Home Away From Home

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Home Away From Home

Welcome back! I sure needed a break, but I'm very excited to start up again.  We just completed a two week vacation in the Russian River, where we lounged, read, ate, became one with the river, and played a lot of legos.  My philosophy on vacationing with young children is to recreate home away from home, and for this reason I always rent a house rather than staying at a hotel. July is National Vacation Rental month, and today's post is sponsored by Wyndham Vacation Rentals. Today I'll be sharing my strategy for setting up camp in a vacation house...what I look for in a rental and how to prep and pack. 

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The Paper Lantern

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The Paper Lantern

I leave for vacation today, and will return to the blog in Mid-July.  I thought I'd leave you with a new video post, this time a project. My paper lanterns have been featured on Design Sponge, in magazines and at Alt Design Summit, but believe it or not, I've never done a tutorial here on Poppy Haus! When I started showing my projects, I didn't know that I needed to include tutorials. So, I made a short video to show you how I make a basic lantern. You can use any size white paper lantern, any size cupcake liner. If you want, you can layer the larger papers with a striped mini-liners to add dimension, or try using french pastry papers. 

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The West Wing

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The West Wing

When we moved here, one year ago this week, the boys began to share a room and eventually took over the entire corridor off of our kitchen which includes a playroom and their own bathroom. I decided to move Wylie into a twin bed straight from the crib, and created a little bunk room for them so that their visiting cousins and future sleepover buddies could spend the night. With one year under our belt I hadn't totally finished putting together their sleeping quarters, and I've been feeling a little guilty about it, so this week I put on the finishing touches and moved a few things around to make it more complete. Here's the quick tour... 

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Pancakes + Fireworks

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Pancakes + Fireworks

We'll be on vacation during fourth of July, staying at a cabin on the Russian River.  Boy howdy am I excited! I have a little surprise in store for the boys for the morning of Independence Day...red, white, and blue pancakes. A little food coloring goes a long way, just add a few drops of red and blue to a half a cup of batter. Scroll down for my favorite (dairy-free)recipe!

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GGB

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GGB

It's kind of hard not to be in a funk today.  It's the third day of summer and it's raining cats and dogs.  I got back home late yesterday afternoon after a weekend in Wisconsin.  My family gathered to pay tribute to my Grandma Bev, affectionately known as GGB (Great Grandma Bev) to my boys.  You may recall she passed away in February just one day before her 85th birthday. It was really great to see all of the people who loved her, to hear everyone's favorite memories, most of them very sweet and light-hearted, but it was a somber, emotionally taxing trip, and I am wishing she was still here to share a laugh with over the funny, ordinary things in life.

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