Watercolor Love

Valentine's Day is swiftly approaching, folks. Usually, every day for us is Valentine's Day, so the official holiday isn't usually a big deal to us. But this year, to make things special for our three-year-old, we decided to make valentines for one another. I wanted something handmade, artistic, yet simple. This is what I came up with:

It was seriously so easy. You can do it! It just takes watercolors and plain card bases (and a pen if you want to personalize them). I decided to do mine in just one color to make the job simpler, but how pretty would these be in a rainbow of hues?

Are you making valentines this year? I'd love to see them!

Recent Read: Selected Poems of William Butler Yeats

Guys, poetry is kind of my jam. I discovered my love of reading it in high school and my love of writing it several years ago. I read the Barnes and Noble Selected Poems of William Butler Yeats, which I later discovered had been carefully annotated by a three-year-old after she noticed me underlining my own lines in it. I digested this little gem in just a few hours, and it was so inspiring:

I love the nature-themed subjects and lilting words and wanted to save some of my favorite passages, so I rewrote some in calligraphy to hang inspiring phrases in my home:

Also, funny side story about reading Yeats: I was in the middle of reading this book long after our three-year-old should have been sleeping in bed. She was having a rough night (a series of nights, for crying out loud!), and kept coming out of her room despite warnings in an attempt to coax someone to sit by her for a little bit longer. I thought about laying down the hammer which would probably have meant she would have cried herself to sleep, but instead I made a good mom move. I told her I would come sit by her but that she couldn't talk or leave her bed, and that I was going to read my book out loud to her. She complied, and after only a few poems, she was fast asleep! Haha! She probably thought it was boring, but I choose to think of it as relaxing instead. Victory.

Have you read any poetry lately? Do you find poetry relaxing or does it mostly help you get to sleep faster?

Advent Calendar

Each year we find ways to refresh and test out new traditions just to keep things interesting. But when one is successful, we don't need to do much to change it. Something we've enjoyed doing for the last several years is a Christmas countdown advent calendar:

We still like to tweak the contents every year to make sure this tradition stays relevant. Last year, we had a few different items we rotated through the boxes, but the biggest hit turned out to be the Christmas books. So, we made sure to repeat that this year, too. We wrapped a bunch of Christmas books with calligraphed number tags on them and put corresponding tags inside a few select boxes. We like being surprised by the contents of the boxes, but when we discover one that says we get to open a book, we stop everything and have a little impromptu reading sesh. Our kid gets so excited to open a present and then we all get to cuddle on the couch as a family and read the book together. It's been a good tradition this year.

What sorts of traditions does your family look forward to during the holidays? Do you change up your traditions? How have you found ways to instill meaningful family time into your days?