The Best Gifts ...

... aren't things. Isn't that what they say? So while I loooooooove my porch swing and flower baskets and bird feeder, I love these Mother's Day gifts more:

That's me. Drawn by BB.

Why, yes. Yes, I am!

Have kids? You Need This!

When we first toured our current house, we couldn't find anything wrong with it. We fell in love the second our feet crossed the threshold. Throughout the basement and downstairs, we kept asking, 'What's wrong with this house?! There has to be something!'

As we went upstairs, I jokingly said, 'It probably doesn't have a bathtub!' - one of the few things on my Must Have List.

Guess what? It didn't have a bathtub. Just a boring ol' annoying stand-up shower. Grr.

We bought the house anyway. One con versus a million pros.

Giving our son, who was then  2 1/2, baths, though, was interesting. We've kept him clean, but 'bath' time really became a chore. Until we found ...

The Rinse Ace My Own Shower Children's Showerhead!*

This thing is frickin' amazing! Easy to install (Billy did it in just a few minutes). Easy to use. And fun!

BB LOVES taking showers like a big kid. He gets himself SUPER clean. AND, last night he even asked to take a shower. What what?

He especially loves washing his neck. I think it's safe to say that he, hands down, has the cleanest neck of any kid in the world. Yes, not the country. The world.

BB is 4 now, so age probably has a lot to do with how well this product is working for us. He was definitely ready to take showers on his own (we do a check and don't leave him alone) because that makes him a 'big kid'. And he likes new 'toys'. One unexpected benefit is that he's getting more and more comfortable with getting water in his face!

I whole-heartedly recommend this showerhead! If you try it, let me know what you think!

* I am not getting paid for this endorsement. All opinions and silliness are my own.

Dual Purpose Photo Frame

I never realized when my son was born that taking and sending pictures would be such a big deal. The first year, we had professional photos taken every 3 months. Since then, we've had professional photos taken every year around his birthday. He also has school pictures taken twice a year. Gulp! That's a lot of pictures!

I dutifully send them to friends and family - what they do with them I never know. In hindsight, I would've given close friends and family a frame with BB's first picture and then just sent the same size photo from then on so they could update the frame. Parent fail.

In hindsight hindsight, I specifically would've bought them this great, two-sided frame from IKEA. One side is BB's current photo, the other a "self-portrait". He drew himself as a bug in this particular version. In another, he drew himself as an egg. What can I say? He's 4.

The only downside is that it fits 4x6 photos and professional photos don't come in that side. That's where the white matte came in!

We've made 2 so far as gifts (better late than never for good ideas) and I totally want one for myself. It'll be fun to see his "self-portraits" evolve and change depending on his mood and age.

What's your photo-sharing tip?

Mayday! Mayday! I Missed May Day!

Last year, for the first time ever, I received a May Day basket. Oh? You're not familiar? Me neither. But I kinda loved it. A lot. I mean, who doesn't appreciate candy, flowers and little trinkets in celebration of spring?

I decided then and there that I was going to adopt this tradition and make and deliver my own May Day baskets this year. But, guess what. I forgot. May Day totally snuck up on me. Grr.

So, last night, in a fit of crafty rage, I created 5 baskets - without having to buy a thing! Don't you love stash busters?!

I took some beautiful spring paper, ribbon, pinwheels, flowers I got from my friend Morissa over at Shamrock Stamper and candy and got to work:

I started by rolling the paper into cones and securing the seam with a tape runner and a bit of glue. Then I punched holes in the top two sides for the ribbon. I embellished with some springy flowers, using pop-up squares, added a pinwheel and some candy and called it a day:

Not to fancy or thought out, but still super cute (if I do say so myself)!

Two Too Many Tornadoes

I've always (al.ways.) had weird dreams. Extremely life-life, detailed dreams that make me feel tired and wonky in the morning.

The latest round of craziness has included tornadoes. Extremely life-life, detailed tornadoes.

In the first, I was in the backseat of a car being driven by some random coworkers. I kept telling them that a tornado was coming and that we needed to stop and lie down in the ditch, but they wouldn't listen. The tornado got closer and closer and I got louder and louder, but they wouldn't let me out ... so I accepted my fate. Next thing I knew, I was IN the tornado. I FELT the spiral. (I'm serious.) I 'came to' next to a pond. I had been thrown from the car, which landed in the pond.

Scary, but I was OK.

The second was similar to the first - tornado was coming, no one would listen to me, I finally accepted I was going to get swirled up, I got swirled up, I got tossed out, I was OK.

I did not have to look up tornado dreams on the Internet to interpret these. Talk about the subconscious mimicking life. This is the perfect metaphor for the last two months (and probably for the next two months).

I wanted 2013 to be the first "normal" year I've had in awhile. I wanted to relax and enjoy each day with my family and dog and maybe a book by my side. Instead, life loaded up the pitching machine and started throwing me curve balls.

Here's the thing I'm slowly accepting, though. Like the tornado, it's all out of my control. I can't do anything about anything (in this case). So I have to accept the craziness and roll with it. In the end, it's gonna be A-OK.

(That said, let's stop with the tornado dreams, m-kay? I'd like a reprieve, if only for 8 hours, from the craziness!)