// DIY Kids' Art Easel

Toby loves writing on chalkboards and dry erase boards. He does his best learning when he's able to freely write and express himself. We had been toying with the idea of getting him an easel for his bedroom, but most of manufactured ones we saw were either too childish and plastic, or they were too big and bulky (not to mention expensive!) We decided we'd build him one ourselves in order to save money and space. We're tickled with how it turned out, and we're also amazed at how simple it was to put together. Toby absolutely adores it, and I think it might be a great addition to your kiddos' room or maybe to your classroom! We planned to use a thin plywood for the writing space, but we actually found an 18x24" dry erase board at Hobby Lobby for $8. We used a 40% off coupon (found on their site!) and got it for about $5. I had some chalkboard paint lying around so I just painted the back of the dry erase board. You'd never know I didn't buy it that way. You can't beat that! Here's what we did...

Supplies Needed:

Two 6' 1x2s

One 8' 1x2

1.25" screws

One small hinge

Two eye hooks

Chain
Dry erase and/or Chalk board

* The shape and size of this easel is based on an 18x24" chalk board and a Toby. If you have a different size board or user the height should easily be adjustable without changing any of the angles by adding (or removing) length to your legs, head piece and cross bar. 

Cut List:

Two 48" legs with 15 degree cuts 

One 48" leg with straight cuts

One 3.5" head pice with 15 degree cuts

One 28.5" cross bar

* Just a quick tip: the two front legs should end up being very long parallelograms. The cuts are made in the same direction each time, whereas the connecting "head" piece should be a trapezoid. The pictures should explain it well enough though!

First cut your head piece. This piece will join together your front two legs at the top. You want non-parallel 15 degree cuts (aka a trapezoid). The short side of the board should measure 3.5".

Next cut your two front legs. These should have parallel 15 degree cuts. They should measure 48". Line up the legs with the head piece and secure them in place with screws. 

Now attach the hinge to the top center of the head piece. Then attach your remaining leg to the other side of the hinge.

Stand your easel up and measure 22" up from the bottom of each front leg and make a mark. This mark will be the bottom of your cross bar. The cross bar should be attached to the front of the easel and on the opposite side of the head piece. Screw it together from the back of the legs. We cut our cross bar with 20 degree ends just for looks. Straight cuts would work just the same. 

Initially I secured each joint with one screw. It wasn't quite as solid as I wanted. Since there wasn't enough room for additional screws I put a couple of small nails in each joint. It really helped stiffen it up so I would recommend doing the same. 

Now drill a hole in the back center of the cross bar and thread in your first eye hook. Do the same thing the back leg at about the same height as the first one. It doesn't have to be perfect, just close.

Now spread the legs of the easel out to where you want them to sit. You want them spread out enough so that it is good and stable. Hold your chain up and to see how long you need to make it. (note: when buying your chain make sure you will be able to easily open and close the links with pliers.) Using pliers open up the link a little and slip it on the eye hook. Now just crimp it shut. 

Your easel is now ready to use! Or if you'd like you could paint or stain it like we did. We also added a hose clamp to attach a little Ikea pail so Toby could store his chalk, markers and erasers right on the easel. You could just as easily use a can or jar from your pantry. 

At the end of the day we're really pleased with the outcome and Toby loves it more than anything. He wakes up in the morning and instantly starts doodling away before he gets ready for school. We spent about one hour or less whipping this up and we spent well under $30 (in fact I think we only paid $15 or so since we had a few pieces laying around the house). I know many of my readers are elementary teachers or moms, so hopefully you've found it as fun as we did! If you end up making one yourself, I'd love to see the outcome! Happy Tuesday!

