This year, one of my major happiness goals is to make a big deal out of celebrating Easter. I got to thinking after a talk at my moms group last year: why is Christmas such a huge deal, but Easter is a second-rate holiday? I don’t know about you, but at least at our house, […]
I shared a few years ago that I sometimes struggle with gratefulness. I sometimes choose to look at what I don’t have or can’t do, rather than at the hundred other blessings that are right in front of me. It’s definitely not a new idea that gratefulness takes practice, and that noticing good things in […]
One month ago, my darling baby Caitlin turned 2! Of course, if you ask her how old she is, she says, “Cake!” Caitlin is a sweet and determined little girl. She always knows what she wants and what she doesn’t! It has been so fun watching her learn over this past year: just when I […]
My crazy little man is 4 years old! Jake definitely gave me a run for my money this year. He is rambunctious and giddy and willful and very invested in understanding every single thing. This year we celebrated Jake’s birthday in the most fitting way I could imagine: with a mountain of candy and a giant board game. […]
Somehow a whole year has flown by, and my baby girl turned 1! In some ways, it doesn’t even seem real: she still has no teeth and she’s not walking on her own quite yet. Although she loves to enthusiastically yell, “Hi!” on the phone, she still seems to think blowing raspberries is the best […]
My son is smart and wily and creative. He is thoughtful and determined and energetic. And he is 3 years old! This year for Jake’s birthday, I really wanted to keep it simple. I wanted to spend less time worrying and preparing, and more time marveling at how my tiny baby turned into this enormous, […]
It’s almost Easter! For several months now, Jake’s favorite “book” has been a Wilton cupcake decorating magazine. He found it on the cookbook shelf and immediately started asking me to “read” it to him, naming and describing all of the cupcakes from bubble-gum machines to bouncing babies to Christmas penguins. Now the poor cupcake magazine […]
It’s been a while since I began the saga of making a wedding cake for some good friends of ours. First, I told you all about selecting flavors and then we made cheesecake filling, pumpkin spice cake, and Baileys cream cheese frosting. Now all that’s left is just assembling the cake! And believe it or […]
It happened. My baby turned 2! I am still not sure how this is possible, but every day he is chatting incessantly and singing songs and creating new things and just delighting us. (What a big difference from what he was doing two years ago!) For example, this morning, he wanted to play with play-doh, […]
Have you ever met someone who says they don’t bake because they don’t like to measure? (Are you that person?) I have several friends who have confessed that or similar hang-ups about baking. But here’s how I see it: it’s Christmas! Everyone deserves fresh baked cookies, whether or not they wake up in the morning […]