Welcome to my ultimate Disney Beauty Survival Guide (click here for the video). Here are my most favorite products that I have found to keep me going ALL day long at the most magical place on Earth. These are products that are tried and TRUE, no messing around with only “kind of works” stuff. These are legit, the real deal, pinky promise =). Okay, let’s get started! First and foremost, we go to Disneyland a lot. Like, a lot for living so far away.Â
I used to perform there, went every year multiple times with my parents, dates in college, bridal parties and showers there, had my first date with my hubby there, honeymoon, take the kids when they are babies, ten year anniversary (pictured above)….we LOVE Disneyland!!!! I can’t wait to now share all of these secrets that I have been using for YEARS at the park. And trust me, there has been trial and error.
Let’s start with the fact that I don’t like to wash my hair when we go to Diz. You heard me right (and don’t stress, we aren’t usually there more than three days). It turns into an absolute frizz ball mess in California and mama aint got time for that!
SO what I use is a mixture of cornstarch and unsweetened cocoa powder. This is a natural option instead of normal dry shampoos found in the store (my scalp reacts badly to chemicals). I either use a designated toothbrush to brush it into the roots or my fingers. The reason for the unsweetened cocoa powder is so that it better matches my hair color. If you are blonde, you can skip that ingredient and you can also use cinnamon if you have red hair. I use these containers to put my dry shampoo and my powder in.
I always get a ton of questions about what tools I use to curl my hair. These are the only two I use because I’m not very good at hair and it’s all I know LOL!
This iron I used for the curls you see below in front of the Mickey pumpkin.
This one was used for the Disney Bound Jessie picture.
Let’s jump into makeup shall we? Primers make a HUGE difference and you can go here to read all about my favorites for every single skin type. For Disneyland, I use my trusted Emma or the Smashbox. Emma is for sure the least expensive option and if you use the code CLASSY you can get 20% off!!! You’re welcome =). Now these primers are going to ensure your foundation looks amazing and stays PUT!!!
When you are staying up way late and waking up super early to get the most out of the parks your eyes can start to look a bit bloodshot. These Lumify drops are MAGICAL!!! Just one to two drops in each eye and they are bright white and ready to take pics all around the Magic Kingdom.
There are a few staples with me when it comes to Disneyland. Lashes, red lips and rosy cheeks. I just love that combo so much!!! My lashes I get from Eyelashes Unlimited. They have SO many options and I scored another discount code for you to save 20%!!! Just use CLASSY at checkout to save some money. As far as the glue I use on the regular, it’s DUO which you can also get there but when I am at Disneyland or somewhere a bit more humid I use a waterproof glue from House of Lashes. It’s awesome and great for touch ups with the brush. My lips I ONLY use Maybelline’s 24 hour Color Stay. My fave is to use a slightly deeper red on the outer edges then a cherry red in the middle. This formula stays on ALL day even with eating all the yummy Disney treats and you can even over line those lippies without fear of it seeping up into any wrinkles….cuz I have them…don’t do duck faces girls…it will save lives. Did I also mention it’s a FRACTION of the cost of some other stay on liquid lipsticks out there??? Cuuuuuz it is!!! ELF has some pretty awesome bright blushes in their quad that they sell. This is the one I am wearing in the video and in most of these pictures.
Now, I’m not a huge eyeliner fan…mostly because of user error in the application process LOL. I’m terrible at it! BUT I know that it’s important to some and this eyeliner is so creamy, so pigmented and doesn’t MOVE!
I had the opportunity to transform the famous Bucketlist Family for the Halloween Party at Disneyland! I had so much fun with this. Check out their take on the Lion King below:
Look at that sweet face! When we first talked about @caligee’s costume, we knew it had to be special. We knew he didn’t like to have random things attached to his face,hands, feet, belly, legs, fingers, nose… So, I found this cute onesie and had my friend @devri_rae attache the tuft of hair/ yarn to the top and these ears that I took off of a headband. ( I don’t sew..at all) We triiiieeddd to get him to wear the cuffs and wristlets that Sophie wores for one of our family pictures, but you guessed it!
He wanted nothing to do with them and asked with a big “pweeeeassseee” to have them taken off. He did suc a good job with me putting his makeup on! Sat in daddy’s lap while we distracted him with a cute little nursery song.
I used a smidge of Endura makeup with my airbrush (cheeks and forehead) and Mac cosmetics gel liner. Ladies and the two gentlmen that follow me, behold the KING of the jungle!!! Simba!
This sweet boy has the most tender heart and the CUTEST face. I didn’t think it could get any cuter until I applied his hyena nose, then I died! I used Endura paint with my airbrush from @lastlooksutah. For shading, black eyeshadow.
When I was thinking about costumes for the whole family, I wanted them to feel as if they would wear these pieces on their travels and add embellishments. This cute romper already belonged to @manilla and I knew it would be perfect to add some patches and bones too. The bone necklace was handmade as well as his ear headband.
I went to Joanne’s for the hair patches and we spiked the JUNK out of his hair. I give you, ED the hyena!
Dorothy melts my heart. She was so reserced and shy at first. I showed her the costume (which was my favorite to put together) and the more I kept pulling out, the more she smiled. I think she liked it.
I had SO much fun looking at pictures of Zazu’s coloring and picking out textures to suit this birds needs. I found everything on Amazon. The feathers on her legs were supposed to be on her wrists, but were too big so we improvised. I cut the tulle skirt to be a bit more like feathers.
Her makeup was also by Endura bought at @lastlookutah, NYX white liquid liner and Urban Decay 24/7 liner around her eyes. How darling is @dorothygee as ZAZU?
There wasn’t any decision making that needed to happen about who Garrett was going to be. He IS Rafiki! I didn’t want to go super cartoon with this character and I know the costume could have gotten out of hand.
I wanted Garett to feel free in his movements, but still feel totally done up with the fam. I asked him to bring these specific pants, since they worked so great as the shape for Rafiki and I got him his shirt (Amazon for the win). The beard I knew was going to be a statement piece, so I had to make it big and out there. I got the material at Joanne’s and embellished his staff with things I bought at Hobby Lobby.
I handed it and my designs over to @mocreations_ and BOY did she deliver. Sadly, he wasn’t able to take his staff into the party, but at least we got some good pictures with it.
I will say this, I was STRESSED about @garettgee’s makeup. I had so many inspiration pictures, but they were all sooo different. I practiced the day of and just went with my gut.
I used an eyeliner pencil to first sketch everything out, then used my Endura alcohol based makeup with my airbrush and filled in the spaced I had drawn.
