This post is sponsored by Pear Tree Greetings. We like the way they make holidays festive and pretty. 

Prepare your mailboxes! Hang tiny twinkly lights inside them, pipe in Nat King Cole from itty bitty speakers and dangle some spruce sprigs from the door. Mailboxes are the venue, after all, for the best Christmas party of the year–the place where all your friends and family from near and far will soon gather, their faces and celebrations and all their love from 2014 tucked into envelopes and sealed with pretty stamps and curly penmanship and address labels handpicked for this very occasion.

My mail lady is my best friend this time of year. I wait for her arrival and run to the mailbox to see what holiday cards (we call them “holiday mailers”–and we say it in a British accent) have arrived. Sometimes I save them to open late at night, when the kids are asleep and I’ve found a cozy spot on the couch with a glass of wine, a candle and the Carpenters streaming from the kitchen. Sometimes I open them right away, eager to see new pictures of friends. I’m a bit of a card junkie, I admit–enthused by all the silly details–the pictures, the colors, the font, the simplicity, the glitter, the curved edges, the way the paper feels in my hand. Most certainly what’s most important isn’t the product but the love in it–the heartfelt “Merry Christmas, We Miss You. Love Brent and Joann.” But I do love a good card, and after years of photographing families and designing that very special gift that often serves as the only opportunity in one year to get the family together for a photo, I have a little extra appreciation for a beautiful holiday card.

With work, three kids, school drop off and dinner plans, I also appreciate any opportunity to make holiday tasks simpler, easier, more streamlined. Pear Tree Greetings does just that. You bring your family, your photos and your wish to create something beautiful to Pear Tree’s site, and they finish the job for you, giving you an incredible selection of beautiful Christmas cards to customize in a matter of minutes. Cards are printed on heavy premium paper with a variety of envelope colors and styles to choose from. Their award-winning designs are unique and offer you exactly what you want from simple and classic to funky and modern. Flat, folded, tri-fold, laser cut, foil, rounded edge–you name it, they have it.

I love this colorful modern collage style that gives you the opportunity to use several different photos.

And this book style card is a stunner–definitely one I’d call Heidi with a, “Dude, did you get the Dashners’ card yet? So cute!”

This peek-through laser-cut card is another favorite, simple yet unique.

And if you want to have fun and go a little out of the box, how about New Year’s cards? This resolution card made me smile. I want to print 100 different resolutions and make a collage from them.

Our holiday cards aren’t just to mail out. They’ve become an important part of our family memories with all of our cards from past years preserved in albums that will be passed down to the kids. I love the artful way we can express love for our family and friends through a simple card, and Pear Tree does a beautiful job of capturing that in their products.

We have yet to wrangle up the family for our annual Christmas card photo this year, but I did play around with some of last year’s photos.

Pear Tree Greetings is giving one of our readers a $100 gift code (expires 12/31/14) to use toward their holiday cards with free shipping. Click over to Pear Tree Greetings, pick a favorite card design and share your favorite card design in a comment on this post. Winner will be randomly selected and announced in next Monday’s post (11/24/14). See terms and conditions HERE.

*Note: This giveaway is completed and comments have been closed.

All this talk of Christmas cards has me excited now. Time to order stamps and pick out what Christmas movie we’ll watch while I address envelopes (last year was Family Stone).

Thank you Pear Tree Greetings for sponsoring this post and for all the holiday glitter.

After the last post, it seems completely fair to give it up for flip scenarios when experiences completely wow you with their awesomeness when you only expected “Let’s just get through this.”

Enter the Fresh Beat Band concert this past weekend–all the rage on Nickelodeon. Our kids love the Fresh Beat Band, and I–well, I love that the kids have something to love. It’s not that I don’t love the Fresh Beats; it’s just that their music has accompanied more tasks in my life than I would have chosen had I not had kids. Sometimes when I fall asleep to I got, I got, I got, I got, you got, you got, you got, you got, we got, we got, we got Loco Legs in my head, I imagine using my loco legs to kick the Fresh Beats one at time.