Teacher/Mama Style with The Morose Bee

Well hey there! I'm Emily from The Morose Bee and I am so honored to be posting on Little Chief Honeybee. Kaelah's blog is one of my favorites and I always looks forward to reading her posts. I'm an art teacher, a ceramic studio slave, and every now and then I manage to keep up with my Etsy shop and my blog. Most importantly, my life completely revolves around working with kids. They are so full of joy and unyielding passion about nearly everything in their small little worlds and doing art projects with children is the most fulfilling job I could ever ask for. But, let's be honest, it's thoroughly exhausting and so difficult to maintain a sense of self let alone a sense of style. With wonderfully regular appearances of Toby now on Little Chief Honeybee, I thought this was the perfect time to share a post on some tips regarding style and working with kids. 

I realize there are so many wonderful mom bloggers out there sharing "Mama Style" and they totally rock! However, what about the people that spend 10 hours a day chasing around kiddos, but aren't full time parents? Things like paint, dirt, sweat, and mysterious kid muck play a huge role in what I have to chose to wear in the morning just like so many parents. So consider this a bit of teacher style, a bit of mama style, and a whole lot of trying to keep your sanity. 

Start Conservative

I think this applies if you're an educator meeting a new class of students, a babysitter going to a family home for the first time, or even a mom trying out a new playgroup or meet up. For me, starting with a simple look helps to avoid any preconceived notions anyone could try and make about me. I have many tattoos, sometimes I dye my hair crazy colors, and sometimes I make "funky" clothing choices. Those are all things that can make other parents skeptical. Now, I'm not saying hide you are by any stretch. But, for me, a morning with a new group of kids starts with a high neck dress that hides my chest tattoo and hits me at the knee paired with simple black flats.

It's comfortable.

It's cute.

It's not offensive.

It makes for an easy morning and day.

Annnnddddd for the days that you sleep through your alarm and wake up late, it makes it easy to get dressed in a snap. Uhh... not that I've ever done that.

Kids Like Quirky

I may start simple, but I usually try and keep fun elements in my wardrobe. Not only are silly accessories something that I enjoy wearing, but it makes a fun conversation piece with the kids. Just because you're in a position where you need to appear to be a responsible and "in control" adult, doesn't mean you have to be boring. Days that I wear my mustache rings are a huge hit. The kids think they are so silly and try to make their own out of clay.

Lightweight Accessories Are Your New Best Friend

Looking for a way to jazz up a t-shirt so you can be comfortable but still have some flair? Or maybe you're still exploring that whole work to evening multipurpose thing that's always been tough for me to get a hang of. What I've found is that lightweight scarves and other accessories are the bomb. I can throw on jeans and a t-shirt for work and then throw on a fun scarf and a sparkly bangle to meet up with friends for a coffee without feeling like a bum. Even if you choose to wear it with your kids, a lightweight material won't be bulky or in your way. Things that are heavy, chunky, or clank against each other (like oversized chandelier earrings) can be just plain annoying when wrangling toddlers.

Put Your Game Face On

There are some days where you just want to be in your jammies all day long and not have to talk to anyone not to mention have to take care of little ones. On days like this, I make sure to put on a little make up and have my purse stocked with a few essentials like oil blotting sheets. It may seem contradictory to feeling like you don't have the energy to do anything, but days that I put on make up I just feel READY. And even if, on the especially cranky days, feeling put together doesn't quite to the job, at least the rest of world thinks I look better than I feel.

Some of my favorite go to items: 1. Lush Skin Drink Moisturizer 2. Biore Shine Blotting Sheets 3. Burts Bee's Tinted Lip Gloss 4. Burts Bee's Lemon Butter Cuticule Cream 5. Maybelline Great Lash Mascara 6. Neutrogena Blush

Know What To Leave Out

Sometimes there are things that its just not worth trying to keep up with. About 6 months into my job, I realized trying to keep my nails painted just wasn't happening. My hands are in water constantly between the art projects and just general sanitary reasons with the kids. As much as I love fun nail polish colors and getting a special treat manicure, whenever I try to paint my nails I just end up with half chipped polish that looks unprofessional to say the least. Depending on your situation, the thing in your daily routine that you may choose to cut out could be different, but the point is some elements of a beauty or fashion routine can't be maintained without stressing yourself out. Keep the things that make you feel good and the rest... why bother?

