I can just picture my mother-in-law coming for tea over the holidays and I whip out one of these.  She woudn’t believe her eyes.

They are no doubt time consuming to make but definitely worth it (to impress the heck out of my mother-in-law if for no other reason).

If you’re interested in making these cute as cute can be gingerbread house mug side cookies, visit the Not Martha blog for instructions and the details on different methods she tried to make them delicious and adorable.

Definitely on my short list of all time favorite cookies!

Isabelle

It was the perfect outfit for the perfect day.  We celebrated with her closest little girlfriends and did Princess crown crafts, ate a Princess cake with pink ice cream and had lots of fun.

Checkout the Birthday Princess and Birthday Prince shirts as well as other first birthday shirts and birthday shirts for toddlers in a bunch of different themes.

That happened to me yesterday when suddenly I remembered this blog.

If someone had of asked me when I last posted I would have guessed months ago, not YEARS ago. Time sure does fly when you’re trying to survive two kids having fun!

Since I’m here now I’m going to see what I can do to revive this little piece of nostalgia and share some of what is new and notable in my life.

See you again soon,
Isabelle

We have been so busy I haven’t even had a chance to post in almost a week! Lots of camping, canoeing, swimming and long lazy days hanging out by the lake.

Some of that time I have been dreaming up lots of great things I want to share with you. So watch for new posts this week with more of my favorite sites, products, jokes and everything else that’s cool for mom.

Isabelle

At Pipsqueak Boutique they have been adding more and more handmade baby items. I LOVE them ALL!

One of my favorites is the cute new appliqued onesies. The “Crabby” design cracks me up and is perfect for a boy or a girl.

They have other gender neutral clothes as well which make great baby shower gifts when you don’t know what the new baby will be. This one will be for my niece who has more than her share of crabiness.

This is still my favorite baby store by far. Their selection of cute stuff just keeps getting better and better.

Isabelle

The post on If Households Were Run Like Big Corporations is so true it’s scary. If you’ve ever worked for a large corporation (or watch CNN) you can totally relate.

Take a mommy break and go have a laugh!

Isabelle

Specifically, WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!?!?

If you haven’t yet read about the findings of the new study that uncovered this, you can read about it in the USA Today article Group finds carcinogens in kids bath products.

As a mom and a consumer I find this completely unacceptable. We entrust the health of our children to these organizations and this is the best they can do?

From now on I plan to question everything.

Don’t take for granted that just because something is made for kids that it is safe. Choose all natural options when you can. At my local organic food store a bar of all natural soap is less than $2. I use it on my kid’s bodies and as a shampoo. Simple, cheap and I know exactly what each ingredient is on the label.

I hope you’ll join me in choosing more natural choices for your family.

Isabelle

My daughter is not even two yet so thankfully I have not entered into the realm of painted nails and salon visits.

But when I came across Piggy Paint I immediately took note.

As I’ve mentioned on this blog many times, I am working to cut out as many chemicals from our daily lives as possible. And we all know nail polish contains the big “F” which scares the heck out of me (incidentally, many popular baby shampoos and body washes also contain formaldehyde).

The Piggy Paint line of non-toxic, kid-friendly, completely safe nail polish is the perfect alternative for little fashionistas. It is available in any color you could ever want. And they even have an all natural nail polish remover which works great on Piggy Paint AND traditional nail polishes.

Now I can’t wait for my daughter to start asking to have her nails done!

Isabelle

I don’t really miss being pregnant.

Sure the little kicks and one-on-one bonding time were great. But overall it was a sweaty, uncomfortable stage in my life that I’m glad is over. Luckily I got a prize at the end to make it all worthwhile!

So when I read the article You Know You’re Pregnant When on the Baby Tips Online website I couldn’t help but laugh.

It’s a hilarious look at just how comfortable it can be to share your body with someone else for 9 months. Take a mommy break and go read it now for a good laugh (and another bonus is it also acts as good birth control if you’ve been having baby fever lately!)

Enjoy!

Isabelle

I’ve mentioned before how much I love doing crafts with my kids.

And although they are still a little young to create their own popup books, I have already ordered two of the Create Your Own Popup Books from Gift Hero for a couple of years down the road.

I can already see myself pulling these out of their memory boxes one day when they are grown and laughing at how much fun we had creating them.

I love a craft that also makes a great keepsake.

Isabelle