My little dumpling is now four. We celebrated her special day with – yep – a pinwheel party. I made many pinwheels, but I have to admit, I gave up trying to get them to spin. I tried straight pins, push pins, pencils and lollipop sticks. Either I couldn’t get the pin to push through (lollipop stick), or I could push them in (pencil eraser) but didn’t feel right handling out pushpins to toddlers. Yes, there are tutorials online that I could have followed, but I draw the line when a party decoration starts requiring hardware and power tools. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have to say the party was a blast!

We made cones out of square paper and filled with popcorn. The kids had fun manning a popcorn stand at the puppet theater. It was really a great icebreaker for some of the guests who were a little overwhelmed when they first walked in the door. This is the second time we’ve had a birthday popcorn stand, and I think it’s going to be a tradition. By the end of the party, the kids had turned it into a full on refreshment bar, stocked with popcorn, chocolate milk and water bottles.

I copied Jaimee Rose’s idea of using these Target plates for the kids (got them on clearance. woo hoo!), and wrapped candy necklaces around napkins, alongside a (non-spinning) pinwheel. I set up the kids table the night before, which was a little hard for my kids to resist. I finally gave in the morning of the party, when my daughter asked if “the birthday girl could take a little lick” of her necklace.

Outside, the kids stayed cool sliding down into an inflatable pool, slipping and sliding, and tossing water balloons. Yay for my husband who spent lots of time filling water balloons, which seemed to disappear in seconds once the kids got their hands on them.

We ate my favorite bagel/cream cheese/avocado/tomato combo, along with fruit salad and chocolate vanilla marble cupcakes. I’m not a huge fan of goody bags (read my friend Andrea’s brilliant thoughts on this topic here), but we did put a few things together because my kids love handing out gifts to their friends. Lollipops, pencils and Hello Kitty rings for the girls, and lollipops and monster finger things for the boys. I almost made the mistake of giving the boys pencils, but my son quickly pointed out that they were glitter pencils, and should not be given to the boys.

I think next year, I’m going to try to incorporate more classic party games. For sure I will refer to this great post at Stephmodo that gives some great ideas for younger kids’ birthday party games.

My daughter has already requested a “candy party” for her 5th birthday — and a pinata. I think I’ll be looking to  my favorite party blogs like Sara’s Party Perfect and TomKat Studio for some sweet inspiration!

Hi friends. I have many half-written posts that I need to finish. But in the meantime, I thought I’d share my new favorite lunch. It’s pretty simple, but so delicious. So just in case you’re looking for something new to munch, here it is. I toast a Thomas Bagel Thins bagel (love these), spread a shmear of whipped cream cheese, top with avocado slices. Then here’s the secret. Grind fresh black pepper and salt on the avocado before topping with tomato slices. Then when the tomato slices are on, top these with freshly ground pepper and salt too. I usually add some salad or carrots and snap peas since I’m trying to eat more vegetables lately.

I made this for a couple friends lately, and they both loved it. One pointed out that the salt was particularly good. It was the Pink Himalayan salt from Trader Joe’s, which to be honest, I bought to show my daughter who loves pink. But it did end up being quite tasty. The pepper I use is regular old McCormick. It’s basically a disposable pepper grinder that you find next to all the spices in the grocery store. Yummers.

I promise – more posts, giveaways, and a funny story about how I got a pea out of my daughter’s nose coming son. Oh sorry. Did I just ruin your appetite?

My big boy starts back to school today. Hooray! By now, you’ve probably gotten all your “official” school supplies. Today’s post is about an extra splurge item that you may find well worth the investment — especially if you have a little one starting Kindergarten who does NOT love to color.

I was pretty surprised at the amount of coloring that takes place in Kindergarten. Not just in the classroom, but on daily homework pages too. I quickly found this to be a big source of frustration for my son, who is not a big fan of coloring. I had been eyeing these Stockmar beeswax crayons for some time, and after seeing his despair at his never-ending coloring assignments, I finally decided to present them as a special gift, to somehow elevate the exercise of coloring. When I gave these to him, I told him they were no ordinary crayons. They were the “best crayons in the world”. (As far as I can tell, this is true. Of course, if you feel otherwise, please let me know. ) I explained that they were made from beeswax (yum), drew bold bright colors, and lasted a really long time. They even came with their own metal case, which is kind of exciting.

