10!

A few months back JR and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary (10!). Inspired by a card I saw in Martha Stewart Living last February which had several envelopes glued together to make one long card, I made a folded card for JR with an envelope for each year we've been married. 

Inside each envelope was a card that shared my favorite memory from that year, and a photo that went with the memory. (In 2010, it was the birth of our little girl Em, so the picture was of our older two children holding baby Em on the day she came home from the hospital).

The front flap of each envelope was taped to the back of the year in front of it (for example, the flap of 2010 was taped to the back of 2009). I taped the sides of the flap and also the bottom of the flap as seen above. Note that you need to use sticky tape so that the card holds together, I used washi tape in my first attempt and it fell apart when I folded my card up. You can also glue the flap instead if you don't want to see any tape between the envelopes.

Then fold up your card accordian style, tie with a string, and add a little tag. Perhaps my favorite part of making this card was going back through all our old photos and finding a picture for each year. Watching our little family grow from a young married couple, to working newlyweds, to parents of one tiny baby... then two, then three, and now four beautiful kids. It's a little like seeing your life on fast forward and reminded me how happy I am to spend my time with these special people.

Here is a template you can use for the cards. Cards print 4 to a page and fit in size A2 envelopes (I like the ones from Paper Source because they come in such lovely colors). I only went back to 1991, since due to the work involved, this card is probably best for couples who have been together less than 20 years! 

I think this same idea could also make a thoughtful, non-cheesy Valentine's Day card. Maybe I should make a red or heart version?

making granola

I've told the story before about my friend Katie and the brunch she threw one Saturday morning at her house in Brooklyn. Everyone had brought their favorite breakfast foods, and the table was filled with streudels and donuts and all kinds of deliciousness. But I kept going back for the granola! Katie shared her recipe with me and I've been making it ever since. It makes a perfect breakfast with a scoop of greek yogurt, some milk, and whatever fruit or berries you have on hand. 

Katie's Amazing Granola

This granola makes a TON, two full sheet pans to be exact. I don't have a bowl big enough to fit everything at once, so I make mine in two big bowls and divide all the ingredients in half.

In a large bowl (or two!) mix the following ingredients:

 10 cups of old fashioned rolled oats (buy from the bin at your local health food store..)
2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 cups of wheat germ (store in your fridge between batches)
2 cups of shredded coconut
2 cups chopped pecans and/or almonds
1 tablespoon salt

In a separate bowl, mix the following: 

4 tablespoons vanilla
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup of oil (I use Canola)
2 cups honey (if you use the same cup you used for the oil, the honey should slide right out)

Divide the wet mixture between your two bowls of granola and mix well.

Spread your granola in two large, shallow pans. Bake at 250 until deep golden and almost dry, about 2 hours. Every 30 minutes rotate your pans and stir and crumble the granola with a big wooden spoon (the outside edges will brown first, so you want to mix everything around so it all cooks evenly). 

When it's all nice and golden and you've broken up most of your big chunks, remove from the oven and let cool (I leave mine on the counter overnight). Store tightly covered or in the refrigerator if you have room.

Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up and I guest posted over at Skip to My Lou about giving granola as a gift. I like to fill old mason jars with granola and tie a ribbon around the lid. Use this printable PDF to make a label you can personalize with your teacher’s name (it also includes some of the ingredients in case there are any allergies).  I print mine on full page Avery shipping labels, cutting around each circle with scissors. A thoughtful way to let your teachers know you appreciate all they do. I've been known to give jars of this away to friends on their birthdays as well.

new years eve kit

I always have big plans for christmas deliveries.. something nice to take around as a family to all our friends and neighbors. So many of our friends have great traditions they make each year. My friend Gwen bakes delicious Challah braids. Our old friend Valerie has mastered homemade caramels. My mom and dad make wonderful candied pecans. We haven't quite figured out one thing we want to make each year.

