WFMW: Decreasing Toy Noise

We have one of those fridge farm magnetic sets.  When the kid puts the two pieces of the animal into the set and it sings a little song.   Or if they just push a button it plays a little ditty.  Cute, but annoying.  Especially when the toddler likes to press the button over and over [...]

WFMW: Clever Sites to help with Gift Giving (and Getting)

This week’s Works For Me Wednesday is “gift themed”.   Since Christmas is coming faster than I can believe, I thought I’d share a couple of good websites that are helping me wrangle my gift-giving (and receiving) this holiday season.
Amazon’s Universal Wishlist – it has been so easy to simplify the wishlists for family [...]

WFMW: DIY Piggy Banks Teach the Value of Money

I’ve been trolling the internet for the perfect piggy bank for a while.   When my kids were little (even littler than now), Grandma got them beautiful personalized ceramic pigs.  They were darling, but it didn’t take long for my little darlings to play with them and crack them.  They also constantly took the money out [...]

WFMW: Recipe Organization

I’ve been fairly disorganized all summer.  Now that school is in session and life is running at full speed, I’ve been working on getting some order back in my life.
One area that always gives me trouble is recipes.  I love to search for ones I like on the internet, in cookbooks, or collect them from [...]

School Lunches that Work For Me (and You!)

If had been more organized, I would have participated in LAST week’s WFMW, the theme of which was, ahem… organization.   Unfortunately, I’m not that organized.   However, now that I officially have a child enrolled in elementary school, it’s time to get myself in gear.    One of the things I’m dreading most this school year [...]

WFMW: My Best Travel Tips with Kids

Many folks have blogged about their tips for roadtripping with kids.  I know because I read many of them as I prepared for our big New England adventure.   Now that we’re back, I’ll share a few of the things worked for me.
Travel Time – Leave early, or leave late.

Our drive time North was going [...]

WFMW: Minimizing the Fast Food Feeding Frenzy

I try and feed my kids healthy more often than not, but I am not so puritanical that I am above hitting Mickey Ds for a treat every week now and then.    However, with 3 kids, ages 5 and under, it can be difficult to figure out what everyone wants, order the food, keep the [...]

Tips for Maintaining Sanity on a Road Trip

I discovered this technique on our return from Grandma & Grandpas – a 4+ hour trip. I fully plan to employ it on our 11+ hour trek to Maine later this summer.
Step 1 – Bring (or otherwise procure) pretzel sticks. MUST BE STICKS! No other variety (twists, waffles, etc.) will do.
Step 2 [...]

Assembling the Race Car Party

I had a lot of fun planning Silas’ Race Car Birthday Party and the party went great, so I thought I’d share my behind-the-scenes tips for how I pulled it off.  This is a pretty long-winded account, so grab a coffee and make yerself comfy.  :)

Tips for Yard Sale Success

After basking in the euphoria of our successful yardsale, I thought it might be nice to outline what I felt were the keys to our success.
PRE-SALE
Make it a neighborly affair
Prior to my sale, I emailed my neighbors to see if anyone else wanted to join in.  I didn’t get any takers, but it’s always a [...]