'Twas the month before Christmas, and all through the North End, all creatures were stirring to get out of the house. It's the holiday season, and there is so much to do; the children are excited, and the parents are, too.
It's true; December is full of seasonal activities and events. Here are a few local events to add to your holiday list:
Read MoreI love October. It's the beginning of a season full of fun things to do with your family. And by that, I mean there are a million and one pumpkin patches to visit. I'd go to a pumpkin patch each weekend if I had my dithers. Although my energy, homebody-minded family members, finances, front porch, health, and the weather sometimes make that an impossibility.
The number of pumpkin patches is a bit overwhelming. I want to see them all, do them all, and report back to you on the best. However, I can't do it all. Yup, that's a shocker. Also, I get stuck deciding whether to have a family tradition and go to the same patch every year or try somewhere new. I'm balancing it all this year by doing a new patch with the kids on the day off (parent-teacher conference day FTW) and then going to our usual patch as a family over the weekend. If the stars align, then one more. I don't know, time will tell.
Read MoreAre you wondering where to capture your kids in a photo with Santa this year? I’ve raked my mind and came up with all these options for 2022. Comment below if you know of any more Santa opportunities.
Read MoreFour Leaf Clovers…Four Things for St. Patrick’s Day. Gosh, I feel clever. Must be the clever leprechaun in me since I’m a whomping 25% Irish. So you should take all my Irish recommendations very seriously.
I kid.
Secretly, I love that I’m part Irish. My dad went and got duel citizenship, which is pretty cool. So we definitely celebrate on March 17th. I came up with four ways to help you celebrate as well. I could add a fifth idea of wearing green, but I take that as a given. And if these ideas aren’t enough, I have more on a past post I wrote in 2018.
Read MoreYup, it’s the holiday season and while it’s not exactly the same as past years, there is still plenty to be jolly about and to do to bring in the holiday spirits. We’ve been busy as a family doing all the holiday things. If you’re looking for ideas, here’s my Christmas bucket list. We may not do everything, but it’s nice to have on hand when you’re wanting to do something holiday to-do!
Read MoreIt’s been a while since I shared a lot of links. I have a continuous list going and just never seem to get to it. Then I realized I had a bunch of Thanksgiving ideas saved up and that maybe you’d like to see them. So this LOL is all about Thanksgiving, plus a bonus Christmas one at the end. Happy Turkey Day!
Read MoreMy son has been asking about Halloween for months. Kids just love Halloween. Dressing up, getting candy, play games…it’s a kid’s dream. Unfortunately, this year’s Halloween is going to look a bit different. Many of our traditions are going to be canceled or not recommended because of COVID-19 (here’s a ranking of activity safety and here’s an article about not canceling Halloween…just remember you do you and what you’re comfortable with). However, that’s not going to stop us from celebrating….we’ll just have to be creative and come up with some ideas.
Here’s a list of a few things to celebrate Halloween this year. I like to think of Halloween as celebrated throughout the month with the big celebration on the actual day of Halloween (like dressing up, games, etc).
Read MoreTruth: I didn’t come up with this idea. I found it on another blog, Kids Craft Room (here’s the link to the original craft I’m sharing here) However, I tested it, put on my own spin (to make it easier), and can confirm it’s cute and doable! So there’s that.
Also, it’s not a tie, golf (or any sport), bbq, or beer-themed card. The world has too many of those for Father’s Day. This here is an adorable and fun monster hug card and your father and/or grandfathers will love it.
Read MoreI feel like every email and every blogger I follow has list upon list of gifts (click here or here, for example). Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for the Home Cook, Gifts for {fill in the blank}. While I appreciate the lists and they give me ideas, but they also seem to send spirals of anxiety through me. I feel like I have to find all the gifts…on sale…right now. AHH! Then I always want to give thoughtful gifts and something the receiver would really enjoy, so I find myself online searching, reading, looking, deciding, and going down rabbit holes of random things. Top all this with all the emails about sales here, shipping deadlines, and I’m just going nuts. My brain is like a ping pong table. Or like a dog seeing a squirrel. Are you relating at all to me here? Or am I really just that nuts? Ha, don’t tell me.
So to further complicate things, I’ve got my own list for you. I’m taking the Oprah route and calling it My Favorite Things!
Read MoreCan you believe it? Thanksgiving has past and December is here in just a few days. We’re already starting to get into the Christmas spirit. The music has definitely started and will continue until Christmas day! Even though I’m super pregnant right now and excepting a baby any day, I still want to do all things Christmas, so I decided to put together a Holiday Bucket list. Do you want to join me in making one? Then I thought this PDF from Rochester MN Moms Blog was a cute template to make the bucket list festive and printable.
Here’s my Holiday Bucket List…
Read MoreUsually I’m all about planning out a Thanksgiving feast. I research new recipes, I make a plan on when I’ll start each dish, figure out what I can make ahead…you know a game plan. However, this year I’m trying to take it easy since little baby might come anytime. Plus, standing and cooking in the kitchen for a lengthy amount of time just sounds like a backache, literally. I feel a bit like I am giving in, but I know it’s the right thing to do. Being 38 weeks pregnant for Thanksgiving is a bummer, man.
