Such a sweet handmade family tree with balloons representing the people in a child’s life who supports them and helps hold them up. Handcrafted by The Small Object.

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I’ve been making some changes at home to try to eat more healthy while at the same time reducing our food budget. I’ve been baking some things I would have bought before like muffins and bread. I also bought a slow cooker. So far I’ve just cooked a whole chicken in it, but it is ridiculously easy and tastes delicious.

I also signed up for six biweekly deliveries of organic fruits and vegetables through our local CSA. I know I’m lucky that my boys will eat almost anything and it’s cute to see how excited they get when the box arrives. Last night we made freshly squeezed orange juice and enjoyed the pomegranate and those little sweet and crispy orange peppers you see in the photo.

At the Local Harvest website you can look for CSA farms across the USA. Here’s a directory of CSAs in Ontario.

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Emily and Anne at BLOOM are kindly hosting a Sweetbeets giveaway! To have a chance to win your choice of 5 letterpress cards from my Etsy shop, hurry on over to BLOOM for the details.

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Lil Elephants designs and creates handmade clothing for children from 12 months through 6 years. These khaki pants with orange accents and the coordinating denim jacket are my favorite pieces in her shop. They look very stylish yet durable. If you like to plan ahead for Spring you should grab this jacket while it’s on sale!

Technorati Tags: waldorf doll, handmade, etsy favorites, handmade gifts for kids, boy’s Spring jacket, personalized name plate

Thank you so much to everyone who shared the printable chore chart! I’ve discovered a bunch of new blogs thanks to your kindness. One of these is Our Little Nature Nest written by a mom who is homeschooling her daughter using Waldorf-inspired lessons and activities. While browsing her blog I found the sweetest apple story about a boy who goes on a journey looking for a little red house with no windows and no doors and a star inside. My 4 year old son wanted me to read it over and over again to him!

Technorati Tags: apple story, apple orchard, waldorf homeschooling

Several months ago, my husband and I went to hear a researcher talk about child development. The take-home message was that resilient kids are those who feel that they contribute to something bigger than themselves, e.g., their family, their community. Maybe it’s a bit cheesy, but now when we ask our kids to help at home we say “Please _____ to contribute to our family” and when they’re done we’ll say “Thank you for contributing to our family“.

I find that life gets busy and I end up doing things for my kids that they could do themselves. I want to require more of them so that they grow up to be responsible adults. I designed this chore chart to help me and them keep track of how they contribute to our family. I like the positive spin on the traditional chore chart!

This PDF has fillable form fields so you can list the chores that are appropriate for your child. I’ve included fields for the days of the week, or you can leave that blank. My kids told me the types of jobs they like to do. I’m planning to ask my kids to pick one or two jobs to do every day.

Click this link to make your own family chore chart:

FREE Printable Chore Chart for Kids

I only ask that you kindly help spread the word via Twitter, your blog, Facebook etc. Please link back to this post. You are welcome to use the image if you wish. Thank you!!

P.S. You’ll need Adobe Reader to open the PDF. If you need to download it, click here.

Technorati Tags: free printable chore chart, chore charts for kids, make your own chore chart, weekly chore chart, family chores, household chores, printable chore list, behavior charts, children’s chore charts

I decided to buy LunchBots stainless steel containers from Nayla Natural Care. This online shop has great customer service and it’s based in Ottawa so it’s relatively local to me. I bought both the Uno (that I use for for bread, muffins or rice cakes) and the Duo (I usually put meat or cheese in one half and fruit or vegetables in the other half). Even though LunchBots are made in China, they are manufactured responsibly. I had read that the lid has a snug fit and I was a bit worried my son would have trouble opening it (I imagined the lid flying off and food everwhere!), but he can open the container just fine.

Next up was a new lunch bag. This was a tough one to find. So many lunch bags I saw seemed a bit too feminine or babyish for my 7-year-old son. I finally found the camo/black ACME Bags™ 100% Made in USA Insulated Lunch Bag and it received the thumbs up from my son and met all the criteria I was looking for (insulated, manufactured responsibly, eco-friendly). The LunchBots can fit flat in the bottom of this lunch bag (yay!), and the non-toxic freezer pack keeps my son’s food nice and cold until lunch time. I was happy with the customer service at ReusableBags.com too. I had a question about shipping and received a prompt reply. I also found a promo code (FREEACME50) online and got a free ACME bag with my order.

