What are you eating this Thanksgiving? Are you all about tradition, or always looking for something new to put on the table?

I remember one year as a child when my grandparents took us all to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. It was a lavish buffet which the grownups probably enjoyed immensely. I, however, was mortified that the potatoes had been mashed with the skins on. Not only that, but the cranberries were whole, in some sort of sauce instead of my mom’s smooth, yummy cranberry jello! Oh the horror!

Yes, I’m much more willing to try new things now. But I will admit a strong preference for the old favorites at Thanksgiving – that means cheesy beans and the cranberry jello. Yes, I know that’s very “Minnesota”, but there’s a cranberry cream cheese layer on top…don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!

If you need a recipe that your family and friends will love, try this one. I can brag about it since it’s from my mother-in-law, not my own creation. 

Granny’s Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes (canned are fine)
½ cup white sugar
½ cup plus 2 ½ T melted butter, divided
2 eggs, well beaten
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup flour
½ cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions:
Combine the mashed potatoes, white sugar, ½ cup of the butter, eggs, vanilla, salt and milk. Mix well and place in a greased 8” square baking pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 2 ½ T butter, brown sugar, flour and nuts. Distribute evenly over the potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes 8 servings.

Hope your Thanksgiving is delicious!

Photo Courtesy:
xybermatthew

This evening we’re basking in the glow of a successful Mexican-restaurant meal. By successful, I mean that Tate sat in his high chair the entire time and was a very pleasant dinner companion.

Many other restaurant visits have been, well, less than successful. Tonight, I think the food may have been the key distraction. We never know what he’ll be willing to eat at a given meal, if anything. But he loved the chips and salsa and ate an entire cheese quesadilla! Ice water in a fun kiddy cup didn’t hurt either.

For more salsa action, check out the video at the end…

Our other restaurant strategies have included:

Going early: Like 4:30pm-early! When there are fewer people in the restaurant, your food comes out quicker! I’m also less worried about ruining someone else’s date night away from their own kids. 

Taking turns: One parent “enjoys” their meal while the other parent walks around outside with the antsy child. Switch places and repeat.

10-minute meals: No, not a great blog about getting dinner on the table quickly. This is where we inhale our meal because Tate is melting down and we need to get home quickly.

Know when to fold ‘em: We were enjoying an egg roll appetizer, and feeling optimistic about the steamed broccoli we’d ordered for Tate. He was less enthusiastic, and it was soon clear that he would be ruining not only our dinner but soon that of the other patrons as well. Our sit-down Chinese meal became takeout.

I don’t mean to paint a completely negative picture of my son. Sometimes the right snacks or a stack of books will keep him happy. Other times, it’s our fault for attempting a meal out that’s getting close to or even past his bedtime. I guess the bad ones make the good ones, like tonight, all the sweeter!

And speaking of sweet, check out this unabashed double-dipper…family and friends who share appetizers with Tate, consider yourself warned!

Do you bring your kids to restaurants – fancier than McDonald’s, that is?

What are your secrets to success?

Unfortunately, today Tate’s Halloween fever was the first kind. It started Thursday night, but I was hopeful for a 24-hour variety. No such luck.

At 3pm, we were supposed to be arriving at Tate’s cousin’s Halloween party. Instead, my little guy was uncharacteristically quiet in my arms while we waited for the ibuprofen to kick in. While I didn’t mind the extra snuggling time, I was really sad to be missing the party. And of course wishing that my baby were well.

He did eventually rebound enough to visit Granny & Papa’s house. And Dad worked some sort of magic to get him into his lion costume – all of my efforts were met with his favorite new word, “no”.

How was your Halloween? Did you go to a party, an indoor event, neighborhood trick-or-treating, or all of the above?

Best wishes in what we all know is scarier than Halloween – adjusting to Daylight Saving Time with a young child!

Definition Courtesy Merriam-Webster

Nice dramatic title, huh? Truth be told, I couldn’t think of anything to blog about tonight- Tate hasn’t done anything particularly hilarious or frustrating lately. I’ve been reading lots of other great blogs, hoping for inspiration. Then suddenly, there it was…

Travel back in time with me to mid-September. We were out and about early one Saturday morning, and planned to grab breakfast on the go. I assumed it would be McDonald’s or maybe our favorite neighborhood bakery. My husband had something else in mind:

Him: How about if we go outside the box a little?

Me: Sure, like what?

Him: Castillo Blanco

Me: Sure, great!

Me: Where is Castillo Blanco again? (thinking that it’s that cool new Mexican place I’ve been reading about)

Him: It’s White Castle.

Me: Nooooooo! No, no, no, no! Turn the car around.

Him: (slightly wounded) No, really, I’ve heard that they have great breakfast sandwiches.

