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Our Favorite Places | Mason Cottage Day

Crafts & DIY, homeschool, Motherhood, Uncategorized

We are beginning our second year taking homeschool classes at Mason Cottage Day! It’s hard to believe it’s only been that long! I feel like Ms. Natalie is one of my dear lifelong friends who I’ve known forever.

So naturally, I wanted my first post of my new Series: Our Favorite Places, to be about her studio – Mason Cottage Day! In this series, I’ll be sharing about our very favorite places & what makes them our favorite.

Welcome to Mason Cottage Day

From the moment you arrive, her studio is so welcoming! She has a board outside her door with important information & business cards, as well as which classes she is currently offering.

We personally have taken Sewing, Embroidery, Baking, and Reading/Writing classes in our time at Mason Cottage Day. I think science would be a really fun class to take too!

One of Ms. Natalie’s former students made her this adorable giant wooden pencil & another student made her this name plaque. I love that she continues to display their artwork that they took the time to create for her even after they have moved on. It shows how much she truly cares about each and every one of her students.

Each month, Ms. Natalie changes the artwork on display. It’s so fun to see the different projects & types of art the students are learning, as well as what students have come up with on their own in the art room.

This is such a cozy reading corner for students learning to read, and I love the giant embroidery hoops on display. I had never seen them that large before!

She has a ton of books & learning games for all different ages. She has been working with Sasha on her reading, & it has been so impressive to see how fast Sasha has been making noticeable progress in her reading abilities.

One of my favorite things about Mason Cottage Day is that it is really geared toward homeschooling families. Siblings are welcome to come play for free during lessons! That’s incredibly helpful, especially for low-or-one-income large families who otherwise have to miss out due to pricing or scheduling conflicts.

There are plenty of interactive areas to play such as a kitchen/nursery/home play area, a doctor or veterinarian area, a building area, and a doll house area for children to use their imagination.

There is the cutest little hand-washing station for baking students, along with plenty of child-size aprons to choose from.

All of her baking is taught through these conventional ovens. They are the perfect child-size, beginner ovens to learn on.

Sasha has loved taking baking classes at Mason Cottage Day. She had learned how to make a good variety of different items. Her confidence in the kitchen is going up after each class & just like at our home, Ms. Natalie incorporates reading & math into her baking lessons, so those skills are also improving while she bakes. Sasha of course looks adorable in her little aprons & she’s always quick to let her siblings take turns helping her bake.

The art room gives students free-range to create to their hearts content. There is a painting table, all the coloring utensils you need, stencils, & tons of other various art supplies & tools. Anything out is able to be used, and if you see something in her art storage area that you want to use that isn’t out – just ask! She’s more than happy to accommodate little minds.

You can always count on seeing fun science projects or experiments going on from her science students – like this potato clock.

She even has a beautiful planter that is Ukrainian Petrykivka style, which makes my Ukrainian 💙💛 heart so happy to see.

Ella loves learning sewing & embroidery from Ms. Natalie. I have loved every single project that Ella has created for me. Ms. Natalie comes up with super cute, child-friendly projects. One of my favorite projects she has made for me was the peekaboo picture frame with the cutest photo of our kids at the park.

Another thing you can always expect to find at Mason Cottage Day is plants! Ms. Natalie loves plants & nature. She teaches about Monarch Butterflies in season & grows her own pollinator garden outside.

Because of our mutual love of plants & Pollination, we made her a bouquet from our own pollinator garden to bring to her as a gift. We love creating bouquets for people we love!

She has been such a great teacher and role model in our children’s lives. She is helping them learn lifelong skills that they can & will regularly use. She has the kindest & understanding soul. I look forward to our visits with Ms. Natalie as much as the kids do!

“I want children to feel comfortable in the studio. Everything is set up so that they automatically know what to do. It’s a great joy to see children of every age play, pretend, and learn while using all the different materials! Children always have very good ideas about what should be included, and I always take their suggestions seriously. A simple thing such as including little squeeze ketchup and mustard containers made one young person so happy…he had noticed that the play kitchen did not have them, and he suggested adding them. Playing and learning are very definite collaborative communication pathways. I hope the studio allows children to learn in their best ways!” – Ms. Natalie

Classes are an affordable $20 each, which includes all necessary materials! *Beginning October 1, 2024 classes will be raised to $30 each*

Mason Cottage Day is located at 105 E. Main Street, Mason, Ohio 45040. The free parking lot is located behind the Pop Revolution Gallery Building off of Mason-Montgomery Road.

