FamilyEducation Blogs


January 2009 Archive

January 29, 2009

Next Stop: Pickyville

Last week I mentioned my "Oh Wow!" strategy to help encourage healthy eating when R and G are slow to eat their vegetables. It works a lot of the time, but I think I may need to have a few more tricks up my sleeve. [more]

January 28, 2009

Snow Day!

The weather forecasters had been calling for a big snow for days, but I always take forecasts with a grain of salt. More often than not, they fail to materialize. So when I woke up this morning and my alarm clock radio was in mid-sentence saying, "...the entire campus of Ohio State is closed..." I knew the forecasters were correct. OSU *never* closes, and as I expected, all the schools, including R and G's preschool, were shut down. In an effort to entertain the little ones, I have had to get creative. It started early this morning with... Snowman Pancakes
January 27, 2009

The Super Bowl Cometh

My brother, who lives in Southern California, once commented that friends who have avocado trees always experience a rash of avocado thefts this time of year. As one who loves avocados and could eat guacamole by the bowlful, I can understand why this fruit is so coveted. But why is there a rash of avocado swiping now?

Super Bowl Guacamole. [more]

January 26, 2009

"I survived Birthday Week"

I survived birthday week.

Barely.

As I type, my folks are driving home, my in-laws are at Columbus airport awaiting their departure, and SPH and R are at R’s swim lesson. G is napping, and the house is quiet. I am basking in the quiet.

This week had a few ups and downs that I will spare you, but overall it went great, and now I can proudly say I have a two-year-old and a five-year-old, something I couldn’t say a mere eight days ago. [more]

January 23, 2009

Piece of Cake

After a fun Monday celebrating G's second birthday, today we are awaiting Grandma and Papa's arrival at the airport, to celebrate R's fifth birthday tonight at home.

Tomorrow is their joint birthday party, for which they could not possibly be more excited. I am not sure that G fully gets the whole birthday party idea, but he feeds off of R's energy. Thus, we are reaching a fever pitch of birthday-party anticipation. [more]

January 22, 2009

Tzatziki

Knowing what foods are good for your kids to eat and getting them to eat them can often be a vast ocean apart. Tuesday I wrote about yogurt's probiotic benefits, yet despite knowing how healthy yogurt is for the kids, neither R nor G is an avid yogurt fan.

When I am trying to get yogurt into their little bellies, I have two standby snacks: smoothies and tzatziki. Smoothies are pretty straightforward: Blend yogurt, frozen fruit (we love Trader Joe’s frozen mango, especially), and a little juice and voila: smoothie heaven. [more]

January 21, 2009

"Oh Wow!" Bites

It's been "one of those days," and it is not yet 11 a.m. I am trying to keep my head up and keep on keeping on...

With all the activity of this week (birthdays, weddings, etc), it has been busy with a capital B-U-S-Y. Add a few typical mommy moments and roadblocks, and I am just happy to be smiling.

When things get challenging, we all have our own personal tricks and tips to help keep things moving along.

So maybe this is a strange segue, but I have a trick that has been helping us in our home during mealtime, and I'd like to share it with you. [more]

January 20, 2009

Wheat Crisps

We’re huge fans of crackers in the Sweet Pea home. More often than not, if any of us had our druthers, snack time would involve crackers. I love them, so I can hardly fault the boys for craving the same carb overload snack as their mom.

So it was with a good deal of anticipation that we found a cracker recipe to try. A girlfriend had told me they were easy to make, and the recipe seemed easy enough, so I decided to give it a crack.

Wheat Crisps

1-½ cups of whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
½ cup water [more]

January 19, 2009

Birthday Week for the Sweet Peas

Today is G’s second birthday. I will spare you the "I-can’t-believe-my-baby-is-two" diatribe and just leave it at this: Happy Birthday, G! You are two! How is this possible?

On top of G’s birthday, last night my cousin Jill got married to her wonderful new husband Eli…Friday is R’s birthday…Saturday is their joint birthday party…and Tuesday is the inauguration (we’re political junkies, having lived more than a decade in DC). Suffice it to say, we’ve dubbed this "birthday, er...celebration week." [more]

January 16, 2009

Brown paper bag pirates

As much as I adore the time when the boys want to help in the kitchen, there are times, and tasks, that warrant a little independent culinary time. I gladly accept the challenge of a child who wants to be more involved; it simply isn’t always feasible to have R or G next to me when I am, say, using the mandoline or frying something over high heat. What’s a mom to do? [more]

12next ›last »