Ever since Mack’s ear infection nearly a month ago, we’ve all taken turns fighting off cold symptoms. Runny noses, coughs, slight fevers.  Evie was up all last night coughing, and sweet little Vivian woke up at 4:30 this morning so sad and swiping at her ears.  I brought the kids to the pediatrician, and both [...]

Vivian and Mack celebrated birthdays this weekend, so last night we hosted what will hopefully be the first of many joint birthday parties for the two. Both are still too young to really care about sharing their special day with a sibling, but like all siblings there is a fair amount of rivalry in our [...]

Evie didn’t have school yesterday, so I scheduled a playdate at our house. Her friend has a brother Mack’s age who came over, too, and all four kids had a blast all afternoon.  The mom and I actually had a real conversation (a rarity!) because the kids were so busy playing.  Seemed like the perfect [...]

A few weeks ago I bought a HUGE butternut squash for just $3.00 at the neighborhood farmers market.  Seriously, this thing was giant.  Like, bigger than a watermelon. When I saw it I knew it was a great buy because I can do so much with squash.  Roasted with maple syrup, tossing some in a [...]

My friend Kelly came over for lunch the other day.  She was one of my first post-college/real world friends, so we share plenty of fun memories.  Even though we now live 6,600 miles apart (she’s in Beijing, I’m in Chicago) our afternoon together felt like no time or distance had passed. To welcome her to [...]

The weather has turned decidedly fall-like.  There’s a briskness in the air, and even when its warm the tinge of cooler temperatures looms.  So, I can’t say I was surprised when my husband requested soups for lunch again.  Its been a summer of salads for him, but heartier fare seems more appropriate now that its [...]

After a summer of sun and temperatures steadily in the 90s, we were bound for a cool down at some point.  Today’s rain and 70 degrees felt downright chilly, so the kids and I spent much of the day indoors.  It feels like we’ve been on the go nonstop since May – it was actually [...]

Chris and I are always looking for ways to live and eat well on our budget.  I go out of my way to shop at a few different grocery stores to make every dollar count, and we pick up farm-fresh food from our co-op twice a month.  Last week Chris spotted a deal for wild-caught [...]

My husband’s mother came for a visit last weekend.  To welcome her to our wonderful city I wanted to make a nice dinner.  However, she arrived on one of the hottest days of the year so I didn’t want to serve a heavy meal.  Fortunately, my mom recently posted a chilled soup recipe to our [...]

A couple months ago I wrote about a new semi-homemade meal service here in Chicago called Meez Meals.  The nutritious meals are prepped and ready for assembly, saving me time on shopping and chopping.  Every now and then, depending on the busyness of the week ahead, I place an order.  A few weeks ago a [...]