Easter Bunnies

If you're looking for an Easter present for your little one, why not give them an Easter Bunny? Timohandmade's are so beautiful, don't you think? Since we already have a present for Thomas for this Easter, I'm filing this idea away for next year!

How to: Ensure You're Prepared For Birthday Parties

Everyone I know with a toddler or older child talks about the endless stream of birthday party invites that come home in book bags from daycare and school. Personally, I love birthdays and all celebrations of life, so encouraging and enjoying Thomas' participating in the parties of his little friends is important to me. What's less desirable is thinking of spending hours at a big box toy store buying gifts (not because I don't believe in gifts or am not generous, but rather because I dislike big box toy stores). Enter my solution - a major book purchase once (or twice) annually to prepare for these parties. With a stack of books tucked away and a spreadsheet to keep track of which books we've given to which kids, making it out to all those parties should be painless.

I love children's literature, and think books make great gifts. I always aim to find a unique book (maybe something newly released or perhaps re-released) for my recipients. Here are some of my favourites:

• I Know A Lot of Things
• Little Blue and Little Yellow
  
• Bruno Munari's ABC
  
• Little 1
  
• Along A Long Road
• The Coloring Book
  
• Cat at Night
  
• Sparkle and Spin
  
• Little Owl Lost
  
• Where's Walrus?
• A Long Piece of String
• Henri's Walk to Paris
• The Other Side
• One Red Dot
• People
• Not a Box
• Who Will Comfort Toffle?
• Iggy Peck, Architect
  
• Push Here
• The Conductor

What are your favourite children's books? Images via 36 pages.

Question: Do you give Easter Presents?

Like everyone, Greg and I both brought our own sets of assumptions about any number of things to our new roles as parents with the arrival of Thomas. One of the first times that we noticed a difference in our assumptions was during our Easter planning. For Thomas, I expected Easter to include (though obviously not this year as he's too little) chocolate eggs and a present from the Easter Bunny, while Greg expected it to include chocolate and an egg hunt. Does the Easter Bunny bring presents to your house? Beyond birthdays and Christmas (if you celebrate it), on what other special occasions, if any, do you give gifts to your children? Valentine's Day? The Last Day of School? Thanksgiving? Upon returning from a work trip? I'm so curious!

While we're happy to give gifts to our son regularly and for no reason at all, we're keen to minimize the occassions where others in our family and near to us feel pressure to give gifts to our little man. Instead, we've asked them to make donations to our local food bank in his honour (we did this for his Christening and plan to do so again for his first birthday). Once Thomas is older, we'll ask him whether he wants to continue the food bank tradition.

As we look forward to this next holiday, I'm excited to think about how we can put our own stamp on Easter and make it something special and unique for our family and our son. Image via The Foodie's Kitchen.

Seasonings

Yesterday, a large polka dot package arrived in the post from my mother-in-law with a bunch of Christmas presents (thank you in advance!). Included were a few to open before the big day, and I'm excited to have a replenished cupcake accessories cupboard (fun wrappers and sticks), and am quite looking forward to trying the range of salts from Sea to Sky Seasonings. Bacon salt? Sounds delicious! If you're still looking for a few last minute gifts, the combination salt towers are perfect for stocking stuffers.

Wine Rack

What a great DIY hostess present!

Puppet

My cousin's set to have her second baby in September (a girl named Charlotte... which is also the name of my paternal grandmother though she's better known by her middle name - Viola).

While meandering about Water Street ce soir (on our two month wedding anniversary - it's all about celebrating every step, no?), we stopped by Gingersnap, Twisted Sister Boutik and Newfoundland Weavery seeking out the perfect (pink!) present for her baby shower this coming Sunday. I fell in love with Camper baby shoes and tree house mobiles. My heart melted over sailor rompers and sequined slippers. I debated purchasing a kimono dress and polka dot bloomers. We ultimately settled on something else entirely - a Cate and Levi hand puppet. I love it! I hope my cousin adores the sweet puppet as much as I do!

P.S. Coincidentally, Greg and I returned home tonight to the second message today enquiring about whether we're set to have children!

rebar

Feeling inspired by Julie and Julia, and made fortunate due to a fantastically gifted cookbook from a dear friend on the occasion of our wedding, I'm planning to cook (and experiment) my way through rebar's modern food cookbook over the next year. I've been slacking on my kitchen adventures for the past few months and I'm keen to get back to trying new things.

Castle

Gregory, this is a hint for what I'm giving you for your birthday. Image via Akbar Simonse.