Author: Katy

Mom Talk: Meet Katy, Owner of One Small Child

We are bursting with excitement today, as we announce that One Small Child is now under new ownership! New owners Kendall and Katy have been with the business for over 30 years combined, and are excited about taking the next step to help it grow and develop. Learn more about them here. Learn more about Katy, this amazing mompreneur, today on Mom Talk.

-Tell us a little bit about your family and why it is special?

Our family is unique and special, as we had the incredible experience, to give birth to a beautiful little girl, who is now 10 years old. Our oldest is wise beyond her years and brings a quiet strength to our home. After her birth, we suffered through a miscarriage and many years of infertility. Infertility as it turns out, is one of my greatest blessings, as it led to the adoption of our oldest son. His adoption and entrance into our family happened very quickly one afternoon, with a exciting phone call and a beautiful baby boy in our arms that evening. His incredible birth mother turned to us once again about two years later with another pregnancy. We excitedly prepared for another baby and welcomed another son to our home, with the same blonde hair as his beautiful birth mother and brother. We were thrilled and beyond grateful to be blessed with three children. This last year we also welcomed the baby sister! All three of our youngest share an incredible biological bond and the same beautiful blonde hair as one incredible woman, their birth mom. We have nothing but love and respect for a woman that trusted us to raise and call our own not one child, but three. Kendall and I take that trust seriously and do our best to make sure it is well placed. We love each one of our children and each day say a prayer of gratitude for our family of six!

-What do you do for work/volunteer outside of the being a wife and mother?

I love adoption, obviously, and I volunteer with a local adoption group. I also love helping in my local church. For work, I have the great opportunity of working with my amazing team at One Small Child. I love the feeling I get when my team and I accomplish one of our goals or projects.

-Is there something your family does on a regular basis for quality time?

We love pizza/movie night! This is something I did with my family as a child and we continue the tradition of laying out a blanket on the floor and having a pizza picnic and movie. There was always something exciting about being allowed in the living room in front of the television, for that one night.

-How do you take time for yourself to recharge?

I love to take hot baths and have the iPad on the counter with a great Netflix movie to watch or who doesn’t love a little Downton Abbey! I am also a huge advocate of a weekly date night. I love spending time with Kendall and I feel it is very important to take time to reconnect with him.

-What is your go to, never fail and in a pinch recipe?

Shrimp stir fry, it’s easy and healthy! Just take a bag of frozen shrimp, a bag of frozen veggies, add 2-3 tablespoons of butter to the pan and the juice of one lemon and cook for 10-15 minutes. Then I take 1 bunch of cilantro and parsley, 1/2 cup of olive oil or avocado oil, 1 tsp salt, and the juice of one lemon and blend it together to make the sauce. I pour a little sauce over each serving of shrimp and veggies and it is delicious! You can use chicken instead of shrimp too!

-What is the one product you cannot live without?

I am going to say my oven. Because I love to cook and bake and my oven has been used every single day! I could not live without it!

Mom Talk Monday: Meet Vicky

-Tell us a little bit about your family and why you are special?

Well, I’m a single mom of two teenage girls. That means: meetings, piano lessons, volley-ball practices, and a full-time job. I am busy woman. I have to negotiate and keep up with the new “language” of modern day teenagers. I recently learned of a new dare challenge called “Manchester”, where if you say the word “Manchester” the kid has to do it. Crazy stuff. My family is also special as we balance being a very traditional Mexican family living in the United States. When the kids want to do something and I have to say no I find myself repeating my mother with the reply “because I said so”.

-What do you do for work/volunteer outside of being a mom?

I have a full-time job as the Design assistant at One Small Child. I have been working for the amazing company for almost 15 years and I have learned a lot of amazing things. I love this place and this job. I am also a volunteer teacher at a local Hispanic Community Center 3 days a week, and I have a kid’s class I teach at church every Sunday.

-Is there something your family does on a regular basis for family time?

We love to have lunch at the same little Mexican restaurant every Sunday after church and talk about our week, and the things that are happening around our community. We love road trips and singing to loud music, with three girls in the car, imagine that.

-How do you take time for yourself to recharge?

I take an hour everyday to go to the gym and work my stress out.

-What is your no fail, in a pinch recipe?

My favorite recipe is chicken fajitas, it is very fast and simple to make.

-What is the one product you cannot live without?

My favorite product that I absolutely cannot live without would be my chia seeds. I use that in my water on a daily basis, for better digestion, and my proclaim spray-on glosser for my hair.

Valentines Day Activities for Kids

I’m always looking for new Valentines Day activities to do with my kids. It’s fun to try something new and there are tons of great ideas out there! This is what I’ve found for this year:

We are big fans of food at our house. (Who isn’t?) One of my favorite things to do is make fun food around the holidays. This looks so simple, and I am always happy to find something fun and easy to do with my kids.

