First Day of Preschool!

Gah. This kid is officially a preschooler. I didn't cry when I dropped him off but I worried about him all day. Would he listen to instructions? Would he make friends? Would he nap? Turns out my worrying was for nothing because he absolutely loved school and Ms. M said he did great all day. Hooray! Cheers to the start of a great school year.

[I love how the apple balloon turned out! Click HERE for the DIY instructions.]

Apple Balloon School Photo Prop

For Parker's first day of preschool photos I wanted to do something a little different than the chalkboard signs I've been seeing on everyone's social media feeds. What better way to celebrate the start of a school year than with a balloon! Spoiler alert: I love balloons. For this project I drew inspiration from these fab balloon projects from Design Improvised and Studio DIY. Ready to get crafting? 

First Day of School Apple Balloon

Materials needed

-Thickers Letterman sticker letters in black (also available in blue and red)

-18" round red foil balloon

-Straw

-Green card stock

-Brown card stock

-Clear tape or zots

*I bought balloon sticks thinking they would be strong enough to support my foil balloon. I was wrong! I also cut two leaves thinking that would look cute but I ended up just using one.

Instructions

-Cut a leaf shape from your green cardstock and a stem from your brown cardstock.

-Insert a straw into the hole of your balloon and inflate. No helium needed!

-Decide what you want you balloon to say. I played around with Preschool 2016 and First Day of School 2016. Cut out the letters you need and line up the words. Make sure you spelled everything right because nothing is worse than misspelled words on a back to school balloon. Nothing.

-Find the center of your balloon and start sticking your letters on. 

-Attach stem and leaf on with clear tape.

-Tape back the tag at the bottom on the balloon so everything is perfectly round. 

TADA! You now have a fab back to school photo prop. Click HERE to see P's first day of preschool photos.

[Can you see me in the reflection on the balloon? Hi!]

5 Days in NYC with a Toddler

Sorry, we can't come to the phone right now. We're busy in NYC working, eating delicious food and exploring the city. Following me on Instagram @parkerproject to see what we will be doing for the next few days. 

On the agenda are stops to Chelsea Market, Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, Prospect Park, Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles, Brooklyn Bridge Park, ChikaLicious, Statue of Liberty, Central Park & Katz's Deli...and wherever else our legs and noses lead us. Tania says we are going to split everything so we don't get fat [insert eye rolling emoji here]. I'm truly looking forward to experiencing all the sights and sounds of the city with my sisters and Parker. This is his last hurrah before starting preschool so we have to do it up BIG!

[Illustration by the amazing Jamey Christoph]

Happy Mid Autumn Festival 2016

Growing up, I remember excitedly marching around holding lanterns with my sisters while my parents sang traditional songs every Tet Trung Thu (Mid Autumn Festival). We would fight over who would get to eat the yolks from the moon cakes and have family and friends over for a big dinner. 

[via Thousand Skies]

Tomorrow night the harvest moon will be shining in it's full glory and we are planning to celebrate with a family dinner, paper lanterns and moon cakes! Passing these cultural traditions on to Parker makes my heart happy. Here are some ways you can celebrate with your kids.

*Watch this reading of the book Mooncakes by Loretta Seto which tells of the legend of Chang-E.

*Purchase mooncakes from your local Asian grocery store or bakery. If you're in San Diego, Ranch 99, 85 Degrees, Paris Baguette or Thuan Phat all carry mooncakes. Serve your mooncakes with a pot of hot green tea.

*Make your own paper lanterns using this easy tutorial from Handmade Charlotte.

[Photo credit Handmade Charlotte]