Guest Post {Take a Hike}

Since Spring has officially sprung around here, I decided to take my three-year-old daughter, Abby, on a nature hike with the dog over the weekend.  We've done smaller trail walks before, but this was our first time taking a longish hike on a trail through the woods. LuCky for us,  the area we live in has a great park system.  We have beach parks, historic parks, state parks, national parks - all of which have great trails!

Abby is curious, she likes to explore her surroundings.  We stayed on a trail that was marked by yellow reflectors on the trees. The trail markers provided a great invisible boundary that allowed Abby to explore her surroundings safely. Abby absolutely loved finding the markers and staying on the trail! We made it into a bit of a scavenger hunt. 

With Spring well underway in Connecticut, we also used this opportunity to look for signs of this new season.  We collected moss, and observed the changes in the trees.  During the winter a massive tree had fallen down, exposing its intricate root system.  Abby loved climbing and exploring the tree!  After being cooped up all winter, Abby loved balancing on the rocks, walking over small streams,  and walking along the trail.  

We also used our hike to take a deep breath, and soak in our natural surroundings: the way the wind whistled through the trees, the sounds of small creatures rustling through the forest, the way the Earth smells fresh and "earthy" this time of year.  

With our dog in tow, we made it about a mile through the woods.  I was very impressed by Abby's ability to navigate her way through the woods with such little guidance.  Our nature hike was a great time to unplug a little bit, and really enjoy everything that Spring has to offer! 

Guest Post {Planning 101 for the Non-Planner}

I am many things, but crafty isn’t really one of them. Karen and Ally pretty much put me to shame with their clever playdates.  With them we’ve played with birdseed, made our own musical instruments and more. Playdates at my house usually consist of pulling out whatever toys I think might be interesting and letting the kids do their thing while the moms and I sip wine coffee and chat. Hey, it works! As my son’s second birthday was approaching I started to harness my playdate-planning energy into thinking about what kind of a party I could throw. I knew I wanted to do something at home. I knew that it would have to be indoors. And I knew the crowd would be a tiny bit bigger than my home could probably stand but we’d make it work.

Of course, after I had already invited people over Ally and I were chatting. “So, what are you going to do for the party?” “Uh. What?” “You know, what’s the plan?” I hadn’t really figured that out yet. Ally gave me some great suggestions but honestly most of them were beyond my crafting abilities, like her amazing idea to make a train out of old cardboard boxes that the kids could then play in and even decorate. Incredible idea for my Thomas-obsessed kid, but never going to happen. But when Ally suggested playdough- always a favorite in my house- I knew we had a winner.

In the few days before the party I made about 12 batches of playdough. I made it all into different, vibrant colors and added tons of glitter, because you can never have too much glitter. I was about to scent it all with some scented oils when I decided to hold off- with kids ranging in age from one to four I was concerned that some/all of them would be tempted to eat it. I stashed it away in plastic storage bags and we were ready.

On the day of the party we cleared away our small coffee table and lay craft paper down on the floor.  There was enough surface area that every child could sit and play on the paper (in an attempt to keep the playdough from getting on the floor). We taped it down with painter’s tape, tossed balls of the colorful playdough around and scattered the paper with different “tools” like mini cookie cutters and molds the kids could use to play. It worked like a charm! The kids came in and gravitated toward the big, open space and of course the playdough. They actually remained interested in the playdough for about 40 minutes, which was even longer than I had hoped for. They cut, scraped and molded (and maybe threw…)- all part of developing thos motor skills. There was lots of talk of colors too. And minimal playdough-eating. It worked out perfectly.

When the kids had moved on, we collected whatever dough we could salvage, gathered up the tools and then pulled up the craft paper and tossed it. After pizza and cake, the kids were ready to crash. The party lasted about an hour and a half- the perfect amount of time for a bunch of toddlers. This un-crafty mom was pretty pleased with the results and with my moment of craft success!