As I have written about before, I am not a fan of wrapping paper. All those trees taken down to create paper that is literally torn up and thrown away in seconds?! No thank you!! Instead, I usually use newspaper (my great-grandma used to use the comics section) or old paper shopping bags. This Christmas, […]

Evie has been fighting a cold for about a week now. While I feel lucky because this is only her second cold/sickness in the first 17 months of her life, I also feel so sad for her. She hates having her nose wiped and she has a bit of a cough — no fun for […]

Veteran’s Day is a very special day in our household. My husband was a captain in the Army and deployed to Iraq. Although he is no longer active duty military, I treat November 11 as another birthday. He worked hard to serve our country with honor, and during his deployment he never complained once. He […]

When I was growing up, which really wasn’t all that long ago, Halloween seemed to have more of a homemade aspect to it. I don’t remember my mom ever buying my siblings and me costumes. Rather, we were left to our own resourcefulness to come up with a suitable and entertaining outfit for the day. […]

My sixteen month old little big girl has moved on from pureed baby food. Since she made the transition a couple months ago, she has been uncharacteristically picky when it comes to food. She loves eggs, string cheese, pears and apple sauce, but even I was getting bored with those. Time to get creative! In […]

We took a family trip to a charming apple orchard in Indiana the other day. It was Evie’s first taste of fall tradition and I think she loved every minute of it! The weather was perfect — sunny and high 70s, but the smell of fall was certainly in the air. Bees were furiously gathering […]

Since my first daughter was born we’ve been a cloth diapering family. While we were initially interested in cloth diapers for environmental reasons, the more we learned about disposables the more scared we were of them. With the knowledge we acquired we could not use disposables in good conscience. Here are a few reasons for […]

While grocery shopping yesterday I scored a five pound bag of fresh organic carrots for $1.49 at Stanley’s, my favorite neighborhood produce market. I knew they would make for a delicious batch of homemade carrot soup, so I happily scooped up a bag. I am always on the look out for last minute inspiration while […]

We took Evelyn to her first concert the other night! The show was at an outdoor venue that encourages concertgoers to bring along picnics. I asked my mom and sisters for some picnic menu ideas, and my mom’s suggestion was the winner. It all came together and we had a great time! Fried Chicken I […]

Yesterday we celebrated Evelyn’s first birthday. I can’t believe my precious bundle of joy is now a big girl! We started off her special day with chocolate chip pancakes made from scratch. Its a tradition I grew up with, and I plan to continue it as my little family grows. She ate three pancakes (I […]