This post has taken me over a month to write - partly because this is my last post on this blog. I am so sad to announce that as of today, Little Window Shoppe is closing for good.

The decision was not taken lightly and was really hard to make, but a combination of factors came together that brought me to this post…very much wanting to spend more time with my family (I have a very busy two year old who needs more mommy-time), getting ready for baby #2 in November (I’ve been out sick for two months! But it’s totally worth it as we’re so excited to have a new baby come to our family), and finally getting ready for a move to a new state with my family this Summer (my hubby is starting a new job).

{Photo source: Wilson Library Reserve}

I have learned so much from blogging at Little Window Shoppe and will be forever grateful for the kind friends I have made and the amazing experiences that I have had here!! Thank you so much for taking time to make Little Window shoppe a part of your lives and for being such a fantastic community. And also, thank you for all of the nice emails and inquiries about how we are doing.

Before I say goodbye for good, I want to thank a few people who helped me along the way:

First and foremost, my husband Scott. He is an incredibly supportive husband and friend and was the first person to listen to my every idea and concern throughout my blogging adventures. He has also been Superman at my house and has cooked, cleaned, taken care of our two year old and helped me out while I was sick over the last seven weeks! I couldn’t ask for a better man in my life and I love him so much!!

I also wanted to thank Holly of Tutus and Turtles. She is so cool and listened and talked to me for hours on the phone as I worked out how I would end my Window Shoppe blogging days. Her blog has been an inspiration to me from the beginning and I think that her blog ideas rock!!

Finally, I wanted to thank each of the writers and contributors for Little Window Shoppe. Each of them had creative and beautiful ideas to share and I’m so grateful and honored that they wanted to be part of this blog with me. They have become some of my dearest friends and were the best group of writers a blog ever had! They even sent me tulips when I was sick (just about made me cry, I felt so loved).

Please visit each of their blogs to keep up with their cool ideas!

• Vanessa - her blog: I Never Grew Up
• Lauren - her blog: Supermom Central
• Michelle - her shoppe: Sweet Mady’s Paper
• Michaelle - her blog: Monkeys Momma
• Cassie - her shoppe: Madison Envy
• Kelly - her blog: Albany Mommy

Also, I wanted to leave you with a few additional recommendations of blogs I love - in case you are looking for new places to subscribe:

• www.simplemom.net - this is my absolute favorite blog to follow…it has the best family tips and ideas that make sense, the ideas are easy to follow and I just can’t get enough of its coolness.
• www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com - artsy, tons of crafts, diy ideas, printouts, and the best time-wasters ever.
• www.thepioneerwoman.com - recipes, photoshop tutorials, photography 101, down-to-earth life.
• www.makeandtakes.com - the coolest (and most creative) kids crafts ever!
• www.metropolitanmama.net - and for all you contest lovers, this Metro Mama has excellent giveaways all of the time - and she writes helpful articles with tips for parents. Love it.

There are so many more…but I think this is a great start.

If you want to stay in touch with me, you can follow me at a few sites:

• www.emilyjune.com (I’ll still be designing blogs and websites - starting again this fall). 
• I’m also going to be checking in and updating my facebook page and my family blog regularly. They will have weekly updates of my family life and the cool fun things we are doing.

**If you want to stay in touch with me at my family blog or on facebook, just email me or leave a comment letting me know and I’ll send you the links.**

Thank you again for making this the best blogging experience I have ever had!!
Always,
Emily

Now that Spring is here my family loves to cook lighter meals - especially lighter desserts. Our Berry Trifle is such a no-stress and yummy dessert that you can make for any get-together.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups mixed berries (Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries)
• 1 Angel Food Cake
• 1 Pouch of Strawberry Glaze (You can find this in the produce section of the grocery store)
• Fresh Whipped Cream

Directions:

• Mix together your chopped or whole berries
• Chop or tear your Angel Food Cake into bite sized sizes
• Drizzle the Strawberry Glaze over your cake
• Fold in your freshly whipped cream and berries

Instead of mixing all the ingredients together you could layer them, although mixing all the ingredients gives it a pink spring color.

Written by Vanessa of I Never Grew Up

{Photo by tanakawho}

When you wrap yourself in one of these soft, luxurious, hand knit scarves from Bossy Boots Design, you are in for a treat. Made with beautiful stitches and only the best yarn, these textured scarves are the perfect solution to the lingering Spring chill.

Discount:

Free-shipping for all domestic USA orders until the end of April.

Win It:

One lucky Window Shoppe Reader will win this gorgeous Dick and Jane Bluff Scarf from Bossy Boots Design! Hand knit with 100% Merino wool from England, the clean modern lines of this urban scarf are perfect for anyone! ($68 value).

To Enter:

Simply take a peek at the shoppe and then leave a quick comment letting us know which item is your favorite. This giveaway ends on Tuesday, April 14th at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be announced at this post Wednesday, April 15th. Good luck, everyone!! (Please feel free to read our contest rules for additional details - this contest is currently open to domestic U.S. residents only.)

