diy mama

lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips

Shelly

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Fables Across Time: Kalila and Dimna

My favorite exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is called Fables Across Time: Kalila and Dimna. I am grateful to be sharing first hand knowledge of the exhibit as I had the chance to interview the curator of this wonderful display – Sabiha Al Khemir. Fables Across Time

Fables Across Time

Fables Across Time

Sabiha partnered with the Children’s Museum to create an exhibit that would illustrate the importance of storytelling across the globe and time. The focus of the piece demonstrates how ‘fables mirror our morals, our cultures, ourselves…’ It is astounding to me how these fables from 700 years ago are still being adapted and re-told all around the world.

Fables Across Time: Kalila and Dimna is an interactive exhibit of Kalila and Dimna (570 CE), that brings the characters, their relationships and lessons to life. The display showcases storytelling in the form of digital media, illustration, hands-on games and theater. It’s the perfect exhibit for toddlers up through grandparents to have the chance to talk about stories they’ve been told.

Check Indy’s Child Parenting Magazine for more of my visit to this wonderful exhibit.

 

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Teacher Appreciation Gift

This post has been compensated by Nehemiah Manufacturing Company. All opinions are mine alone.
As room mom for Sophie’s class, I wanted to make sure her teacher felt appreciated. Teacher appreciation week is fast approaching and I know she’ll be getting lots of fun treats from the students but I wanted to make sure she had a relaxing, stress free vacation this spring break. She works so hard with the pre-schoolers, constantly bending over to their level. I was thinking how bad I would need a pampering vacation after working with those little kids and wanted to make her a Spring Break Relaxation Kit for her travels. We’re so excited to give her the teacher appreciation gift to help her be energized when she returns.

Teacher Appreciation Gift: Spring Break Kit

Teacher Appreciation Gift

It was fun choosing the items I thought would be convenient for her travels but help her feel relaxed on her trip.

Spring Break Kit Essentials:

  • Travel tote
  • Sunglasses
  • SPF lip balm
  • Soothing face wipes
  • Mini loofah
  • Sunscreen
  • Detox mask
  • Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus
  • DIY Sea salt hair spray (see below for instructions)
  • Nail polish
  • Dry shampoo
  • Airplane gum
  • Chocolate treat

Teacher Appreciation Gift

My main focus was making her life as easy as possible. I thought about the tasks I always dread while on a vacation; things I don’t like spending time doing because I want to be enjoying my trip. We always book the earliest flights so we can have as much time as possible at our destination. Starting with her early morning, I chose dry shampoo, face wipes, and gum for her flight helping her to freshen up. Once she gets off the plane, she can head to the hotel to drop off her luggage, spritzing some Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus on her ‘plane clothes’ in lieu of ironing. She’ll have polish, sunscreen, SPF lip balm, sunglasses and a chocolate treat to toss in her beach bag and head straight out for some ocean air. To relax after a day at the beach I’ve got her covered with some sea salt hair spray, a mini loofah and a detox mask so she’ll be refreshed for the rest of her vacation. Teacher Appreciation Gift

I have not found a sea salt hair spray that I like, so I tried making one and fell in love. I have naturally curly hair but the entire top layer is hardly wavy. The sea salt spray gives my hair the perfect beachy wave that is effortless to accomplish.

DIY Sea Salt Hair Spray

  • Plastic spray bottle (found in the travel section)
  • 1 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp organic coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp leave in conditioner (I’ve also tried gel but my hair likes conditioner)
  • 1 cup warm water
  • a few drops of lemon juice or essential oil (optional)

Step 1: Pour warm water and sea salt in measuring cup and stir until salt dissolves.

Step 2: Combine melted coconut oil and leave in conditioner in separate bowl, then add mixture to measuring cup.

Step 3: Add a few drops of essential oil, add to spray bottle and shake until well mixed. Apply to towel dried hair.

Teacher Appreciation Gift

I’m not one for ironing. All of our clothes are wrinkle-free because neither my husband nor I will ever iron. I was bummed when I bought all new curtains for our new home because that meant I had to iron these huge pieces of fabric. I had complained about this to a friend and she suggested trying the Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus on my linen curtains. I will now never have to iron another piece of fabric again. I used the Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus on my curtains while they were hanging and was shocked at how smooth the fabric was once it had dried! I now only keep my iron for house guests.

If you are anti-iron, like me, you can use this link to get a coupon for $1 off. You can also check out what Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus is up to on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest for more tips on keeping those fabrics fresh!

