Holiday

For the past few years, our church has encouraged us to reach more into our imagination and less into our pocketbooks and give Christmas gifts that speak thoughtfulness and intention rather than throwing items into a cart last minute, wrapping them, and calling it a day. The notion of taking ourselves out of the spending machine that is what Christmas has become took a couple years for us to adjust, but I'm thankful to have the perspective shift. Now I really enjoy trying to think of unique and meaningful gifts to give people we love. If this sounds like something you would like to give a try, here are a few ideas for some specific people in your life. Spouse--A framed...

The holiday season is officially among us. And with it comes lots of traveling.  This week, we'll be featuring posts all about making traveling with our kiddos safe and bearable, maybe even fun! I know that we have all been there: you get in the car, back out of the driveway, and immediately your kids start fighting, or whining, or screaming for something that dropped on the floor.  For my kids, it's that they always want to watch a movie.  And I'm all for the convenience that comes with DVD players in vehicles, but I really try to use that for long-distance driving only.  In my opinion, my kids watch enough TV as it is.  Furthermore, when I was a...

The holiday season is officially among us. And with it comes lots of traveling.  This week, we'll be featuring posts all about making traveling with our kiddos safe and bearable, maybe even fun! My husband and I recently took a quick family trip – our first with just us three. We have traveled with our baby, now 9 months old, but this time was different: we were flying. All I could think about as the trip got closer was how nervous I was about the flights. Almost everyone has been on a plane with a screaming baby. I certainly didn’t want my baby to be unhappy, and I also didn’t want him to disturb the other passengers. But if motherhood has...

Like most of you, I'm a mom on the go.  I've always seen my super crafty momma friends posting all these fun and cute holiday treats that they made with their kids.  I was determined that I was going to give my kids that lasting memory too, by George!  So a few years ago, I decided that for each holiday I'd do at least one holiday treat that we could all make and eat together!  This year, I got a little ahead of myself and did three! Eek!  They are so simple, quick, and fun to do with your kiddos' help! 1.  Pretzel Pumpkins Ingredients: Bag of salted mini pretzels green decorator's icing (or bag of m&m's, you'll only need the green ones) 1 bag of...

Previously, I mentioned that I like to go all out on birthdays.  Well, along those same lines, that includes making a homemade birthday cake for each of my boys.  I’ve made it my mission to continue this tradition for as long as they’ll let me and think it’s still cool for mom to make their cakes. It all started a couple of years before I had kids.  I was looking for something to do in my free time.  (Yeah, I know…remember those days?)  So, I began looking into leisure classes at LSU and found several on Cake Decorating.  It was a perfect fit for me because I already had a love for baking.  This would at the very least help me...