We also took some hair color in a can for the top and sides of his hair to create the Rafiki. I am SO happy with how it turned out.
The look on people’s faces as we passsed was just so rewarding. I know you’ve all felt that before right? Complete and utter anxiety about something, then having a rush of relief and happiness when it’s all done? It was THE best feeling. I give you the wise, the wacky, the only.. RAFIKI!
The mastermind planner. The one who organizes and gets all things together. She is so prepared! This time, we took her to the dark side of all those traits. The schemer, the planner… Scar.
If anyone any been here awhile, you’ll know that me doing Scar on myself (honestly on a whim) was what started all of my transformations.So this one, I had done a few times and it had a special place in my heart. Jess is no different.
So much fun to be around and a widly talented business woman, mom, friend and wife. She’s aces! I remember in the beginning being shocked at some pretty big things we had in commom. We both met our husbands in Siberia while serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ. Our husbands both played college soccer for BYU and BYUI, they are both graphic designers, we both speak Russian and have quite a few of the same friends. I mean, we are kind of meant to be besties.
I digress.. @jessgee and I chatted back and forth about her outrageously fun costume. I will say this is one costume that I couldn’t see her wearing in real life or in their travels. She was a sport!
I wanted her to be the most non-recognized member of the family. Her piercing blue eyes looked amazing with her long black wig and black and orange accents. All of her costume pieces come from Amazon except the skirt and cuffs.
Ready for a funny/ not so funny story? It took me forever to find a faux fur mini skirt that matched my specifications. I wanted it to be a mini skirt, it had to have some give to be getting up and down and sitting on Disney rides and it had to be well textured. I finally found one ona specific site, and it was a bit higher in priced than I wanted, but still in my budget.
I ordered it and excitedly anticipated the arrival knowing it was one of the LAST pieces I needed before the big trip. It finally came, I was so stoked to see it. I opened the box and my heart went into my toes. I asked my husband to come over and look.
Before opening the box, I said “This is the skirt for Jessica that I’ve been waiting for. It’s going to be REALLY hard to see what might be wrong with it, but see if you can see it.”
Anticipation filled the room as I slowly opened the box, “They’re running shoes”. He said confused. “I KNOW!” I shouted (think Monica on Friends). “What the junk?” We both just stared at them for awhile before closing the box and making a plan for what I should do. There was NO time to order something else since that one had taken an unusually long amount of time to even get to me.
I lamented to my good friend through Marco Polo and by the end of the night, she Marcos me back showing me this skirt that she had made me in under an hour. It was perfect and met all of the requirements! And, it was a whopping $17 to make!
She even had material left over for cuffs. I am forever in your debt @5littlemoosen. Jessica’s makeup is all airbrushed using Endura.
A huge shoutout to the amazing crew at Last Looks Utah for all the product reccomendations, tips, tricks and training. I am so grateful to you guys. Also, to the Bucket List Family, thank you for making this experience everything I hoped it would be and more.
You are a kind, hilarious and driven family full of purpose. Can’t wait for next year! What do you guys think they should be?
Oh how I love taking our family pictures every year. I must admit though, that wasn’t always the case. I don’t always do the same things as everyone else and sometimes I feel like I’m doing things wrong. I vaguely remember the first time I realized that a lot of families, besides us, take pictures regularly. I thought maybe I had been living under a rock or if this was a new fad. I do remember my mom dressing us up and going down to the local mall to pose in front of the brown, blue and maroon marble type backdrops. It was always the same. The photographer would ask if my dad could take off his glasses because of the glare, or to at least tilt his head down. They tried to get my little brother to smile using whatever they had in the studio. It took maybe 20 min and we would be on our way. In a matter of weeks we would have the prints and they would be up on our wall.
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It wasn’t necessarily a bad memory for me. I didn’t hate going, or getting dressed up or actually taking the pictures. I just never really did it when we started our family. We took TONS of pictures, don’t get me wrong but nothing formal. In hearing others say that they were getting ready for family pictures, or that they were finding a good photographer, or they were hoping for a good one for their Christmas cards that year, I was lost. Was I supposed to be doing this? Was I missing out on something? Would it just be “keeping up with the Jones'” (a mentally I abhor) if I started now?
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I decided to try it once. Picking out outfits alone was AWFUL!!!!! I love to coordinate, LOVE to pick out colors and textures and such but for some reason I hated it this time. It was so stressful to find a good photographer that was worth the money and time spent, so hard to figure out the colors. Especially when one was seeming to dominate. Yes, I could take that out, but then this wouldn’t work, then this color would take over BLAH!!!!! This is the way my brain works with this kind of stuff. If you ask someone else to do this, they may not freak out, I do. We took two sessions that way and I decided it was a little much for me. I love them! They turned out great…but I was done.
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Fast forward to me joining an AMAZING book club! A book club that does mini book parties, celebrations if you will. My first meeting, I was BLOWN away by the decor, the food, the costumes and that we SKYPED with the author!!!! Seriously, check out the Delicious Reads book club for amazing ideas on how to do the same where you live. Well, within a year of being there I felt brave enough to host. Everyone signs up to bring food so that’s not what the hostess does. She makes the menu, sure, but it’s the offering of her home, then the moderator decorates and leads the evening…I signed up for both so it could be a complete experience. I hand wrote a murder mystery and decided to kill off our author that night (it was Agatha Christie so it wasn’t hard seeing as how she had already passed). The premise was that she had asked a bunch of her friends (old and new) and acquaintances to be beta readers for her book, Murder On the Orient Express. This gathering was to be her book launch party, held at a real haunted manor. I wanted the manor to have a story all it’s own. That the family that used to live there had died mysteriously and as they were solving one case, they would get clues about the family. Well the family had to have a presence there right? What better way than to have a HUGE portrait of them in the living room??? The idea was born, the costumes procured and the date set to shoot in a nearby cemetery. We had a BLAST and I LOVE how the pictures turned out. I was kind of sad when it was over.
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Look at that! They never had to smile, it didn’t matter if they were squinting…..it was AWESOME!!!!!
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The next year rolled around and I thought…why not? Let’s do it again fam!!! I was down, they were down and we have been doing it ever since. I have SO much fun coming up with themes and costumes and I get giddy every single time I get pictures back from THE best photographer out there. Jordan Bree is a magician!!!! She has taken all the photos we’ve done aside from the cemetery ones. So enjoy! Here are our family pictures through the years…
I have always loved Peter Pan. It’s been a magical part of my youth and I knew that it would be a dream come true to have it be the theme of our pictures. Ever since I was introduced to steam punk it had LIT UP my creativity!!!! I wanted to combine the two so badly. Luckily our local theater combined them and we got to go and see it! Hale Theater in Orem blew our minds!!! We were able to rent some of the same costumes they used via their costume department Archive Costumes (which is where we have gotten most of the pieces we wear for all of our shoots).
