I have a picky eater. Correction- I have a child who once successfully carried out an 18-hour hunger strike. After years of cooking three separate meals at dinnertime, I had the unreasonable idea that I should just cook one meal and that we could all eat like normal families. After all, I had never aspired to being a short-order cook, and preparing multiple meals meant I relied way too much on microwaving processed foods shaped like animals. I was going to make a … [Read more...]
Super Simple Halloween Decor: Dollar Store Pumpkin Makeover
I love holidays, but I'm not always festive when it comes to decorating. My home aesthetic can best be described as NEUTRAL. So, the bright and colorful decorations that come with Halloween, Christmas, Easter and every other holiday don't really vibe with my interior. After passing some $1 pumpkins, I picked up some gold spray paint and simple black hobby paint and thought I'd try my hand and making my own very classy and neutral fall decorations. The project was much easier … [Read more...]
Hands-On Holidays: Simple Ideas for Making Memories October to December
With 4 weeks until Halloween I know many of you may be scrambling to get on the holiday merry-making with the kids. No worries, I've got everything you need to easily make Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas memories! We put a lot of time and love into creating this ebook because we wanted to give busy parents a way to make tons of holiday memories in a very low-stress and manageable way. Commit to Less Stressing & More Connecting this Holiday Season The holiday season is such a wonderful … [Read more...]
Meet the Roll Up: Your Kids’ New Favorite
Packing lunches Monday through Friday can be a little monotonous. Sandwiches are our go-to, so when we run out of combinations of ingredients to go on the bread, it's time to switch things up! Meet the roll-up! You can make a roll-up out of just about anything. Today we're going to show you how to make two roll-ups with a tortilla and two roll-ups with lunch meat (a great gluten-free option). And hey, the roll-ups are a perfect idea for those times you forgot to buy bread at the store. Not … [Read more...]
Halloween Craft: DIY Stand-Alone Ghosts
If you’ve been to your local craft store recently, you’ve probably noticed the sudden abundance of cheesecloth available on the shelves. The thin, gauze-like material has been a Halloween crafting staple for decades and for good reason. It’s a very user-friendly material for both kids and adults to work with and it’s appearance naturally lends itself to ghost and mummy projects galore. Today we’re giving you the quick and easy steps involved in making some spooky spirits that you … [Read more...]
Ultimate Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe for Fall
My minimalist mom capsule wardrobe was so popular the last few years (and made dressing each day so fun and easy) that I couldn’t wait to do it again this year. Only a little better. Why? Because I've done my very best this year to keep my picks as inexpensive as possible- the majority being under $30! Every piece here is a proven winner– that shirt, cardigan, hoodie, and pair of jeans that you’ll reach for again and again. These are the items that keep us comfortably chasing the … [Read more...]
Family Travel: Luminous Diablo Lake
This week it's really hitting home that summer's over. Not only are the kids fully back in school (well, except for my daughter who keeps getting excused for doctor appointments due to breaking her wrist on Day 2 during PE!), the weather has also officially turned on us. I know those of you not familiar with the Seattle area probably won't believe this, but we really do get gorgeous summers. It's also not unheard of for those summers to stretch all the way to the end of September. This … [Read more...]
Halloween Recipe: String Cheese Bones and Blood
I love seeing all the food that people put out for Halloween get-togethers. At no other time is it appropriate to make food look disgusting. But, for Halloween, the grossest thing you can come up with is the biggest hit with the kids. This year, I put together an easy cheese-stick recipe that will work as a spooky after-school snack or as something you take to a Halloween party. Cheesy Bones and Blood Ingredients pre-made dough (Trader Joe's sells a bag of pizza dough) string cheese … [Read more...]
7 Next Level Oktoberfest Recipes
Do you live in a neighborhood where families get together and hang out? Until a few years ago, I didn't. But then my husband and I moved our burgeoning family into a new house and somehow stumbled into a young family mecca. It didn't happen right away, when we first moved in there were only two or three families with young kids scattered around the neighborhood. Fast forward a few years, though, and suddenly there were about twenty. We have so many kids at our elementary bus stop now that … [Read more...]
MEGA Round Up of School Lunches (for Everyone!)
School is back. The thought alone is overwhelming for most of us. Myself included, now that my youngest is also in school and I have three lunches to pack! Thankfully, the entire blogosphere is here to help. I've combed through tons of blog posts to bring you this GIANT round up of school lunch ideas. There are literally THOUSANDS of lunch ideas in the links below. Can you handle it? We've got your simple lunches, your non-sandwich lunches, your gluten/dairy/nut/soy/egg-free lunches, your paleo … [Read more...]
Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life: How to Get Rid of Your Paper Piles for Good
Five people live in this house. That's five times the amount of paper a single person sees in one day. That means I have to organize my way through bills, business items, personal correspondence and all the paper it takes to make one's way through middle school and high school. It can be a lot to handle. I consider myself a fairly organized person, but before I created a system for my house there were tears over lost homework, stress over client invoices and the embarrassment of a late RSVP. … [Read more...]
How Becoming Spartans Made Us a Closer Family
I know we’re deep into back-to-school season right now and we're all lamenting the loss of family vacation time a bit, but I need to take a time-out from all of that today and tell you about another super fun activity our family has been LOVING lately. First, the backstory... about 2 years ago my husband started training with a group of people from work for a Spartan Races. If you're not familiar, these are extreme obstacle course races outside in the elements. Think crawling in the mud, sliding … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: How I Re-Connected with My Kids
I don’t think I sat on the couch for more than five minutes when my kids were toddlers—we were always on the floor playing trains, or at the table squeezing Play-Doh, or off on an adventure somewhere. Honestly, I thought I’d enjoy it more than I did. Oh, I could play Thomas the Tank Engine for 30 minutes just fine, but the whole day? Not so much. I’ll admit it—I couldn’t wait for them to play independently. Parents often joke about kids’ short attention spans, but I will say that my … [Read more...]
6 Things Teachers Would Like to Tell Parents
Image Credit Top: © Phil Roeder |edited and text added | 08.25.11 | CC by 2.0 Bottom: © Woodleywonderworks |edited and text added | 10.17.08 | CC by 2.0 As a former elementary school teacher, and having written about things that your teacher would like you to share about your child, I thought it would be fitting to also let parents know some things that teachers would love to share with you. Today I've rounded up 6 thoughts that most teachers would agree are highly important for parents to … [Read more...]