So there it is. The 5 most helpful and truthful things I can think of for how stay comfortable and still feel stylish while working with kids. I am so thankful to Kaelah for giving me this opportunity to share with all of you and I hope some of the tips will be helpful to some of the LCH followers!

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Thanks to Emily for dropping in to share this awesome guest post! I think all of this is such great info for moms, teachers, and nannies alike. Goodness knows I've toned it down quite a bit since Toby came around. Sometimes it really does do you some good to just reign it in and keep it simple (but still fun!). Be sure to swing by Emily's blog and shop to learn more about her!

Emily is a featured sponsor on LCH this month. If you would like to get info on how to become a featured sponsor and have your own guest post, please visit the sponsorship page or email me!

// Happy Heart Kid Giveaway

I'm really excited about today's giveaway because it's for a brand/product that Toby has been using for several months now. Happy Heart Kid is a line of activity kits aimed to children to help teach social emotional learning. With kits such as Empathy, Courage, Patience, and Responsibility (among others), children learn valuable lessons while "playing" with their parents. My personal favorite of all the kits we have is Empathy, but Toby loves the Manners game. Archana, the brains of HHK, got in touch with me several months ago simply asking if Toby would like to receive some of their stuff to play around with. There was no obligation to share the product anywhere, or write about it, etc. She just wanted some honest feedback on how we both felt about it after playing. Toby was instantly hooked and he loved when we'd take time out of our evenings to play. It can be hard to ensure Toby gets as much individual attention as he needs since he's constantly in and out of the house, playing sports and playing with the kids next door. Not to mention the added obstacle of Linden. When we sprawl out in the living room to play, Toby's eyes light up. The most recent kit we played with was Generosity. Toby is really good about being generous, despite not knowing what it was prior. (Last year he regularly took extra ice cream money to give to kids in his class who didn't have any. Proud mom moment!) It gave me the opportunity to teach him something so incredibly valuable. I asked Archana a few questions (below) and then there's a giveaway, too! Whether you have kids yourself or just know someone who does, these kits would make such a lovely gift. They're truly so fantastic.

Hi Archana! We are so tickled to have you with us today to tell us a little bit more about Happy Heart Kid! I’m sure everyone would love to know what inspired you to create this line and how HHK came to life. Care to share?

The idea for Happy Heart Kid was born while I volunteering at a neighborhood children's class. I met my friend Martha there and while we were working with young kids and planning lessons and activities around universal values such as patience, kindness, manners, team work, and more.  As we built relationships with these families, we realized that busy parents were constantly seeking tools to teach these same traits to their kids, and weave meaningful conversations into their everyday lives.  We all tend use situations when we observe bad behavior to react and talk to kids, but what if we made playtime a way to proactively get our kids to start thinking, practicing and talking about their character? Our goal was to create a line of products that used creative art projects and fun games to inspire meaningful playtime. What we realized after speaking with hundreds of parents is that each toy, book or kid product facilitates a certain interaction between parent and children. Just as Legos are about building, we wanted to provide a fun set of activities with the purpose of engaging kids in social and emotional learning through play.

The idea of interactive board games to help teach children a lesson is pretty clever! How did you outline what you could teach and how to approach the topic?

Our games and activities are created by Montessori teachers and mom themselves. I am usually just involved in project managing between the creators, graphic designers, copywriters, illustrators and our craft suppliers. We do a lot of user testing and our goal with these sessions is to make sure the activity is engaging, age appropriate and fun! It is difficult to test for social-emotional or non cognitive skills, but we do keep in mind a few things in mind when developing the product. 

1. Does the project activate learning vocabulary around character building skills e.g. ' learning phrases such as 'Try, Try Again' ?
2. Is it simple enough for parents to engage in talking about values during playtime ?
3. Does the pretend play component extend into a family's daily life as a teachable moment? 

How has HHK grown since it’s creation? Have you noticed parents and children taking a liking to your games?