I took some swim goggles and painted them with fun metallic paints from Plaid. LOVE how they turned out so that they would match “Michael”.
“John” I pieced together completely with an oversized shirt from my husband’s closet and clothes he already had.
Sophie was hungry the WHOLE shoot so she wasn’t the happiest. I chalked it up to her not liking that we kept taking her pixie dust lol. I mean, I fed her right before we got there, so I was confused. This is ONE of the pictures where she stopped and luckily Jordan was there!!!!
Peter trying to console his lil pixie. Be still my heart he is the best papa!!!
Promising never never never to grow up! You better believe I’ll try to hold them to that. =)
Wendy’s love for Peter has NOTHING on my love for this man. He puts up with my emotions, up and down, my ever changing mind and my dreams with such patience and understanding. I am so grateful for him!!!
This pose was an absolute must for me. Following the leader.
That same year Sophie and I were asked to be apart of a shoot and we needed to choose costumes wearing Shabby Apple dresses and Freshly Picked moccs. We decided on Jane and Mary Poppins. In retrospect, I wish I would have made her a mini kite =).
The next year I wanted to do a Parisian circus theme. This was four months before the film, the Greatest Showman, came out. I was excited to have been so on trend lol. The costumes all came from Archive Costumes except for Sophie’s darling lion details. My neighbor had made them for her cute little boy and they fit her perfectly! I also went to Zurchers (a local party store here) to find Branson’s muscle shirt and I made him his weights.
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The next year we were supposed to do one theme and it didn’t pan out. I was a little stressed because I didn’t have a backup thought but then a friend told me about a super easy idea to throw together. This ended up being Kev’s favorite year for family pictures. We just went to the local thrift store and went to town! If you follow me on Instagram then you may recognize my top having been used for Sleeping Beauty lol. And these pants are now my go to to sleep in!!! We borrowed the trailer and even our DOG! Neighbors were great to us this year lol. My fave is Sophie’s face….DYING!!!!!!
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My MAN!!!!!!!!
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This is hilarious. I told the boys to act like the gator hunters in Princess and the Frog. Nailed it!
To further prove this was Kev’s fave year and how comfortable he’s become in front of the camera. There are now words….he’s perfect lol!!!!!!
I cannot WAIT to show you our pictures from this year (2019). We used, of course, Jordan Bree photography and added an extra by having a videographer in the mix. It will be an “elegant” time to be sure *wink wink*.
“Everything causes cancer.” “I’m good, I ate all of this when I was a kid and I survived.” “I’d rather do what I want and be happy than worry about being healthy all the time.” “Organic? That’s totally a gimmick.”
These are phrases I’ve heard for many years, and for many of those years I was one saying them. I figured I was still living even after eating and or using all the things people warned me about. Fast forward to the husband and me living in Utah after bouncing all over the country. We have two wonderful boys and things were just just looking up. It was only when I started living here that I heard soooo many friends, neighbors and clients talking about eating clean. What the junk did THAT mean? If we are supposed to eat clean…then what is eating dirty and why would anyone DO that??? To add to that, the flu hit our little family within months after moving into our home. I posted on my FB personal page about it saying something silly like…”Ah the flu, we meet again.” Nooooooot kidding you within 30 min I had three different individuals bringing me space like looking devices and viles of fluids to put in them. Witches. Surely we moved into a neighborhood full of service oriented witches. I placed these so called “diffusers” around the house and read the instructions each of them had left for me to the T.
Let me just tell you, I have NEVER been in a house where the flu was present and I didn’t get it. My immune system is top notch but the flu will kick my J-Lo every single time! My husband got it first and then my oldest was showing symptoms (that’s when the diffusers came). After using the oils on them, washing my hands religiously while helping them and keeping them separated from each other and the healthy ones I WAS SHOCKED!!!! Not only did Kevin get better quickly, but Kayson stopped progressing and didn’t go past the first few symptoms. Branson and I NEVER got sick!!!! I was convinced that there must be something to this witchy business lol. I asked questions, read articles and purchased a few things to start myself on this clean journey. I haven’t turned back yet and love what they can do for my family.
I still hadn’t learned much about clean eating though. After we built our next home and moved in, sure enough, it was my neighbors that took me to the next level with their knowledge. That we have toxins in our food, that they weren’t always there and there is TOTALLY a way to find clean foods all around us!!! It wasn’t that I had to give up the foods I loved, I just would need to switch the kind of products I was buying. And teaching my kids to read their labels and understand why it’s important to do so.
Are some of the items now more expensive? Well, yeah. But having a disease or ailment caused and enhanced by what we eat is waaaaay more expensive! Let’s go back in time to when people were SO excited about new technology that could keep foods on the shelves longer, be less of a pain to prepare/harvest AND be less expensive. What a great deal right??? We have been living this way for so long that we’ve forgotten how to consume real food. I for sure hadn’t been consuming real food for years and my body has suffered for it. But I honestly didn’t know any better and thought what my body was experiencing was normal pains from being alive, being active, not being active, that time of the month etc.
I was in for a HUGE eye opening experience. After thinking about it for quite some time I decided to embark on a food journey to eliminate quite a few things for a good long while before introducing things slowly back in. I went vegan for a year. It was really hard! What I learned about myself was that I have a very unhealthy relationship with food and would get quite emotional about it the first few months. I soon was in the swing of things and did just fine. After the year was up I was ready to slowly start introducing foods back in. Again, I learned a TON from this!!! I learned that dairy is not something my body likes to consume on the regular. I still haven’t gone back to cows milk and it’s been 2 years now. I love that I was able to step away from it for so long that my body could really communicate to me that it wasn’t a fan. I had dairy so often that I believe my body had just built up a slight immunity to it and I was so used to feeling a certain way, that I didn’t know any different. It was, like I said, eye opening.
What I learned a bit later was that a lot of what I was eating on that vegan diet was also not great for me. That to give me that “sense” of cheese, or of meat, I was eating quite a bit of genetically modified foods. Not great for your body. What I am learning now, is that there are so many chemicals, toxins in our food that it’s not even real FOOD most of the time. I taught my kids the importance of healthy foods and what they do to our bodies. Contrary wise I taught them how bad foods can have an even bigger affect on our bodies. As I began sharing this on social media I had a cousin of mine reach out and tell me about an IG account she was following called just.ingredients. Karalynne is AMAZING with the knowledge she has and the hope she shares. It’s hard for me to hear doom and gloom accounts that just scare me and leave me not knowing what to do. She gives such great tips on more of a good, better, best way to go about shopping……BUT……it wasn’t just for food.
