Claire and Emily Photo shoot

Yesterday I had the privilege of taking pictures for some pretty adorable sisters. Being my cousin's kids, I'm thinking it runs in the family. :) Here is my favorite:

Thank you for making such pretty pictures, Emily and Claire!

Happy Mail

  My kids have some pretty strange quirks. I'm thinking there's a good chance it's hereditary. Anyway, one that I can relate to is their love of mail. Sending, receiving; they even fight over who gets to carry the mail back from the mailbox. So I found a blog this summer that gave all sorts of suggestions of lightweight inexpensive things to send in the mail for cheap postage. And HAPPY MAIL was born. We started with a shopping trip to rediscover the wonder that is Dollar Tree. They each got to pick out a set number of items, and could collect them in their own shopping baskets. The kids loved it, and we broke the monotony of a normal day's work for a few store clerks. Then we got creative in decorating the boxes and packaging. Then we broke the monotony of a normal day's work for a few postal workers. My kids have a way of doing that when taken out in public.
  So far we've sent puzzles, shoe insoles, temporary tattoos, shower caps, and pictures. All with colorfully crayola-ed packaging. So. Much. Fun! The kids get to learn about money, postage, addressing letters and (most importantly) blessing others all in the same endeavor.
  Little did we know, my sister, a recipient of happy mailings would send mail in return. So one bright and glorious day all 4 of my children got individually wrapped and mailed gifts of candy. You should have seen the dancing at the mailbox that day. Thanks Aunt Jess!

Candy+mail+Aunt Jess= trifecta of awesome.

 

 

Check out www.giverslog.com for some really great Happy Mail ideas. Did you know you could mail a flip flop!? Seriously, check it out and give it a try. Apparently fun like this is contagious.