OUTDOORS
Our cubby house -- by Castle & Cubby
Last year, around this time, I met Kellie and Jonathan Stones at an event here in Byron. Kellie and Jonathan are the husband and wife team behind the family-run business, Castle & Cubby -- they design and create the coolest, eco-friendly cubby houses, tree houses, mud kitchens, sand pits, garden boxes and outside furniture! How ...
READ MORE
FUN
Announcing the 2019 Babyccino Awards WINNERS!
After much deliberation by our team, followed by tough decision making by our wonderful judges, and then finally a tally of votes from all of YOU, our wonderful readers, we are super excited to announce this year's winners in the Babyccino Awards! Drum roll please as we announce them all below...! The winner of the ...
READ MORE
FOR MUMS
My new project: an e-course and Instagram community for parents
Guys, I'm really excited to share a new personal project I've been working on! After two years of mushy baby brain (no joke -- I honestly thought my brain might never work properly again!), I'm excited to be back in entrepreneurial shoes -- with fresh ideas and enthusiasm. Back in February, just before Wilkie's 2nd ...
READ MORE
STYLE
Voting is Open for the 2019 Babyccino Awards!
Drum roll, please! After weeks of tough voting decisions by our team, followed by difficult deliberations by a panel of expert judges (pictured below), we have our list of shortlisted shops in this year's Babyccino Awards! We have narrowed down the top 3 shops across 9 categories, and now it's up to YOU, the public, ...
READ MORE
RECIPES
My new favourite: Scandinavian Cinnamon Rolls
This past Easter weekend, we had friends from Finland staying with us in our home. They have four kids, so that made 9 kids in one small house for six whole days! You can imagine how much fun was had!! On Easter morning, I woke early with the realisation I had forgotten to make the ...
READ MORE
BOOKS
'Harold Snipperpot's Best Disaster Ever' by Beatrice Alemagna
Beatrice Alemagna is an author/illustrator living in Paris with her husband and two daughters. She has now published more than 30 books, including On A Magical Do Nothing Day and The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty, which Vanessa has shared about here. Her newest book, Harold Snipperpot's Best Disaster Ever, is as delightful and whimsical ...
READ MORE
FASHION
A pretty, poetic new collection from Louise Misha
Louise Misha needs no introduction here. We've shared our love for this brand a few times over the years (see last year's post and notice how much Marlow has grown! Oh my gosh!). Louise Misha has become well-known and loved for its pretty, bohemian-style clothing for girls and women, and it is now stocked in more ...
READ MORE
WEEKEND GETAWAYS
Weekend Getaway: Raleigh, NC
We were thrilled when Addie Ladner, a longtime reader of this blog, got in touch offering to share tips on her adopted home city of Raleigh, NC. I've never been to North Carolina (though I did consider the journalism school at UNC when looking at universities!), so I was particularly interested to hear about its charming capital ...
READ MORE
PARENTING
What are your favourite podcasts?
A few months ago I started listening to podcasts while I fold the laundry, and it is actually life changing! I don't know what took me so long, but better late than never! Instead of folding laundry on a daily basis, I've started piling up our clean, dry laundry and keeping it in a big ...
READ MORE
FASHION
Shopping for a toddler boy
Wilkie, who turns two next week !!, is officially potty-trained. Hooray! It gives me such pleasure knowing I will never have to do that again! Five babies down.... no more to go...! Haha. (Of course there are plenty more parenting challenges to face, but potty-training thankfully isn't one of them.) Anyway, I had forgotten what ...
READ MORE
FASHION
My favourite swimsuits
I've received four (!!) messages from friends in the last couple weeks asking for swimsuit recommendations -- one friend who lives in LA, one in France, one in the UK, and one here in Byron who asked for my favourite local brands... which is surely proof that swimsuits are on everyone's radar right now, no ...
READ MORE
RECIPES
The yummiest, easiest, best birthday cake recipe!
