Lose The Training Wheels Party

Earlier this week our recently-turned-five-year-old announced that he wanted to ride his bike without his training wheels. He made this announcement while his dad was in the middle of trying to fix the leaf blower. I remember him saying something about tiny little parts being all over the place…so the answer was probably, “Yeah, OK…in [...]

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‘Tis The Season

Gingerbread Houses!! While we were at my in-laws’ house last weekend for a birthday celebration, a gingerbread village was constructed. Complete with streets and cars, of course! Aren’t they all so cute? I didn’t make one. But my four-year-old helped with one (which means he paid close attention to the construction of one house in [...]

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Last Week of Lunchboxes…for awhile

I was just thinking how nice it is going to be to have a little break from packing lunches over the Christmas holidays. Not very long ago, I was gearing up to start packing lunches and even having some creative lunchbox moments… that was approximately 96 lunches ago. It’s fair to say the lunches have [...]

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Gift Idea…A Family Cookbook

I have some friends who like to give me a hard time about my from-scratch baking and the sometimes-semi-gourmet nature of my kids’ lunchbox contents. This post is for them. This past weekend was my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday celebration. And there had to be cake. My husband wanted to decorate a cake with our four-year-old…so they [...]

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Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Whew! What a beautiful day yesterday full of great food, family and glorious fall weather. There is so much for which we are thankful. Before we turn our minds completely toward Christmas, I wanted to wrap up the Tree of Thanks and also share some fun photos from friends who made the turkey cupcakes! Periodically [...]

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The Season of Thanks

November has arrived. So has the cooler weather, for which I am certainly thankful. Most Novembers remind me I haven’t done as good of a job as I would like to in the area of gratitude. I believe it is a discipline and must be practiced to become a habit. I’ve tried my hand at [...]

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Even More Food to Share

We had Hamburger Helper on occasion when I was growing up. I don’t remember anything specific about it, really, just that it was there sometimes. And I think homemade versions of the Hamburger Helper concept are great food-to-share recipes. (I say “homemade” because the sodium content of the boxed version should send you into orbit. [...]

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Valentine’s Day Cakes

Just a few cute little cakes made by some adorable kiddos to celebrate National Candy Overdose Day… These cute little cakes were baked by my friend Heather (whom I’ve known since Kindergarten!)  It was a fun afternoon activity for the kids and “Dad” was delighted to have a specialized dessert. I kind of dread these [...]

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Saying Thank You

I have vivid memories of my brother throwing tantrums while being forced to sit at the dining room table sometime after Christmas and write thank you notes.  And I have just as vivid memories of my mother not caring one little bit how much he didn’t want to write them.  Eventually, after all their sweat [...]

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Kids at the Table

So, anyone else out there struggle with small children at the table? Obviously, I feel that family-around-the-table time is important…but that doesn’t mean it is always easy.  The mess.  The whining.  The refusal to eat anything that isn’t macaroni and cheese.  And, in my case, my son is usually almost finished with what he’s going [...]

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