Last weekend, my friends and I threw a super fun ocean themed baby shower for my friend Kim (and Dan)! Even though I helped to coordinate the event, I actually had to miss it because I came down with the flu :*(. SO SAD. But I am still so proud of how things turned out, and wanted to share some of my favorite ideas from the party!
Throwing a virtual baby shower? Read this post for ideas on how to make it more personal and fun!
We threw a fantastic ocean-themed baby shower for my friend Kim recently– here’s a sneak peek!
I actually had to miss the party since I caught the flu, but I am pleased with how everything turned out, and most of all with how happy it made Kim! I’ll share more details on the shower soon, but I wanted to share a fun and flexible baby shower activity idea with you: Baby’s First Alphabet Book!
I first saw this at my friend Wendy’s baby shower, and quickly made a template to use for another shower I hosted. Isn’t it cute? I like this idea because you can easily adapt it to any shower theme.
The whole class is chatting or busy in activity, but you need your quickly grab your students’ attention. What do you do? Every teacher has got some sort of attention getting signal up their sleeve. I remember one of my teachers had a wooden frog that croaked when she stroked a dowel across it’s bumpy back. Another used xylophones. Another would hit a gong, and we’d sit there and quiet down as the vibrations faded away. The sounds certainly caught my attention, but I’ve never quite taken to these quieting tools, probably because I am a very efficient person. Are you going to lug the frog with you on a field trip? Can you take the gong with you outside? Do you really want to wait 18 seconds to get your class quiet every time you need to say something? For me, the answer is no.
Here are the three attention-getting signals I used the most, and I’ll explain why I found them to work best for me.
I’ve made this soup twice in the last couple weeks since I came across it, and I can’t wait to make it again! Alton Brown tell me cauliflower is quite healthy for you, so even though I enjoy it roasted, it’s exciting to find a new way to savor it. The flavors in this soup are AMAZING: complex, a little smokey, unexpected and so delicious. Perfect for a cool day like we’re experiencing today! Husband loves it. Toddler loves it. Friends love it. It’s simple and heart warmingly delicious! Try it out!
4/24/15 Update: Congrats to Dawn W. and Leila C., the two winners of the Dakota Midnyght Art Giveaway!
Thank you all for participating, and I hope you enjoy the 20% off code CuppaCocoa2015, valid until 5/1/15, at her store here on Etsy!
May is just around the corner, which means it’s almost time to celebrate two people who are very near and dear to our children: mothers and teachers! Mother’s Day is on May 10th, and Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4-8 this year. I shared some ideas last year on gifts that teachers would appreciate. This year, I’m topping that off with a giveaway!
I am thrilled to introduce to you one of my favorite artists in the world: Dakota Midnyght!
I think I’m about to contradict a lot of what I just said in my last post about Backwards Planning, because as much as I endeavor to plan out every last detail in our lives, I ultimately believe that I cannot control All The Things. And I don’t want to encourage you to try to, either. It will not only be a failed undertaking, but I don’t even think it’s wise or good. I don’t always live that way, but this is something I strive to believe in my heart and live out in my life. I know there are parents who don’t overthink their parenting half as much as I do, and their kids turn out just fine. The first example that comes to mind is my own parents.
While my husband and I researched the district and schools and city demographics before purchasing our home, I’m pretty sure my parents stumbled across what became my childhood home by accident and ended up purchasing it by God’s grace alone. Something about getting lost and running out of gas. It was really on accident. They never had ambitions for us to be athletic, musical, or at the top of our classes. It was never a goal for them to have their children attend two of the most highly-sought universities in the world, and if you asked them twenty years ago, they probably would not have imagined people would be seeking them out to instruct parenting courses in the years to come.
I came downstairs to find my mom watching my daughter and our friend’s child playing at the sensory bin. It’s literally a bin full of dried beans, where kids can stick their hands in and grab and feel and push and scoop and play.
(Pinterest it– it’s a thing.)
Now, think about it for a moment. Toddlers + a bin full of beans = beans everywhere, right?? That’s what I used to think, too.
I walked into the living room and smiled at the girls, “Having fun?”