I am amazed at how the chemicals in our personal care products as well as our food are making HUGE changes in our bodies. I LOVE that by making simple changes I am seeing huge results in all aspects of my life. I highly encourage you to follow her and learn from her. She’s so generous with her time and talents. I was lucky enough to meet Karalynne and make this video of us going around a normal store and seeing that good better and best already exists where you shop NOW. That you don’t have to go to a specialty store and drop hundreds of dollars on products you’ve never heard of. I hope you enjoy it and that you learn something. I do every, single, day. And I hope to never stop! After all, that’s why we are here. It’s the journey of life right? Comment below with something that stood out to you or something you didn’t know before (for me it was the dyes and what they do to us). Can’t wait to hear from you!
xxoo
Jen
I get down right GIDDY when I think about family pictures. The creativity that can go into it just gets to me every time. The makeup, the costumes, the location, the poses…I LOVE IT!!!!! This year we actually had our original plans backfire and this was our fall back plan! Can you believe it??? We borrowed a neighbor’s trailer aaaaaaaaaaand another neighbor’s dog LOL.
Lil Miss is always such a sweetheart. She just wanted to play with her new baby the whole time! Look at that tummy (insert all the heart eyes).
The boys have just recently gotten into airsoft and were SO stoked to bring their guns and bring home dinner (go raise boys right?)
I just can’t get over how darling she is even with me trying to trash her hair and clothes up LOL!
No words…..okay, maybe a few. I am ooooone lucky girl! Thank you to Jordan Bree for always doing such an amazing job on our photos and for going along with my crazy.
this amazing top can be found at My Cents Of Style (one of my favorite shops)
In your younger years did you ever think you knew the exact mother that you would be? Like, maybe you saw kids in the grocery store or hiding in the middle of the racks of clothes in the department store and thought, “Oh my kids will NEVER do that.” Maybe you saw other situations and thought you would never speak that way, act that way or let your children dress a certain way. Myyyyyyy kids will have manners cuz ain’t no mama got time for disobedience. Myyyyyyy kids will respect me and do what I say and work hard around the house, love each other, treat other adults with respect, do their homework every night, say please and thank you, put down the toilet seat (insert a “yeah right” snicker), always change their undergarments and shower every night (another snicker). Was I the only one who did this? I cant have been because there are WAY too many memes about laughing in the faces of those that don’t have kids trying to give parenting advice.
I’ve had so many aha moments having kids and loads of humble pie. Parenting is like watching mini versions of yourself walking around, yes, but mostly for me it’s like having a HUGE mirror in front of my face 24/7. I see me in the way they speak to each other, good and bad. I see me in the way they react to someone or something, also good and bad. I see me in so many things they do and it shows me areas I myself need to work on or things that I can be proud of and compliment them on. I think in those younger years of mine I focused so much on what the kids were doing and judging their moms that I failed to look up at those moms to see the wonderful things they were doing. To see them nurturing a hurt child and being grateful for the racks of clothes that could entertain her other kids for a moment. Or the glances they would give to other “knowing” moms and silently saying, “You too? It’s a rough day for me as well. Keep on keepin on.”
It is a TOUGH gig being a mom. Not just for all the things you need to be in charge of but because of those moments when you learn that change is necessary. It’s not easy to change behaviors…I know this well. My sweet friend Heidi Swapp just said recently we need to be better first responders rather than first over reactors. That is something that is sooooo hard for me to change. But these learning moments, this humble pie can be a cleansing, refiners fire if we accept the challenge. Any fitness expert will tell you that working through the pain will bring results. That reaching your goals will require sacrifice, sweat, tears, grit BUT the end result can be GLORIOUS and worth every step. THAT is motherhood, that is parenting. It is worth EVERY sacrifice, heartbreak and sleepless night and that I can promise!
A chore family, can still be a happy family LOL
Now, like I said, I have learned a lot through the years and I have fallen on my face as a mom quite a few times BUT there are things that I have also done that I have LOVED!!!! That I wish I could shout on top of the rooftops…..THIS WORKS!!!!!!! I would love to share with you my top two ideas that have made all the difference in my life as a mom…..wanna hear them? Sweet! I was afraid maybe I had lost you after that novel up there =D.
#1- CHORES ARE VITAL
The parenting methodology “Love and Logic” has a rating system for areas in a child’s life. To give you some perspective, let’s look at a few ratings. Their relationships with their parents is rated a 10…duh right? Super important! . Homework is a 3, grades are a 5 (for more information on that head here. K, you ready for this? Chores is a 10!!!! It’s so important that it’s up there with your relationship with your child. I hadn’t read this till just this year but I was SO glad that it had validated what I felt about chores for so long. It gave me more insight into the “why” behind it’s importance. Here’s what they say:
“…Chores are more important than homework, grades, and extracurricular activities. Chores… completed without chronic reminders and without pay… help our kids feel more tightly connected to the family team, allow them to develop perseverance, combat entitlement, and build healthy self-esteem. In a Love and Logic home, kids get to do their homework and participate in extracurricular activities after they have finished contributing to the family.”
I am in agreement with all except the without pay statement. If any of you know me, you know that we are a huge Dave Ramsey fans and we give the boys the opportunity to earn commissions along with having chores. More on that in a second. Chores are not easy to get kids to do, I get that, I hear it all the time…can I be bold though? Buck up! I say that with all the love I can muster lol. Nothing worth doing is easy and I PROMISE in the long run you will be shouting your praises for sticking to it and guess who else will? Their future spouse and children! That’s HUGE that you can be affecting future generations!!! Now here is where my advice on the “how” comes in. Chores in our home started at the young age of about 18 months. They have so much fun that they don’t even realize they are learning life skills. Let’s talk about a few. Here are the steps we took to help our kids get started and have the chores grow with them:
LAUNDRY
he can’t get over how cute her clothes are =)
*Throwing Game (beginners) – Quite simply we threw clothes in the basket and shouted when we “scored”. We would scoot back together and just throw and giggle. We made a mess, sure, but the point was to have fun.
