“Nothing,” she would invariably say. “Just a little bit of time together as a family.”

To us as kids, it seemed like a silly answer. She got to spend time with us every day, sometimes more than I suspect she wanted. Here was a chance to rake in some loot, and she chose, year after year, to turn it down.Now that I’m a mom, I can see more clearly where she was coming from. I’m lucky to get to see my husband and children every day, and though we suffer from the same irritations and aggravations every family does, there’s not much about our life that I would change if given the chance. But what does it mean to have “a little bit of time together as a family?” I love getting my little boy dressed in the morning, putting on his tiny shoes and taking him downstairs for a bowl of cereal before rushing off to work; and I love reading the same Mo Willems books to my daughter every night after she brushes her teeth but before I tuck her in. I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything. I don’t think, though, that those moments were quite what my mom was talking about.

She was talking about moments like the one I remember from last year, when all I did was walk with my family along the Charles River in Cambridge. It was cold outside—we were all under-dressed—and we were there to feed the geese. But when we found them, the geese not only did not want to eat the crackers we had brought for them, but seemed annoyed that we had made the trip at all. Or the year before that, when I was eight months pregnant and we traipsed down to Hancock Park with nothing more than a lunch and some vague plans regarding slides, swings, and an eventual nap.

I can’t think of a single Mother’s Day I’ve celebrated since becoming a mom that anyone outside of our family would consider particularly noteworthy. I’ve never been showered with lavish gifts or treated to a day at a spa, and I doubt if this year my husband (wonderful man that he is) has been visiting any jewelry stores. Yet, somehow, it’s always been better than any gift could have been. Each year, for one day, we make absolutely certain to spend some time focusing on one another—not on topping the previous year’s gift.

So, what is it that I want for Mother’s Day this year? Easy question: just a little bit of time together as a family.

Stephanie, general manager at Pear Tree Greetings is the mother of 2 kids, ages 3 and 1. She and her family moved from Boston to Minnesota last year.

This meant starting to plan the party not the night before…but actually two nights before (Kidding. Many emails were exchanged and we even had a lunch date in there to get the planning started and to discuss all our baby shower ideas.)

We had fun baby shower ideas and I’ll start with my favorite things. We hung paper lanterns, poms and garland above the kitchen island and we loved how it turned out! It really was the focal point of the shower. My other favorite part was the wonderful women I hosted the shower with, and the guest of honor herself!

Now onto the details.

We went a little non-traditional on the invitation and used our Striped Wedding Invitation. This invitation is fun to create because you can pick all of the stripe colors to match your occasion, which made it easy to customize it to our yellow and gray theme.

The gifts for the games were picture frames, so we incorporated them into the décor by framing the invitation, one of the thank you cards, and the back of one of the invitations we had leftover. (Always good to order a few extra!)

And what baby shower would be complete without a diaper cake? So easy to make, and what a great centerpiece!

We added a few more touches of décor here and there. I made this little bunting banner out of paper card stock and sewed (yes, sewed!) paper garland to go along with it.

I used my favorite sauce bottles from Specialty Bottles for our mimosas. Using the invitation’s coordinating wedding favor tags, we labeled the drinks to identify the ones that were safe for the pregnant mamas (which was incredibly important considering half of our guests, including the two other hosts of the shower, were expecting)! To really let the colors of the shower shine through, I covered my kitchen island with a solid white tablecloth and then purchased a gray chevron table runner and yellow chevron napkins from Bateson’s Boutique etsy store.

One of the games we played was to taste test baby food and guess the flavor. The guest of honor didn’t do so hot…considering ketchup and honey mustard were not correct We’re confident she’ll quickly pick up on these!

Our last touch was to bring the décor from the shower into Jess’ nursery! The poms and garland look perfect above the baby’s crib. There are so many baby shower ideas to choose from, having a theme or color scheme to narrow your search definitely helps!

We are so excited for Jess and her husband to welcome their new baby in a little over a month!

Celebrations.com used rustic materials like haystacks, rope and fabric to create their western theme. Rope tied around a fabric-covered tin can made a down-home vase for flowers, while twine-embellished picture frames placed throughout the party held photos of the birthday boy. Snacks-on-a-stick were inserted into the hay bales, including cones decorated with coordinating gift tag stickers from Pear Tree.

Root beer bottles were decorated with fabric scraps to look like bandanas, and topped with craft-store doll-sized cowboy hats. Beanies and weenies were served on tin plates, just like they would be in the wild west, and for dessert, gold nugget cupcakes!

Kids panned for gold using pie tins, and were thrilled to find sparkling nuggets among the rocks and sand at the bottom of a baby pool. The trick was, they couldn’t use their hands! At the end, they could turn in their gold for trinkets, and favor bags filled with homemade trail mix. Printable bag toppers saying, “Happy Trails to you!” were the perfect way to end the party.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re giving teachers a chance to win one of three $100 Visa gift cards to spend on classroom supplies! And here’s all you have to do:
Tell us why you think handwriting is an important skill for today’s keyboarding kids to learn.

As teacher contests go, it’s pretty easy to enter. Just add your comment below, and three winners will be randomly drawn at the end of the week. Be sure to mention your name and school in your comment so we can identify you! Contest ends Friday, May 11th.

If you’re looking for mother’s day gift ideas, here are a few thought starters for notes to Mom that we know she’ll appreciate. And all you need is a pen, pretty note cards, and a stamp.