I found this idea from one of my favorite blogs redtedart.com. You can find the tutorial here.

Another fun idea is this adorable paper heart. I know my older two will love making these.

Here’s the video on paper quilling. SO fun!

We hope you enjoy these Valentines Day activities with your kids!

The Jessa Collection: Christening Gowns for Girls

The Jessa Collection

We are excited to reintroduce our Jessa christening gown as well as the matching accessories so you can have the complete collection! The Jessa is one of our best selling Christening gowns for girls, and you can see why! With its feminine ruffles and just the right touch of pink, it is simply perfect for your little girl.

The Jessa gown is made of silk dupioni, a rich creamy color, which is beautiful on baby.

The gown comes with a cotton slip, and bonnet.

If a bonnet isn’t your thing, you can purchase the Jessa headband, which matches perfectly.

We also have a blanket and shoes that are made to match the Jessa gown with the soft pink floral trim and silk dupioni.

For those that would rather not have pink, we also have the Jessa in white, just select white in the drop down menu.

Remember our post from last week about personalizing your christening outfit or gown? Well, the Jessa gown can be personalized, so it can become a keepsake for your little one.

See more Christening gowns for girls from One Small Child!

From the Trenches: How to Fly with Toddlers

Recently we took our 4 kids, (9 yrs, 4 yrs, 18 months, and 3 months), on a trip to visit family. The trip included 6 hours on a plane, including a 2 hour layover in between flights. I was desperate to find activities for my 18 month old. I went to the wonderful world of Pinterest to search for genius ideas on how to fly with toddlers, as well as asking advice from friends and family.

First- this was one of our FAVORITES! Super simple and inexpensive. I purchased fun buttons and a sandwich container. I cut a hole large enough for the buttons and kept the buttons in a bag in the container to pull out when we were ready to play. He loved placing the buttons in the hole and this activity saved us from a few melt downs.

I found this activity at a local book store. It came with many different color shoe laces and a few different boards to thread. While my 18 month old didn’t quite enjoy this like I thought, my four-year old loved it.

This was the best one yet! My friend had this in her church bag and when I saw it I knew I needed it as well. This was super simple and an ingenious idea.

Take a spice jar with the larger holes on top, and cut pipe cleaners to fit the length of the jar.

My 18 month old loved this. He would pull out all the pipe cleaners and put them in one by one.

Last but not least, this snack kit that I found on Pinterest was awesome. Even the flight attendants stopped to look at them and commented that they wanted some for themselves on long flights.

I packed a few sweet snacks but tried to keep it healthier by packing crackers, jerky, nuts, and granola bars. You want more high protein snacks to help have fewer melt-downs.

Since our trip I have used these ideas at church and it has helped tremendously to keep my little ones quiet and entertained.

What things have you tried?

First Communion Hair Tutorial: Waterfall Braid

Looking for a pretty way to do her hair on her special day? Try this First Communion hair tutorial: this pretty braid looks lovely with or without a veil. I love how simple it really is to do this impressive hairstyle!

First Communion Hair Tutorial: Waterfall Braid Video

http://youtu.be/sLGaKh1k1YA

{Hair by Cheyenne at Paisley Studios}

Mom Talk: Heather’s Birth Story Photography

We’re excited to introduce a new series of posts on the OSC Blog: Mom Talk. Every mother has a story. Every day. Good, bad, adorable, not-so-adorable…we’ve all been there. So let’s share!

Birth Story Photography

First up is Heather, who recently gave birth to her third child…a long-awaited sister to two big brothers. Heather, a professional photographer, has a beautiful sense of style and is very thoughtful when it comes to details in every aspect of her life. As she was preparing for this baby girl, it was only natural that photographing the blessed event would be on her list of must-dos. She graciously shares these thoughts:

“Having a child can be such an amazing experience. The only downfall to it all is that I am always too loopy to really remember much of what is going on or see all the details of my new baby since I am in a bed across the room, or worse in another one completely. I cannot express how much this session means to me and my family. Having [my business partner] Kayla there to photograph the things that I was unable to see was amazing. She was able to capture my kids in the hall building Legos, and the anticipation of all my loved ones, and was there to capture Miss Penelope’s first moments into this new world. At the time I felt pretty aware of what was going on, but after I was able to see the images…..I would have missed sooo many great moments without those images to remind me. It was amazing and I am so grateful to have such a good photographer as a business partner and friend. I recommend anyone having a child seriously consider having a professional photographer there to capture some of the most cherished memories you may ever have.”