Sustainable & Creative Living
It’s a new year and that means it’s also back to the grindstone, as mom always says. With Christmas and New Years, it feels like months since I’ve been on a normal schedule with J. The past 6 months I’ve been consumed with letter of the week crafts and activities, finishing letter z the week before Christmas. We took the next 2 weeks off but we’re back at it and coming in strong this new year with phone number practice. This is what you need to know about [Read more…]
Every Christmas I love making special holiday-themed crafts with my son so that he can give them to grandparents and other family members. Sometimes we make handprint Christmas cards or festive DIY ornaments. This year I combined the two and made this Christmas Tree Handprint Ornament.
If you’ve read some of my recent posts, you know I’ve been kind of obsessed with sensory bins and fine motor development games. Both are great ways to help children explore and stimulate the 5 main senses. At the same time, they can help develop the skills needed to learn how to use [Read more…]
These days more products than ever are being recycled. Many of these items are things a lot of us never
considered to be recyclable. These 5 Items You Should Be Recycling are just a very few of those
products. I don’t know about you, but I find myself feeling more and more guilty when I throw something in the trash without trying to first figure out a way to repurpose or recycle it. At any given time I have 2 or 3, [Read more…]
Sensory bins are a great way to help children explore, develop, and stimulate the 5 main senses. When a child plays with a sensory bin, they are able to touch, feel, and even talk about the different materials they are discovering. Sensory bins can help develop and improve focus and concentration skills in a way that is far superior to average plastic toy play. While playing with sensory bins your child can also learn to [Read more…]
When I first started thinking about teaching my 2 and-half-year-old son the alphabet, I thought the easiest approach would be to just sing the ABC song over and over and he’d eventually catch on. Wrong. He couldn’t even stand to hear me sing the ABC song let alone sing it over and over again. I’d get about 5 letters in and I’d hear my sweet boy say, “Mommy stop, stop singing!” Ugh! After being thoroughly offended for about 2 minutes, I had to think of a different approach. I decided to try using the Letter of the Week strategy and after about 4 weeks he was hooked on letters and singing his ABC’s anywhere and everywhere! My favorite is when he sings at the top of his lungs while we’re in the stall of a public restroom…it makes my heart smile every time! [Read more…]
Since I love my DIY laundry pods, I decided it was time to make my own DIY Dishwasher Pods. They’re super simple to make and just as cost-effective. Of course, I love them too! If you want to cut back on or eliminate toxic household cleaners from your life, give these DIY Lemon Dishwasher Pods a try! [Read more…]
My 2-and-half-year-old son has gone through stages of loving bath time and hating bath time and now loving it again. When he was an infant, bath time was new to him and he was still discovering the whole water and bubble situation. Now, he knows bathtime signifies the end of play time which ultimately leads to bedtime. So sometimes getting him to the bath is tough. Sometimes it takes bribing and trickery. Other times it takes throwing him over my shoulder and hauling him upstairs. Either way, I was tired of the begging and pleading so I got a little inventive in my trickery and got him to remember how much fun bath time can be. [Read more…]
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you know I have a thing for organization. In my house, no bookshelf goes unstyled, wardrobes are color-coordinated, bins are labeled—everything has a home. And now my food pantry is perfectly adorned with beautiful crisp white bins and seagrass baskets, each filled and labeled for easy access.
This project has been on my list for about a year and I’m so excited to have finally crossed it off the list!
I must admit, I didn’t do it all on my own. My husband helped with installing the new shelves which we got from Home Depot. He replaced the standard wire racks with white faux wood boards. Since Home Depot doesn’t sell a closet kit with white boards, my husband cut each piece to be customized to fit our pantry. He also put a fresh coat of white paint on the closet walls. [Read more…]
If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know that I’m a crock pot mom. My Crock-Pot is a kitchen essential and without it I’d probably be feeding my kid Kraft mac and cheese every day. Not that he would object because who doesn’t love Kraft mac and cheese! When I’m not feeling extra lazy, I shelf the Kraft and whip up some of this homemade mac and cheese with a bit of a twist. One of my new favorite go-to dinner recipes is this Taco Mac & Cheese Crock-Pot Meal. I substitute the beef with [Read more…]
I’ve been wanting to try making my own DIY makeup remover wipes for a while now. Meagan has used DIY baby wipes for little J since he was a baby and I always thought that DIY Makeup remover wipes would be a great idea. Not only are they beneficial for the environment, but they also save a lot of money.
Plastic-free July finally got me motivated to make the switch to these wipes. The other day I was pulling out a makeup wipe from its packaging, and I realized I’d cut down on a lot of plastic use if I eliminated that package from my life (not to mention the wipes themselves, of course).
I came up with this easy to make DIY makeup remover wipe because, if you’ve read any of my other posts, you know I’m all about simple and easy.
6 Essential Items For Cold & Flu Season
We’ve barely made it halfway through cold and flu season and my little J has already gotten sick multiple times.
Sick babies are inevitable- with their curious minds and little hands touching everything in sight. Eventually, those germy hands make it to their mouth and BAM, sickness ensues! It’s a never-ending battle with children, especially babies and toddlers. But it’s one that can be made a little bit easier if you [Read more…]