It is right along the cutest little shopping Street – while you are there check out the Mason Whippy Dip for a yummy ice cream treat, or the attached Thai Terrace for a delicious dinner!

You can contact Ms. Natalie to visit her studio or schedule classes at nataliebaxter@yahoo.com

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Terra Cotta Potters 🪴

Crafts & DIY, home, Uncategorized

I went to Target the other day and saw the cutest little face potters for plants that I wanted to get for this windowsill, but then I saw the price tag & said ope, nevermind, and placed it back.

I headed down to Menards and picked up a small stack of these Terra cotta planters for $0.78 each & asked my husband to decorate them for me instead. These first two he made for me are awesome! I can’t wait to see what the rest will turn out like. I want to go back and get a bunch more for the kids & I to decorate also! We have plenty of empty windowsill space to fill with our purposeful art, herbs, & houseplants.

Instead of blowing a bunch of money at Target to get what everyone else has, I was able to save a ton of money & get custom planters instead. You can do ANYTHING with these. Decorate them ANY way you want. Let your imagination run wild. They’ll end up looking way cuter than anything you can find at Target, plus no one else in the world will have the same one as you!

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Parenthood Perspectives

Motherhood, Uncategorized

I may never be the type of mom that knows how to get stains out of clothes, but I am the kind of mom that throws our stained items in a bin + throws a random “tie dye party” with the kids in the back yard every now & then.

Knowing what to use to get stains out doesn’t make you a better mother. You don’t have to be Pinterest perfect to be a good mom. Life is not one size fits all. Live outside the box & find the solution that works best for you. You are already enough ♡ & so am I.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

We ❤ Our Teachers | DIY Gifts 🎨

Crafts & DIY, Motherhood

As Teacher Appreciation Week comes to an end I just wanted to share with you our small DIY gifts the girls made for their teachers.

Ella made a clipboard for her teacher, Mr. Vample. Mia made a clipboard for her teacher Mrs. Mcgahan.

They also made a clipboard for our “bus mom,” Mrs. Mace, because she is just the sweetest and has helped our girls (and many other kiddos) get safely to & from the bus stop each day which we certainly appreciate.

We bought each clipboard at the Dollar Tree for $1.25 each, and the rest of the materials we had at home already.

Getting teacher gifts doesn’t have to be pricey. It doesn’t have to out-do any of the other parents. You don’t have to break your budget. It isn’t a competition to be the “favorite” student, or parent. Your kid can color on a rock, or put nature together to form a portrait of their teacher. They can color a card. Kids are so creative- the possibilities are endless if you let them take the lead.

Your child just showing their teacher they care and appreciate them enough to take the time out of their busy play to make them a small gift is ENOUGH. Gifts are meant to be from the heart & that’s exactly where a homemade gift comes from ❤.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Ukrainian Pysanky 🇺🇦🥚🐣

Crafts & DIY, Motherhood, Uncategorized

Ella came home from school last Friday with a new school project: Economics Market.

All of her classmates will be opening their own “shops” at their desk where they will be selling a paper item that they make. They will be decorating the shops, telling a bit of information about the shop/what is being sold. Ella will be selling Pysanky, otherwise known as Ukrainian Easter Eggs.

Ella is Ukrainian- we all are. Her grandfather, my dad, is a Ukrainian immigrant. Needless to say, even though we are living in America, I feel the deepest connection to this war currently happening in Ukraine.

I’ve always been extremely proud to be Ukrainian, but the amount of pride and gratitude I have for my heritage now is immeasurable. I grew up being taught that Ukrainians are strong people; the strongest in the world. I had no idea that I would ever have to witness the magnitude of their strength in my lifetime.

My dad & I on his birthday last year (April 2021) after celebrating with authentic Ukrainian cuisine including pierogies & borscht.

I know that we are very lucky to be living in America, yet I feel the strongest yearning to be there. If my dad never came to America, this war would be our lives right now and that is a scary thought. Yet I still for some reason feel as if that is where I belong. 