The experience of launching and growing a business has been incredible for me. While challenging and fraught with many mistakes, HHK has helped me personally grow beyond my comfort zone and growth can be scary but rewarding in the long run. This business has given me the opportunity to connect with so many wonderful teachers and moms who have validated our mission. The best part of our job is to hear customers say things like "my son brought up sharing the felt necklace (from our Generosity Kit) when he shared his animal crackers at his playdate." And we have heard that several iterations of such testimonials,  and that has been heartwarming :)

When you think about the future of HHK, where do you see yourself and your brand? Do you hope to expand the values taught through games? 

We have big dreams to be a leader and innovator in the toy industry. We've seen upward trend of STEM products in our toy stores but there is little to nothing focusing on social emotional learning. While many schools are focused on developing these skills, parents need more tools available at home. We hope that trend for character education sees the same positive change we have witnessed in STEAM education over the last decade. Happy Heart Kid has several new products on additional character traits in the pipeline but are waiting until 2016 for new releases.  We are also approaching retailers this fall in preparation for the holiday season.

If you could give one piece of advice to parents of small children, what would it be?

The best part of my job is learning from moms and hearing their parenting stories. I really don't have any advice for parents other than to be yourself and enjoy the time with your kiddos. Our idea with HHK wasn't ascribe to or be a particular type of parenting philosophy about how to teach your kids values. We are just trying to creates resources for parents to use in whatever way best suits their lifestyle. We want to make it easy and provide a tool which we hope incorporates naturally into their playtime. 

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Happy Heart Kid is giving one lucky TCL reader $50 to spend on their site. All you have to do is leave a comment below on which kit(s) you'd spend your winnings on!

You can earn additional entries by Following Happy Heart Kid on Instagram and Liking Happy Heart Kid on Facebook. (Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry!)

A winner will be chosen at random next weekend and contacted shortly thereafter! Good luck, friends! And happy Friday!

xo KB

// Swapdom - Baby + Kids!

Remember back a few months ago when I introduced y'all to Swapdom?! Well it was awesome enough when it was just for women's clothing, but now they've gone and upped the ante and you can also swap babies and kids' gear! Clothing, accessories, toys, maternity clothes, whatever! I'm all for swapping my own clothes, but considering my body is going through something pretty new (and totally weird!), I've been in mommy-mode 24/7. I think about the kids full time and I haven't thought too terribly much about growing my own wardrobe. How will we dress the baby? What kind of toys will we buy him? What stroller makes the most sense? What size will Toby be wearing this Summer? Toby is outgrowing things at rapid speeds. I mean, the kid is 5 and can still wear 3T clothing... but all of his pants become highwaters in no time because he's just so darn tall. Tall and lanky. This means we're always rotating clothes in and out of his closet. There are a few pieces I plan on holding onto for the baby, but it'll be quite some time before he can fit in his big brother's clothes. Swapping for what we need in the time being is perfect!

And while no one asked me what I thought about the price of most kids clothing these days, I'm going to share anyway: HOLY MOLY! I'm astounded by the prices of some basic clothing pieces. I want Toby and the baby to be dressed cute (who doesn't?) but I don't plan on breaking the bank to achieve that. Toby grows so fast and I'm sure the baby will be just the same, I feel a lot better about spending some money here and there when I know I have a place I can easily swap it out once we're done with it. Plus Swapdom is like shopping... but free! You only pay for shipping! Win/win!

I went ahead and sorted through Toby's closet the other day when we had a huge cleaning day. His shoes never make it very long, but I was happy to find loads of clothing pieces I would be happy to trade out. I uploaded 3 pieces to my Swapdom profile so if you've got a kiddo of your own that wears a 3T, you might find something you love! I think I need to give his toy drawer a good once-over soon, too. I'm going to scour the site for more of my favorites and then see what I can pull from his clothes that we've stored for the season! (There are loads of little girl clothes already uploaded to Swapdom, so if you have a little lady, get to hunting! If you have a little dude, come upload some stuff so I can swap with you!)

