I need a weekend after this weekend. I love holidays – and I love three day weekends! – but with four kids these special days create a lot of extra work. If I want memories to be made, I have to help make them. So, Chris and I organized a neighborhood party that included classic […]

This rain! I know several parts of the country are enduring droughts and water shortages, but here in Chicago we’ve had rain, rain and more rain. We are all waiting not-so-patiently for summer’s arrival. Even with the clouds, there is always a bright side. Last night we turned an otherwise dreary and rainy evening into […]

Ugh. This weekend. After DAYS of sunshine and 70s, we woke up Saturday morning to drizzly rain and plummeting temperatures that landed in the 40s today. Most of our weekend plans dried up once the rain and wind picked up, so we spent the past two days kinda stuck at home. Ugh. By the time […]

My not-so-little brother just got married! He and his wife chose Charleston as the destination for their destination wedding, and we all traveled south excited for a little vacation in May. The wedding was literally picture perfect in so many ways. Perfect weather. Perfect setting. Perfect details. Perfect couple. Just…perfect. The wedding kept us busy […]

I am always on the hunt for tasty homemade meals that produce a minimal mess. This search frequently brings me back to simple slow cooker meals – toss everything into one dish, clean up the prep, and go live life while the machine does the rest of the work. Ahhhhh. I’m especially glad I had […]

While we were in Florida for our spring break trip, I treated the kids to juice boxes. We don’t normally have them on hand for many reasons: 1) they are expensive 2) they create a lot of waste 3) I’d rather just give my kids real fruit and 4) I think water is the best […]

When Chris was in business school at Kellogg we met some of the best friends of our lives. It was such a special time because we all were at the same stage in life: newly married, no kids (yet), happy to make-do in small vintage apartments all walking distance from each other. I have nothing […]

Because we really don’t drink much cow milk, we tend to go through a good bit of almond milk every week. I use it every day in my homemade matcha latte, and the kids love peanut butter and banana shakes made with almond milk as the base. I always buy unsweetened, but the extra ingredients […]

Oy. This bitter cold is driving me batty. I always feel like a day spent entirely indoors is not a day well spent, but with little kids and temperatures below zero, trudging outside is just no fun for anyone. So, we are keeping busy indoors as best as we can, which is another way of […]

For the past few weeks I’ve developed a new morning ritual: a matcha latte. I’m not usually a fan of hot drinks – and I hate coffee – so the introduction of a warm cup of tea is new to me. I discovered this drink at the Whole Foods coffee bar, but at $5 a […]