That isn’t possible at this time, however, so for now I’ll just continue to embrace the culture at home with my family, even more so now. We’ll become fluent in the language and carry the traditions. One day, when it is safe for my small children, we will travel there. Today, we will make pysanky.

Pysanky

Pysanky is the word for Ukrainian Easter Eggs. Pysanky are believed to hold great power for peace & love in the world. They were originally used in Spring ceremonies to thank the glorious sun for warming the Earth after the cold, hard Winter.

The designs and symbols that are decorated on pysanky have significant meanings- usually a wish of good fortune for the person you are gifting your pysanky to. On Easter Sunday, you would gift your pysanky and kiss the recipient on each cheek for good luck.

There is an old Ukrainian folk tale that Evil (a vicious monster)  is chained to a cliff. Each year his helpers go around the world and report back to him the number of pysanky that have been decorated.

If only a few eggs are made, his chains loosen and evil flows throughout the world. However if many eggs are made, his chains tighten; allowing love to conquer evil.

With all of the evil going on in the world, we are going to need a LOT of eggs.

Setting Up Shop

First, we found pysanky coloring pages on Pinterest then printed them out. Ella colored each egg and then wrote a wish for each egg on the back of them.

Next, we colored the pages for her shop and we cut them out and assembled them.

“At Ella’s Ukrainian Eggs, you can find Ukrainian Easter Eggs which are believed to hold great power for love in the world. Each egg has a special wish for you. Ella made these to support her Grandpa from Ukraine.”

“If you love ❤️ Ukraine, you should get one of these Ukrainian Easter Eggs. Plus they’re great for Easter and it is to be believed that these Eggs hold great power for love ❤ in the world 🌍.”

Her shop turned out SO cute! I’m very excited to hear how her project and “shopping” day goes. I am also excited to hear what the other children made for their shops. I really loved doing this project together with Ella. I loved that we were able to incorporate our heritage and culture to make it more meaningful to share with her friends at school.

Easter Celebration

My dad’s birthday coincided with Easter this year (the day after) so we went over to my parents home to celebrate both Easter and his birthday with an Easter Feast from the Wodka Bar. They offered a special, limited Easter menu which was perfect.

The pierogies & kolachi were SOOO yummy! I cannot wait to try more food from there from the regular menu! I also am going to learn how to make delicious kolachi at home so I can eat it alllll the time!

Mia also made a pysanky for each of us. I loved mine so much!

Overall, this was a lovely Easter weekend and my heart feels very full & blessed. We got to spend time with both sides of our family. We did an Easter egg hunt for the kids and they received nice spring time gifts. We had lovely food that I didn’t have to prepare or clean up. We truly are so blessed in this life on Earth.

Happy Easter y’all.

One Room Challenge: Basement Playroom | Family Room | Part 1

home, Motherhood, Uncategorized

I began my basement project a few years ago before I became pregnant with Athena. I had big plans in mind, but a seriously rough pregnancy left me to abandon this project until a later time, then another pregnancy + baby pushed it back even longer. The time has finally come to finish what I started!

Since this is such a BIG project, I am going to be splitting this up into 2 parts: 1. The kids area, this post, & 2. The “adult” area (laundry, entertainment/electronics area, & tool/cellar).

Imaginative Play

In the Imaginative Play area we have a grocery store/deli, doctor/wellness center, a mini roll top desk to play school, as well as the kids toy storage.

There is a chalkboard wall with a bulletin board on top for both school & “daily specials” at the deli.

This little stand is so cute and can be used for many Imaginative Play purposes. It is currently being used as a deli + coffee shop. They have their Melissa & Doug Sandwich Shop + their wooden utensils on top, and their Melissa & Doug coffee maker set on bottom.

I am a huge lover & collector of reusable bags. I buy new ones constantly! Having miniature size ones for the grocery shop makes my heart SO happy!

Their little roll top desk with the miniature globe is SO cute. They love to play school with it.

Under the stairs is their “parking garage” for rideable things like scooters and ride-on cars. I do plan to change this space in the near future though.

Having so many little kids, it has been really nice to be able to have a space for them to play and be kids and not worry about them making messes. That alone has helped me SO much as an overly-stimulated and stressed out Mama. Kids need to be kids, and this is their home too. They need a place they are able to express themselves freely and I hope that this space is able to be that place for them.