A few favorite items currently available for swap: this three month bundle set (little boy), vintage moccasin boots, this embroidered dress from Mexico, and this stroller!

I think my favorite part about Swapdom is that the swaps you make don't have to be "this for this"... Instead you say you're interested in a swap and then Swapdom does all the work. They arrange multi-person swaps so everyone gets a fair deal (and what they wanted!) Their largest swap so far included NINE people!

If you're signing up to swap, consider getting a little personal kitchen/postal scale so you can get a quick (and accurate!) read on the item's weight! It might also be beneficial to have a few small boxes or mailers on hand so you can get your swap out to it's new owner.

And if all of that wasn't awesome enough, Swapdom is doing a super rad giveaway for a luxury Phil&Teds stroller! You can bet I've already entered! If you're interested in submitting your own entry, click HERE! Good luck!

This post was in partnership with Swapdom,

but all words and opinions (and excitement!) are my own!

PS; Happy freakin' Valentine's Day!

Featured Sponsor: Treena Bean

One of April's featured sponsors is the online shop, Treena Bean. Rachel is the owner and operator behind Treena Bean. A really cool thing about Rachel and her shop, TB, is that it's only a hobby and she prefers to keep it that way! Below you can check out her interview and enter to win a $65 shop credit for some goodies of your own!

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We're delighted to have you as a Featured Sponsor in April! Mind telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

“Hi, it is so great to meet all of your readers!! My name is Rachel Pope & I live in Iowa. I am married to a wonderful man & have five AMAZING children ranging in age from 12 to 22 years old. I homeschool my kids & love teaching them & watching as they learn new things. I also love seeing them explore themselves, finding & developing their talents. My husband Theodore has been an entrepreneur his whole life & has created many successful companies so he is a great example to me. I have many hobbies that I enjoy which include singing, creating beautiful cards, scrapbooking, sewing, home décor, canning, & reading.”

When did you start Treena Bean and how did it come to fruition?

“Well, Treena Bean was actually started last spring as a test company. We partnered with a gentleman that we knew & then he decided that it wasn’t something that he really wanted to continue doing, so my husband asked me if I wanted to take over the company. I decided that I would really enjoy running a business & that it would be a great thing to involve my kids in, as part of their homeschooling experience. “

What kind of items do you carry?

“We really carry something for everyone! There are all kinds of fun, retro, unique jewelry…spider necklaces, owl earrings, cameo bangles, camera & eyeglass necklaces & more. We also sell adorable baby girl items, like different hair bow sets, Gerber daisy flower headband sets, & crochet hat sets. A favorite is our gorgeous hair clips for women with jeweled flowers & butterflies in different colors. We think you’ll love all our Treena Bean products!”

When you think of your target demographic for TB, who is it?

“I think that we mainly target young Mom’s with kids. Twenty-something year olds love looking stylish & they can accomplish that with our accessories & have their kids looking adorable too with all the great products we carry!”

Is Treena Bean a full time endeavor or more of a hobby or side job?

“It is definitely a part time hobby that I enjoy sharing with my kids, especially my two youngest daughters, Abbigayle & Shye Anne. I know this has inspired them as Abbigayle is getting ready to start her own business on Etsy soon. She is working on the products she will carry as we speak.”

Is Treena Bean something you'd like to grow in the coming years? If so, where do you hope to see yourself and your business in the end?

“I don’t think I want it to grow too much larger as long as I am homeschooling but I will continue to add on & expand the products we have. We will just see where it takes us.”

If you had to pick three items from your store as your favorites, what would they be?

Rachel - “The Hair Clips” (I have one in every color)

Abbigayle- (age-almost 15) “My mom trades me out products for the time that I work for her. I really enjoy everything she carries, so I honestly can’t choose but, one of my favorites would be all the unique rings she has.”

Shye Anne- (age 12) “I love the plain colored bows because I can match them to any outfit I wear.”