*Heave Ho (beginners) – This is when we pulled clothes from one machine to the next. We grunted and groaned dramatically when something wet was heavy and giggled at that too =)
*Colors (intermediate) – Then came time to learn about our colors. We would separate the clothes by color and say the name. Did that help me get laundry done faster? No. Did I have to redo everything when I put them down for a nap? Yes. The point is to praise them for doing a good job and have fun (which strengthens your relationship with them).
*Articles of Clothing (intermediate) – The next stage (which was a long one) was to recognize the difference between shirts, pants, shorts, undergarments, pjs, etc. This is a GREAT time to read the book Blue Hat Green Hat by Sandra Boynton. Like the color game we would say what the article was before throwing it in a pile. As this stage grows you can teach them how to roll socks so they don’t get lost.
*Whose Is It (intermediate/advanced)- By now they should be recognizing the clothes that belong to different family members. Our piles were now being separated into piles of who they belonged to. As this stage grows, the person it belongs to should come and pick it up and put it away based on their level of understanding.
*Folding (intermediate/advanced) – Now this can be tedious and I hate folding myself so in our family not much even gets folded. All shirts, skirts and even some pants are hung. The only thing that gets folded are shorts, jeans, towels and rags. So for us, I taught them how to fold those items, but then how to get clothes on a hanger.
* Putting It All Together (advanced) – This is the stage that we are at now with our boys (ages 9 & 11). I have not yet taught them how to load or what settings to put everything at (I’m trying to let go of that control lol) but they do know how to do everything else. They can switch the laundry, take it out, sort, fold, and put away their own stuff. They also know when they bring their dirty clothes down that they are to go in the proper baskets.
It was NOT easy to get them to do laundry but I made a point of doing it. I feel a lot of the time I was doing it for them but they learned just the same and I am SO thankful now that I didn’t give up!!!
DISHES
This one is pretty wash and dry (see what I did there) and doesn’t require a lot of explanation. This is what was required from the earliest age and as they grew.
– Bring cup and utensils to Mommy. Go back for the plate and use two hands
– Put dishes in sink
– Rinse off dishes and put in left side of sink (thats where we always have dishes ready to go into the dishwasher)
– Rinse off all dishes and put in dishwasher
– Empty dishwasher except for glass items and sharp things
– Empty dishwasher completely (you know when your children are ready for that)
– Set table with all appropriate dishes needed for the evening meal (including placemats), clean up your dishes by rinsing and putting in dishwasher and fold and put mats away.
– All of the above and learn to start the dishes when it’s full
This one I love because I feel it’s the most consistent. Now we are at the stage where we say that they are more than welcome to come down and have breakfast once their beds are made.
– Beds are made every morning and when they first started they watched mommy do most of it and their part was putting the pillow on and maybe any stuffed animals. Then I taught them how to put on the flat sheet and blankets after I did the fitted sheet for them. Then I taught them to do the fitted sheet and they did everything else.
– Rooms are more deep cleaned on Saturdays (unless it’s the summer see schedule below). Under the bed is clean, all loose hangers hung, clothes hung, no trash anywhere, all clothes put away or put in laundry.
Notice I didn’t say pick up toys anywhere? I, for some reason, can’t abide toys in the room. It makes them so messy but I understand that sometimes it’s necessary due to space. The boys have a separate playroom and all toys stay in there. That also gets cleaned every Saturday. Everything has a place and everything gets put in it’s place.
General Pick Up
picture source: the Container Store
This is pretty self explanatory but essential to you not feeling like a slave all day long or them feeling entitled to your “services”. If you have stuff out, you grab it and out it in it’s place. sometimes if I have company coming I will gather their things and put it on the stairs for them. That way they still are being responsible but it’s not out everywhere looking messy. Mom and dad need to keep up on this too or our own stuff will take over the home!
Toilets & Sinks
This one, believe it or not can be started as young as three years old. I do not use toxic chemicals when cleaning so I feel good knowing they aren’t being harmed. We use Norwex rags in our home and I have LOVED it! We have a set for the toilet, sinks, face and body, kitchen, car…you name it! lol When they were little we taught them to wipe the seat and handle. Me and my husband first scrubbed them raw before we started the kids on doing them daily (yes daily) so that we knew even if they didn’t do it right or super well, they were clean. I had them wipe down daily because you are less prone to care how well they do it if they haven’t been sitting there for a while and then a three year old comes in to clean them. Does that make sense? Daily, bacteria is being killed and maybe no one even used that toilet the whole day and it’s STILL getting cleaned daily. It’s a good habit. Sinks are the same too. Wipe them down and get the handles. As they grew, they cleaned more thoroughly and we didn’t have to watch it as much but I’m still glad I went through most of the work with them to get to where we are now.
When the kids were younger (not in school) we did more chores around the house but it was never a bulk of our day. As the kids are in school now all day long the only chores they do daily are picking up after themselves and making their bed in the morning. That’s it. We reserve more clean up time on Saturdays as a family before we start our day.
Summer Schedule
Things are only a pinch different in the summer…….and I LOVE it!!!!! The house is SO clean most of the time (I mean, we aren’t robots) and the boys don’t complain half as much because most of it is done….ALL the time!!! The weekend before summer vaca we sit down and talk about hours of operation. I want the kids to know that we value their opinions. We discuss when the kitchen will be “open”, what we do if someone forgets to make their bed? What time should all chores be done everyday? What happens if we don’t get done with chores before the time we set? Here is what has worked for our family.
– More than welcome to come down and have breakfast after beds are made. If you forget, no worries, you can pick a simple chore from the “extra list” and fills moms bucket by doing it that day.
– These chores are done Mon, Wed, Fri: bed, room, general pickup, toilets & sinks (so we have more family play time on Saturdays), playroom, dishes as needed.
– These chores are done Tues, Thurs, Saturday: bed, room, general pickup, playroom, laundry as needed
– One chore that only comes around on Saturday is weeding. The boys choose one side of the house each and get any weeds they see. As they have gotten older they love listening to music while doing this and each have headphones to do so. Because we do this every Saturday, the weeds are few and far between and we are always hitting at least two sides of the house every week (three if you consider I’m out in the front almost everyday tending to plants). I began with us doing all around the house together every Saturday but found that the complaints began after 15 min and it was just unbearable. This works and my planting beds look great lol!