(Optional) For extra entries:

• Are you a Subscriber? Just let us know you’re subscribed to Little Window Shoppe in an additional comment.
• And (Or) Blog about this giveaway. Simply let us know about your blog link in an additional comment.
• And (Or) Add this contest to Twitter. Simply let us know about it with your Twitter name in an additional comment.

I have been watching the work of Geninne, an artist from Mexico City, for some time now. She is just so wonderfully creative! Although she works mostly in watercolor, she is also gifted in other areas of artistry as well. She has even started hand-painting rocks!

My favorite creations of hers are her bright and beautiful bird prints from original watercolor works. The details are vivid and imaginative. Check out Geninne’s Art Store on Etsy for original art from this very talented lady. If you would like to see even more of Geninne’s work, you can visit her blog, Geninne’s Art Blog.

Written by Michaelle of Monkey’s Momma

Banana Split Brownies are very easy to make and they are an incredibly delicious treat!

What you’ll need:

• Brownies
• Bananas
• Strawberries
• A really good bar of Milk Chocolate
• Long toothpicks

To start, make up your brownies however you’d like. Whether you want to bake your brownies from scratch or use a box, it works either way. (I made my brownies from the box on this one).

Let your brownies cool for about an hour, and then cut them into small squares, about 1 inch each. Holding your toothpick, place half of a strawberry on first, then a slice of banana, then a brownie square. It is really that easy.

When you have all your brownies and layers on the toothpicks, you’re ready for the topping.

To make your delicious drizzle, take your milk chocolate bar and melt it in the microwave. (This is the hardest part.)  Make sure to only microwave it in 30 second intervals and then use a fork to mash/mix your chocolate in between each 30 second interval.  Keep microwaving the chocolate at 30 second intervals until it is completely melted.  It’s very easy to burn chocolate, admittedly, I’ve tried to shortcut it (microwaving for 45 seconds or 1 minute at a time) and have burnt my chocolate more times than I can count! 

Arrange your desserts on a platter so you can easily drizzle the chocolate over them. This next part is what restaurants sometimes do to make your plate look even more appetizing!!  And, it also makes this dessert over-the-top incredible!!

Dip a fork in the melted chocolate and then fling the chocolate over the brownie kabobs. Do this repeatedly until you have a nice, thin covering over all the desserts. Wasn’t that part fun?

I have always used short toothpicks, but you could use kabob skewers and make more layers too. You will not believe how incredibly delicious these are compared to how easy they are to make. They taste great with a nice glass of milk too. Yum!!

Written by Kelly of Albany Mommy

Finally…perfection made easy! Can I just tell you how much I love The Perfect Baby Handbook? Seriously, it’s hilarious and had me laughing from the start. This book is a comic relief for anxious new parents and it makes you laugh at the pressures you may feel when trying to become the “perfect parents” and trying to raise the ”perfect children.”

This book will teach you important things like how to help your infant develop a signature walk, what to include in the perfect nursery, secrets to immortalizing your miracle on film, which baby names are flawless from places like IKEA and Ralph Lauren, how to baby-proof everything on earth and more…

I actually had the opportunity to interview the author Dale Hrabi himself! I really liked his cool and down to earth perspective - here are a few excerpts from our interview:

Me: What inspired you to write this book?

Dale: “Well, the idea started about three years ago, when all my three best female friends got pregnant at the same time in their early 30s, and, being a nosy, supportive friend, I wanted to know everything, and was told more than I bargained for. One friend in particular got me thinking about the pressures of modern parenthood. The books were freaking her out with their wildly contradictory advice.

Meanwhile, in the hothouse of Manhattan’s competitive parenting culture, she and my other friends were, by their own admission, falling prey to pretty irrational anxieties. Should we, in fact, invest $1000 on a stroller? That woman has four strollers…does she know something we don’t ? How can woman B do it all?

I used to try to tease my friends into laughing about it all, and tell them jokes to help them regain perspective. As someone who’s learned that anxiety is often the root of comedy, I began to see the material for a book that might provide comic relief for other parents going through the same thing.

As I began my research in earnest (about two years ago), I put together a massive file of news clippings, read books like Carl Honore’s UNDER PRESSURE: Rescuing childhood from the culture of hyper-parenting (or maybe that came later), The Price of Privilege, The Three Martini Playdate, and others. It became clear that my friends were just part of a much larger phenomenon, sometimes called “super-parenting” or “over-parenting.”

My book also, I think, satirizes the whole idea of giftedness—and, since I was kind of a gifted wanna-be as a kid, I’ve always been fascinated by concepts like identity, originality, precociousness, uniqueness. So the opportunity to work through that fascination was another incentive, too.”

Me: What do you hope parents will take with them after reading the book?

