Indoor Fun

With the constant hustle that is life these days, quality family time can be quite a challenge. Yet it is essential in order for the family to thrive and bond. Work here, school there, lessons, practices, and recitals make for lots of time in the car and minimal time at home. It seems to be that we’re only home to sleep Monday through Friday, so the weekends are often the only time we have to catch up and spend that quality time together. Sometimes it takes active planning and an expectation of tradition to ensure quality time is to be had. I’m constantly looking for new adventures to go on and experiences to be had by our family of three, but I also...

I love to read. Deep in my soul. I've been known to stay up all night because I can't find a stopping point in a book (the end is the only stopping point!). I've also been known to go into a short term funk after finishing a great book or series.  Serious readers will understand exactly what I mean. When Brene Brown talks about the importance of "play" for adults, she is describing reading for me.  I come by it honestly.  My aunt is a librarian, my cousin a teacher, and my mom is a regular at the public library.  When we go on vacation, we spend more time planning who will bring which books than we do packing...

My 3 year old is a lot like most 3 year old girls, obsessed with all things dressy, and sparkly, and princessy. As the tutus and crowns started to pile up, I found myself needing a good storage solution.  Her dress-up box was bursting at the seams. Of course, I started by scouring the internet.  After checking out all of the options, I decided that DIY was the way to go.  I found examples made out of old entertainment centers and dressers. Despite my best Craigslist skills, I couldn't quite find anything that met all of my criteria.  Then it hit me! The perfect piece was already in her room.  Her bookcase was exactly what I was looking for...

"I'm not a housewife, but I AM real." If you know Bethenny said that, then we can be best friends - well not best friends, but we can totally hang out. In the dark - so no one can see us while we watch our SHOWS. I like The Real Housewives. Not in a super-proud-fan-girl-sort-of way but in an I-can't-believe-I-am-admitting-to-this-sort-of way. I don't just like it. I love it. (You don't have to hide your eye roll.) Because I loooooooove it. All of them except Miami. I was actually so sad when D.C. was cancelled. Each episode made me more deliciously uncomfortable. Excuse me for a second while I Google whatever happened to Michaele Salahi. I like those shows in spite of the opinions of...

When we decided to get rid of cable in 2014 (read about it here), I had hoped it would help our family to watch less TV. It didn't quite work out like that. Instead, Netflix and Hulu and several other Roku apps made it possible to watch our favorite shows whenever and wherever. I learned along the way that toddlers somehow don't mind watching the same episodes of the same shows over and over and OVER. Once you've seen every episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Curious George 174 times, you start fighting the urge to pull your hair out. You also sing yourself to sleep in cute jingles, but that's another story. Needless to say, we needed some serious...