I had planned a while ago to take the girls to a concert in Boca. As it approached last week, I thought of a hundred other things I’d rather do with them than drive two hours to listen to “We Had a Great Day” for the eighteen thousandth time. I prayed I wouldn’t do something crazy like jump up on the stage and rip cords out of amps which thankfully I didn’t. What I wasn’t expecting though was to love it–every song, every synchronized dance move, every child who stood in her seat like Nella and waved like a crazed Beatles fan, every parent who looked on smiling.

It’s one thing for a musician to perform for adults and remain on for everyone who expects them to be fantastic;  it’s another to do this for kids which takes, like,10 times the amount of energy–to make every child in that crowd feel like you are waving and pointing and singing just for them. And then after all that jumping and dancing and sweating and smiling (my God, the smiling! They never stop smiling!), to go sit and hug child after child, calling them by name, making them feel important, posing for photos, high fiving. There’s an “it” factor for this band and a reason they’ve been so successful with kids, and you can feel it the second the concert begins. We bumped into some friends from Naples who admitted this was their fourth Fresh Beat Band concert–true groupies–and I totally get it. It was special.

So there you have it. Unexpected WOW. Our friend manages the Fresh Beat Band’s VIP tour, and he hooked us up with their after party. I joked with my friend Nici (who just got hooked up with some VIP Pearl Jam passes) that she pulled her friend-of-famous-band card to see Pearl Jam and I pulled my freind-of-famous-band card to meet the Fresh Beat Band. I knew I pulled the right card when I watched Nella sit on Kiki’s lap and later, after the long drive home, tucked her into bed to see she was still clutching the VIP pass in her hand. I figure she passed her first rock concert much like the great groupies of the past–with flying colors: dance the night away, sit on a band member’s lap, get a picture to prove it happened and then pass out in bed with your party clothes, still holding your backstage pass. Touche’, Nella.

Enjoying this week:

Rousing the wind chimes when the air is still…

Big brothers who swoop and scoop when you’re least expecting it…

Sweaters at the beach…

…and books. 

Yes, let’s talk books for a moment.

I did the whole “I don’t have time to read” thing for a while, but the excuse got old and the truth is, I’m a better person in all areas of life when I read. So this was my year. I have aced reading books this year which unfortunately means I’ve spent a lot of money on books, but I like to think I’m supporting the book industry. Kind of like how I make sacrifices and support the shoe industry because I’m selfless like that. And I try to be responsible like borrowing books when I can and paying it forward by passing my books on. Except this last one, I’m not sharing.

I expected hilarious and smart with Amy Poehler’s new book and was not disappointed in the least. There’s a bonus gift that comes with Yes Please though–spot-on advice for girls and women that goes far beyond her witty deliverance of it. Amy’s self awareness, vulnerability and humble expression of what she’s learned about everything from body image and career goals to loving her children was relatable and inspiring, and when the book was over I felt like I said goodbye to a friend–a very funny one. Favorite highlighted passages include “I believe great people do things before they are ready,” “it’s easier to be brave when you’re not alone” and “our ego is a monster that loves to sit at the head of the table, and I have learned that my ego is just as rude and loud and hungry as everyone else’s. It doesn’t matter how much you get; you are left wanting more. Success is filled with MSG.”

Upon starting this book, I asked my sister and several friends to read it with me because I need to talk about passages and discuss the important stuff (this is all about me, clearly). For the ones who didn’t listen, I began texting pictures of passages they needed to read with “Get this book. Now. We need to talk about it.” If they still didn’t listen, I bought the book and had it sent to them. Ten pages in, they’re all, “this book is amazing, can’t put it down.” Moral of the story: this book–yes please.

I’ve had to since switch up the book genre because everything I tried to start that was within the “If you liked Yes Please, you’ll love…” recommendation tasted like powdered creamer when I wanted more half & half.

