Category: Family

Do You Remember The Smells Of Christmas?

pine trees

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Isn’t it the greatest? The warm feeling of friends and family everywhere, plans of spending time in front of the fire with my favorite books or a 5,000 piece puzzle and even a cup or two of ridiculously rich eggnog. And I didn’t even get to the presents. Not that they count, or anything materialistic like that. Not to be cliché, but it really is the most wonderful time of…
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Taylor Swift 1989

Taylor Swift 1989

Here is the point in our relationship where I confess to my closet love for the one and only Miss Taylor Swift. Or T. Swift, if you live at my house. Or if you are cool. I finally gave into my urgings a few days ago and downloaded her new, 1989,  album and it’s been looping on repeat since. Taylor Swift 1989. IT’S THAT GOOD, ear worm type stuff. So what, I’m a 30-something wife and mother with decidedly more…
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Happy Wednesday And A Beautiful Girl

wordless wednesday

It’s another beautiful day, friends.  The scent of Autumn is in the air.  The snow is starting to fall, one trickling snowflake at a time.  It’s cold enough for hot drinks and cozy fires, a good novel on the couch.  Time to tuck in with your favorite TV shows and hunker down for the Winter. What are you watching, what are you reading?  I’m reading romance novels, one after the other.  Ones with totally implausible plot-lines and modern day, swashbuckling…
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3 Crazy Easy DIY Halloween Costumes

If you are looking for awesome DIY Halloween costumes for kids, stick around. Because Halloween is coming, friends. And you’re going to need some costumes. And you’re going to need them easy and you’re going to want them cheap. Maybe these 3 quick and painless ideas will inspire you.  All of these costumes were pulled together using things we found already laying around in our closets & craft bin, with the exception of a few minor accessories to add a…
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The Very Best Smell Of All – The Ocean

beach

Do you have a very favorite smell? Like, you go into a bookstore and breathe in a huge, yoga type breath, and you’re transported by the smell of new books and coffee to a happy place? I have a few of those smells in my life. Apple scented candles transport me instantly to back-to-school time; something about apples being ripe and being canned in my mother’s kitchen when I was a child, right around the time I started school every…
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#Blogust We Lift Together In The Face Of Darkness

We Lift Together In The Face Of Darkness

Before you even read this, know that every comment and social media share on this post (and all #Blogust posts) is equal to a vaccine for children across the world.  Please share and comment.   I’ve talked a bit about the very difficult year we’ve had at the Czarnecki household, and the profound effect it has had on our family.  Our baby girl (she’s nearly 15) has been ill since last winter, and since then we’ve gone through every possible test,…
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Hosting An Art Party For Kids

Art party for kids

This post is sponsored by Target. More Turtles, More Bold and Daring Fun: Blur the lines of fantasy and reality with your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Target. Art is a part of my daily life.  It just is.  Remember how I told you my son’s life passions all lead back to art?  Art, art projects, new ideas, and collections of a random assortment of feathers and rocks and random paraphernalia for new collaborations make their way into my…
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Easy Beach Sand Souvenir DIY

How To Make A Simple Keepsake with Sand From Your Beach Vacation | Petit Elefant

You want to make this beach sand souvenir for yourself. I know, because, well, if the amount of sand we shake out of our suitcases, vacuum out of the car and wash out of our hair every summer is any kind of indicator, then we are definitely a family of beachcombers. And no matter whether we drive to a local lakeside beach or fly to a more far flung oceanside locale, our modus operandi is always the same: build sandcastles that…
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Learning to Play with Your Lifes Passions

water colors

When did you know your life’s passion?  Is there something you loved, adored more than life itself, from the time you were a small child?  I think if we all went back to that place of loving something completely, with a passion we forgot we had, and made it our life’s vocation, we’d all be happier people. There’s something beautiful about stepping outside your current world to discover a new one.  I don’t think we do it often enough as…
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