I love the idea of turning everyday items into something more special and meaningful, such as transforming plain white napkins into unique artwork with a toddler and fabric markers!

These napkins are perfect for family meals, cheap and easy to make, and how empowering for little ones to enjoy eating with something they made.

I know it makes my meal more special.

(Project inspired by similar toddler creations at my friend Alissa’s house! Thanks, Alissa!)

In an attempt to reduce clutter, I’ve been adding and organizing our recipe binder. Instead of the house containing piles (piles!) of recipes ripped out of magazines and printed off the internet, they are now in one place, in this tidy, ever-expanding, and daily-referenced binder.

Recipes we love:

Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing from Vegetarian Times

Gluten-free treats to try for special occasions:

Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge from a free subscription to Woman’s Day — the only thing I’ve gotten out of half-a-dozen issues of the magazine! Don’t they look tasty?!

How to Build a Fire: And Other Handy Things Your Grandfather Knew by Erin Bried

Thank you, Regina!

Exploring Luther Burbank’s Home and Gardens (where I used to volunteer in those pre-child days!) with Miriam and the toddler. It may be winter in California, but you can still find some flowering surprises here and there. Not just that, but also really big trees with leaves still on them! All sorts of fun things to discover and enjoy.

Hard at work on our “Miss Leyba’s Friends” board book! I adhered the photos (with little hands helping, of course!), then the toddler found the letters and placed the alphabet stickers for each friends name and drew around the photos. A perfect morning project and we now have a special book to treasure always.

Supplies:
+ Blank board book from Bare Books (we love the chunky blank board books)
+ Photo adhesive: Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller (so easy to use and with zero mess!)
+ Assorted alphabet stickers
+ Photos printed from Photoworks (for phenomenal photo quality)

While the girls were playing, the mamas were hard at work preserving lemons. (I’ll post more on this, in depth, later in the month.) We had such fun!

After playing on their own for three hours, the girls needed a little down time to rest and recover (watching Curious George, a special treat), before they played for an hour more. The mamas took advantage of this pause to quickly clean the playroom (at our friends Alissa and Jeff’s house). Clearly this is the “after” photo. The before shot would have featured every single toy on the floor.

(It seems like just yesterday that the girls were nine months old and playing together in yoga class.)