It’s that time of year for sniffles and bugs and other not so fun things. We are blessed with good immune systems and seem to miss many of the bugs going around, but I like to sneak in as much extra help as possible. Sometime in October I start quadrupling the amount of garlic in everything from soup to mashed potatoes to just roasting heads and spreading it on fresh bread. We all like garlic and no one seems to... Read more

We’ve had our Kindergarten kid home from school for the past couple of days, dealing with fever and cold-like symptoms, so I’ve been trying to come up with fun activities for him to do while our little one is napping. This activity with marshmallows and toothpicks is simple, educational, fun, and EDIBLE (well, at least the marshmallow part). Supplies: About 20 marshmallows and a handful of toothpicks Procedure: Have your child build a square base with 4 toothpicks and 4... Read more

Like many of you, my husband and I debated as to whether or not to get the kids vaccinated this season against H1N1. With our children in preschool, we were more inclined to arm ourselves against the hyped virus, but unsure whether or not it was necessary due to other procedures we could take to stay healthy. When the schools and local pediatricians became inundated with hundreds of new cases, we became concerned (along with every other parent in the... Read more

I just went to the basement to switch out the September (Apple) and October (Pumpkin) books and bring up our November (Thanksgiving) books to fill our fireside book basket. As I was going through the books, I also uploaded our Thanksgiving choices to the Amazon page. I hope you will find some new favorites for your family this month, and please let us know if you have any to recommend. One favorite is this woodcut illustration of Over the River... Read more

Praying that someday this may be our Feast Day! Read more

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Today – at two days beyond my due date with my third child – I have reached a peak in the emotional ups and downs which characterize the feelings of awaiting a childbirth. I mean, really, these days are total freebies. It is like a snow day – you thought you had assignments due and meetings to attend, but then everything got canceled and you are home with 24 free hours. That is kind of how it is around here.... Read more

When the kids are sick and mom doesn’t feel so hot either… The laundry can wait. Clean floors will happen another day. Frozen pizza will do for dinner. Martha Stewart will be a continual dream. The TV will be our friend. Every tear will be accounted for. Every request will be nurtured. Every hot cheek will be soothed. I will nap with my little one because he needs me. The computer will rest. And we will all, eventually, be well…... Read more

If you are going to be trick or treating this year, I wanted to post this now so that you can gather some supplies if you like. I make myself feel better about all that candy consumption by turning Halloween into an extended, hands on, math lesson for my children. This can take on a number of forms. In the past, we have counted, sorted and graphed our candy. We have used bar graphs and line graphs and venn diagrams.... Read more

We are all so busy trying to figure out how to fit it all in, but maybe if we put first things first… two recent blog posts to consider, first, simple but deep time management advice at Fallible Blogma and, in order to follow that advice, we may have to let go of some things…or everything? Ponder what Laura has to say about being a quitter. Read more