Lifestyle

This was the second year I’ve hosted Thanksgiving in our house.  Last year it was just my in-laws.  This year my mom was able to join us from Colorado, so I really wanted everything to be perfect.  So I planned out the day so I could focus on the cooking, while setting up fun activities for Annie with my mom and husband.  Everybody wins.  We started the day watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Then we pulled out this fun sensory bin that I put together the day before. What is a Sensory Bin? A sensory bin is an interactive …

Our two-year-old used to be such a good eater. She would eat anything we gave her in the purée stage. Even after that she stayed a pretty good eater for a while. But for the last six months or so she’s grown more and more picky. I’m always looking for creative ways to get her some protein and honestly some calories. So we tried these peanut butter m&m oat balls that I upgraded to create a fun seasonal version. She loves them!  I love that they are easy to make and are flexible. You can do M&Ms or raisins, or …

It is finally fall and I am so excited.  This is my favorite time of year.  The heat of summer is fading away into crisp morning air and the leaves are starting to turn colors.  One of the things I love most about fall is how it presents in so many of my senses: seeing the beautiful, natural colors; hearing the rustling of the leaves; feeling the cool air through my cable knit sweater; smelling the warm mulled spices; and the taste of this pumpkin bread.   I thought I’d share with you the Pumpkin Bread recipe that our family uses.  …

One of my favorite things is to give each season dimension.  Decorating for the season is visual.  Lighting a candle is olfactory.  Giving a season a sense of taste helps you perceive the season internally, making it seem more real.  I think that’s why I always rush out to get a pumpkin spice latte as soon as they arrive in Starbucks and why our family loves this Apple Cider Mocktail. The back half of the year is my favorite.  Don’t get me wrong, the bright, light, and sweet flavors of spring and summer are great, but when autumn hits I’m …

Every week or so I pull out this sausage and vegetable skillet recipe when I find my fridge filled with veggies that just didn’t make the cut for other meals and it becomes an urgent situation to use them or lose them.  Having this meal on standby for something delicious and flexible regularly solves my last minute “what’s for dinner” dilemma. It’s such a quick and easy meal to serve your family, with the added benefit that it tends to lean more to the healthy side, compared to some of the other heavier meal I sometimes make.  It’s packed full …

I know it’s controversial, but we decided we are going to travel to visit my mom and brothers for Christmas in Colorado this year.  Any other year, this would have been a no brainer – get plane tickets, pack, and go.  This year with COVID in the air we had to really think through this decision with a list of pros and cons and strategize our pandemic travel plans. Pros Annie is 14 months old, and my mom hasn’t seen her in real life since she was two weeks old.  Facetime is great and all, but it’s just not the …

Call me crazy, but we are planning to travel for the holidays this year.  It was a big decision with COVID being as rampant as it is, but it’s the decision we made.  Unless the airlines shut down, we’re going.  You can read about our thought process and the things we’re going to do to keep ourselves and others safe here. So now I’m in holiday travel prep mode.  The first time we went anywhere out of state with Annie, she was 3 months old, and she was a perfect angel.  Granted she wasn’t mobile yet and not that curious …