I have enjoyed sharing posts with you, whether they were kid-friendly recipes, personal anecdotes, funny parenting videos, or news stories that make you ask what the hell parents are thinking. I love asking questions and getting answers from other parents who have been there.

However, I’ve come to the point where I think this blog would flourish better with someone else at the helm so today I move on in the hopes that new, wonderful blogger will soon pick up the reins to talk to you about life inside motherhood!

But fear not, I’ll still be around. I write several celebrity blogs (PittWatch, Britney Groupie, Aguilera Buff, and Style Crunch) and also maintain a personal site (Chaos Theory) if you’d like to stay in touch. Please feel free to drop by my other Internet “homes” and say hello!

Happy parenting and thank you for all the fun!

(photo: Flickr)

Post from: Blisstree

Time to move on, stay tuned

I’d like to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Inside Motherhood readers! Have a wonderful holiday! Since I’m Canadian and already celebrated last month, please feel free to have an extra slice of pumpkin pie on my behalf.

(image: sxc.hu)

Post from: Blisstree

Happy Thanksgiving from Inside Motherhood!

All I needed was a regular cake baked in a bundt pan (my mother-in-law actually took care of that for me since our oven is on the fritz). Then I used chocolate fudge icing to turn it into a nice mountain. I used an extra large blob of the icing to mostly fill in the hole in the center as well.

then I took some red fruit roll-up strips and twisted them, then draped them from the center of the cake to the outside to make “lava” which then turned the mountain into a volcano.

My daughter has a ton of dinosaur figurines and some of them are fairly small so I washed those in the sink and then placed them around the top of the volcano.

When it was all done – and it took me no more than 15 minutes – it looked pretty cute and when she saw it the next day, she was ecstatic over her dinosaur cake. Easy and fun!

(Some people ask me why there are four candles – around my area it’s common to put a candle for each year of the child’s age, plus one for good luck. I thought it was something everyone did, but maybe it’s a Canadian thing. Do you do an extra candle for luck on your cakes?)

(photo: me)

Post from: Blisstree

Dinosaur cake

I can’t believe he’s been around so long and still making kids of this generation smile just as much as those past. My three-year-old watches one of three Mickey Mouse movies that we own on a regular basis.

Even though I don’t have a lot of memories from age three, I do remember being at Disney World and watching the Mickey Mouse parade. I really hope that one day we’ll be in a position to take our girls to see Mickey and the gang too.

Happy 80th birthday Mickey! You still look great!

Post from: Blisstree

Family favorite turns 80 years old

This video features a funny collection of mishaps at the park:

I can’t decide which was my favorite, but I’m leaning towards the dad who fell out of the bucket-shaped merry-go-round.

Post from: Blisstree

Adventures at the park

The service alerts you to the beginning of you fertile days (and may suggest some method of relaxation to help you avoid getting stressed about your hopes), the last day you have in that cycle to try for a baby, and will even give you tips like having your husband avoid hot tubs.

There’s no charge for the service.

I think it’s a cute idea although I’m not sure how much good it would do for someone with an irregular cycle. If that’s your case, you’d probably be better off using a basal body thermometer to be sure of your fertility times. However, if you’ve got a fairly steady cycle and marking notes on your calendar doesn’t mesh with your busy life, getting a text message alert on your cell phone just might be a great way to keep track!

Would you use this kind of service?

Image: SXC

(Source: MomLogic)

Post from: Blisstree

Text messages tell you when it’s time to get it on

Be warned though, you might want to make two batches because they tend to disappear quickly.

Pumpkin cookies

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. After they’ve cooled, you can ice or glaze them if you want but I didn’t bother since they’re delicious as is.

Also, we couldn’t get any pumpkin puree so I used pumpkin pie filling instead. Since it contains spices already, I tasted the batter before adding the egg and decided to leave out the cinnamon and add just a pinch of the cloves and nutmeg. They came out tasting great, and they’re so soft, like little mini pumpkin breads. They’d probably be great with some chocolate chips too.

Enjoy!

Photo: Flickr

Post from: Blisstree

Kid-friendly cookie recipe – Pumpkin Cookies

Oh, the joys sometimes!

Post from: Blisstree

Silly Saturday – Hilarious commercial

The unfortunate drawback is that since it’s pre-packaged, it’s full of stuff that you might not necessarily want to eat on a regular basis, especially when most of it is a list of ingredients that you can’t even pronounce.

This super easy beef skillet dinner is just as fast, easy, and tasty as the Hamburger Helper meals but it’s not all from a box.

Beef Skillet Dinner

- 1 lb. ground beef
- Seasonings your family enjoys
- 1 package dry onion soup mix
- 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups of small pasta (macaroni, spirals, penne, etc.)

In a large skillet, cook your beef until completely brown; season with whatever you like – we usually use garlic powder, an Italian seasoning blend, and a pinch of cayenne. Drain any fat and return to stove. Stir in package of dry onion soup mix and tomatoes with the juice. Add water and bring to a boil. Stir in pasta and lower to a simmer. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

Serve with a salad on the side.

There can still be quite a bit of sodium in the soup mix, but you can check your grocery store for lower sodium versions.

Bon appetit!

(image – mine)

Post from: Blisstree

Food Friday – Beef Skillet

Halloween was fun and kids love their candy. But now that it’s been a week, the sugar high (and subsequent crash) is getting old and you’re wondering what the heck to do with the leftovers that you don’t want your kids scarfing down.

For us, it’s not only a health issue, we’re also really tired of the constant begging and bargaining.

It feels wasteful to throw it out, so here are some ideas on how you can deal with the leftovers.

1. Put it away for next year. Hard candy won’t go bad before next Halloween, so save it for trick-or-treaters ringing your bell. (Chocolate is not a good idea.)
2. If you have a birthday party coming up (or know someone who does), you can use your candy for a pinata.
3. Take it to the office!
4. Use leftover candy bars in the delicious recipe my friend Heather posted on Chocolate Bytes.
5. Donate it to a local hospital. While doctors and nurses aren’t going to condone binging on candy, patients might appreciate a special treat.
6. Donate it to a shelter or food bank.
7. Put it away. Pack it up in a container and stash it somewhere out of sight of the kids. Dole out a few random pieces here and there over the next couple of months. They’ll still get treats but if it isn’t in the open they won’t know to keep asking for it.

What are your favorite ways to use up the candy?

(I confess we take care of a lot of it by raiding it ourselves at night. Ahem!)

Image: Flickr

Post from: Blisstree

Using up that leftover Halloween stash