Commissions VS Contributions
Now, I want to talk about commissions vs contributions and how it works with our family. I have always heard the best way to potty train (stay with me) is to give them tons of juice for tons of practice. I want my kids to learn from their own experiences, with not a lot of money, how to handle it. Therefore I want to give them lots of practice. It started out with a dime every time they cleaned the toilet or sink. Then that grew as they got older. It was fascinating to see how each of them responded to money. They both wanted a sucker EVERY time they were paid. As they got older and we taught them more, our oldest realized he could NOT buy a sucker one week and would have enough to buy a candy bar if he saved. Then that thought grew and grew with him till he saved for an entire YEAR to buy himself a cheap tablet (wasn’t cheap to him though!). Our second took a LOT longer to learn this lesson and still will go to the store after saving, not see the toy he wanted and just buy anything because he can lol. The point is, we are teaching and THEY are putting it into practice with minimal involvement from us so that they feel the weight of a few decisions in their lives. They get paid for toilets (the oldest does that one), sinks (second born) and during the summer for weeding. The rest of the chores are called contributions. They live in our home and need to be apart of the team that keeps it clean.
#2- TEACH KIDDOS TO EAT
Teaching children to eat??? I know, sounds weird right? Put it in your mouth, chew, swallow end of story! Well, you would think! I came from a family of 5 kids and for the majority of my growing up it was all boys. None of us were picky eaters and we ALL wanted seconds! We were EATERS I tell you!!! I had never even really heard of a picky eater until my first came along. We are talking not wanting to touch food at all (first time mom be screamin “WHAT ABOUT THE PINCER REFLEX YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO LEARN?????”) He would gag on things, he would throw up some things…I was not prepared for this! What do you mean you don’t like food? How are you my son? As he got older we realized that we really needed to take action. To give you a little backstory, my husband was a suuuuuuper picky eater as well. As soon as he left home he moved to Russia for a little bit and he realized that nothing over there was familiar and he couldn’t be picky. He had to eat something! As he tried more things he realized how much he did enjoy other foods. Now he takes forever in a restaurant deciding what he wants to eat because he never wants to get the same thing.
picture source: Huffington Post
Because of that experience Kevin put a little more pressure on Kayson because he knew that he really would like things if he just tried them. I was a little more timid to make him eat because I had heard horror stories of it backfiring and getting worse by forcing it into their mouths. What we decided is on the “three thank you bites” rule. Mom thank you so much for making this meal I will take three bites of each thing you have put on my plate. As he started doing this, and had to try things multiple times, he started to realize that there are some foods that he enjoys. It still isn’t perfect because there are things he doesn’t like but he has now realized how much he loves sushi, jambalaya, borsh, salmon, and other random things that a picky eater typically wouldn’t enjoy. Our other kids are pretty good eaters but we still do the three thank you bite rule every time we try something new. Another thing that we do to help promote healthy eating is our salad bar. I have done multiple periscopes on this and I have add people ask me to write this all out so I’m so glad I’m finally doing this.
We usually do spinach as the base of our salad. What we do is we put out tons of scrumptious toppings. These are the types of things that I like: black beans, olives, raw almonds, broccoli, Cauliflower, sweet peppers, carrots, corn, dried fruit, dressings, sprouts, mushrooms, egg whites, asparagus, chicken, you get the idea. I don’t put all of these out at the same time but I have at least seven toppings out for people to choose. Our rule is a handful of greens and then they need to choose at least five toppings…dressing does not count as a topping. We spoken to our boys about what it means to fuel our bodies and to give us proper nourishment to grow. We talk about lean meats, sodium intake, good versus bad fat.
I have learned so much from my friends about healthy eating, cleeeaaaaan eating and I absolutely love it. Ladies……I may be a pretty clean eater but I have THE hardest time being a leeeaaaan eater. My portion sizes are quite frankly out of control and my love of real butter is unmatched and it’s a struggle I face daily. I want my kids to be better than me (am I alone?). It has been a struggle to get the rest of the family on board with the strictness with which I want our food to become. I’ve had to let go of the dream of the bread I had been buying….they only want white. BUT I try to find the best darn ingredients I can for that white loaf!!! Every Christmas Eve we have Captain Crunch Berries (my side’s family tradition) and Lucky Charms on St. Patty’s Day but other than that no sugar cereals. I have also had to let go of planting my own edible garden….I stink at it! I can grow plants all over my yard that are for looking at but when it comes to eating? My thumb appears to be black! I did love having the occasional snap pea and tomato from our garden while it lasted though. There was something romantic and nostalgic about asking them to run out and grab a few veggies from the vine {sigh}. One day friends, one day.
Another good practice is to take them shopping with me so they can be educated on labels. For the most part if they can’t pronounce it, we don’t buy it. We turn it all into a game and it’s fun (totally inspired by Mary Poppins of course).
Again, I don’t profess to be all knowing about eating perfectly but I do know that after trial and error (a lot of error) we have found what works for us.
I have two other areas I’d love to write about. Sleep training and screen time. But we will save those for another time. I felt these two were the things that were most important to our family for the long haul when they are out of the house and have their own families. Are there things you have found with either of these two categories that work for you? I’d love to hear them!
It all started with an idea two years ago. An idea that if I was truly going to transform my home into a haunted manor, then the manor needed a story and a family that used to live there. Indeed, there needed to be a large gothic looking family picture. We rented our apparel from Archive Costumes, found a cemetery and the rest is history! We had so much fun that we decided to do it for our family photos and when inspiration hit, we would do it again and again. Well this year inspiration knocked me over the head and called me Susan! Steam Punk Peter Pan!!!!! I had this vision in my head and I feel we captured it ten fold! The costumes were so much fun to create that I was so sad when it was over and can’t wait for next year. There are going to be a TON of images with details so if you’re ready, here we gooooooooooooooo OFF to Neverland (cue magical music).
Our youngest Darling was Branson, of course with his bear. We rented his hat from Archive Costumes and the rest I pieced together. The top id from his scarecrow costume two years ago. Yes his belly showed more than once but it added to the lost boy steam punk look perfectly! The pants were also from an old Star Wars Jedi costume which had feet that covered the shoes which, in a sense, gave him the appearance of a kind of footie pajama. I felt a cape would be fun and unexpected but also would tie in with the whole aviator thing he had going on.
I added a few smudges with dark brown eyeshadow because he naturally has been paying in Neverland with no mother to tell him to wash up.
We borrowed a bear from a neighbor and set to work on his fairly easy costume. I took a pair of old swim goggles, some amazing metallic paint from Deco Art and black chalk paint and tried to match them up without going too overboard. A piece of leftover cream fabric became the scarf and little bear was done.
