Wee Wonderfuls

this plus that: life's little equations

I was ordering math books on amazon (sorry Oscar) and noticed Jen Corace had a few new books I hadn't seen before so I of course had to get them. I got Little Oink (so cute!) and holy moly, my new most favorite childrens book ever... This Plus That: Life's Little Equations by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace. Have you seen this book?!

the cutest concept ever + the most gorgeous illustrations = perfect!!

how adorable are these two? and can you see the umbrella on the other page. kills me.

anything + sprinkles = better. look at smiling fruit and cupcakes. and the colors.

every page is adorable and perfect. and the subjects: art, music, family, friendship. the whole book is just absolutely beautiful. I feel so lucky to get to read it to my kids.

tea collection

I've blogged many times about my love for tea collection's clothing. Both their girls and boys clothing are so unbearably cute. I shop their sales for one or two things a year, mostly for Phoebe and I always love them so much. Right into the heirloom box after they outgrow them. So imagine how excited I was when they emailed me asking if I'd like some free clothes to review on my blog. Um, yes!! 

This dress is Phoebe's new favorite. (my fav, she wore on the 4th) She's been wearing it all week. It's one of their new arrivals, part of the Destination: Catalonia collection. I love their global design influences. I lost my marbles for the pojagi inspired dresses they had a few years ago and the Hungarian collection from last Fall felt like it was designed specifically for me. My mom got Phoebe a top and dress from that collection's sale for her birthday. I'm saving dress for her back-to-school dress. It should make the end of Summer less painful. Maybe.

Lots of cute stuff for boys too. I have to admit most of the clothing budget goes to Phoebe so I was so happy to pick out a couple things for Oscar. This and his Jaws shirt are seeing a lot of action this year. Year of the shark. Luckily for me there aren't too many bug shirts out there! 

I now have the two best outfitted bug collectors in the western suburbs!

see ya sea holly

This is our sea holly's last summer in the Lang garden. I love it and it really took off and did well in our garden. But it's too unwieldy and very spikey and really it's just running amouk. We're going to transplant it to our friend Cathy's garden where we can visit it whenever we want. I'm going to make lots of pokey bouquets out of it this last year.

starved rock

super cute emma bunny

on weezee's etsy

part of the Wee Wonderfuls Cottage Industry Licensing program

summer project

This is an older pattern but my local needlework shop was able to dig it out for me. Jen and I are going to stitch-a-long so there will be some in-progress updates here on the blog this Summer. If only someone can come get this first stitch in for me to get me going!

4th of July

I've been making the watermelon bombe for a few years now. Since Amy linked over to it. And this year I made Emily's strawberry lemonade. So good. Don't know where I'd be without these gals to steer me in the right direction.

(Phoebe's crazy cute dress is from tea collection. It's my new favorite dress. Here's a pic of her getting it soaked. Aren't I a good mom to not freak out!)

pets

I dreamt about bugs last night. The last thing we did before going to bed? Catching fire flies in the yard. The first thing we did when we woke up this morning? Headed out looking for crickets. We didn't have much luck finding any big guys but I was sooo happy with the teeny tiny crickets we found so we'd have lunch for the praying mantis. Yep, the praying mantis which is one of Oscar's new pets. His other new since school's been out pets? Here they are...

two glowly little guppies

a wavy lined emerald caterpillar. he's a camouflaged caterpillar hiding out as the pollen in this flower.

a monarch caterpillar

What lead us down this buggy road? It started with Victor, our new fire bellied toad who eats crickets. He was an impulse buy at the pet store to placate Oscar after our attempts at raising tadpoles went belly up. Of course now that I've read all about them I realize we should never have bought a frog at the pet store. They're becoming extinct. They live for 10(!) years. They're slightly toxic. We're in a pickle now. No way out but through I think. He's a cute little guy. We're setting up a new bigger tank for him today. Hopefully he'll be happy here.

So now there are three habitats going on in Oscar's room. Swamp, Ocean and Prairie. Wish us luck! I'll keep you posted. Already that monarch caterpillar is 10 times that size. I need a new photo. It's good practice with my macro lens, all these bugs. Oh, and we found Microcosmos on instant Netflix. Score!

We also have this purple caterpillar but can't identify him. Anyone know?

cute kitty!

Jessica at Ragamuffin Baby is one of our new Wee Wonderfuls Cottage Industry Licensees and she has some really cute new dolls up in her shop. Check them out.... I know there are lots of Summer babies out there that need adorable handmade dolls to start off their toy collections.