FRIDAY FINDS: PILLOWS!

I can hardly believe how quickly the summer is flying by. With our year of cool weather here in Vancouver, it really feels like summer has only just started and we are already at the end of July! With the kids home more, I have been spending less time on the blog and more time in the backyard playing frisbee, making mud pies and eating popsicles. I mean, it is summer after all.

If you caught my post on Instagram this week, you will see that I finished a new little neutral nursery (top photo of this post) and the reveal is coming next week. In preparing for this, I found myself searching for pillows for the room as well as for e-design clients and thought you might like to see some of my favourites that I found along the way. I mean, everyone can use a cute new pillow or two for the kids, right?!

Happy Friday friends. I hope you are savouring the sunshine and the extras hugs with the kids if they are around more, like mine are.

01. // Tassel pillow; 02. // Patterned square; 03. // Star pillow; 04. // Washable moon; 05. // Sweet bunny; 06. // Pretty flora; 07. // Cloud pillow; 08. // Teepee pillow; 09. // House pillow; 10. // Pretty pink; 11. // Moon pillow; 12. // Bear pillow.

ELLA'S BIG GIRL ROOM

If you've been following along for a while now, you'll remember Ella's soft pink and gold toddler room from last spring! I am excited to share an update of Ella's room, with the main change being her big girl bed. I wanted to show you how little has really changed in the room, and that creating the right space when your little one is a baby or toddler really can last for years to come, with very minor changes.

Ella's canopy was originally used to create a corner for her to read and play in (below left). As toddlers grow, it's fun to make changes to inspire and invite play; this is as simple as putting the canopy over her bed for now and it can easily be changed back on a whim. The little dollhouse was added as a fun place to play right at Ella's height.

The other side of the room hasn't changed at all, with the dresser still working well and the dress up corner still being used.

I still get so many questions about where to find items from Ella's room, so I thought I would link as many of possible for you here. If there is something I've missed, or if you have any other questions or comments, I'd love to hear them below!

01.// Wire daybed; 02.// Duvet cover; 03.// Gold mirror; 04.// Angel wings; 05.// Ella pillow; 06.// Wood dollhouse; 07.// Gold decals; 08.// Step stool; 09.// Star cushion; 10.// Powder canopy; 11.// Toy basket; 12. // White dresser (similar).

GIVEAWAY {WITH LOST MY NAME BOOKS}

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED...

It's GIVEAWAY time!!!

You know I love a good kids' book and these ones are INCREDIBLE. Lostmy.name is a company that creates magical books for children that incorporate a child's name and turns them into the centre of the story! You may have heard of the adventurous tale of The Boy Who Lost His Name, or The Incredible Intergalactic Journey Home and The Kingdom of You and if not, head over to their site and check them out! 

When our kids saw their name in the books, they really were blown away. "How did you do that Mommy?", "How did the author know my name?" were a couple of questions that quickly followed. As a Mom, other than fascinating my kids, I love the story lines and the lovely quality of the pages.

Well, today we are GIVING away not one, but THREE of these beautiful stories to three lucky winners! Head over to my Instagram page to see all of the contest details and tag your friends!!!

Giveaway closes Friday June 30th. Winner will be announced on the blog and also on Instagram. Good luck friends!!!

GET THE LOOK (BACKYARD CAMPING)

Earlier in the week, I shared a little backyard day 'camping' that we did with the kids and I they loved it. If you are looking for summer ideas to keep the kids entertained and playing all day right from home, I've rounded up some fun finds for backyard camping and a few of these items would be great to take along on a real camping trip too.

Happy Friday friends!

01. // Felt campfire set; 02. // Play tent; 03. // Simple hammock; 04. // Child-size adirondack chair; 05. // Pop up tent; 06. // Camp play set; 07. // Spot it game; 08. // Kids picnic table.

SUMMER CAMPING WITH LITTLE PASSPORTS

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As we are quickly approaching the end of the school year (our first with the girls), we are shifting to think about fun things to do with the kids over the summer. While I grew up on over an acre in the country, anyone who has toddlers will know that kids really don’t need a massive yard to have a great time. Raising kids in the city means that we make a much more concerted effort to get the kids back into nature and Vancouver is a city that makes it very easy to do that.

This summer, while we will escape for adventures around and out of the city a few times, I wanted to think of ways to entertain the kids close to home and that’s where Little Passports comes in. If you have been reading the blog for a while, you may remember I shared the Early Explorers kit from last summer.

Little Passports provides kits for kids to help educate them about the world around us.  Each month you will be sent a kit about a different country. They include photos of the countries, games, toys, information and activities for the kids to do whilst using characters to tell a story. While I fell in love with the easy to explain and ready to go activities in the kits, the kids fell in love with characters Mia and Max from the Early Explorers kit and Sam and Sofia from the World Edition kit.  Xavier was so excited to open and see stuffed animal Toby the dog and has been carting him to preschool, on car rides and tucking him into bed at night ever since (so cute!).

We are very spoiled to have a backyard, while still living so close to the city and for this stage of life, it really is perfect. You can turn your backyard into anything and this time we decided to do a summer day camp with the kids and pretend we were camping. We (ok, the hubby) DIY’d the tent and the adorable campfire kit was found on Etsy. Little Passports has these delightful free printables to help make the camping experience come to life. The kids especially loved the scavenger hunt and although we didn’t spot a squirrel, we do get them running along the fence every so often. Finding an insect was Xavier’s favourite with potato bugs hidden under every plant pot!

With our twins turning 6 earlier this year, they were ready for the World Edition kit, catered to 6-8 year olds, which includes more detailed information about the countries and more difficult activities. While we were outside ‘camping’, we opened the Egypt kit and talked about where Egypt is on the map, key landmarks that were included in the Early Explorers kit and the girls started working on this pyramid dig which has so far kept them entertained and focused for over an hour!

Thanks to Little Passports for making me feel like an organized Mom who can pull off an outdoor camping shoot with my kids. The kids loved it and I feel like we could do this every week all summer, exploring different countries and talking about where they are, whether Mom and Dad have travelled there and various fun facts to enlighten them. We love the kits and the imaginative play that ensues from the kids is a lifesaver for those summer days at home. Get the summer camp activities and printables to create your own backyard campout here!

*This post has been created with Little Passports, a product that I genuinely love. All photos, words and experiences are my own.