Next was John Darling. His was a little more tricky seeing as how there weren’t a ton of ways I could think of to be creative. I started with one of Kevin’s dress shirts with only my knee high white socks underneath but then I thought better of myself. First of all, it’s cold outside! And second, he’s an almost 12 year old boy that I’m sure wants to be out in more than just his knickers. Instead I tried to think more outside of the box. I knew that he would wear the same war paint that john did in the movie and that it would be a mustard color and knowing he had mustard skinny jeans…BAM, it was destiny! lol His top hat was one that could be found at a local party store (I think I got it in the New Years Eve section) and added some feathers and gears. The glasses were from a Harry Potter costume, the vest was church attire he had since grown out of and despite me wanting him to wear funky colored striped socks…….he forgot and pulled a Michael Jackson. I guess not everything can be perfect right? 😉 When making his vest details I tried to stay true to his character and the steam punk version we were trying to achieve. I hot glued gears on each button, took an old necklace I never wore and made the chain and attached a compass to the end of that. Love how it turned out!
Oh Miss Bell, my sweet Sophie, my poor hungry baby. It was still half hour till she was supposed to eat and I thought I had timed it perfectly. She is such a happy baby….I swear! She also has a bit of reflux though so I thought, let’s shoot before she needs to eat and she won’t be spitting up all over everyone for the whole thing. I have come to the conclusion that although she loves us, she did NOT like us using her pixie dust. That’s my girl, getting into character {sniff}. I knew I wanted her color palette to be more subdued and woodsy so I set off to the beloved Lobby of Hobby and bought creamy yellow, green and sparkly brown tulle, a strip of brown fur, gold bells and large brown puff balls. A neighbor was kind enough to let me have some fairy wings that I could do ANYthing to!
The wings were green with green puff paint on the veins and green gems. I went over the veins with gold first and then did a layer of hairspray. I took off the gems and glued feathers I already had on hand to the edges. I then took some leftover tule from her costume, tied them in knots and glued them to the middle of the back. I was sooooo beyond happy with how they turned out =).
Her hat was a hand me down and I just glued a brown puff, feathers and one gear to the top.
The brown fur was supposed to be attached in the front to make a full collar but she kept EATING it! Yuck lol! It had lovely slobber everywhere but finally at one point she stopped so we attached it (see later photos). Her bodice was another hand me down and was cream netting around her middle, then cream tule was tied on to make a tutu. I just added onto that all the colors I bought and voila! She was our woodland Tinkerbell.
Her tights were super fun to do and I loved that I could have just left them white, but they ended up being a fantastic little detail. I had some green and gold ribbon I had gotten on sale at Michael’s. I was running low on time so a fabulous neighbor helped me out by tying a bow at the top, she stitched it to keep it looking perfect and then hot glued them onto the thigh part. We just let the end of the ribbon dangle with bells at the bottom, till Sophie was in them. As soon as she was, we wrapped the ribbon around her legs going downward and tied them off in the back. She jingled and jangled everywhere we went =). We then glued tiny brown safety pins to the brown puffs and attached them to the tights before putting Sophie in them.
I used an empty Christmas ball (the kind you buy to make your own ornament) and filled it with large gold glitter. Put a cork in it and glued bells, tulle and feathers to the top. This may have been one of my FAVORITE pieces out of everything!!!
Kev’s costume was pretty basic and he couldn’t have been happier about that lol! He had this hat from Russia already so I added the feathers and gears, we put saftey pins on his vest and a few other details. I found feather charms from Hobby Lobby and pinned those on as well. He has a watch obsession so he picked a few he wanted to wear and threw them on. I love the idea of Peter Pan, who has no concept of time, wearing three watches. Oh the irony of it all ; D. I made sure the colors he chose for layering his tops were green and he was done. We ended up taking a few pics the next day and he wore dark skinny jeans…..I wish he had this day too because they really completed the punk look. But he’s still pretty fun for me to look all dreamy eyed at =).
I absolutely adore his and Sophie’s relationship. He dotes on her so much and it was only fitting that he be “her” Peter Pan {sigh}.
Look at her face ha ha ha ha. “Whooooooo took my pixie dust??????” Okay, I’ll stop talking for a spell, enjoy some pics…
My costume was the easiest of all because I went to my local theater and rented it!!! The only problem with renting is when you have to take it back. Sooooo sad!!!! Can’t I just keep it forever????
The measuring tape suspenders were attached to the brown leather belt. Hanging from there were the straps and clasps to hold the dress up in the front. I could have made it as high or low as I wanted. So genius!!! The people over at Archive Costumes (Orem Hale Theater) do NOT mess around!!! Each of their costumes is well made and has so much character and creativity to them.
I always had this problem with Wendy and Peter’s relationship. There needed to be some KISSIN! Yes they were young, but I watched it when I was young and when I hit Wendy’s age IIIII had a crush on Peter and totally would have wanted him to kiss me! I can’t tell you the feels I have for this shoot when I think about rushing around getting everything ready, trying to make it look like the images in my head, getting the boys positioned, Sophie to stop crying, laughing at her obvious distain for the bumbo then he got close and everything went quiet. I love my husband so much and am so in awe of the way he puts up with me and still loves me. He is such an awesome daddy, provider and friend that I could never imagine life without him. At that moment none of me wanted to be Wendy in Neverland because I can’t wait to grow old with him.
Thanks for taking a trip with us to Neverland! We now return you to your normal lives to find magic and fun in all the details of your day =).
A lot of my ideas come from perusing Pinterest and I’m so excited to be attending Pinners Conference this year in Salt Lake City!!! Will you be there too?
All of these amazing photos were taken by Jordan Bree Photography and we couldn’t have been happier with how she captured EvErYtHiNg!!!!!
If you’ve followed me for a while then you know my heart belongs to Halloween and dressing up ; D.
I’ll not share with you the recent heartbreak I felt after hearing certain words uttered by my “old” children……….okay I will!!!! “Mom, can we dress up on our own this year?” beeeeeeeeeeeeeep
After I was resuscitated by medical professionals my husband reminded me that I indeed still had one little smoosh that was down to follow mommy anywhere. Oh my sweet Sophie, will you be buds with me forever? Will you love and adore coordinating outfits and dressing up for Halloween with me always?
I was so excited when Sophie and I were asked to be apart of such a fun and creative shoot involving the amazing people over at Shabby Apple and Freshly Picked.
The objective? Choose a gorgeous Shabby Apple dress and somehow transform it into an easy Halloween costume. Challenge accepted!!!!!
I had been eyeing their Nutcracker dress for a while because of it’s elegance and clean classic lines. I knew once I looked at it from a costume perspective that it could ROCK as Mary Poppins.