JR sometimes reminds me of the year I decided to make gingerbread cookie families for about twenty of our nearest and dearest (a big gingerbread dad and mom and small gingerbread children to represent each member of the family we were delivering it to). I was about 8 months pregnant at the time and spent about three days working on my gingerbread dough, rolling out the cookies, cutting and baking and then painstakingly decorating each gingerbread person, and packing them into boxes. It was a little crazy and added much to the holiday stress at our house.

Since then I have tried to think of things we can give that are thoughtful, but maybe don't demand quite as much time and effort as those gingerbread cookies did. This year we made New Years Eve Kits. Most of our friends have small children and won't be out partying too hard. We know most of them will be home watching movies and playing games and trying to make the night feel festive (while still tucking their kids in by 10!).

We bought a few 4-packs of sparkling apple cider, then hit the local party store for noisemakers, balloons, blowers, poppers and some sparkly confetti. We packed everything up in a clear party bag and delivered it with a bottle of Martinelli's.

Happy New Year!

the family gift swap

Both JR and I come from large families (there are six children in my family and five in his) so buying Christmas gifts for each and every sibling (and their spouses, and their children) has never quite worked for us.

The past few years in JR's family we have had a theme for our gifts, which has worked out really well. Two years ago we all gave each other board games (some of our family favorites are Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne and Settlers of Cattan). Last year we were inspired by the Favorite Things party I had just attended, where each person brings their "favorite" thing. Each family was to gather some of their favorite things and send it to their assigned family. You can see our gift from JR's older sister in the photo above. Each little package included some favorite thing from each person in their family (minty M&M's are a favorite of Dad's, mom loves scented candles, etc.) The kids had a great time unwrapping each one and learning about their cousin's and aunt's and uncle's favorites.

For our Favorite Thing, we shared our ritual of Tea Time, something JR and I were trying to do every few nights. We had gotten into a bad habit of putting the kids to bed and then retreating to our computers, to finish up emails and catch up on work. Some nights we would watch a show, but we both felt like we weren't really spending time together in the evenings (even if we were both in the same room). Tea Time was our solution.

The note read: After the children are tucked in bed and fast asleep, we take turns boiling the water on the stove and getting out the tea bags. We fill our mugs with hot water and let the tea steep, then stir in a little sugar. Tea takes some time to cool, so we sit and talk at the table while we sip our tea and discuss the business of our family. Sometimes we take the time to play a game. After a busy day, it's just nice to sit down together and talk for a minute. We hope you'll think so too.

We included two nice shaped mugs from Pottery Barn (perfect for sipping tea) and a pack of our favorite tea (our new favorite is Tazo's Wild Sweet Orange Tea.. it is delicious!) and our favorite card game (Coloretto).

How do you handle gift swaps in your family? Do siblings buy for each other? What about cousins? Because we now have about 18 children between us, we have the cousins do a swap too. We've tried different things, like the year we had everyone make cards for each other (not as big a thrill for the kids as we had hoped!). But the past few years we have done a book swap, each child picking out a book they think their assigned cousin would enjoy. So far, so good.

mothers day

It was my turn to teach our preschool co-op this week, and we wanted to do something special for Mother's day. I helped the kids make a portrait for their moms, and I love how they turned out. Here are a few tips if you'd like to do something similar.

1. Draw the initial circle for the head and lines for the neck yourself. (I know this seems kind of like cheating, but it helps the kids all start off on the same ground, and makes sure each portrait fill the frame.)

2. I had each kid draw first with a thin black pen, and color things in afterwards. Give the kids specific directions and have them draw the portrait step by step. For example, we started with the eyes. I drew a portrait too, so I could show them where to put each thing. If they were missing something like eyelashes or eyebrows, I would remind them. Then we moved on to the nose, mouth, hair, etc. I also printed a photo out of their moms, so they could see what her hair looks like and if she has earrings on, I think this helps kids remember little details.

3. Make a frame out of a cardboard box (an exacto knife is the best tool for the job). Then we taped our portraits to the back of the frames and added a little label where each kid wrote "Mom".

As an added bonus, we taped a Mother's Day Questionairre on the back, which you can download here (it prints two to a page). I think this is best suited for kids between the ages of 4 and 6, and I loved hearing the answers kids had for questions like "When my mom grows up, she wants to be ____________." or "I'm going to live with my mom until I ___________." Priceless!

a quilt for baby M

My mother deserves all the credit for this beautiful little quilt. She let me help pick out the fabrics, but she cut and stitched and pinned and quilted it all on her own. And I LOVE it. When I look at this quilt I see my mother in it, her perfect corners and her neat rows. It's as if she stitched a bit of herself into each little triangle. My little girl is so very lucky.

The pattern we chose is the Flock of Triangles quilt from Denyse Schmidt's beautiful book, and I've been wanting to make it for years. I have a weakness for bold quilts with simple, geometric patterns, especially when they are on a white ground.

I've been taking weekly and monthly photos of Baby M on this blanket, and I love seeing how big she's growing. When I started she was only about five triangles tall, and now she's almost eight!

The photo above was from Week 2, back when Baby M was still on a breathing monitor due to her early delivery. I'm happy to share that the monitor is long gone and that her legs have now probably tripled in size. She is a chubby happy three month old, and we about die each and every time she smiles.

silo day 5

Silhouettes lend themselves beautifully to all kinds of paper goods. I love making them into personalized cards. I prefer to leave the silhouettes in black, and use some color for the type. A colored envelope is a nice touch. I'm a big fan of thank you notes, and personalized ones with Bee's silhouette were perfect for Bee's birthday party.

A family of silhouettes makes a nice notecard. I'm hoping to send a set of these to my brothers and sisters when their birthdays come around. (Get ready, little brother!)

A cute anniversary card can be made by printing two silhouettes on a gatefold card. This one opens up to a heart that says "Happy Anniversary!"

silo day 4

We're big fans of the game Memory around here (as you might remember), so I made a memory game with silhouettes for the kids to play. This version has 20 cards, and the silhouettes are of the kids and their cousins. I made my silhouettes different colors, so it's a little easier to see what matches with what. Print out your silhouettes on a nice cardstock, I backed mine with a piece of colored paper to make them a bit more durable. The kids have had fun guessing who is who, and I think a set of these for Grandma's house might be in order!

silo day 3

It's nice to see a whole family in silhouettes. I love seeing how dad's chin got passed on to little Johnny or how mom has the same profile as each of her daughters. We actually used silhouettes for our own holiday cards three years ago, which you can see above.

Last Christmas I made a card for a friend showing her family (the parents and their four children). I love how the personality of each child comes out in their silhouette. I was inspired by a piece of artwork which I saw in the article Martha Stewart Living ran about stylist Rebecca Robertson's home which shows mom + dad = child. (Rebecca was a stylist when I was an art director at Martha Stewart, and she is as lovely as she seems).

As a gift to my little sister for Christmas, I made a print of her little family and framed it in a simple black wooden frame. (I love these ones, and they are on sale right now!)

a healthy new year

I had a few too many balls in the air this year come Christmas, so a couple of things had to get bumped to the week after Christmas. The Christmas cards became New Years cards, the gifts for the teachers were delivered after the holiday break instead of before it, etc. It was actually a nice change of pace since that week between Christmas and New Years is usually a pretty quiet one around my home: the kids are happily playing with their new gifts from Santa, there's nothing on the calendar besides visiting with family and taking down the Christmas tree.

I'm new to having kids in school, and I'm still figuring out what makes a nice teacher gift, but I did see what the other kids were bringing before the break: lots of candy and sweets. Now I enjoy those things too, but I get a little overloaded with sugar during the holidays, and by January..  I'm ready for something nice and healthy.

Which brings me to this delicious recipe for Granola. A few years back, my friend Katie hosted a brunch at her home and made this granola. Even though her table was filled with delicious breakfast treats, I kept going back for more granola. It's that delicious! And now we make it all the time. This recipe makes a big batch, so we share some with our friends and keep the rest in the fridge. Topped with a few big spoonfuls of  Greek yogurt, a splash of milk, and a big pile of berries, it is the perfect breakfast.