Let’s face it, we live in a fast food world. I really try to make dinner every night for my family on weeknights, but weekends are something different. Most of the time we try and cook at home, but every once in a while we just need to swing past a fast food joint and pick up something quick.

That’s why this article was of interest to me. In it, they give a grade to popular “sit down” fast food restaurants. (Places like Unos, Chilis, Outback, etc.) Not surprisingly, those places got very poor grades. …read more

My friend Penny bought me a Lululemon. It’s some sort of fab gym wear. She’s from New Jersey and far more in tune to what’s hot than we in Alabama. She just gifted this to me for no reason, as sort of a motivation tool for me to get off this weight that’s slapped on to my body after birthing my baby (who, yes, is now 5) and my last milestone birthday and changing some basic habits like switching from margarine to butter and from water to wine.
I’m going somewhat regularly to my small, all-girl gym and – though I’m …read more

During the summer when the kids are out of school I find it easy to slip into lazy snacking. When I pack their lunches during the school year I tend to put more thought into it when I shop ahead, but come summer time we just kind of wing it and that’s not always a good thing!
I’ve made these granola bars by Alton Brown many times and they’re a big hit. The girls all love them and even my husband, who’s not really into granola, enjoys a bar here and there.
They’re delicious on their own or crumbled up over homemade …read more

Lately my family has been sinking into the trap of convenience food. We’ve been busy. Between end-of-year school stuff, soccer games, deadlines, and other various responsibilities, we keep finding that we’re hungry but it’s too late to start cooking, or we have to rush out of the house so quickly that we just want to eat and run. Thus we end up spending way too much money buying meals in boxes, frozen dinners, and perhaps most pathetically, those little refrigerated meals that just need to be heated which are touted as “just like homemade”. Which of …read more

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Round 1 was a blast and we have a lot of great stuff to give away for kids now! With summer break looming we need all the help we can get keeping the kids entertained and safe at the same time. Below you’ll find some fantastic products to help us out!

To Enter:

To enter, simply leave a comment in this entry. That’s it!
Each prize or prize pack (as specified) will have one winner unless otherwise stated, and your one entry will make you eligible to win any below items!
This giveaway will run until midnight PDT Saturday, June 7th, and …read more

[image: sxc]
I love giveaways! I love finding and learning about new products, or discovering fun and beautiful things. I recently put out a request for giveaway prizes and the response was nothing short of amazing!
For this first round we have a great selection of items for mom to be won! The next round will be more kid-centric — you’ve got to put yourself first once in a while, right?

To Enter:

To enter, simply leave a comment in this entry. That’s it!
Each item will have one winner unless otherwise specified, and your one entry will make you eligible to win …read more

It’s that season again, where summer sports and activities start opening up for registration. For us it’s soccer. My oldest took soccer last summer and I wasn’t sure if she’d go back. If you ask her, she had a great time, but she was one of the youngest (along with two of her friends, they were the only four-year-olds with several five-year-olds who were closer to six). It was her first time playing organized sports of course, so there was a lot of running up the field after everyone else, only to turn around and run …read more

It’s generally a no-brainer that kids need healthy food to function well, but sometimes we need to think beyond the basics and break it down a bit. Lately when my daughter has been coming home from school, she’s been eating food like apples or carrots & raisins, maybe a banana.
She would be happy long enough to tell us about her day and then she would melt down and be a mess for the remainder of the afternoon and evening, throwing tantrums that rival any toddler. Since selling her to gypsies wasn’t an option, I started thinking …read more

With school looming over my head – T-minus three days, she starts on Thursday! – I’m gearing up for a new life of making lunches in the evening for her to take to school the next day.
My daughter is a huge fan of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, but the school is a nut-free zone because of allergies. She’s already requested one ham sandwich and one bologna sandwich for her first day and I’ll send her an apple, a cut-up orange, and either yogurt or cheese sticks for snacks, along with a box of apple juice or two.
However, I …read more

Our bedtime routine is really simple here in my home, but it’s still pretty important and I try to follow it as much as possible. When we’ve had to deviate from the routine, either because we’re out or someone is sick, I find it especially important to get it back on track as soon as possible in order to keep things running smoothly.
Our routine tends to involve a bath as needed (usually every second day unless it’s really hot, in which case they get a cool bath without shampoo or soap or anything other than cooling down), …read more