Our little Em is an OG playdough fan. Well, as OG as you can be at four years old, right? We first made homemade playdough a couple of years ago because this kid can sit for hours on end rolling and building until her imagination is exhausted. Here we’re sharing our favorite easy homemade playdough recipe – it’s so simple to make!
Family + Kids
When I was a kid I always had a camera in my hand. I didn’t know then that photography was a career. Heck, the internet had yet to even be invented. But I would spend hours styling the wardrobe of my sister and my cousins, and then pose them in various scenes to take their photos. I loved every minute of fiddling with a camera.
In nearly 11 years of blogging, I’ve never talked about matters of spirituality or religion. Today I am excited to dive into it a bit as part of the next installment of our Real Talk with Real Mom series. Today we’re all chatting about religion, spirituality and how it relates to parenting. Are you raising your kids with religion? I am not and I thought I would share a bit about why.
When I saw the topic for this month’s installment of our Real Talk with Real Moms series I’m pretty sure I actually laughed out loud. As a point of order, I have about zero tips for children and sleep these days, but surviving toddler sleep regression? That I can speak to! So buckle up. It’s about the get real.
Emerson had the flu last week. When she spiked a fever on Wednesday I pretty much knew our fate since she’d been exposed on Monday, so I immediately scooped her out of the house for a flu test. While she sat on my lap in the waiting room, crying to go home, she complained about how her eyeballs felt like they were fire.
Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when I was part of the Real Talk with Real Mom series along with a bunch of my favorite ladies in the blogging community where each month we would share our personal experiences related to motherhood and parenting. After a long hiatus, the series is back and I’m so excited to dig into some of the really tricky topics we all think about so often as mothers and parents. Today we’re dishing on growing families – going from one kid to two or more or, in our case, an unexpected addition to your cub pack.
Four years ago we largely stopped buying Christmas gifts for our teenage boys. Instead we book a trip every year over February break and we get them outside of their comfort zone and out into the world. Bob and I passionately believe that travel is the greatest gift we can give our children, especially over fancy electronics or gaming systems that outdate quickly and end up being worthless for all the money they cost. (Been there, done that.) Today I’m sharing a few photos from our recent Vermont vacation where we stayed in a gorgeous Airbnb and spent a cozy few days playing board games and exploring.
I started baking with my mom when I was a tiny little thing. On Thanksgiving it was helping roll out pie crusts and then playing with the scraps of dough for hours. For Christmas it was unwrapping Hershey Kisses to make her world famous peanut butter blossoms. When my boys came into my life, we would bake cookies nearly every weekend, logging hours in the kitchen. Baking with kids is something I’m pretty passionate about, and over the years I’ve worked out a few hacks and easy baking recipes for kids that make it more fun and less stressful than you might imagine. Keep scrolling for my best tips!
In the scope of my role as a week day solo parent, weeknight dinner ideas can be a massive stumbling block for me. Even with Em having started pre-school this year, I manage to have it together when it comes to laying out the next day’s outfit and packing lunches in advance but dinner is where it tends to fall apart. With my schedule I need something quick and easy, but we’re pretty passionate about serving our toddler healthful, nutrition-packed meals. Because of that I was really excited to team up with my friends at Walmart and Yummy Spoonfuls to whip up three toddler proof weeknight dinner ideas you can make in advance or on the fly!
With a toddler in the house who now goes to pre-school every day, we had the fun opportunity to take a little extra family time over the long Columbus Day weekend and visit The Strong National Museum of Play in nearby Rochester. I lived in Rochester during my first couple of years out of graduate school and it’s probably my favorite city in Upstate New York because it is bustling with culture, food, music and art. At nearly three years old, Em was the perfect age for her first visit to The Strong where I can promise you we’ll be returning many times over!
We’re pretty crazy about where we live in New York. I’ve visited well over 30 states and a couple dozen countries, and I will confidently tell you that New York is one of the most stunning places in the world. We have rolling hills, the most incredible sunsets, huge apple orchards, majestic maple trees, and countless jewel-like lakes sprinkled throughout the state like confetti. We’re the home of two Great Lakes, the Adirondack mountains and the keeper of the Thousand Islands, one of the most astonishingly beautiful places you’ll find the world over.
My alarm went off for the first time at 4:30 this morning. The room was still dark, fans blowing every direction to keep the bedroom cool since our big old house is sadly want of central air. My husband slipped out of bed, reappearing briefly a bit later smelling of toothpaste and freshly applied deodorant to plant a kiss and whisper “I love you, baby” before he was off, still long before dawn. A couple of hours later I woke again to the sounds of a little voice calling for mommy through the baby monitor. I roused the dog who had climbed into her father’s spot on the bed shortly after he left it, and walked into the room next door to fetch a snuggly toddler still encased in blankets. And so, the day began.