halloween story collection is quite small and added to irregularly, so we supplement with library books. Some books we like: Pumpkin Moonshine, Jeb Scarecrow’s Pumpkin Patch, The Spider and the Fly, and In a Dark, Dark Wood.  

What to be for Halloween is a year-round topic of conversation at our house. The ideas change week by week. Sometimes hour by hour. I have to enforce a drop dead decision date of October 10th, after which no costume changes are allowed, so that I have time to get everything together.

When they were younger I loved coordinating their costumes. When it was just Ralph and Maude they were Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. When it was Ralph, Maude & Olive it was The 3 Bears (Papa, Mama and Baby). Now that’s a no go. We’re all a little too opinionated around here. Last year it was Frankenstein, A Pumpkin, Belle (as in Beauty & the Beast) and A Lion.

This year Ralph wants to be a candy bar. He’s thinking Butterfinger, but he wants to make it spooky by changing it to Blooderfinger. That, or he wants to be a mad scientist. Maude wants to be a warrior from Mulan. Olive wants to be Ariel (as in the Little Mermaid). Thankfully, Oscar and Betty don’t care yet.

Yesterday Ben dropped home after teaching his first class of the semester. He was just grabbing some lunch before heading off to work at SmartNoise. I was on the phone with my sister Sara and she said, “Tell Ben I’m angry because he hasn’t posted in so long. I check every day.” I told Ben, and he looked up from his plate of spaghetti to say, “A lot of people are angry.” And now remembering it makes me happy today.

It’s Maude’s turn. The composition above is only an approximation because I couldn’t find pictures of the exact items. But this captures the look and feel of what she’ll be wearing on the first day of school. The tee will be worn under the blouse. The jacket is just in case it’s cold. The sneakers are super cute, navy with pink accents. I love dark sneakers for my kids because they stay looking better longer. Her hair will be in 2 braids. Jacket by Old Navy. Tee by Old Navy. Blouse by Gymboree. Cropped Trousers by Boden. Socks by Gap. Shoes by Puma.

The ideal first day of school outfit for Ralph who enters 3rd grade. Ralph calls this kind of outfit “jumpy” because it makes him feel like doing cool jumps (think extreme sports). Pants by Gap. T-shirt by Children’s Place. Button down (worn unbuttoned over tee) by Children’s Place. Socks by Hanes. Shoes by Converse.

School start September 6th. Today I will go through my kids fall/winter clothes and make an evaluation — what have they outgrown, what looks too worn — before I start shopping for school clothes. If my memory serves, their wardrobes are in pretty good shape and I won’t need to add many items, mostly just fill in a few gaps and get some new sneakers. But even though their existing clothes are workable, I like to have a brand new outfit for them to wear the first day of school. It just makes the day feel more special. So this post is “What to Wear to the First Day of School : Kingergarten Edition.” Pictured, is the outfit I’ve picked out for Olive’s first day. Just imagine this outfit with little, beribboned pigtails and her clear blue eyes. She will be absolutely irresistible to any Kindergarten teacher. And in my experience, if the teacher loves my kid, I will love the teacher — which makes for a happy school year. Note: I’m stealing the What-to-Wear idea from the wonderful EmilyStyle. Dress by Old Navy. (I picked this out earlier.) Socks by Old Navy. Shoes by Garvalin Kids. Sweater (if it’s chilly) from Boden. Ribbon (to tie around pigtails) from the Ribbon Factory.

One of the smartest things I’ve ever done is hire out my baby announcment design. Although I’m a graphic designer and I love designing baby announcements for everyone else, I had the forethought to know I shouldn’t design my own babys’. I knew I would be a) too stressed out with a new baby and b) feel really indecisive about any design I came up with.

So, when I was pregnant for the first time, I contacted one of my favorite illustrators, Apryl, and hired her to do the announcement. Apryl is crazy talented and does the most incredible lettering.

She gave us the original (about 7″ x 10″) as a gift and we sent out smaller prints in the mail. The original was framed and hung over the crib. It turned out so amazing, we’ve hired her for the rest of the baby announcements too. We just received Betty’s last week. So, so darling. I can’t wait to mail them out.

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Betty Blair’s Birth AnnouncementRead More »

The kids and I had a perfect summer moment in the backyard this afternoon with a bubble wand. I love the new wands available. When I was a kid, it was just a little bottle with a tiny wand and it took lots of practice to actually get bubbles to blow through the little hole. Now there are a million different wands in cute shapes (ours is a ladybug). Just wave and go. Even my toddlers can manage it. I would love to give bubble wands as a party favor at a BBQ or outdoor summer event. But I don’t want to give out a plastic wand. I want a wand made of metal with a wooden handle and maybe an oversize jewel-like bead at the end of the handle. I could put the bubble solution in pretty bottles or even vintage canning jars with a cool label. Someone should manufacture these and sell them at Smith and Hawken or in the Sundance catalog.