Dealing With Childhood Fears

Dealing With Childhood Fears

| November 24, 2012 | 26 Comments

From the time they’re little, kids have fears. Some of these are transient, and others stick around for a long time. Most of us are familiar with a baby’s fear of separation from his mother, and a three-year-old’s terror of spiders, but what about bigger kids? During my 12-year-old’s recent well-child visit, I mentioned to […]

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World Hello Day

World Hello Day

| November 21, 2012 | 12 Comments

November 21 was dubbed “World Hello Day” by Brian and Michael McCormack 39 years ago. It’s a little-known holiday, but it’s actually observed world-wide. The premise is easy: Say hello to 10 people that you encounter, and tell them all about your wish for world peace. It’s as simple as that.
While World Hello Day hasn’t […]

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November 20 is Absurdity Day

November 20 is Absurdity Day

| November 20, 2012 | 21 Comments

It’s always fun to take advantage of silly holidays with our kids; after they’re grown up, it won’t be half as entertaining! November 20 is Absurdity Day, and this one begs for recognition. When you’re a parent, absurdity goes along with the territory, so this is just one day when you can fully embrace it. […]

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Cold-Weather Crafting

Cold-Weather Crafting

| November 19, 2012 | 23 Comments

This is the time of year when snuggling up by a warm fire wearing fuzzy socks sounds really appealing, isn’t it? Sometimes it can be tempting to rely a bit too much on television and video games to keep everyone entertained when the wind is blowing outside, but there are a lot of quiet activities […]

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Holiday Gift Ideas for Teens

Holiday Gift Ideas for Teens

| November 18, 2012 | 20 Comments

The winter holidays are approaching, and that means gift shopping. And if you have teenagers to shop for, it probably also means a fair bit of worrying about what to get. Teenagers are some of the hardest people out there to buy for. In comparison, younger kids and and adults are a breeze! Cash or […]

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Holiday Shopping: Mindbending Gift Ideas

Holiday Shopping: Mindbending Gift Ideas

| November 17, 2012 | 12 Comments

With the holidays quickly approaching, you’re probably making your list and checking it twice as you attempt to create a balance in the gifts that you buy for your children, nieces, nephews and other young family members and friends. The kids want gifts that are fun, fun, fun, and you want to give them something […]

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Food

Cinco De Mayo Recipes

Cinco De Mayo Recipes

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over French invaders in 1862. Today it is celebrated not only in Mexico but in the US as well. We LOVE mexican food (as a matter of fact tacos are on our weekly family menu) and we can’t wait to have our fiesta tonight! Here are some […]

Turkey Advice: How to cook it, gadgets to buy

Turkey Advice: How to cook it, gadgets to buy

Our resident TopChef and cooking advisor has some Turkey tips for you this holiday season…… It’s just my husband and I in our household, so I rarely make turkey. Perhaps a turkey breast now and then, but never a whole turkey.  Besides I never needed to.  Thanksgiving was always celebrated at my uncle’s house with […]

Shopping

Things to Buy on Sale in February

Things to Buy on Sale in February

With a special holiday involving flowers, chocolate, and hearts coming up soon, you may have been planning to spend your extra money on Valentine’s Day items over the next couple of weeks. If you’re hoping to save money in February, though, those are definitely not the items that will be on sale… at least not […]

Shopping the January Sales

Shopping the January Sales

If I asked you when the best time is to stock up on school supplies, you’d say July, right? It’s when all of the big box stores tend to have boxes of crayons for fifty cents or two, 10-packs of markers for a couple of bucks, and those spiral notebooks that get caught on everything […]