Art Studio

The first time I went to rehab, I went to Timberline Knolls in Lemont, Illinois. It had the most beautiful art studio with tables stained in paint and clay residue, colors and Empowering messages everywhere, and so many supplies.

Ever since then it has been a dream of mine to have my own art studio, but never really saw it as super realistic.

I recently spoke with a friend, who, ironically, I met at Timberline Knolls. I’ve always envied her life. She’s built her own little plot of homestead paradise in the middle of no where and spends her time homesteading and crafting and doing things her, her husband, and children love to do. That is literally my dream life.

Anyway, she made me realize that life is what you make it. I need to stop waiting for better, for more space, for my children to get a little bigger. I need to stop waiting, and start building my happy place now with what I have. So I began building an “art studio.”

First, I set our old dining room table up in the soon to be art studio, then added this Trofast Storage Unit from IKEA for art supply storage. I used this rolling cart that I already had to organize more supplies like paintbrushes, glue, washi tapes, etc.

I added this paper sorter from Michael’s to color code their construction paper. Not only does color-coding items look beautiful, it helps cut down on mess because the kids can visibly see what they are working with instead of fumbling around for what they need.

I repurposed produce bins to color code their crayons in the middle of the table. It looks super cute and it helps teach my kiddos to put their supplies back where they belong.

Color coding is an easy way to help teach toddlers how to organize + learn their colors at the same time.

I began hanging these colorful banners to make it look fun and inspire creativity.

I also began picking up a few functional decor pieces that I was very excited to use in this space.

Next, we removed the old, random, oddly-placed cabinet. We found out why said cabinet was randomly & oddly placed. There was a MASSIVE crack/wall damage hiding behind it. We got cement filler, patched the damage and waited 24 hours.

After the 24 hour wait, we began hanging the pegboard. I had purchased + planned to hang 4, but I ended up deciding 3 was plenty to start. I bought a few accessories with the pegboard, but wanted to wait to go crazy with accessory shopping until I had a clear idea of how I was planning to arrange it to go back and purchase more.

My dad & his friend updated the electricity + added lights above the table & outlets in the middle to be able to use electronic tools. I cannot wait to add things like pottery wheels in the future now that I have this outlet.

Using my Cricut, I added labels to the bins so that we are easily able to find the items that we need.

We moved the desk over here so they could play “Art Teacher.”

I am absolutely obsessed with it and the way that it turned out. I now have my very own art studio, filled with colors and paint stains and all kinds of materials for us to choose from. I am so in love with it and still in such awe every time I walk downstairs and think how is this mine?!

Baby + Soft Play Area

It’s a lot of work to try to keep babies & toddlers entertained for a long time, especially on days we are stuck inside.

This fun little climber tent was a birthday gift to Sasha. One side has a climbing wall, the other has a window.

The Nugget was a MUST for this area. We are OBSESSED with our Nugget. I got The Very Hungry Caterpiller print because it’s one of our favorite books & the print was just beautiful. It is SO soft and comfy too!

I have a lot of Primary colors in the baby area. I added lots of cushions, padding, & floor mats to encourage crawling + be able to roll around freely. The Lego storage blocks hold other toys so that we are able to rotate the toys that are out for open play.

We added a little library against this wall with the baby/younger children’s books.

I added these fun flower lights above this area. It’s somehow both a fun vibe and a calming one in one.

Well, that’s where I’m at in this stage of my basement makeover! I hope you got some inspiration for your own basement/family/play room.

I still have many plans to come in the future and just like with every space, it is forever evolving. Make sure to check back for part two to see how I did the “adult” areas!

100 Days of First Grade

Crafts & DIY, Motherhood

Ella has now been a first-grader for 100 days (although with all of the remote learning we dealt with, it sure feels much longer than that) and to celebrate she decided to make a t-shirt with 100 gemstones in the shape of an “E” for Ella.

We used a youth pink craft shirt that we already had in our art supplies cabinet and purchased a large bag of gemstones from Michael’s.

First she counted out 100 of the gemstones that she wanted to use. I helped her draw a big block-letter “E” and she arranged the gemstones how she wanted them placed.

