Reed + Ryan

Random Acts of Kindness Kids Bingo (Social Distancing Edition!)

Monday, March 23, 2020

If your house looks anything like my house, we're going a little stir crazy stuck inside and rules are getting more and more lax every day. #norules has become one of the most relevant hashtags to describe my Instagram stories these days.

In an attempt to get us back on track, I created a free printable download to help your kid get back to being that sweet little child they once were. You know, way back in early March when we were blissfully ignorant to all of this COVID madness!

Everything on this list supports social distancing. #safetyfirst Please tag me @ReedandRyan on Instagram so I can spread kindness with the world!

Hang in there, mama. We've got this!
xo Hilary

Click here for the free download

Quick & Cheap Dinosaur Sensory Tray

Friday, July 20, 2018

Nature walks are kind of a big deal in our house. If you've been watching my Instagram stories for a while, you have probably seen some pretty silly videos of us on our nightly nature walk. It usually involves at least one cape and lots of racing down the sidewalk.

The other night we set out looking for all of the different kinds of leaves, rocks and sticks we could find. Reed doesn't like getting dirty "icky," so this is a rare picture of him touching a rock on the ground. He definitely wouldn't consider sitting on the ground or stepping off the pavement in order to get it!

Sidenote: How lucky am I that he doesn't like getting dirty? That's definitely in both mine and John's genes. No joke- John showers 3x a day. We're very clean people.

We had fun looking at all of the different bushes and trees in our neighborhood together that night. He now knows that leaves grow on trees, leaves change colors, and that there are all different types of leaves.

I went home and constructed a sensory tray for him. I asked my neighbor for a scrap from the company who happened to be putting astroturf in her backyard that day. It was a perfect base for the tray, but you can use dirt, rocks, grass, brown sugar (fake dirt), or anything else that depicts something that dinosaurs may have walked on.

In order to make a lesson out of it, I gathered some books from our book nook and Daddy whipped out a picture of a dinosaur's birthday party (Reed is currently obsessed with birthdays). When I presented the tray to him, I reminded him that he found all of the sticks, leaves and rocks and had him touch the different leaves. We talked about textures like how the leaves with jagged edges looked a lot like the dinosaur's teeth.

I read him his books while he played with the dinosaurs. We counted dinosaurs on the pages, talked about colors, and matched up his dinosaurs with the ones in the books. He also showed me his best dinosaur impression (which he does a little too often, especially in public really loudly). Once he lost interest in the tray, we took out the colored pencils and drew on the coloring page that Daddy made.

I'm going to leave the tray and books on the kitchen table so that he can play with it as often as he wants. Whenever we have these out, he demands that we read the corresponding books to him while he eats. Of course we'll read to you, Buddy!

S U P P L I E S

1. Round Galvanized Tray

2. Dinosaurs: Wal-Mart $1.00 in store

B O O K S

1. Roar

2. Never Touch a Dinosaur!

3. A Boy Wants a Dinosaur

Raising Strong Women

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Long before we started buying pink frilly baby girl clothes, we went straight to Amazon and started searching for women empowerment books for our little girl's nursery. As a high school teacher, John works with kids who are going through some very hard times. Adolescence (and life in general) is tough. We want to teach our kids to love themselves and to accept others the way they are. I just came across this blog via Facebook with a quote that really stuck out:

Who Run the World?: The How and Why of Raising Strong Women

I must capitalize on every opportunity possible to be a positive role model for my daughter. It means being intentional with my words and how I use them to speak about others as well as myself. It means showing compassion and respect to everyone regardless of how deserving of it they may be. It means standing up for what’s right even when it’s not popular and taking the high road when the low one is more convenient.

S O U R C E S

Barnes & Noble Collectable Editions

Bad Girls Throughout History

Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You

This Little Trailblazer

My Feminist ABCs

Little Feminist Board Book Set

Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women

Do Princesses Make Happy Campers?

Do Princesses Scrape Their Knees?

Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?

Who Says Women Can't Be Computer Programmers?

Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors?

Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag

We have an obsession with books over here, so let me know if there are any we need to add to our ever-growing library! Happy reading! #girlpower

How Ryan Got Her Name

Monday, July 16, 2018

RYAN ELIZABETH RICHARDS

Unlike the story behind Reed's name (click here to read about that), Ryan's didn't come as easy to me. Going into the process of naming our second child, I had one main requirement: it must start with an R.

I'm a little more than obsessed with the Kardashians and the brand they've built. I always knew that I wanted both of my kids' names to start with an R so they can create an RR empire together, like the KK empire Kris Jenner leads.

There actually wasn't much discussion about her name. Once we confirmed we were having a girl, we had a pretty short conversation until John got settled on the name Ryan. I was very hesitant about it until I consulted my sister and besties who all confirmed they loved it. Bonus: my Mom's maiden name is Ryan, which helped seal the deal for me.

I was hesitant to announce her name at first because most reactions have been along the lines of:

1. "Isn't that a boy's name?" Steph and Ayesha Curry did it, so I can too.

2. "Do you have any other names picked out?" No.

3. "People are going to mistake her for a boy." In print, yes that will probably happen. However, according to Fortune magazine, there's a major bias when it comes to hiring based on male vs. female names seen on resumes. I hope gender discrimination is long gone by the time she's in the job market, but if not, giving her a "boys" name is potentially going to help her career.