I’m wishing I had bought two of everything so I could take a trip myself with this perfect Spring Break Kit! Are you heading anywhere for Spring Break or are you doing a Staycation like we are?

Check out my past teacher appreciation gift: Crayon Planter or my GIFTS board for more inspiration.

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Seek Curiosity

Follow your curiosity

Seek Curiosity

I’ve been listening to a lot of TedTalk Radio Hour while working out, driving, or doing yard work. It’s the perfect length of time for me to stay engaged and have time to listen, learn and marinade on a specific topic. Yesterday I listened to The Source of Creativity (you can listen to the whole thing or just Liz Gilbert’s section, although I highly suggest listening to the entire hour). You might recognize Liz’s name as being the author of Eat, Pray, Love but she’s recently been focused on helping people push past their fear to focus on their creativity.

Although I’ve heard this idea multiple times, it’s currently resonating with me on a stronger level: ‘If you can let go of your passion and follow your curiosity, your curiosity just might lead to passion’. I am a very passionate person for a short amount of time. I’ll often change the entire course of my day to learn more or embrace one sentence that I read that day online. The next day it’s completely gone from my mind. I’ve learned that if I don’t create, write, photograph, or simply DO whatever I’m excited about that day, it will have no interest to me later on.

On the flip side, I have some passions that have always and will always be around but I don’t know how to switch gears and make those my lively hood, nor do I necessarily want them to. Disney is one of my biggest passions and when I had decided to work there for a semester in college, my family was a bit nervous that I would lose the magic I saw in The Mouse. Thankfully my curiosity lead me to follow through and it was one of the best experiences of my life.

I’m currently curious about horticulture. I’m re-doing the landscape to our new home and want to grow my first garden this summer. I’ve checked out books and videos on the best ‘kid friendly’ gardens in hopes to not waste time and money on my latest curiosity. Gardening is not currently a passion of mine but I’m curious what plants work here at this home and what vegetables would be fun for our family to grow. I’m pushing past my fear of wasting money, time and a sore back to learn something new. You only fail if you don’t try.



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The Miracle Morning

Miracle Morning

The Miracle Morning

My sister introduced me to the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I’m not quite half through (even though it’s a fast read) but I am already motivated by his movement. He is a motivational speaker that has failed and hit rock bottom multiple times throughout his life. In a strange way, seeing peoples failures are equally important to me as seeing their successes. My tag line for DIY Mama is ‘Let’s try this again, shall we?’ because I believe in being human, failing and always getting back up to try again. I’ve not been living my tag line lately and this was the perfect jump start I needed to re-motivate my life. It’s corresponding perfectly with the warm weather of spring, new blossoms blooming and longer days. There’s no affiliation going on between myself and this book, I just wanted to share it with you because I’m enjoying it so much. I will confess that I did have to skim through parts of the book because they were a bit preachy but the message of his story is amazing and I encourage you to check it out if you’re not at a 10 in every aspect of your life.

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Family Day at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

As the weather gets warmer, my itch to explore grows stronger. The days are longer and I want to fill them with as much fun as possible! Much to my husband’s chagrin, I have a tendency to fill our weekends months out. Living in a city with so much to do, it’s hard for me to choose which events to participate in with my family. We believe creativity and art is a wonderful part of life and want to share our passion for them with Sophie. My sister had invited us to join them in visiting the Indianapolis Museum of Art for Family Day and I thought it the perfect way to introduce her to the art museum. I’m so thankful she asked us along because I’m so excited to take her back (when she’s 3). It was a difficult for her to understand that she couldn’t run and squeal in the museum when she got excited to see exhibits and other kids. Indianapolis Museum of Art Star Studio

IMA_FamilyDay_Yoga (1 of 1)

Family Day at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Family Day takes place every first Saturday of each month throughout the year. It is an awesome opportunity for kids ages 3-10 (but all are welcome) to learn different art techniques through a themed event. We went to the SMASH, BOOM, POW:ANIMATIONS & COMICS DAY where kids learned how stop motion claymation works, storyboarding for a comic strip and painting cels to make a motion picture. The girls were especially delighted to start the day with cartoons and cereal where they saw New York International Children’s Film Festival Best of the Fest: Kid Flix Mix Mini Film Fest.

Have you checked out the IMA yet? While you’re there, also schedule in time to visit 100 Acres for a little outdoor fun. For more info on our Family Day at the Indianapolis Museum of Art trip, check out my post on Indy’s Child Parenting Magazine. 

Indianapolis Museum of Art Family Day

Want more kid-friendly Indy attractions? Go here!

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