View Post

15 Nature Activities + Books to Enjoy Spring Flowers

Perhaps one of the best parts of Spring weather is all of the wildflowers blooming. We naturally are outdoors more, and so I always look for ways to bridge the natural world in my children’s play and learning. This season we have studied flower parts, collected flowers, planted wildflowers, dried wildflowers, and more recently made Sun Art. I thought I …

View Post

In the Kitchen with Esther Meinel-Zottl

“In the Kitchen” is a series celebrating the family table––the food we eat, the spaces we inhabit, and the people with whom we share it all. Each edition welcomes a new voice to this conversation on kitchen life and food, and today, I welcome Esther Meinel-Zottl, the warm-hearted voice and photographer behind Mama to the Little Ones and My Little Treasures of Life. Esther is …

View Post

memory keeping | printing photo books

Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this. ― Dave Eggers Let me first begin by noting, that for all of the images I share (a lot!), I’m terrible about printing. I have crested 3000 images shared on IG just this last week, and easily have a thousand more here. Readers …

View Post

CRAFTING YOUR OWN BEESWAX CANDLES

Rolling beeswax candles is perhaps one of my children’s favorite activities for the home, a task that needs tending more often in the autumn and winter seasons here. Most days, rolled candles array our mantle or tabletop, ready to light whenever the mood of our home needs a little twinkle––whether a family meal or a hum-drum school day. And every Friday night, when the kids …

View Post

cultivating kindness in children

A simple act or word of kindness can be a light for the soul, so can be a listening ear. From personal experience, the two are not entirely separate. During those playful and harrowing toddler and preschool years, it didn’t take long for me to notice, when my children were acting out with unkind words, gestures, or attitudes, it was often …

View Post

little zooey magazine

The other day, I spoke with a friend who recently pulled her children out of public school to homeschool. Only a few months into the semester she was now upset and questioning her decision, “I think I’ve made a mistake. I don’t know what I’m doing.” I pulled her in for a hug, assuring her she wasn’t alone, and then …

View Post

choosing curriculum

When I was pregnant with Liam over a decade ago, I walked into a local baby store planning to itemize a few things we would need. I had expected the process to be easy. I would enter the store, write down a few favorite items, and leave. Instead, I was paralyzed. In each category from breast pumps and bottles to …