Things to do in Pittsburgh with Kids - Carnegie Museums of Natural History

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History provided complimentary tickets to our family but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Tuesday, friends! 

Welcome to my third post in my Travel Tuesday series - Pittsburgh edition. 

I'm sharing our trip to the Carnegie Museum of History with y'all today.

You can read all about our Road Trip to Pittsburgh with Kids HERE and our trip to The Pittsburgh Children's Museum HERE .

I've been wanting to take the kids to a History Museum for quite some time but was honestly a little nervous to because 3 kids in a museum kinda seemed like taking a bull through a china shop.

The kids are older now (9,7 & 5) and we thought now was the perfect time to introduce them to such a place. 

The Carnegie Museum of Art & Natural History was founded in 1896 by industrial tycoon Andrew Carnegie to help bring some culture to the city of Pittsburgh.

My kids were fascinated by the Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibit where 75% of the 230 objects on display are original fossils, and most of the exhibitions dinosaur skeletons are real, not replicas.

My oldest daughter is obsessed with gemstones so she was thrilled with the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. 

Another favourite was the Create Your Own Habitat Diorama. 

Our oldest had built one in school last year, so she was thrilled to show her sister how to make one.

I didn't take photos of all the exhibits because I was far too busy taking it all in.

I highly recommend stopping by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History if you are in town.

DIY Fall Wreath

Happy Monday! 

It is so cool outside today which is making me all kinds of happy! 

I love the cool crisp days more than I can express into words.

I'm so excited for all things Fall like pumpkin patches, apple picking, hot cups of coffee in hand while cuddled up under cozy blankets on the couch - I love it all! 

Today, I'm sharing this DIY Fall Wreath that I made last week for under $20! 

Random fact: I actually used to have a business making and selling these wreaths when the girls were small :)

I haven't made one in years and donated all of mine somewhere amidst all our moving a few years ago, so thought it would be nice to create one for this home.

Materials Needed:

4 pieces of felt 

Grapevine Wreath

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors 

I purchased everything I needed at Michaels Craft Store. 

The felt were under $1 per sheet and the wreath was on sale plus I had a 40% off coupon so it came to $7! I added some fall looking berry branch type things (I really don't know what it's called haha) that I found on sale as well that were about $2.50 each, but you don't need to add them.

 Felt Flower Instructions:

1. 

Cut the felt into circles. 

You can do varying sizes to get varying shaped flowers.

2.

Cut the felt circle into a spiral with scissors. 

3.

Roll up the spiral (using the hot glue gun to secure as you go) until you have your flower.

I made two types of flowers for this wreath.

To make the second flower follow these instructions:

1.

Cut a strip out of the sheet of felt. 

(about 2 inches)

2.

Fold the strip in half and secure the bottom with hot glue to stick together.

3.

Cut slits along the top of the folded strip about every half an inch, without cutting all the way down.

4.

Roll the strip up (securing with glue as you roll) until you have a flower that looks like the ones below.

To Make the Wreath

Play with the placement of flowers until you find what you like best and secure with hot glue.

It really is THAT easy.

Things to do in Pittsburgh with Kids- Pittsburgh Childrens Museum

Last week on the blog, I shared a little bit about our family road trip to Pittsburgh, Pa.

You can check out that post HERE.

I mentioned that I would be breaking our trip up into 4 posts as we experienced way too many things, and took way too many photos to share in just one blog post.

Today, I will be sharing our trip to The Pittsburgh Children's Museum.

Can you believe we had never taken the kids to a Children's Museum before this trip?

We've been to Science Centres and Art Museums etc but never to a museum dedicated to children.

The kids were immediately intrigued by the sculptures outside the museum and as soon as we got inside we were greeted by a climbing maze.

Emma was a little too big for this, so she headed over to the MakeShop while Audrey and Luca climbed for a good half hour.

The Make Shop is a space for kids and families to create and play using every day objects! 

There was a variety of material to use from coffee filters to paper towel rolls.

Emma was totally in her element and quickly got to work creating.

She ended up making this beautiful doll using a skewer, paper, masking tape and coffee filters.

After the Make Shop, we headed into the Studio where we were greeted with the most beautiful ribbon hanging from the ceiling.

The girls found a table with water colour pencil crayons and quickly got to creating.

Luca was not in the mood to sit down and create so luckily, there was a door to a wonderful backyard right off the back of the Studio space.

Louis took Luca out to play while I stayed inside with the girls for a bit before we decided to join the boys.

After the backyard we headed up to the Attic which was an absolute favourite for everyone because of the Gravity Room.

The room is tilted at a 25 degree angle which sends conflicting messages to our brains making it hard not to slide down to the bottom of the floor.

 

 While we were visiting, there happened to be a travelling exhibit by famous author & illustrator , Mo Williams, that was visiting the Childrens Museum.  

We are huge fans of Mo Williams books so this was a pleasant surprise.

I have to say, this was by far the best experience in a museum we have ever had with our kids.

There was something for everyone from climbing, to building to creating. 

I'll leave you with a few more photos from the museum and I highly recommend visiting The Pittsburgh Children's Museum with your children. 

There was also a Thomas the Train exhibit while were there. 

Cozy Style & That Mama Hustle

This post contains affiliate links.

Hello, Hello.

It's a beautiful sunny September day and I'm trapped inside trying to recover from a sore hip and foot as a result of too much exercise in the wrong kinda shoes.

Sometimes, I forget to be kind to my body.

If I'm feeling tired - I need to rest.

If something hurts - I need to slow down. 

So, today instead of enjoying this gorgeous day, I'll be taking it easy in hopes of healing so I can walk without limping sometime this weekend haha.

I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite cozies that I wear to lounge around the house because my favourite joggers are on sale for a wicked good deal right now and there is a small shop that I've been dying to share with y'all. 

A few months back, Hannah of Shop Wild Blooms reached out to me asking to collaborate.

She is the sweetest new mama of a 14 month old baby girl trying to grow her business so she can be at home with her daughter.

Her story pulled at my heart strings because I know exactly what that hustle is all about.

Before I was able to monetize on this blog and take it on full time, I hustled HARD to be able to be home with my baby (eventually, babies).

When our oldest was just a baby I ran a home daycare and watched 3 other kids so I could be home with our baby girl. After a full day of home daycare,  Louis would get home from work, and I would head out the door to go work in a group home with adults with developmental disabilities so we could hustle and save all our pennies to buy our first home.

Hannah has the cutest tees with so many cute sayings - you all need to go check her out.

The cherry on top is that her tees are SO comfy too.

So the next time your looking to shop for a tee - check out her store and support this sweet entrepreneur mama! 

My fave joggers ever ( that I'm wearing in the photos above) are on sale for a steal so I've linked them and some other similar items to what I'm wearing for y'all to shop below!

Hope everyone has a great day! 

Kelsey 

oxoxox