Dale: “Well, it is a humor-book, so I hardly expect it to be life-changing. Ideally, though, I’d say that I hope parents get at least a couple laughs, and maybe a little perspective on their more relentlessly over-achieving friends, or even themselves.

The ‘excessive motivation’ I talk about starts with love and concern–it’s just incredibly easy in this culture and especially the current economy to become anxious that your baby will ‘fall behind.’ So those Mommy & Me classes start to seem crucial…but then, it can escalate to the point where parents are running themselves ragged, driving their kids to 19 different activities every week without stopping to ask themselves: ‘Is this what we really want? Is this what our kids really need?’”

Win It:

Five Window Shoppe Readers (that’s right, FIVE!) will win a copy of this funny baby book! You know you want it, it’s brilliant!

To Enter:

Simply check out www.perfectbabyhandbook.com and leave a quick comment letting us know that you want to win. This giveaway ends on Tuesday, April 7th at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be announced at this post Wednesday, April 8th. Good luck, everyone!! (Please feel free to read our contest rules for additional details - this contest is currently open to U.S. residents only - we promise to have more great contests for everyone else coming up!)

(Optional) For an extra entry:

• Are you a Subscriber? Just let us know you’re subscribed to Little Window Shoppe in an additional comment.

Want to trick your whole family into eating a huge plate of vegetables for dinner? I do it every week and my family cannot get enough of my Spaghetti Squash recipe. I feel wonderful serving it to them because it’s about as healthy as it can get and they have fun eating it because it looks just like pasta!

Ingredients:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 whole Spaghetti Squash
• 3 Fresh Tomatoes
• 2 Vegetables of Your Choice
• Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Slice your Spaghetti Squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds and season with olive oil, salt and pepper on all sides. Place the squash flesh sides down on cooking tray with foil covering all of the exposed skin. Roast for 45 minutes - 1 hour, (until tender).

• Meanwhile, saute with oil, salt and pepper two of your favorite chopped vegetables. I like to use zucchini and yellow squash but you can use whatever you have on hand!

• When the spaghetti squash is done simply pull your fork through the flesh and it will come out like spaghetti noodles!

• Combine the “noodles”, sauteed vegetables and serve with chopped fresh tomatoes and sprinkles of fresh Parmesan cheese.

Hope your family enjoys this healthy recipe too!

Written by Vanessa of I Never Grew Up

If you enjoy planning parties like I do, then you definitely want to go all out with your decorating.  The invitations are the first step.  Invitations set the tone for the party.  Here is an adorable Cupcake Invitation that you can customize in your color of choice.  You can also purchase address labels, thank you stationery and party favor stickers that all coordinate.  Don’t you love that?!

For the party,  your daughter would look so sweet wearing this Cupcake Dress or the matching Cupcake Aprons shown below. You could serve pink lemonade and small sandwiches cut out with a Cupcake Cookie Cutter served on these Cupcake Carousel Plates. Your daughter will also love seeing her birthday cake when you present her with a large cupcake using the Wilton Cupcake Pan.

If you wanted to do individual cupcakes instead, this book, Crazy about Cupcakes, has a lot of cute decorating ideas to help you to get started. You could set up a decorating station and have several different bowls of sprinkles and tiny bits of candy for your guests to add their own toppings.  Your guests could also decorate cupcake shaped cookies to package up and take home with them.

In addition to cookies as a favor, Etsy has a great collection of Cupcake Soaps that any girl is sure to love.  Place the cookies, soap and maybe a few cupcake stickers into a little bag topped off with the cupcake favor tag and ribbon and you have the perfect goody bag! Of course if you really want to go all out with your cupcake themed party, what little girl wouldn’t love this fun table made by Imaginative Play Toys.

Written by Michelle of Sweet Mady’s Paper and Sweet Mady’s Notes

Do you have a little artist in your life? What about piles of art work that you just can’t bear to throw away? Well that is the story of my life. I have been searching for the perfect way to store my girls’ art work. I have two girls who love to draw, color and paint, and if you’re like me, you may often be on the lookout for ways to organize your child’s precious art work.

My first solution is the Li’l Davinci Art Cabinet. This frame comes in various sizes and stores up to 50 sheets of paper! This frame is great because you can easily display, store and switch your children’s art work as often as you want.

My second solution would be a pretty fabric-covered box. Here are a few examples of some I have found online:

Hullabaloo Home Decor offers textile and gift boxes covered in Sandi Henderson Fabrics. I love Sandi Henderson fabrics so I ordered a Textile Box and a Gift Box. They are both super nice, and afforadable too.

The Container Store has every storage idea you can imagine! These whimsical Yumiko Gift Boxes are technically for gift-giving, but they are also quite sturdy and can be used over and over for some of your favorite items and special memories. The Container Store also has a great selection of storage boxes too.

And finally, you can also turn your child’s art work into Stamps, Placemats, a Memory Quilt, Note Cards, and Calendar. My favorite is Snap Fish where I love to compile my children’s art work into Flip Books and Photo Books.