marinkaetzel's Profile

really cute! i collected alice in wonderland things when i was a little girl and always dreamed of throwing a party like this one day. i've been blessed with 3 boys, none of whom are interested in alice, so maybe i'll just have to throw one for myself!

diaper genie

While we don't have a magic number, we try to balance it as best we can with outdoor play, book reading, imaginative play, lego/puzzle time, etc. and for the most part I think we do pretty well. I am the first to admit that we've had days where I've let them watch way too much tv or play their DS too long, but at the end of those days I have to forgive myself and try again tomorrow. My husband and I really enjoy movies and video games, so a lot of the time our kids do spend doing those things is time spent with us. We play family games like Wii Party (full disclosure: my husband works at Nintendo) for game night and it's a blast. One interesting thing I've noticed is that because our boys aren't strictly limited in their tv/game time, they don't really care about it that much. In contrast, we've got a couple kids who come over to play who aren't allowed any video games at home and they are seriously obsessed with playing Wii, DS, etc. My kids know that when friends are over it's play tme, not tv time and they get super disappointed when all those kids want to do is play video games. I've actually found kids hiding in a closet, sneaking our son's DS! So yeah, balance seems to be key. But hey--I'm not a perfect mom and I would never assume that what works for me is the best way to do something or would work for everyone else.

this is just what i need. i've been trying to break up with auto mode on my camera, but every time i do i just come crying back to it.

oh goodness. this is lovely. everything about it is wonderful!

thank you for opening up this discussion! five years ago i bought 3 'keep calm & carry on' posters on etsy and hung them in my bedroom. i loved them. i always joke that i bought 3 because i have 3 boys and need the reminder to be calm x 3. fast forward to last year and i remember reading the comments on a beautiful house tour where one commenter said something along the lines of 'i loved everything about this house until i saw the 'keep calm' poster. i'm so disappointed.' for some reason it really hit me and i felt super embarrassed about my posters and wanted to get rid of them. my husband asked me why and i couldn't really give a good answer, other than i'd seen that they are 'old news' on a design blog. he asked me if i still like them, which i do, and said it was silly to get rid of them just because a random stranger thinks they're out. and he's right. if i like them, it doesn't matter if they are "over". would i send in a photo of my bedroom to AT? probably not. but every time i go in my room i'm happy, and that's what really matters.

wow, these are beautiful! i'd like some for myself!

how fun! my boys would love this party!

what a great contest! it was so fun getting a peek into all these wonderful rooms. you can tell how hard everyone worked to put together warm, welcoming spaces for their little ones. you should all be proud!

JudiAU-we've actually found a lot of really good quality Christmas books over the years, although by "Christmas" I also mean winter/snow/etc. books. We love books like 'Owl Moon', 'White Snow, Bright Snow', 'The Snowy Day' etc. as well as more traditional Christmas tales.