Top 10 memories of your mom
The time she visited your 3rd grade classroom and brought cookies. The time she stood up for you against the neighborhood bully. The time you were sick and she watched chick flicks with you all day. The list goes on and on.

5 things Mom was right about
You know what we mean. You argued and screamed about the unfairness of it all, told her she was wrong, and probably said some horrible things in your anger, but it turns out she was right.

Artwork or handprint from grandkids
She loved it as a mom. She’ll love it even more as a grandmom.

3 most valuable things she taught you
Every mom wants to hear that you actually learned something from her. It seems obvious to you, but have you ever thanked her for it?

5 characteristics you inherited from Mom that you are lucky to have
We all joke about not wanting to turn into our mothers, but it’s not always a bad thing, is it? Think about some of the good things she gave you. Then tell her what they are. It’s the perfect Mother’s Day gift.

But you have to start somewhere, so start by gathering photos. It’s easy to make prints of digital photos, but when it comes to those precious baby photos, you may want to make copies rather than risk ruining your originals. This is the perfect time to get digital copies made — then you can do whatever you want with them. (After dreading the task for weeks, it took me about an hour to scan 50-60 photos. Silly me. And I have used them about a million times since then.) If you don’t have a scanner at home, any photo processing store can do this for you.Once you have the photos, you can start thinking about graduation photo display ideas for your party space. We’ve pulled together a list of ideas, and a Pinterest board with examples. And remember, your grad can help. (Many of the girls in my son’s class completely took charge of this project for their own parties, and that was just fine with their moms!)

Here are my 12 graduation photo display ideas for 2012:
1. Collage poster boards. Arrange your photos however you please. Get creative with text, and add color with mats or a colored background. There are no rules or limits, other than the size of your poster board (and you can always make more than one). Tri-fold presentation boards are great because they stand on their own.
2. Printed collage posters. Not into DIY? Several companies including Costo, photowow.com, or shindigz.com, will print a poster-size photo collage for you. All you have to do is send them the photos. You can even have them printed on vinyl for a completely weatherproof banner.
3. Slideshow. If all your photos are in a digital format, it’s easy to create a slideshow using any photo editing software program like iPhoto. At the party, set up a computer monitor in a central place and set your slideshow to repeat infinitely.
4. Photos on the line. Drape rows of ribbon, wire, or colorful string around the room, or as a backdrop behind your serving tables, then hang photos from the lines using clothespins. Simple, but dramatic!
5. Tabletop photos. Cover tables with colorful tablecloths, then scatter photos on the tabletops. Top each table off with a layer of clear plastic to protect the photos.
6. Life size cut-outs. Take a full-length photo of the grad and have it blown up to life size. It’s a fun way to decorate a door or wall.
7. Window frame collage. Use an old multi-paned window or door as a collage picture frame, or cover an old bulletin board in fabric for an easy backdrop.
8. Timeline themed display. It’s fun to line up the photos and see the changes in your child from year to year, especially when the photos are similar, like school portraits or sports photos taken every year at the same time. Do you have photo buttons from your child’s sports teams? Pin them all on a wide ribbon and use them as part of your display.
9. Photo albums or scrapbooks. Maybe you already have photo albums and scrapbooks that you don’t want to take apart. Simply set them out on a table for guests to view. Surround your books with other mementos such as awards or honors, and add something to symbolize future plans, such as a t-shirt or acceptance letter from the college they’ll be attending.
10. T-shirt display. A t-shirt says a thousand words! Okay, they’re not photos, but a collection of t-shirts from various teams, clubs and school events says a lot about the grad and makes a fun colorful display, either on a wall or on a clothesline.
11. Enlarged photos as focal points. Choose a few of your favorite photos and make enlargements to give your display a little variety. They don’t have to be high quality reprints — even a color copy on regular printer paper can be mounted or framed to look fabulous! Use them to decorate the food table, or place them strategically around the party as focal points.
12. Custom graduation confetti and graduation napkins. How’s this for a cool idea? Napkins and graduation-themed confetti that you can personalize with your grad’s photos and choice of colors — new from Pear Tree!

Good luck with your graduation photo displays and the rest of your party planning. We’d love to hear about any unique photo display ideas you have!

After looking at graduation invitation ideas. The girls chose the Full of Celebration Graduation Booklet because “it looked fun and different.” They took advantage of all the room for photos and had special photos taken just for the party. We love the bright colors they chose, and the way their photos bring out their personalities and the closeness of their friendship.

As for future plans, they will be attending different colleges but are sure to remain friends. Congratulations on your graduations, girls, and have fun at your party!

For 2012 there’s something for every type of bride, whether you love vintage looks or want to showcase your boldness with vibrant colors and multiple photos. The best pieces allow you to match wedding colors while incorporating unique and memorable design elements.

Vintage is new
Vintage styles that recall fashions of the past, with a contemporary twist

Match your color

Uniquely yours

Pocket invitations

Standout shapes

The snack table was a cornucopia of color, with carrots, celery, strawberries, and salty snacks in yellow and purple. The layers of fruit in the ice cream cake created beautiful ribbons of color in each slice. And colorful soda bottles in various fruit flavors made a rainbow out of the drinks, too.

The kids’ favorite spot was the Colorful Candy Bar, where beach pails of every color were filled with color-coordinated candy treats, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and easy-to-make homemade crayons. Treat bags were decorated with round birthday favor stickers, and kids could fill their bags from the buckets.

The colorful Twister mat fit right into the rainbow party theme, and was the perfect indoor activity when it began to rain. Kids of all ages enjoyed the colorful birthday theme!