Previously, my go-to birthday cake was always my favourite carrot cake recipe (admittedly, it's still my favourite cake of all time). But... a couple years ago, my friend Aimee shared her go-to birthday cake recipe with me, and I have never gone back. It is the easiest, yummiest cake you can make. And what I ...
READ MORE
FOOD
Ottolenghi's new 'Simple' cookbook
I received Ottolenghi's new 'Simple' cookbook in a gift exchange on Christmas Day, and it has quickly become our go-to cookbook. I have Ottolenghi's first two cookbooks, but admittedly found the recipes in those books to be too time consuming or they required too many hard-to-track-down ingredients that the recipes were impossible to make. His ...
READ MORE
PARENTING
When teens get upset -- how best to respond
My mom sent this New York Times article to me last week, and I found it both comforting and incredibly helpful. Reading it, I had one of these 'aha!' moments of parenting clarity. I realised that whenever Easton has come to me upset lately, I have this urge to immediately try to say something or get ...
READ MORE
PARENTING
Maintaining your friendships -- how do you prioritise your friends?
A longtime reader (seven years she said!) recently sent an email asking for advice on maintaining friendships and making new ones. She shared that she already feels pulled in so many directions (kids, husband, work, life in general!) and that she admittedly hasn't been able to focus on her own friendships. She wondered if we ...
READ MORE
THURSDAY THOUGHTS
Thursday Thoughts: The benefits of boredom
I know we've touched on the topic of boredom in the past (in this post about after-school activities), but this new opinion piece on boredom in the New York Times really resonated with me and I thought it makes for an interesting discussion. The article touches on the fact that boredom spawns creativity and self-sufficiency, and ...
READ MORE
BOOKS
'Everyone Eats' by Julia Kuo, a cute book for toddlers
We've recently added the cute book, 'Everyone Eats', to Wilkie's book basket in his bedroom, and it's quickly become a bedtime favourite. It's a cute and simple book, featuring different groups of animals on each page and the foods they eat: rabbits eat carrots, deer eat lettuce, bears eat honey, etc. Not only does Wilkie love ...
READ MORE
TRAVEL
Tent Camping: what you'll need
In the last couple years, we've discovered the joy of camping! Not only it is an affordable way to holiday, but it's always so much fun and offers a sense of adventure and excitement. I still have such fond memories of my childhood camping adventures, and I know that our recent camping trips will remain ...
READ MORE
HOME AND DÉCOR
Our kitchen: design details, paint colours and renovation info
After sharing the renovation details of our bathroom, many of you asked for the same information for our kitchen, so I thought I'd dedicate a post to our kitchen renovation and the design decisions we made. Designing our kitchen was one of my favourite parts about our renovation. Because we've designed a kitchen before -- ...
READ MORE
BOOKS
A book series my 9-year-old daughter loves
Ivy received a copy of Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell in her Christmas stocking this year, and she loved it so much, we had to quickly run back to the bookstore to buy the next two books in the series. She tells me these are her new favourite books, so I just knew I had to share ...
READ MORE
TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites: Family Films
Just in time for the holidays -- for things to slow down and for lots of snuggle time on the sofa, we've rounded up our team's favourite family-friendly films. These are films the parents will enjoy just as much as the kids, and ones which will surely make the next rainy afternoon more enjoyable! Here ...
READ MORE
THURSDAY THOUGHTS
How many Christmas gifts do you give your kids?
Having recently moved house and packed all our belongings up into boxes, I have come to the realisation (once again!) that our kids really don't need anything for Christmas. As I packed up the children's bedrooms a few months ago, I found lots of broken knick-knacks and toys that I had stuck in their Christmas ...
READ MORE
CRAFTS AND DIY
An easy Christmas craft: clay ornaments and decorations
This is honestly the easiest Christmas craft, something the kids can do almost entirely on their own, and it has the prettiest result! Last weekend I handed the kids a package of Sculpey clay and some cookie cutters. I gave them each a glass bottle (to use as a rolling pin), and together they made ...
READ MORE