Me: Ugh, fine, we’ll try it. But we have to go somewhere else if it’s awful.

Yep, of course, you guessed it. While known for their (in my opinion) disgusting, greasy sliders, White Castle has great breakfast sandwiches. I can’t recommend the coffee, but the egg sandwiches, especially the one with bacon on an English muffin- yum!

And to bring the story full-circle, my inspiration came from the breakfast item coupons at Mommy’s Wish List. The White Castle coupon is for the sandwich on a bun, which my husband said was good too. If I were you, though, I’d splurge and get the English muffin.

Let it never be said that I keep all the good things to myself.

You’re welcome.

Photo Courtesy:
Eddie~S

Does planning a birthday party for your child fill your heart with delight or panic?

We’ve certainly all heard stories of extravagant parties costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I guess like every area of parenting, it’s not fair to judge anyone else’s choice. But if you want to laugh at someone’s extravagance, read this hilarious article by one of my favorite writers, Dave Barry (thanks to Sonya for sending it my way!). 

At the other end of the spectrum, many families are choosing to simplify birthday celebrations. This post from Simple Mom gives some excellent suggestions for minimizing materialism, such as creating gifts for a charity in lieu of traditional party games.

Since I work for an invitation company, I can’t completely get behind her suggestion to use Evite or handmade invitations. I’m biased of course, but ours are just so cute! View the entire birthday invitation gallery online, or modify your favorite birth announcement design to be a party invite.

For tips on what’s appropriate for birthday parties at each age, read this article by Kimberly Hargis. I like her idea of having bigger celebrations for the milestone years (5, 10, etc.) and something simpler for those in-between.

How do you celebrate your kids’ birthdays? What were your own birthday parties like as a child?

Do you read Parent Hacks? My friend Whitney first introduced me to this great blog. It’s a steady stream of practical parenting tips, discovered by their team of parents/writers or submitted by their readers.

Here are some recent examples:

• We’re all using more hand sanitizer with fears of the flu. But here’s another bonus of using hand sanitizer wipes.
• I love the new little “bottles” of gum – they’re the perfect size for the cupholder in my car. Parent Hacks shares an additional use for these gum containers.
• And my very favorite, that I will be using all the time- a surefire way to remember the things you need to take home, when you’re visiting a friend.

Trust me, you’ll love Parent Hacks – add them to your reader* today.

What are your favorite sites for tips on parenting or pregnancy?

*Side note: If you follow several blogs, you’ll save lots of time by using a reader. This post on productivity from Makes & Takes links to a helpful how-to video about readers.

The other day Tate was wearing one of my stocking caps and decided it was fun to pull it over his eyes while riding his rocking horse. I snapped a photo because it was cute.

Little did I know that this would morph into his favorite new game.

With no disrespect intended to anyone with vision impairments, I call this new game “Blind Boy”. Here’s how you play: Mom puts the hat over Tate’s eyes. Tate gets upset if it’s not down far enough and makes necessary adjustments. Tate walks away from Mom with his arms outstretched, seeing what he can bump into.

I promise that Tate made up the “rules” to this game. All I do is put on the hat when he asks. Okay, I might have started asking if he wants to put on the hat because it cracks me up. But he loves it and doesn’t get upset about bumping into things. Don’t be fooled by the falsetto “mama” over and over again- that’s normal for him.

The next two clips are more of the same. Feel free to watch based upon how funny/messed up you think this is, or how much you need a Tate fix (Hi, Aunties & Uncles who live far away!).

What’s the funniest game your kids have come up with?

Most parenting literature advises against any television or computer viewing for children under the age of two. I know some parents who never have the TV on when their child is in the room, but we sure aren’t that disciplined. Tate saw some peripheral Food Network and Project Runway, not to mention that I was frequently emailing or online while nursing him.

Then right around the time that he turned one, a new study revealed that TV in moderation wasn’t so bad, and it also wasn’t so good (i.e. educational programs won’t boost your kid’s IQ).*

I jumped on the bandwagon (just as I did when they decided that peanut butter was okay again), and every so often when I’m wiped out, we plop down on the couch together to watch something on PBS or Nickolodeon.

Well, at least that’s what I would like to do. When I suggest watching TV, Tate gets excited and says “oooh, oooh, oooh” like a monkey, for Curious George. Other than the day he was completely lethargic from the stomach flu, Curious George & Sesame Street are the only shows that hold his attention. After a few minutes of Arthur, Kai Lan, Martha Speaks or anything else, he’s off running again.

So do you think George or Sesame are EVER on when I want some quality couch time? No, never! I’ve actually considered getting TiVo just so that I can have them at my beck and call.

