offering parenting-advice via the www., is also not my norm, so feel free to make the comment-section an open forum for discussion. and, please remember – this is strictly my opinion and our experiences, there are a variety of great ways to handle this in each of your own lives.

with that said…

we have a tradition of teaching our kids about the birds and the bees on or near their eighth birthday. it’s an age i feel is just about the right time to introduce them to the subject, before they start to hear things on their own. it has always been important to me that these facts would first be learned at home. from husband and i. my mom and i always had an open-comfortable-relationship with talking about anything {and everything.}, and i want this to also exist in the family we’ve created. husband’s family did not teach these things at home, and each time {three now} that we have had these discussions with our kids, he definitely gets a little anxiety. i cannot speak for him, but i think he would agree that after the fact, he’s happy we do this, and he thinks each discussion/lesson has gone extremely well.

many of you may think, “my kids don’t need to know about this kind of stuff at such a young age.” or “i don’t plan on having this talk. the end.” you can choose an older age to have this discussion. within my group of girlfriends, i have definitely sat around girls lunches over the past few years and encouraged them to be the first to speak to their children about these topics. and, some of them chose to wait till their kids were nine, ten, eleven… but, each of them – whenever they did have the talk, it was a success. and, they were happy they were the ones to open up the channels of communication, so the child will hopefully come to them in the future should their be questions or concerns down the road.

with that said…

this topic has been on my mind lately, because with kj recently turning eight, he had his big day. this was a new experience for all of us, because our first two kids are girls. and, i was more-anxious to teach them the correct things, because with being girls, and being their mother, i felt this deep concern to keep them protected. not that having a son is any different, but it definitely put a new spin on what the focus of the conversation was… with each of our kids, by the time they were turning eight, they had all already asked things like, “where do babies come from?” and with all the different answers we’d give them, you could tell they still didn’t quite understand. and, they weren’t totally sold on whatever we would say, things like, “they come from heaven.” and “they just grow in momma’s tummy.” we could always tell they were temporarily appeased with that answer, but they would need real answers eventually. and sooner, rather than later.

i didn’t venture in to this discussion without resources. when our oldest daughter was about 6/7 years old i started searching for advice to educate her properly. while doing so, i found the book, “how to talk to your child about sex.” by Linda and Richard Eyre. in the preface you will read,

“when our book teaching your children values jumped to the number one spot on the new york times bestseller list in 1993, we realized just how profoundly concerned parents are about the values their children are growing up with. and ever since then–as chapter 6 of that book, the chapter on sexual values, continued to produce the most interest, the most response, the most letters, and the most gratitude from readers–we have grown to believe that the subject of sex and the whole issue of teaching sexual responsibility and restraint may be the single greatest challenge that parents face today.

today, as front page headlines prompt questions from our children–questions we may not be ready for, with answers our kids may not be ready for–the challenge is intensified. and what we need is not a set of simplified or “quick fix” answers. we need an offense rather than a defense, an integrated approach that helps children deal not only with the headlines, but with the big choices coming up in their own lives.”

{photos by me.}

with our big move to boston coming up, my mom is going to return to salt lake city and live closer to family there.

so, this feels like the end of an era, we are going our separate ways after spending a decade together… our kids are accustomed to grandma just being a one minute walk away… which is why i love even more, the pictures we currently had taken {here and here} with justin hackworth. these photos will be treasured forever. three generations of women.

{here are a couple images of the darling details justin thinks of – the water bottles said clever things like, “for refreshing photography…choose justin hackworth!” love it. and the treats box included mint truffles from utah for each of us + a sucker for sela. so thoughtful!}


for mother’s day, i gave my mom a hardbound book with a collection of twenty-two photos from the photo shoot + an 8×10 photo of just her and i. then, i also chose 4 – 11×19 prints to hang as a collage in our new home.

the prints are currently wrapped in a plastic protector, i don’t want to take it off until after the move, to help keep them safe. notice the edges? that ripped look is called a ‘deckled edge.’ it is supposed to mimic the look of hand-made paper. and, it’s such a great detail. justin even helped me pick out frames for the prints, and i’ll be sure to share a picture once these beauties are hanging.

the book – i gave one of these to my mom, plus had one made for us. i want my girls to always be able to flip through these pages and remember all these years that grandma was so close to us.

the pages are a type of watercolor paper. i love the organic-rawness they create. the prints above are made of a similar paper, too. it gives a stunning texture to each photo + creates a beautiful matte finish. love.

it has always been important to me, to choose gifts for others that are personal. i prefer that the gift be something they are distinctly interested in, or something that captures a memory of me with that person. so, this book was ideal for this time in our life and for my mother.

for my mother’s day, my kiddos all brought me goodies they made at school, and notes of love kept popping up around our home all day. i get teary-eyed each time i spot one, or little arms wrapped around me to wish me, “a happy mother’s day.” i especially loved notes from them on facebook – it’s like social-networking-family-style! ::winks::

oh my goodness. have you heard the news?!? our next adventure awaits!

husband and i are in boston as i type this, and we have been house-hunting, school-visiting, restaurant-trying, dance-studio searching, etc etc – working out all the details to move our family of six across the country soon…

so, it’s now officially official.

WE’RE MOVING TO BOSTON!

some of our days can be crazy-busy around here, and some are insanely lazy –
it’s a good balance. to see more of my tuesday, check this out!

what are your tuesdays like?

{all photos by me.}

my latest project: the most brilliant art ever created with recycled paper towel & toilet paper rolls!

i first spotted this wall art last year at my fave local boutique ‘soel.’ my darling friend shelby is the owner, and a couple months ago she hosted a craft night to create these, but i was out of town and couldn’t go…

so, after months of this being on my ‘to-do’ list, i finally *saved enough rolls to get started!

all you need is:
paper towel/toilet paper rolls
scissors
hot glue gun/hot glue
spray paint {optional}

cut all the tubes in to one inch to one-and-a-half inch pieces. they do not need to be perfectly measured. just eye the measurement. but do try to cut straight.

when cutting it will cause the tube to flatten, this gives each piece a very organic-shape, don’t worry about keeping them perfect circles.

the difference in sizes, gives the art a great texture in the end.

it doesn’t take much glue to hold the pieces together, even in the end, the overall project will not be that heavy.

you can choose to leave the project unpainted,
which i think is a gorgeous natural look.

however, i chose to use grey spray paint,
and luckily had a beautiful day to paint outside.

{when momma paints…my kiddos come running to “help.”}

ta-da! the end result ~ new wall art in our great room!
total cost: $20 for spray paint. I used 5 cans at just under $4 each.

and, for more inspiration: the toilet paper rolls wall art at soel.
{if you have not been to this boutique… run, don’t walk.}

i also found a tutorial here on design sponge.
i slightly tweaked the instructions to create mine, i think it makes the project easier to use hot glue.

*thank you to everyone {my mom, neighbors, husbands company, etc.} who saved and/or donated your toilet paper rolls to me for this project, you can stop saving them now – unless you want to create your own wall art!

{all photos by me. this is not a sponsored post.}