Technorati Tags: school lunches, eco-friendly lunch containers, kids lunch bag, made in USA, trash-free lunches, LunchBots, stainless steel lunch containers

I’m planning to grow the collection of Sweetbeets printables on Etsy. This bumble bee printable invitations template is my newest addition. It works for baby showers, birthday parties and even a birth announcement.

The PDF invitation/announcement has 10 fillable form fields so you can add your own text before printing. Consider these possibilities for the header:
:: Sweet as honey!
:: It’s a bee day party!
:: Have you heard the buzz?
:: Sweet as can bee!
:: Buzzz by for some birthday fun!
:: Our honeybee is turning three!

You’ll also get templates for a favor box, a note card, a banner that can be personalized, and a sheet with bees and honeycomb that you can trim or punch out shapes to make favor tags, place cards, cupcake toppers etc.

I’ve scoured the web for the best ideas for a bee party. Here are my favorite inspiration images.

Starting with dessert (I have a sweet tooth!), how about this honey-glazed beehive cake by Martha Stewart? These bee hive cupcakes and this fondant flower and bee cake are also so cute!

I came across this bee birthday party and just love the handmade bee costume that each guest received. It is basically a yellow t-shirt with black stripes and a bee antenna headband made with pom poms attached to black pipe cleaners. Making the bee antenna headband could also be a craft activity at the party.

You could also make your own beehive piñata!

Some more details for your bee party:
:: Bee birthday candle holder by Lollipopworkshop
:: Bee cookies by Lori’s Place
:: Bumblebee cupcake toppers by Raspberry Pink
:: Polymer clay bumblebee kit if you want to make your own
:: Tissue paper flowers by Mel Garza - click to see her bee party with more photos and ideas
:: Bumble bee birthday party hat by And Jane for the guest of honor

If you happen to already own one of these wheely bumblebee ride on toys, it would be cute to have at the party for young kids to play with. They are available at Baby Earth (USD) and The Baby Garden (CAD).

The eco-friendly yellow utensils and dishes are the perfect color!

Some ideas to fill up the honeycomb favor boxes:
:: Honibe honey
:: Bumblebee wool felt hair clip by Sundrop Clip
:: Honey soap by Natural Offerings
:: Bee ponytail holder by Cute Cucumber

Ideas for games:
:: Fly the bee to the flower or honeycomb (blindfolded!)
:: Guess how many bees are in the honey pot
:: Purchase varieties of honey and have a honey tasting
:: Instead of duck-duck-goose, play “buzz-buzz-bee”
:: Play hot potato using the honeycomb favor box instead of a potato
:: Treasure hunt
:: Bee bag toss

Ideas for food:
:: Pancakes or waffles with honey
:: Honey butter sandwiches
:: Yellow lemonade or fruit nectar

I hope you are inspired now to host a bee party! Click here to see all the printable party invitations in my Etsy shop.

Technorati Tags: honeybee, bee, party themes, birthday party ideas, baby shower, baby announcement, birth announcement, printables, print at home invitations, pdf invitations, printable invitations, invitation templates

I just discovered Fancy Pants Kids via the Savvy Mom newsletter today and I had to share. These made-in-Canada costumes are perfect not only for Halloween but also for pretend play throughout the year. You’ll find this amazing dragon tail and head piece as well as crowns, cloaks and capes. Wholesale inquiries are welcome.

Order online via their Etsy shop, or shop in Canadian dollars at The Polka Dot Moose if you’re interested in the Fancy Pants Kids capes and crowns.

(images via fancypantskidscanada.etsy.com)

Technorati Tags: Halloween costumes, dress up, pretend play, play clothes, imaginative play, made in Canada, Etsy

Happy October! This illustration is inspired by the beautiful ginko tree down the street from us. When the ginko leaves start to drop at the end of October I know we’re very much in the midst of Fall, and Winter is on its way.

This printable 2010 calendar is the first calendar I’ve designed. I’m happy with how it turned out, though it was a much bigger project than I had anticipated. But, it felt good to get back into designing again before I’d forgotten all that I’d taught myself about using Adobe Illustrator!

The calendar is sold in my Etsy shop as a digital file. It makes easy handmade holiday gifts! Two months fit on standard letter size paper. After printing, all you have to do is cut the sheet in half. You can see more images here.

Technorati Tags: 2010 calendar, printable calendar, calendar PDF, handmade calendar, calendars on Etsy, Sweetbeets