To take it easier, we decided to order a small pre-cooked turkey from Whole Foods this year. I was actually impressed that the price wasn’t as terrible as I anticipated given a raw turkey plus all the brining and cooking ingredients would come out not that far off…not to mention the price of your time and labor. Hopefully it’s delicious!
Another shortcut this year is on dessert. Our realtor, Harber Home Group, offers a free apple pie every to his past customers every year. This year we’re taking them up on it. It pains me not to make dessert. Baking is one of my favorites. If we get the pie and it’s not up to snuff, then I’m hunkering down and baking something (see below: Dessert).
I already make the stuffing and froze it, so all I need to do is defrost it. Then, I’ll make a simple side the day-off and there we have our feast. It’s just Josh, Caleb, and me so it doesn’t have to be a huge meal. Just a nice way to celebrate together and eat some delicious food.
Maybe you’re reading all this and saying, “man, I’m totally down for a huge feast with all the homemade fixings.” Power to you! I would reply telling you to check out this game plan I wrote a couple years ago . Also, How Sweet Eats timeline or the Faux Martha Cooking Schedule have some organized schedules for you.
Or, maybe you want to know some of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. You can pick and chose if you want to make any of them. YES! I love sharing, let’s do this.
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I know I said I was going to do Kool-aid dyed eggs this year, but I lied. I didn’t know I was lying, but I did. I was surprised to find the markets all lacking in Kool-aid flavors in the small packets. I wasn’t about to purchase a big thing of Kool-aid powder nor was I ready to go on a crusade to different stores to find it. I went to two different Safeways and Target, but nothing. Sure, I could have gone to Fred Meyers or Walmart, but I decided it wasn’t meant to be.
I also think the Kool-aid idea went down in favor ever since I came across this rice idea. The rice seemed like a less-mess and more kid-friendly craft. Kool-aid can be a terrible stain to get out. And I imagine Caleb would want to keep trying to grab the eggs in the cups. So I swapped ideas last minute.
Overall, I felt like this craft a mom win moment. Caleb was intrigued by the whole process and wanted to touch and do all. the. things. I don’t think he would have been able to be as involved in the Kool-aid, or regular dye projects. He’s too hands-on — a curious fellow, I tell you. He wanted to put the egg into the container and then back out when the coloring process was over. He loved shaking the containers, although I did have to get him to go easy on the shaking a few times. When we took them out after shaking, he said, “wow!” Ahh, too cute. He even straightened the egg’s position in the crate.
The whole activity only took like 30 minutes, or so. We did it outside so clean-up was easy and no worries about too much mess (and thank goodness for no rain!)
Here’s how we did it…
Read MoreDrumroll, please…. I am happy to announce my Easter post is finally up! No joke, I’ve been working on this post for over a week. Guys, I’ve been stressing about it, too. I was grumpy yesterday because I felt it was so late that it would all be irrelevant. Shipping is not an option at this point unless you do Amazon Prime. Then again, I think 98% of our purchases are Aamzon, so maybe it's okay. And you have plenty of time to shop still, right? Just say you do, please, it’ll make me feel better.
But enough of that. Easter is next week, and we have a lot to cover. There are things to wear, meals to cook, baskets to fill, eggs to hunt, and bunnies to visit. Are you with me? Huzzah!
Read MoreI feel oddly committed to the Saint Patrick's Day holiday. Or, well, maybe it's not so odd. I do have the maiden name O'Neill. Growing up I thought it was such a cool last name even though that apostrophe caused so much trouble in computer systems. Not to mention, there is enough Irish in my father for him receive dual citizenship. Some of that got past down to me - somewhere about 25% Irish. That's enough to make my Irish eyes smile. Oh, and fun fact, if I had been born a boy, my name would have been Patrick. That's all pretty Irish.
To celebrate, my mom would cook corned beef and cabbage for Saint Patrick's Day when I was growing up. However, my dad would tell you that this is one of the last things you'll actually find in Ireland for Saint Patrick's Day. He actually can say this because he has been to Ireland. He's been more than me (I've been once). The first trip was when we all went together as a family. I was much younger - high school, I believe - and all I recall eating was tomato soup and brown bread. Oh, and there was an Italian restaurant I really enjoyed. I also remember being very cold. Beautiful, but cold.
Okay, enough of my Irish jibber jabber and memory lane stuff. Let's talk celebrating. Every year, I make an effort to have a meal, treat, and/or craft. Generally, they end up being something green, Guinness, rainbow, leprechaun, or shamrock themed. But I hate it when someone says, I made avocado toast and deem it Saint Patrick's Day fare. That's all wrong. Just wrong. I want to be a little more authentic, but it's tough to do and not as cute or fun. So I tried to find a middle ground.
I started by consulting Wikipedia to be sure I was accurately informed on Saint Patricks' Day. I learned that Saint Patrick was thought to bring Christianity to Ireland. Green is associated with Catholics in Ireland and that it's said Saint Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity. So we can say green and shamrocks are authentic. Of course, Guinness is authentic. I'm not sure about the rainbows, though. Now that we know what's more authentic, let's talk food and crafts.
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