Once she got all of the gemstones placed, she used Gorilla Glue Crafting Glue to securely attach each one.

She was so proud of the outcome and was very excited to wear it to school today. She had gym, so she wore another shirt underneath so that she was able to take her gemstone shirt off so it didn’t get ruined during gym class and be able to put it back on afterwards.

We had fun making this shirt and it was very simple for a child of her age to be able to do mostly by herself.

I wonder if she will return home from school with her gemstones still in tact? 🤔😆

Birthday Garden Tea Party | On a Budget

Crafts & DIY, Motherhood

One of my very favorite hobbies is planning, especially for events. I dream of the day we find our forever home with plenty of space to host many elaborate parties for the rest of our lives.

Throwing Mia a “socially distanced” birthday party was my first event since covid-19 began, and I was ecstatic to be party planning again! I was a bit further behind on time than I had hoped, but overall my first “socially disanced” party was a success.

I’m excited to take you along to join us for an afternoon tea!

The Invitations

I had so much fun making these invitations and I was really impressed with how they turned out.

I found a free teacup template online, printed it out and lightly traced onto white card stock. After that, I bordered it with pink and added a pink heart to each teacup.

I typed up the wording and cut out each one to be able to fit inside the hearts. Unfortunately, by the time I realized that it looks best if you cut along the individual letters, I was already on my last one 🤦🏼‍♀️ but now I know for the future! I wanted the letters to pop, so I used drafting dots to attempt to create that effect.

I made a hole behind the cup and two holes above the cup to be able to tie in a string for the teabag and a bow. I attached the string from a white & gold foiled Christmas string I already had and attached the teabag to the string using a stapler to give it a realistic look. I asked my friend to tie a perfect bow for me because she makes beautiful ones and mine are downright sloppy 😂.

I then bordered the pink with a brown to match the guest’s teabag and hide the strings behind the pink card stock and tie it all together.

The Spread

The waffle fruit bowls were a big hit! I bought 1 box of 12 small waffle cone bowls and an already prepared fruit salad and divided it between the 12 waffle cone bowls. We also had a cream cheese fruit dip to be used as a sauce to drizzle on top of each bowl, or to dip your fruit skewer in.

I would have preferred to buy my flowers from my friend, Celeste, the owner & artist of Village General; but due to lack of time, I purchased two small, half-price, day-old bouquets and blended them together to create the look I was going for.

I found some Celestial Caffine-Free Fruit Tea Sampler to serve the children. I thought that fruit flavored tea would go over well with the children, and there were multiple really yummy options for them to choose from! Even my pickiest of all found a flavor he enjoyed!

I had tried desperately to find some colorful macaroons, but had no luck tracking any down. I decided to substitute my original plan with meringues instead and that worked out just fine.

I made the pressed flower sugar cookies that turned out very cute! The other two cookies were purchased: Frosted Sugar Cookies in pink & of course, Verona cookies because you can’t have tea without those!

The bottom layer was simply a few boxes of powdered donuts, nothing too fancy. I would have liked to get the mini powdered donuts, but one package of them cost as much as 4 packages of the large ones, so I decided to go with those for budget purposes.

My mom found very cute little tea party plates that really pulled the theme together and came in several different patterns to match the various colors. They have an entire tea party set as well, that would make it even more adorable!

More food that was unfortunately not photographed was:

  • Chicken Salad Crossant Sandwiches
  • Fairy Bread Sandwiches
  • Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

The Activities

I found these plain white tea cups at the thrift store for 50 cents each. Each kid was given their own tea cup to decorate with sharpie to take home with them.

When decorating your own mugs or teacups with sharpies, it is important to bake them in the oven at 250°F for at least 2 hours so that the sharpie does not wash off.

I had planned to incorporate the tea cups into a game of having the children race with full tea cups of water to the fence and back while spilling the least amount of water, but tea went into the cups before I was able to get that far 🤦🏼‍♀️.

We also found many fun dress up ensembles at the thrift. The girls had a blast dressing up in boas, hats, and beads galore.

It was a really lovely day and I am very pleased with the turn out.

I cannot wait to begin planning for Thea’s FIRST birthday coming up in October (which if you know me, know that it is my FAVORITE month)! & Ella’s birthday in November!

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