They continued in their play, and then my mom made a remark about how nicely my daughter played with the beans. She was impressed with how my daughter would keep the beans over the bin and even cleaned up if they fell out. I explained that this was simply a result of training her.
There is no way you can stick a toddler with a bin of anything and expect things to stay neat and tidy unless you intentionally trained them to do so. I smiled with satisfaction. All those years of teaching in the classroom were really paying off. I hadn’t even realized it at the time, but months ago, I had used backwards planning to train my early one-year-old to have at it with a bin full of thousands of beans without making a mess.
What is Backwards Planning?
It’s just what it sounds like, and it’s something we all do at some time or another. It’s basically coming up with your final goal first, and then plotting out the steps backwards, one step at a time, to make that goal a reality. I first came across the official term for it in my teaching program. We practiced coming up with entire projects and units, first envisioning the end product, and then working backwards to make a unit to achieve the final goal. Ultimately, I think it helps you be intentional with everything you do. You waste less time doing thoughtless activities that don’t serve a purpose, and you add meaning and purpose to activities that would have otherwise been thoughtless and useless.
This is a celebration cake to make for somebody you really love.
For me, that was my friend Lily, though I will say I made it for her pre-baby. Two days pre-baby, to be exact. I was on maternity leave and had just a litttttle more time left on my hands before our little bundle of joy came along (and completely changed the meaning of “free time” (and how I spent it)).
I think it made her happy, so that made me happy. I was also happy to eat it. Yum. It was so good. Several people remarked that it seemed like bakery quality, and even Eric told me he liked it, and he normally doesn’t even like chocolate cake. (But don’t worry. I love chocolate cake and I looooved it, too.)
That night, as our huge group celebrated at the restaurant, who did we run into but my dear brother and sister-in-law! Naturally I wanted to share my chocolate creation with them. They liked it so much that they later requested it for my niece’s 1st birthday party several months later. So I made the cake once more, again for somebody I really loved. And this time, it was with my own baby in tow… so methinks that’s somehow even more love than Lily got. Because spending all day making a cake pre-baby is not the same as spending all day making a cake post-baby. It was a hit, and even though my niece never got to try a bite, I know the guests enjoyed it! She’ll have to wait a little longer before she’s allowed processed sugar, but if she’s anything like her aunt, I think she’ll take to it pretty quickly :).
I had fully intended to spend my afternoon type, type, typing away at my computer to get another post out by my self-imposed deadline of Tuesday.
But… I wasn’t feeling so well, so instead I lay in bed, thinking about which topic to write about. The cheater? Conversations? Side-by-side time? And then, in an impulsive moment of selfishness, I pulled out my Kindle and instead started reading a novel. All the Light We Cannot See
A little nagging voice kept urging, “Post, post, post, JoEllen! You have to write a post!” But soon I got lost in the novel and bloggy duties took a back seat.
Hence this post.
Maybe it’s because I just read a friend’s piece on self care recently, and she talks about indulging in pleasures as simple as eating fruit and going out on days when the sun is out. While the drought is a serious problem here in California, an upside is that we’re not really hurting for sunshine. I realized how often I fail to appreciate these small-but-big pleasures in life, and how easy it would be to throw in a few of my own. Like reading :].
How about you? If you had two hours and decided to shirk your duties– be it laundry, cleaning, cooking, email, etc.– what would your impulsive pleasure be?
We had just had our babygirl, and Danny and Akemi were so generous to drive an hour to visit with their baby AND prepare us a delicious Japanese meal! Japanese is our FAVORITE cuisine, so we were ecstatic as we watched them cut and slice and prep their superfresh ingredients in our kitchen. So spoiled, I know!
Surprisingly, one of my favorites of the night was this simple appetizer. I had just never thought to eat tofu uncooked before! The photo above is missing the splash of soy sauce to finish, but otherwise it’s exactly what you see: soft tofu, grated ginger, and green onions. It’s so easy, so bright and refreshing, and lovely to eat!
I’ve made this myself a number of times since, especially on nights where I know I have something fried (like tonkatsu) on the menu. It feels fresh and bright and it’s so simple to prepare– definitely a good one to keep in your back pocket for quick dinner nights!
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