I had a plan to make some garland for the kids’ birthday coming up next month, but then realized every day deserves some fun, colorful garland! It is an age-old dilemma for parents, “is it ok for me to just throw away my kids’ artwork?” In my opinion, YES! "Enjoy and recycle.” That is my motto whenever we find ourselves with a stack of paintings or when we gift  some of Luke’s art to friends and family with no obligation to keep forever and ever.

But, it can also be fun to find ways to display some art or re-purpose into room decor. Enter, the very easy kids artwork garland. Luke’s paintings and crayon drawings may not be great works of fine art, but when you chop them up, there are some subtle, beautiful details in each piece. 

What you’ll need…

• Stack of artwork
• 3” circle punch (or scissor for freehand or any shape punch)
• String or thread
• Transparent tape
• Scissors

Let’s get started… 

1. ​Measure the space you plan to hang the garland to determine string length and approximate number of cutouts required.

​2. Punch away until you have your desired number of cutouts.

3. Lay your shapes out face down at preferred spacing, drape string over the line of cutouts and tape down to each shape securely (make sure to leave extra string on ends for hanging).
4. That’s it, you’re ready to hang! 

​If kids artwork isn’t your speed, you can try this with photos, holiday cards, postcards, even magazine or catalog clippings. I’m looking forward to collecting more art so that we can add a few more strands to this window.

There are bigger problems in the world, I know, but one of my Mom challenges right now is stir-craziness that leads to tv watching. Luke's not much of an independent player and there are times that I think I am actually losing my mind playing with the same toddler toys over and over again. I have told friends that Luke's Christmas presents were sort of presents to myself because they would be providing some variety to my daily experience. I'm trying to roll out simple solutions to battle the boredom and to cut back on our tv watching. If you don't have kids, today's idea may still be of interest, so stick with me (pun intended -- you'll see).

The Activity Jar 

This is #20 from my 21 for 2021 list and it's as basic as it gets, but it’s working. Get yourself a jar (we’re using a finished applesauce jar [plastic for when Luke runs away with the jar]), a pen, and some jumbo craft sticks. Write down a simple activity you can do with your kid(s) or they can do on their own on each stick. And voila, you have an Activity Jar. We are going to focus on kids’ activities here, but you could apply this to:

• Grown up activities
• Cleaning or organizational activities to tackle
• Shows to watch
• Restaurants to order from
• People to call or write a note to
• Prompts to journal about

The key for our kids’ activity jar is simple, like no to minimal setup required for the activity! How this helps:

• Is one response to when your kid is screaming to “watch a show” — suggest, “let’s pick a stick"
• Redirects attention to toys that you haven’t been playing with
• Reminds you to integrate some educational fun into your days
• Can be a fun item to have on the counter or shelf if you take some time to decorate the jar or pick a fun container
• Allows you to display a list of what you did that day with your kids*

This last one is really important to me. There are days when I feel like we’ve completed absolutely nothing and that the day was a parenting wash. It’s great to be able to look back at what things we did and to be able to ask Luke which sticks he remembers completing. So, we got a pocket chart from the Dollar Tree to display our completed sticks on a bulletin board. 

​We’ve been at this for a few weeks and we generally only do one or two sticks each weekday as transitional activities. We were even able to use a stick when we were leaving Luke with a babysitter, my Dad <3, to avoid the normal departure meltdown. I keep a running list of sticks I’ve made in my phone so I don’t accidentally make duplicates and so that I can jot down ideas as they come to mind. Here’s what we’ve got:

• Find 3 sheep anywhere in the house
• Do 100 jumps on the trampoline
• Do 10 jumping jacks
• Read a Curious George story
• Write a letter with a picture to a friend
• Play grocery store
• Make paper airplanes
• Dance to New Light by John Mayer
• Play doctor check up
• Paint with watercolors
• Build a dog house with magnetic tiles
• Build a castle with magnetic tiles
• Read a story with a silly , really fast voice
• Make silly faces in the mirror
• Find 3 cows anywhere in the house
• Draw a picture of a train
• Draw a picture of something that starts with L
• Look at a photo album
• Do a numbers puzzle
• Do a letters puzzle

Some of these are really specific to our family, but others I’m sure you could adopt right away. Again, I will mention, NO to MINIMAL setup — don’t make this hard for yourself or the babysitter. We will be looking forward to adding activities for warmer weather and for things that the kids can do together as JJ gets more mobile too. Happy activity-ing!

