One of the best parts about the school year that just ended is the friendship I formed with the mom of one of Evie’s kindergarten classmates.  Amy also has four kids, but her youngest is the age of my oldest, which means that she has tons of helpful advice to share.  She knows plenty of […]

Little Vivian is a conundrum.  Unlike most kids, she won’t eat any fruit except apples.  However, she loved salad, broccoli, carrots… Her favorite source of healthy nutrition comes from a green drink I make just about every morning. Loaded with spinach and sweetened with mango and orange, it is a fresh and invigorating way to […]

Last weekend I hosted a little Sunday supper at our house.  My brother Wes and his fiance Lexi came along with my sister Colleen and her husband and son.  We all live within a mile of each other, and whenever we get together we always say we should do it more often. Lexi put it […]

One of the best things about living in a big city is access to so many completely amazing restaurants. We want to expose our kids to different foods and different cultures, and the easiest way to do that is to take them out to places that don’t serve pizza and PBJs.  While hauling our family […]

For my family, Memorial Day is always an easy day to remember.  It is my mom’s birthday, and her father was also born on May 30.  As a Marine, he was obviously quite attached to the meaning of the day, and I remember my mom telling us about the big neighborhood parties her dad hosted […]

Ever since Chris subscribed to a mostly Paleo diet several years ago, I have tasked myself with finding new ways to prepare the same veggies we love.  Steamed vegetables are boring, and there is no way I can get my kids to eat those.  But, roasting vegetables makes them irresistible, so that is what we […]

Since Ben arrived back in March, life has pretty much been a blur.  For me, it is all about getting through the day keeping everyone mostly happy and well fed, while keeping myself mostly awake as I eat leftovers off the kids’ tiny plates.  Chris is working like crazy, and by the time he gets […]

Now that summer weather has graced our fair city, everyone is outside all the time. As soon as school lets out, the neighborhood parks swell with parents and kids.  We suffered through the Polar Vortex of 2014, so we feel rather entitled to sunshine and 80 degrees! The park we visited today was full of […]

“This is horrible,” Mack declared. We were sitting in a cozy theater watching the start of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” presented by The Chicago Children’s Theatre, and 4 year old Mack was not amused.  When I told him we were going to see a show, I think he assumed a movie. Thankfully, an announcement at […]

When Ben was first born two and a half months ago I prepared a simple batch of no-bake lactation cookies.  With ingredients like oats, flax seeds and brewer’s yeast, they were a natural way for my body to keep up with the needs of a hungry baby. When I went to make a second batch, […]