4. Would you have named your son Ryan? No, probably not. We probably would have gone with Riley.

I found this blog post written by a girl named Ryan and found it pretty entertaining. Sorry baby girl if we set you up for a lifetime of this: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/faq-girl-named-ryan

I'm pretty sure John and I have always agreed on our future daughter's middle name being Elizabeth. Elizabeth is my sister's and Grandma's middle name. Reed and my Grandpa share the middle name "Otto" as well. My Grandpa and Grandma are two people that John and I have always looked up to and are honored to be able to name our kids after them.

So far the only nickname she has is Cryin' Ryan. As Reed says, "Mommy, Ryan's cryin'!"

The secret to Pinterest perfect pictures

Saturday, July 14, 2018

You know by now that Instagram is all fake, right? Those bright perfect pictures everyone posts usually take lots of editing to get them to that point. When I don't have my personal photographer following my kids and me around (aka my husband), I'm usually snapping pictures non-stop with my iPhone X. Even the newest model iPhone can't always take a "perfect" picture though.

Here is my tried and true trick to getting Pinterest perfect pictures.

I love this app so much. It literally takes 5 clicks to brighten my images. I usually don't go overboard with the filter options, but there are a lot of options if you want to make other edits.

Here are my 5 easy steps to the perfect picture:

1. Open up PicTapGo

2. Choose the picture you want

3. Click "Edit"

4. Choose the "Lights On" filter

5. Click "Go" to save it to your camera roll

Sometimes I mess with the edit settings in my iPhone camera roll, but this always ends up looking so much better and it's much quicker. Hope this helps make your life a little easier!

Ryan's Baby Sprinkle Decorations

Thursday, July 12, 2018

We celebrated Ryan with a sprinkle-themed baby sprinkle! I had about 5 different Pinterest boards going with different themes that I wanted (like black, white and pink Kate Spade... so cute.), but in the end we (I) decided colorful sprinkles would be the easiest and most fun!

Side note: Is it normal to take charge of decorations for a party that other people are supposed to be throwing me? I did this at my first baby shower as well, but, in my defense, the parties are at my own house so it's easier for me to make that happen. I just love party planning so much!

Here are some pictures from the brunch:

DIY:

Sprinkle "R" was made using a large paper mache letter like the one found here. I used an X-ACTO knife to cut the front of it off so that it was basically just a flat piece of cardboard. I started by spray painting it white, then I used a foam brush to apply a layer of Modge Podge on top once it dried. I poured sprinkles all over it, then let that dry before shaking off the excess. I used a foam brush to apply Modge Podge in the spots that were missing sprinkles, then repeated the process. Tip: Lay out foil underneath the letter.
Rainbow "sprinkles" on the white mylar balloons were cut out of permanent adhesive vinyl using my Silhouette.
Colorful dots were made using scrapbook paper and a Martha Stewart circle cutter. I attached them to a large piece of poster board with tape and pinned it to the wall.
Confetti inside of the clear balloons was made using multi-colored tissue paper and cut using a Martha Stewart 1" hole punch.

Sources:

Party City: Treat bags w/ pre-made bows, polka-dot cupcake cups, pink disposable chafing dish
Amazon:

How Reed Got His Name

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

I feel like naming a child is one of the most nerve-wracking things you experience in life. There are SO. MANY. OPTIONS. What if their personality doesn't match? What if they don't look like a "Gertrude" or a "Frank"? What if 5 other kids in their class are named "Katie"? What if you love the name, but you know other people won't?

You do you, mom & dad. If you love it, especially if it has meaning, then go for it!!

__________________________________

REED OTTO RICHARDS

Origin

Reed: The name originated as a nickname for someone with red hair or with a red, ruddy complexion.

John has red hair, so there was/is a good chance that our kids will too. Reed hasn't shown many signs of becoming a ginger yet, but only time will tell. John didn't fully transition to a ginger until he was a bit older.

Otto: An element meaning "wealth, prosperity".

I was always proud of the fact that my name means "cheerful". My greatest hope for Reed is that he lives a wealthy and prosperous life (not just financially, but that helps too!).

Reed Richards = Mr. Fantastic

John has a Master's Degree in History. He wrote his thesis on the topic of "How Comic Books Shaped Youth Culture in the 1930's, 40's and 50's," which basically translates into the fact that he got to live out his childhood dream and was given a free pass to buy/read as many comic books as he wanted for a solid two years.

The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. Richards possesses a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology. BusinessWeek listed Mr. Fantastic as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics. Wikipedia

Luckily I really like the name Reed because I'm not sure I would have had the choice to choose any other name. This literary reference is just a little too perfect to ignore.

Great Grandpa

The name "Otto" comes from Reed's Great Grandpa, George Otto. My Grandpa was the patriarch of our family and someone who an entire community looked up to. He accomplished so much, including graduating from Stanford as an orthopedic surgeon. When he passed, we were lucky enough to inherit an entire wall full of diplomas and awards from his career. I look forward to Reed being able to see the name "Otto" on all of those when he grows up to see what an amazing man he is named after.

Keith Richards

Keith's daughter has a son named Otto Reed. Unfortunately the baby's last name isn't Richards, but either way this is a pretty cool coincidence.