Menu plan and a renovation update

Last week was a bit of a break in the home renovations, the family room is finished(!) and we're about to "break floor" with the kitchen. Of course, as with all the stories you hear about home renovation, we ran into a few hiccups already, including when I realized that our toilet wasn't actually attached to the floor. We've lived here nine years and never knew our toilet wasn't attached. Which, um, explains a lot. While we thought we'd need a new toilet and, possibly, a new bathroom floor, our … [Read more...]

The summer slide, is it something to fear?

There's always this big, scary fear for parents at this time of year. It's the OMG what if my kid forgets everything he learned over the past 9 months?! What if he goes back to school in the fall and he's at the bottom of the class? What if he's one of the kids that is the cause of the curriculum re-teaching the whole last year in the first month of school? Well, let's hit reality folks. The summer slide exists. But it's pretty rare that a family that cares enough to worry about it will suffer … [Read more...]

Enter a favorite First Steps picture at Baby Center and you could win!

While searching for an image of my kids taking their first steps, it occurred to me, who takes a picture of that? Don't get me wrong, "you go girl!" if you got down and took the picture while your kid was stumbling, attempting to walk from the table to a something or someone on the other side of the room. Each of the kids' first steps was magical. Little's stands out as one of those moments that truly involved the whole family working together. We sat in a close circle, the kids dressed for … [Read more...]

PTO end-of-year newsletter

For our PTO newsletter this month, I wrote a thank you to all of our volunteers. It also mentioned advice to parents about the importance of getting involved in your child's school. Finally, I asked parents to reach out to new families to make them feel welcome and share the many ways to feel involved. On behalf of the PTO, I want to thank all of our volunteers for giving of their time, interest and love to support the programs here at SCHOOL NAME. Our school would not be as magical for the … [Read more...]

Menu Plan featuring The Cookbook for Kids

Sometime last summer, I was given The Cookbook for Kids by Lisa Atwood, published by Williams-Sonoma. About 6 months later, I donated 90% of my cookbooks to charity. But I hung onto this one for the gorgeous photos and the plan to page through it with my kids someday and select some new meals. Since, it sat in Little's play kitchen. Until Saturday morning when Middle and I decided to play kitchen and select some fun things to make. For the most part, the cookbook includes things that we … [Read more...]

Bump Month: What Moms wish they knew…

Last week, the ladies of Bump Month were asked the question: what do we know now that we wish we knew before kids? Here are some of my favorite bloggers answers: At breakfast last weekend with Zippy from Champagne Living, she shared that she wishes she had a support group when her son was born. Zippy's son was born before she had embraced the internet, and I discussed with her how different her babyhood experience was than mine. I had a  live support group in MOMS Club, which I joined when … [Read more...]

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