But now, finally, I’m getting the point of my post…Tate and I were having a snack today and flipping through the Fisher Price catalog. I asked “Who’s that?”, thinking he’d notice the Ernie toy. He has an Ernie figurine and loves it. Instead he noticed the Elmo toy and said clear as a bell, “Elmo!”

What?! He’s seen Elmo on TV twice at the most in his life. We have no Elmo dolls, no Elmo books, no Elmo artwork in his nursery. And come to think of it, his ooh-oohs show that he tuned into that famous monkey about as readily.

That, my friends is marketing. They know, those children’s TV geniuses, what our children like. I’m not at all saying they’re evil geniuses, but they definitely know what they’re doing- how to connect with our children and how to make them fall in love. 

It makes me a little nervous, frankly.

What do you think about TV for your kids? Love it? It’s great in moderation? Hate it? No TV in your home? I’d love to hear how you’ve handled the issue with kids of all ages.

*PS – When I Googled the televsion study, it turns out that the focus was more on the “it’s not going to boost IQ” than on the “it won’t harm them” side. This post (with a few swear words, sorry Mom!) from DaddyTypes makes me think I bought into the Baby Einstein marketing this time. Maybe I need to look into that peanut butter thing again too…

Photos Courtesy:
jsmjr
creativedc

I know you’ve heard the phrases: mom hair, mom jeans, dress like a mom – none of them compliments. Sure there are fashionable moms out there, but plenty of us are giving the profession a bad name. Indeed, anyone who knows me would agree that I’m no fashion maven. Let’s be honest, if you’ve simply seen me on the street, you could probably guess this.

When I was working in an office every day, I made a little more effort. Here in stay-at-home-mom-land, though, my wardrobe generally consists of jeans and cotton shirts in a variety of colors- long-sleeve for colder weather, short-sleeve for warmer. Then occasionally I’m invited to something more fancy, something with adults, and I have a little bit of panic.

It’s not that I don’t like to look nice, fashion is just not something into which I’ve invested much time. The other part of my excuse, as long as I’m being honest, is my height. At 6’2″, I’m excited when I find clothes that fit well and if they happen to be stylish, that’s just a bonus.

Which makes me wonder – are a lot more of you out there with some sort of excuse? I’m too short, too fat, too skinny, too poor, this part is too small, that part is too big, etc. You’d like to improve your “look” but don’t have confidence that it can happen…

If you’re happy with the extent to which fashion influences your life, that’s fine. If you’re secretly waiting for Stacy and Clinton to visit from What Not To Wear, that’s fine too. But if you’re just looking to step it up a bit, here are some sites you might want to visit:

At How to Not Dress Like a Mom, Jae offers advice on everything from how to build a jeans wardrobe to what to wear at the beach. She recently linked to a great story about why fashion can be a positive influence in your life. That post by is by Daddy Likey, a fashion blogger about to publish her first book- check out her “super stylish sites” blog roll for tons more links.

Allison Worthington has a regular Fight the Frump feature on her Mrs. Fussypants blog. Or visit the Blissful Style section of Allison’s online magazine Blissfully Domestic. Big Mama has Fashion Fridays where she recently chimed  in on the “wearing white after Labor Day” debate.

If at the very least, you don’t want to embarrass your children with your lack of style, check out this funny post by teen Vanessa Van Petten. She creates five basic “mom fashion” categories (they’re not all bad!) and offers some do- and do-not-wear suggestions.

What are your favorite sources for fashion tips? Is fashion more or less important to you since becoming pregnant/a mom?

Photo Courtesy:
Svadilfari

Do you rotate the toys in your house? By rotating, I mean packing away a portion of the toys, then bringing them back out in a few weeks and packing others away. Rather than kids being overwhelmed by too many toys, they’re enjoying just a few and often getting “new” things to play with. Plus, fewer toys means less cleanup time!

I was reminded of the brilliance of this exercise when Tate’s friend Jack was over last week. Jack was enjoying Tate’s stash of toys, but as he pulled cars and balls out of bins, Tate was equally enthralled. These are things that haven’t interested him in months.

It reminded me of the slogan NBC used for their re-runs one summer, “If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!”.

That night after Jack left, I got the stored toys out and packed away others. Even I was excited to find some things I’d forgotten about. And of course Tate was thrilled to see “new” things the next morning.

My problem is that usually several months pass in between my rotations, during which time Tate has outgrown some of the toys. It always seems like too much of an effort to get the stored items out of the basement and pack others away (yes, I’m that lazy!).

That’s why I love this idea from Janna at The Adventure of Motherhood: She has 4 separate toy bags and rotates them every few days. It keeps her daughter engaged, or as Janna put it, “it feels like Christmas morning every morning!”. I think the quicker rotations would be easier for me to keep up with.

Do you have any good toy rotation strategies?

Photo Courtesy:
hsingy