If you read last week’s leisure post (link here) you know that I wasn’t exactly on the ball this year with getting our tree purchased, up, and decorated. But we had success this past weekend, and it was great to have an activity with the kids since the dreary rain thwarted our efforts to head outside for a little skating or sledding. My decorating style for Christmas trees has gone through a number of transitions through the years. All white and glass ornaments when we didn’t have kids, no ornaments the years where it was just too tempting for the kids to pull them off (which, coincidentally, were the years when I was exhausted from having a baby under age 1), and for the past few years, a combination of glass, tin, and wood ornaments. I store the tin and wood ornaments in a separate bin so that it’s easy for the kids to shuffle through and pick out those that they would like to hang.
(more…)

**Spoiler Alert** It was a bust.

I generally have pretty good fortune when it comes to procrastination working in my favor, and thought the trend may continue when I saw the forecast for this past weekend at around 50 degrees (more than unseasonably warm for Minnesota) and learned that there was a tree farm just 10 minutes or so from our cabin. You see, I needed to accomplish two things this weekend: (1) get a Christmas tree and (2) get material for this week’s (which is now today’s) “Leisure” post. I mean, what is more leisurely and photo-worthy than a family cutting down their own tree at a delightful little farm? Keep reading to see how our day progressed. (This picture below is not the tree farm, but rather a photo I took out the window as we drove away from the tree farm.)
(more…)

My kids have never been big eaters, so I’m often looking for ways to get them interested in meal time. I don’t mean getting them interested in eating more vegetables or developing a more adventuresome palate…I mean getting them to just sit down and eat. I consider pizza kind of a victory, since it can hit on a fair number of food groups, and even pizza can be a tough sell. But not when we have family pizza night and they are involved in the process. When it’s just the kids I go relatively simple with store-bought crusts and limited ingredients, but we’ve also done this with our adult friends and added in rolling out the dough and more sophisticated and varied ingredients, to make it a fun night at home.

Kerry: Gap sweater, pants and socks | hand-knit scarf from my mom
Ella: Gap dress, pants and socks
Taylor: Gap shirt, pants and socks
(Note: I wasn’t actually attempting to look like an amateur Gap family ad, but it happens around holiday sales time. Tough to resist the 40% off)

(more…)