So I finally picked up this beautiful thing. And, oh my. This book should be required reading for every middle school child, every parent, every teacher. I wish I wrote this book. Wonder is the story of August Pullman, a boy with a rare syndrome that leaves his face severely deformed. The story begins with August entering middle school after years of being homeschooled and follows the events of the year from the perspective of August, his sister and several of his classmates. The language is simple, the story is truthful and without over-sentimentalizing anything, the author had me wiping tears several times. I felt each character’s struggle. And August’s mom? You know her because you are her. Even if you don’t have a child with special needs. You feel her struggle, her love, her choices because you’ve imagined them a hundred thousand times in your own parenting. I wanted to read this through before reading it aloud to Lainey so I know what things we’ll discuss, and I’m waiting for the right time to introduce this to her–maybe a little later, but still. I can’t wait.

I just went all Siskel and Ebert on you. Sorry, this is new. Maybe next year, we can do a blog book club. (book suggestions?)

Also, I’ll be popping in here more often and with some more fun Friday posts–holiday ideas, gift lists, things to make, things to sing about, things to put interpretive dance moves to because–hello, holiday cheer.

Happy Monday, Friends!

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Also, I’m over at eHow this week talking about how to stay true to yourself on social media among all the noise.

This post is written by me and sponsored by Kiwi Crate, a family favorite for making our craft game easy.

Craftastic, gettin’ our craft on, crafty Craftersons—whatever you call it, we like to make stuff in our home, and it’s not unusual to find colored pompoms under dressers, glitter stuck to the countertop or a pile of glue sticks shoved in a drawer that’s not meant for glue sticks (“Kelle,” says Brett while he digs for a spatula, “tame your crafts.”). I’ve never mastered the art of organizing our craft game, but I can tell you this: making things with my kids has become a love language for all of us, a way for us to enjoy quiet time together while feeling that little rush of happy for creating something new.
I’ve introduced Kiwi Crate before, but it’s a perfect time to talk about them because it’s November (ahhh! It’s November!), and if you’re anything like me and like to space out all the holiday stuff so it doesn’t all fall in a two-week mad dash in December, you’re thinking about meaningful gifts now. So grandparents and aunts and uncles who are looking for that perfect kid gift? Psst…here’s your thing.

Kiwi Crate is a subscription service that delivers hands-on experiences for kids at their doorstep—everything they need to create 2-3 activities—arts and crafts, imaginative play, science and games.

Once a month (for however long you choose), a little box arrives at the door. Open it with your kids, and you know what it says? It says, “Grab a chair. Sit down. Have some fun. Be together. No digging around for glue sticks, no crawling on the floor for lost pompoms, it’s all here. Make something!”
Those somethings you make are pretty awesome too with different themes each month (like gardening, dinosaurs, space, etc.) and complemented with easy-to-follow instructions (nothing too complicated) and extra information to help create great learning experiences while you create.
Take last month’s medieval themed box. The girls loved putting together their cardboard castle and decorating it; and long after creating it, they had something to play with.

Lainey loved creating the catapult (lots of science and physics lessons)…

….and aiming the ping pong ball (included too) right at me.

The convenience of Kiwi Crate not only means you don’t have to run to the craft store to pick up all the materials for one idea, but everything stays contained to one area, making clean-up easy. Save your crate for a rainy day, for “I’m bored, Mom” weekends or take it with you to places where you know your child might need some entertainment.

Want to try it? Kiwi Crate is available in 1, 3, 6 or 12 month subscription offers for as little as $12.95 a month plus $2.95 shipping. Use Code KELLE25 for 25% off the first month of your subscription. Wrap up that box and put it under the tree with a note that the gift will keep on giving. New subscribers will also receive a bonus welcome kit. And Kiwi Crate offers other activity boxes–Tinker, Doodle and Koala crates targeted for ages 3-16+. Coupon code can be applied to these other brands as well. This is an especially great gift for grandparents who live far away and want to stay connected. Make a tradition of Skyping in while your grandkids work on their activities and see their finished products.

Making things together is a great way to connect and learn more about your child, and I love how easy Kiwi Crate makes it for the entire family

Thank you Kiwi Crate for sponsoring this post, and thank you readers for checking out the sponsors that make great products and services our family enjoys and also help make supporting this blog a little easier.