Anything else you care to share with the Honeybees today?

“Well, all of our products are at a great, affordable price & have free shipping! For the month of April we are lowering our prices even more due to our sponsorship here! Thanks so much for letting me share time on Little Chief Honeybee!”

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GIVEAWAY!

If you'd like to be entered to win $65 to spend at the Treena Bean shop, please read on!

In order to be entered to win, please pop on over to Treena Bean on Facebook and give it a "Like"! Then just leave a comment below with your Facebook name!

You can gain additional enteries by commenting below with your favorite item from the shop, as well as following True Blue Abbi, Rachel's daughter, via GFC. Just leave a separate comment below for each entry! 

You'll have 3 shots to win and a winner will be drawn next week! 

// DIY Advent Calendar + Activity Ideas (Perfect for Kids!)

When it comes to holiday traditions, I really wanted to try and set some in place for Toby as he grows older. I don't want to dictate what will or will not become a tradition, because that's a little weird (right? Just me?), but I'm hoping this one will stick. Who knows if it'll even be successful! Despite the fact that we're not a religious family, I wanted to do an advent calendar of sorts for Toby so he could experience the magic that is the holiday season. I wasn't sure how to balance the little treats and learning actual lessons, so we opted to do an activities-based calendar. Each day in December Toby will unwrap one of the little "treats" and there will also be a piece of paper with an activity on it. The treats are just meant to be little rewards for awesome behavior (and if we're being totally honest, something to tide him over until Christmas is actually here. Have you ever tried explaining time/dates to a 4 year old?!). The activities are meant to promote kindness, selflessness, and family memories. We have everything from "donate toys" to "ride around to look at christmas lights in our pjs". It's something he'll get to look forward to each day and I'm excited to play a part.

For our calendar we opted to use both wrapping paper and canvas tied up in twine to wrap his treats. I was super inspired by this pin and wanted to do something similar. I nabbed this perfect wrapping paper from Target because I loved that it wasn't holiday-specific. We grabbed a bunch of little trinkets, candy and art projects from the Target "Dollar Spot" bins, as well as a few toys from the Dollar Tree. We don't go crazy at Christmas in our house because 1) 4 year olds have a non-existent attention span and 2) we don't want Toby to grow up spoiled or unaware of his privilege. Toby, like a lot of children, tends to get more play out of smaller items than he does a big ol' roarin', chuggin', loud gadget. (Seriously... this is the kid who carried around the bottom half of Mike's phone case for weeks pretending it was some sort of Samurizer or something.) We thought this was the perfect way to ease into Christmas and treat him for all of December, all the while going easy under the tree. Everything we included in his advent would be suitable for a child's stocking. We spent less than $30 on the whole advent calendar! Of course some of the activities will require extra purchases (movie tickets, etc), but you're able to pick and choose as you please if you decide to set one up for your kiddos! 

It's hard to believe Sunday will already be the 1st of December... and since this is so last minute, I'm sharing our Advent Activities with you in case you want to whip up your own version before the end of the weekend! Here are the activities we laid out for Toby:

• Make popcorn garland for the Christmas tree
• Go through our toys and donate to a local food bank
• Make DIY ornaments (Dollar Tree has a great faux stained glass set for kids! $1)
• Make gifts for Toby's pre-K teachers
• Attend the local Christmas parade
• Send Santa a letter
• Make hot cocoa
• Visit Santa
• Invite family over for dinner/cake (Toby's birthday!)
• Make a gift for dad (with help from Mom)
• Make our own holiday cards (Target has a DIY card kit for kids for $1)
• Make little favors for Toby's class party
• Watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (Toby's favorite movie)
• Make a 2013 ornament (I'll share that on the blog!)
• Go see a holiday movie in theaters (Frozen!)
• Make/Paint/Create gifts for others (grandparents, especially)
• Make homemade dog treats for Pip + Georgia (+ the cats, too)
• Bake cookies to give to family and friends
• Make a gift for mom (with help from Dad)
• Wrap presents to put under the tree (gifts for grandparents/aunts/etc)
• Do at least one random act of kindness (but shoot for 5!)
• Make a gingerbread house (we put this on a card with a clue for Toby to find the hidden kit)
• Hop in the car in our PJs and go look at Christmas lights together
• Bake Santa a fresh batch of cookies (and put out carrots for the reindeer!)
• Give/receive gifts with a grateful heart

