{Oh, Christmas Tree}

Christmas is around the corner.  Here is our little darling about the open presents a few days early this year... She won't remember presents were unwrapped early and use this for leverage for years to come. Right?

We want to capture every magical moment, especially when it's baby's first Christmas. But let's face it: lighting can me a nightmare! I found these tips very helpful for snapping pics in front of the tree:

Blue Cricket Design Blog

16 Digital Photography Tips for Christmas

DPS

Merry Christmas! And let the present opening begin...

{love} kacey jane

{Free Printable Owl Calendar}

If you are NOT like me and you have plenty of ink in your printer, then all those adorable free printables out there are right up your alley!

I stumbled upon the most darling free printable calendar in an owl motif while on Pinterest. Now is the perfect time to get a calendar because the new year is approaching. This would be perfect in a home office or in the kids' room! The link below gives a couple of great display ideas since the calendar is loose-leaf, or you could take it to Staples and have them bind it with a spiral.

Living Locurto

I'm thinking that if the Mr. could get the printer loaded, then this would make a great Christmas present for the little one! 

{love} kacey jane

{5 Colorful DIY Kid Activities}

Boy do I wish I had these ideas two summers ago when a friend's two precious little girls (4 & 6) stayed the weekend with the hubs and I! We did lots of fun activities, but I probably spent more than I should have on crafts, games, and treats. The internet is inundated with fun, easy, and inexpensive ideas for having fun with your kids, it's just a matter of finding a few tried and true tutorials! I've compiled a few here:

{Liquid Sidewalk Chalk}

Domestic Charm

{Jello Playdough Recipe}

Here.

{Fluffy Bathtub Paint}

Housing a Forest

Will be trying this one on our little one soon...

{Sensory Bottles}

Pink Pistachio

{Lawn Bowling}

Here.

Since our Baby A is too little to do anything with the above actives besides try to eat the contents, I will be looking for opportunities to incorporate these ideas into play-time with friends' children when we babysit!

{love} kacey jane

{Babies and Books}

Reading was my first love, and of course I love babies, so it would naturally follow that I would find the combination of the two to be absolutely adorable! I'm loving several photo trends these days for newborns and babies, and one of them is the baby/book combo. Sometimes a photo can capture the wonder of reading just perfectly!

So much wonder and imagination here...

Three Nails Photography

Reading is hard...

inspire m.e. on Tumblr

Dress up, play, read...

Fotopastele

Lookin' just like daddy...

All That is Right In the World

Extensive reading list...

Beth V Photography

My husband reads to our little darling every night and it steals my heart every time.  Can't wait until Baby A is big enough to sit up and hold a book in her lap by herself!

{Children are 

made readers 

on the laps 

of their parents. 

 - Emily Buchwald}...

Enjoy this blogpost from "How We Montessori" 

on five reasons to read to your baby:

How We Montessori

{love} kacey jane

{Zara Baby}

I'm sure many of you have made this discovery already, but I finally got online to look at Zara.com.  Most {darling} baby and kids clothing of life.  I'm looking at them wishing they were made in my size at the same price!  Here's a smattering of what they offer:

{Baby Boy}

Zara.com

{Baby Girl}

Zara.com

{Boys}

Zara.com

{Girls}

Zara.com

The website even has a wonderful feature that pairs each item with coordinates to complete a look (where I struggle because of indecisiveness).  Great ideas and great inspiration for dressing the kiddos! Like this:

Zara.com

These are really helping me coordinate family photo outfits and decide what to dress A in for our Christmas card pictures!  Did anyone else just die over those baby girl glitter oxfords?

{love} kacey jane