It really was super simple and I had a blast putting all the pieces together. I bought this hat at a Halloween store for super cheap and just sewed and used a hot glue gun to add the berries, buttons and flowers. The flowers were from the dollar store and the berries were from some old Christmas decor…holler!!! The apron I got from my most trusted Halloween source, Hale Center Theatre in Orem. If you have a local theatre around you, for SURE look into seeing if they rent costumes. Chances are they do and they have amazing costumes from all the plays they’ve ever done! I pinned one of Sophie’s maaaaany bows to the apron and snap! The costume is complete!
I decided that lil Sophie would be Jane and that we could very easily find a darling dress in her wardrobe. The knee high sock are just the run of the mills socks you can purchase at Walmart for super cheap. Just don’t roll them or fold them and voila! Her hat was a gift from a baby shower and you may recognize it from her nursery post. I love these darling suede moccs because they go with EVERYTHING! Look at that sweet face {melting heart}. She had so much fun with everyone…but then crashed once it was almost over. Did I hide it well in the group shot? LOL she was OUT!!!
Here are some of the other easy family Halloween costume ideas to check out.
When starting any project do you have a place that you go for inspiration? A store that you love the most? A theme that you just can’t get out of your head? As many of you know, I recently did a little bit of an overhaul on my house. Painted almost every wall and am in the process of switching out furniture. Some of you may know the torment of trying to pick the perfect grey. You become easily cross eyed staring at all the different hued paint swatches and want to pull your hair out! Just me? Really? Well, long before we became pregnant with lil Sophie I was having the hardest time picking out the perfect grey for our very warm toned house. I finally decided to call on an expert and BOY was she amazing!!! She truly picked our perfect grey and then told me what color schemes would be perfect for each room. Sophie’s room used to be my makeup/guest room. When Mary Ellen came into that room she suggested a light and airy room where guests would feel refreshed and relaxed. She said different shades of white and I just melted. This room, unfortunately, would be one of the last on my list because it wasn’t used all that much. Fast forward to not only knowing we were pregnant, but knowing this baby was actually sticking around, I KNEW the color scheme. What a beautiful idea to give this baby an all white nursery and to also stick with the color scheme for the guest room when she’s all done with it! Call me crazy but I just adore buying things for the long haul and that can be used for dual purposes ; ).
Welcome to Sophie’s nursery.
I looked far and wide for the perfect keepsake board for right when you walked in her room. A board that would have all of her “firsts” pinned. Her first picture, her first footprint, a lock from her first precious haircut. I even kept the lace bows pins I made for her gender reveal cake for this very purpose (insert heart). I finally found the perfect one at Michael’s and it was 40% off AND the name of the product line??? SOPHIE!!!!!! Kismet much???
Sophie has one of those rooms where the closet placement is just lovely. It’s right behind that keepsake board so when you walk in, it’s right there in your face. I decided to use that to my advantage and run a tension rod across the ceiling and hung these beautiful chiffon drapes right at the entry.
{sigh} I love her room. It’s light and bright and makes me happy. It really does make me feel relaxed…that chick knows her stuff eh? lol
Every nursery demands a few things…although we do like to fluff it up with even more right? But it really does need a place for baby to sleep. This beautiful crib was given to us by a dear friend for Sophie and I can’t tell you what it did to my tired, project loving heart, to have it already be the color I wanted. To not have to sand and paint really made me happy. I’ve been a tad bit over big projects lately. The totally breathable, mesh bumper we found {here}. The darling layered tule bed skirt we found {here}. And then we just bought your typical, run of the mill white crib sheets. I wanted to add interesting pieces with a good amount of texture around the room and this rug totally fit the bill. Under $15 at Ikea…score!
More texture and just downright dreamy details can come from blankets as well. The very textured white blanket underneath is also an Ikea find. The layered, creamy with a touch a pink blanket was a gift from my dear friend Summer of She Leaves A Little Sparkle.
I seriously die over her cute lil crib, her darling blankets and her sweet bunny. That was one of her first gifts and you can find a similar one {here}. It is the SOFTEST lil thing!!!
My sweet friend Karen is a beautiful artist. She’s an AMAZING artist!!! She hand wrote this quote for me. Can you even believe that? You can find more of her amazingness {here} on Instagram. I found this quote a while ago and where most people might think of their significant other, I immediately thought of Sophie. We had been trying for so long and I knew that a lil smoosh was out there for us. Right when I saw her sweet face, I knew it. She was the one. She was the puzzle piece that was missing in our family.
Another large piece that is quite essential to a nursery is a dresser and I LOVE the simplicity of this one from Ikea. We decided to splurge ever so slightly for this one and the mirror above it because I loved them so much. I think they are both so well priced though and the simple elegant lines can go with any style. And go figure the cream cart peaking from around the corner holding all of her accessories is also from Ikea lol.
I am slightly obsessed with apothecary jars and use them for almost all of my decorating, seasonal or not. These ones came from around the house and I knew I wanted to put cute baby things in them. Clothes pins, cotton balls and some bow accessories…I mean was there any doubt this little one would have a ton of bows? The porcelain ball and birdies came from Hobby Lobby, the clock is from Michael’s and the owl dish to hold her tiny bracelets was a gift from the amazing photographer taking all these pics ; ).
I decided early on that we were going to do cloth diapers after much fear and research lol. The hubs was reluctant but now we are SO glad that we did and wouldn’t change (see what I did there) a thing! I knew I would need a wet bag close to her changing table so I bought the same crystal tie backs from the curtains to hang it. They come in pairs so I used the other one to hold back the chiffon curtain hanging just at her entry. This hat makes me think of Anne of Green Gables and I couldn’t love my friend Summer any more for getting it for her. You’ll also be able to see her wearing it in an upcoming photoshoot we did!
I’m a big believer in no wasted space but not being too cluttery. The space just above the closet is a PERFECT place to set a scene. I decided to put a few of my favorites up there to share with Sophie a little bit about her mama. I am OBSESSED with clocks for some reason. I love whimsical stories especially romantic ones from the regency era hence the water basin and pitcher (scored from a second hand store!) and I also love to read!!! You all know that from my book club posts but I wanted to be selective in the books I put up there. There are a thousand more, but these are just a few I want her to read and enjoy or live by. Anne of Green Gables was for SURE a must!!!
Well, we sure has a good time showing you around! If you have any questions or comments we would love to hear from you!
Isn’t she just a doll??? Oh how we love her! These are our favorite cloth diapers and her darling bow is from Zelda Matilda. You can use our special code sophie15 to get 15% off your purchase there! She has the CUTEST bows and bibs and accessories for smooshies =).
All photos (except the last grainy one taken with my phone lol) taken by:
