Recent discoveries...

I was helping my mom shop for Zee for Christmas, when I found a link on her blog to Darlybird. (I think she may have been led there by cjane.) I fell in love with the earrings! The great colors, the vintage feel, feminine without being over the top and a great price. I don't feel like I'm being irresponsible or too frivolous when I shop there. Zee found red "Nie Nie" earrings in her stocking. I bought the white ones with a coupon that found it's way to my inbox. And there might just be a pair on their way to my mom for her birthday.

For Little Man's 4th birthday, we had a RED party. I did my best to find everything I could that was red... paper banners made with red scrapbook paper, tissue paper balls, red vines, cherry candy sticks. Of course, we were still on a budget so luckily all those things were really inexpensive to make. So when I was searching Darlybird for those earrings and found these cupcake papers, I couldn't resist. I did 2 dozen cupcakes for his party and still have enough left to make a couple more batches. They are a little smaller than the cupcake liners I usually get, but it made them perfect for the kids.



I've seen these sudzing bars in the store and have always figured they were a waste of money. Then a friend bought a pack for the boys for Christmas. I LOVE THEM!!! Seriously. Love. Them.

The soap is inside an odd fabric cover. When you use it the fabric acts like a washcloth and you get all kinds of lather (which the boys love). It also keeps the soap from getting slippery so little hands (or mommies) can hold it easier. But the best part by far is they claim that it lasts "twice as long as regular soap". In our house it proved that and then some. My boys are notorious for dropping a bar of soap in the bath tub for it to become slimy and gross and melting away into nothing. I don't like having to fish it out of the tub or having to use a bar of soap that's all slimy. Plus they like using them so they will actually wash themselves (of course this means I have to have two on hand at all times). The first two we opened lasted about a month, which for us is great. The boys love baths and will take one at every opportunity. I've even started using them since even though the boys have their own bathroom, somehow they keep ending up in mine. It's a definite two thumbs up.