Making my 21 for 2021 list seemed more difficult and at the same time easier than in previous years. In addition to having high hopes that the world will be able to get back to some sense of normalcy in 2021, we are trying to find a new home and move this year — together these things make me feel like planning anything is a fool’s errand. So, I did my best to put together a list of things we can do regardless of many unforeseen circumstances. 

Isn’t it funny that one of my list items last year was to make cardamom bread and somehow I am the only person in the world who didn’t make bread in 2020. There are lots of things on my 20 for 2020 list that I didn’t complete. As I post my 21 for 2021, I am letting go of high expectations and fears of failures. Instead, I am taking Gretchen Rubin’s advice (again) to “focus on actions, not outcomes.”

I hope you will join me this year and make a list of your own. I made a template for you!

Ok, here’s my list:

1. Get Covid vaccine
2. Find a primary care doctor
3. Read 6 books
4. Go to 3 book club meetings
5. Host quarterly trivia nights
6. Host quarterly activity nights
7. Post to blog monthly
8. Try to walk every day
9. Try a daily stretching regimen
10. Make 20 new meals
11. Simplify wardrobe
12. Send 12 letters
13. Send 6 emails to Luke and JJ
14. Make JJ's year one book
15. Have Luke and JJ take swim lessons
16. Buy and frame a print of JJ’s special painting
17. Do an "I’m on the Market for Friends" project
18. Make cardamom bread
19. Make a piece of art for our house
20. Make an activity jar
21. Take a new family portrait

Last year we started selecting a word of the year. The word is just meant to help guide decision making and state of mind throughout the year. 2020 was the year of FLEX, which really came in handy when essentially everything planned and normal went out the window. The word of 2021 is HELP. Hopefully, I’m going to work on asking for help and be able to provide help outside our family unit more regularly.

2020 was not a flop. We welcomed JJ and celebrated lots of family milestones. But, it could have been better! Let’s do what we can to find the good in each day and start 2021 off with so much hope. When I feel like I can’t do that, cue asking for HELP. 

We are a few days out from Thanksgiving and we usually don’t start Christmas-ing until after Turkey Day. This strange year there is even more pressure than ever to get the tree up and do all the holiday things immediately. I’m not quite there yet, but thought that this post may inspire some holiday cheer or even provide you with a project if you are not feeling the usual bustle of Thanksgiving travel and gathering this week.

I love the holiday season. We didn’t have kids to make Christmas more fun (pretty sure), but they certainly add layers of excitement to November and December. And never say never, but we will never be an Elf on a Shelf family. Instead, I am so excited to create new (less intensive) traditions and build wonderful memories for myself, my husband, and my kids. This year we are starting our Yannes Family Holiday Handbook. I am doing my best to build it loosely so that it can develop as the world changes, as our kids grow, and as our family evolves. Am I putting too much stock into it? Probably. Times change and sometimes there is a pandemic. But I am pumped up about little joys in this crazy state of the world. Maybe you can find some inspiration for traditions too. 

​Holiday Card Album
We started sending a holiday card in 2013 (two years into our marriage). We send a New Years card so that if for any reason we are delayed in getting them in the mail, there is no pressure. Highly recommend! Until now, I’ve always remembered to save a copy, but haven’t displayed them in any way. We rarely get physical albums nowadays in our house, so this at least provides one or two photos from each year.

Yannes Family Santa Clause
I know I will lose some of you here. I have an inquisitive husband and I think my children are going to get that curious trait from him. So, when it comes to Santa, I would like to have clear communication about how our family interacts with the North Pole and the big guy himself. This made me think of one of our family’s favorite holiday movies, The Santa Clause. The “e” at the end of Clause makes this different from just the jolly dude, instead it’s a document or contract. I’ve started our Santa Clause with some basic questions, but as our kids have more ideas and concerns, we will check in with Santa to make amendments. Keep reading to see our Yannes Family Santa Clause.

Becoming a parent is hard and to be rudely frank, getting unwanted stuff in your house makes it harder. I know women become new moms all year round, but if anyone in your life will be welcoming a baby into their home this holiday season, here are some recommendations for practical and indulgent gifts.