Overall I am so excited for December! I know it'll be a lot of work to get all of these done, and there may be some days where we have to move things around or adjust to life's plans, but I can't wait. Toby told us in a very matter-of-fact tone the other night that he knew Santa wasn't real... his 7 year old cousin told him that guys just put on costumes and pretended. He wasn't upset, but my heart broke into a million pieces. I want so badly for him to believe. I want the magic of Christmas to stay alive for a few more years... so we've got some plans in the works. We'll make a believer out of him! Even if he chooses to remain skeptical, I know he'll truly love the advent calendar and all of the fun activities we have planned together.

Do you do anything like this with your kids? I'd love to hear how it's worked for you in the past! If you have any great activities or charitable suggestions to add to next year's list, that'd be great! I can't wait until he's old enough to volunteer somewhere (and actually be of service).

// Things I Love Thursday v.183

♥ this photo is so gorgeous. those colors! ♥

♥ 15 charts that perfectly illustrate how to properly pet animals... GOLD! ♥

♥ i love this shoot for Paper mag ♥

♥ dying over these fashion sketches using petals ♥

♥ this kitschy room ♥

♥ this dress from pinup darling is gorgeous! ♥

♥ this Bubbles tribute ♥

♥ this! i love those belcher kids. ♥

♥ yep. that is a raccoon doing somersaults... so cute! ♥

♥ this waterbear is: terrifying, adorable, fascinating... ♥

♥ this coat is amazing (though it's way too hot for me to be saying that!) ♥

♥ THIS IS EVERYTHING! ♥

// 23 of the most disrespectful things that have ever happened.

// Your kid and my kid are not playing in the pros. I loved this article (and the sass it contained) because I see it every day on the baseball field with Toby. Our kids are 5! Your kid is not "the star player"... Putting too much pressure on these kids just inflates the ego of the parent. No one likes a stage mom/dad!

// 21 pictures that prove that moms know everything.

// DreamWorks is doing something even Pixar hasn't tried; A black female heroine! This movie looks adorable!

// I had the pleasure of taking part in a "Mamaheart" feature on Polly's blog, This Enchanted Pixie. Re-reading my answers maybe made me tear up a time or two. Being a mom is awesome and this was one of my favorite interviews ever.

// The South Beach sunglasses from Bonlook are high on my wishlist right now!

// Why I refused to put on a shirt for Shape magazine.

// I liked reading about Carrie Anne's experience dealing with 2 kids on her own while her husband was at work. This is one thing that scares me the most about bringing a baby home this Summer. I know Toby is old enough to be pretty self-sufficient, but I'm still terrified of having to juggle the two. But that's a post for another day!

// RubyETC's comics are some of my absolute favorites. Love her style!

// BUST's open letter to Shailene Woodley. And another sassy (hilarious) open letter. I can't help but love the 'tude in the second one.

// Why I probably won't ever shut up about weight issues (with help from Gabourey Sidibe and Amy Schumer)

// 23 ways feminism has made the world a better place for men. LOVED this!

// Wishlist Wears: this dress is the perfect color! // these sandals // this strawberry bag // this dress is so dreamy! // this lighthouse dress // THIS DRESS IS COVERED IN UNICORNS! // this would look perfect with bright red or yellow accessories // watermelon shoes! // these cut-out booties

// This gif of a tiny pug falling into a hole is hilariously adorable.

// The heartwarming relationship between a man and his 1,200 pigs. The photos are killing me!

// Never love a cat, they will only destroy your heart.

What are you loving this week?