While I can’t say he suddenly developed a passion for coloring, I did notice an improvement in his attitude when he got out his “special crayons”. Yes, these cost quite a bit more than your typical Crayolas, but they have lasted an incredibly long time. I bought the box with 8 block shape crayons and 8 sticks, but the blocks haven’t gotten much use. I’d recommend getting a set with all sticks. They come in sets of 8, 12, 16 and 24.

$11.50 for a set of 8 stick crayons at Amazon.com (or google “Stockmar stick crayons” for several other online stores)

I’ve been drooling over the handmade felt food on one of my favorite blogs, craftiness is not optional (you really must check out the banana with removable peel), but since I can’t sew a stitch, such craftiness is not an option.

SO, I was happy to see all this new yummy play food for sale at IKEA. I haven’t seen it in person, but these four sets of breakfast, fruits, veggies, and desserts look like they’d make great additions to any play kitchen. They’re made of polyester and are machine washable. Prices are good too.

$4.99 for the breakfast set, and $7.99 for each of the others at IKEA

I may have mentioned I’m a bit of a twine lover. In case you love it too, I wanted to tell you about this new online shop called The Twinery that sells a ton of different colors of twine.  I especially like this sampler pack that includes all 8 colors.

If you’re looking for twiney ideas and free downloads, visit The Twinery blog.

P.S. Use the code FUNFINDS25 at www.thetwinery.com for 25% off entire purchases. The discount will remain active until August 8.

$14.95 for the sampler pack at The Twinery

Jaimee Rose from the Arizona Republic has done it again. Another fun and festive party — this time filled with pretty pinwheels. My daughter requested a “lollipop balloon” party for her 4th birthday next month, but now I’m thinking lollipops, balloons and pinwheels. Too much?

See more party pics and sources for all the goods on Jaimee’s blog.

If camping is in your future, and you want to eat well, check out these scrumptious-looking tin foil dinners Stephanie from Stephmodo makes for her family camping trips (assemble, wrap, and pack in a cooler). Meat, onions, potatoes, beans, spices and butter. Personally, I’d take these over campfire hot dogs any day. I just wish my kids would feel the same way!

I was looking for an easily transportable activity for the kids that we could take on vacation – and found these B. Pop-Arty! Funky Pop Beads at Target. I remembered my mom talking a lot about pop beads from years ago and how much fun they were, but this is the first time I think I’ve seen them for sale.

I have to tell you, these are even better than I thought they’d be. There are 500 beads, and they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. I didn’t even realize when I bought them that they came with bracelet and ring “bases” I guess you’d call them. The beads are a little hard for my three year-old to snap together by herself, but she still loves wearing all her new jewelry.  I’d say these would make a great gift for a girl age 3 – 12 or so.

$14.99 at Target

If you’re looking for creative art for a child’s room or nursery, and have an interest in your family geneology, you should check out the family tree prints from Brandy and Duke. This company is run by an Australian mum who became interested in tracing her family tree after the birth of her son. Soon after, she began offering a series of fun, creative custom family tree prints. This Birdhouse Family Tree is my favorite. They’re professionally printed on museum quality, acid-free textured paper.

$69 AU (about $60 US) at Brandy & Duke

Have you noticed that boxes of Triscuits now include plantable basil or dill seed cards? Triscuit has partnered with the nonprofit group Urban Farming  to help people take the first step in growing their own food (or in this case, herbs) at home. They asked if they could send me two boxes of Triscuits and $20 to buy gardening supplies to try a little home farming myself, and I said yes.

I bought containers and organic soil at Target, soaked my seed cards as directed, then had the kids help me pour the soil, peel the seed card apart, and sprinkle a little soil on top. Next, we watered, and waited, and watered and waited. The directions said it would take about 10 days. On day 19, I was closely eyeing the $2.99 potted basil plants at Trader Joe’s, and seriously doubting my ability to coax out baby herblets in our 113 degree desert heat.

But then. On the morning of Day 20, I looked twice and saw we had teeny tiny green herb heads poking up! You can see them in the bottom left image above. It was a bit of a thrill, I must admit. Then I felt guilty for coveting those already-farmed basil plants. There really is something to be said for the satisfaction you get from nurturing your own plants from seeds.

Triscuit has set up a website with information, tips, and videos on starting your own “home farm”. If you’re just getting interested in growing your own food, herbs are a good way to start. It’s fun for the kids to be a part of it – especially in our case, when it took so long to get the darn things to sprout! Hopefully when the herbs big and luscious, they’ll be more willing to eat “those green things” since they grew them themselves.

More info at the Triscuit Home Farming website.