The Best Brownies...Seriously {Family Fun/Building Community}

I remember baking with my grandmother when I was young. She not a warm, fuzzy kind of grandma, but she always had a jar of cookies on the little table by her kitchen door, and baking was the one special thing we did together. As I got older, my friends and I whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies after school, more so we could eat the dough than anything else. That was back in the days of fabulous teenage metabolism. I love the idea of passing on this experience - the very social, shared aspect of baking - to my boys. Bee dons his chef hat and apron and insists I wear an apron too, then he stands on a chair next to me helping to pour the ingredients and flip the switch on the mixer.

Between my husband's freakishly minuscule sweet tooth and his superhuman will-power, any sweets in our house are generally consumed by the boys and me. As a result, I try not to bake too often, even though I have loved to bake since I was a kid.

But every so often a great reason to bake comes along - a new neighbor needs to be welcomed to the neighborhood, friend invite us for dinner, it is Teacher Appreciation Week and all of my boys' teachers happen to love chocolate. Or maybe all of these things happen at once, like they did last week, and I have an excuse to bake not  just one but two batches of these delicious brownies. I get to enlist one or both of my favorite helpers to assist and they are happy to oblige, as long as I let them lick the mixer paddle when we are done.

Deep Conversations: "Momma, do you love..." {Just Write}

Last night I went back to Bee's room to tuck him in "one more time." I expected to find him fast asleep. At 8:00 I had responded to his attempts to drag out bedtime by promising to check in on him after I'd tucked in his brother and taken my shower. "Close your eyes and rest," I told him, but when I eased open the door at 9:00, trying not to disturb him, his little head popped up, his eyes wide open. He'd been waiting for me all that time. Oops.

When Your Toddler Is Afraid To Eat

When Zip was 2, he developed a fear of eating.

You might be thinking one of two things. One: How many issues does this woman's kids have? Tics, stuttering, chewing clothes....what's next? Well, I'm sure something is next. Every kid has bumps in the road at some point. I hope sharing our bumps will help other parents who might experience similar ones. Question Two: Why would a 2-year-old be afraid to eat?!

Photo by miss pupik via Creative Commons

To be 100% accurate, Zip wasn't actually afraid of eating. He was afraid of throwing up. And since he associated eating with throwing up, he didn't want to eat. I didn't understand what was going on at first, but in hindsight I was able to piece together how this happened.

When Is It the Right Time to Move?

Moving is stressful. Just the idea of moving can be stressful. Sure, it can be exciting too, if the circumstances are right, but even positive changes create stress (new babies are a perfect example). Anyhoo, just deciding when to move is a big deal.

Less than a year ago, Hubby and I talked about how we would probably want to move to a more diverse school district before the boys reach middle school. Well, Hubby said, "Absolutely, positively we are moving." I was more in the, "Okay, I guess...if it is really necessary...is it?" camp. I've been in no rush. Until recently.

I guess I've started to wrap my head around the idea, now that I've had several months to think about it. So I find myself thinking, If we're going to move, why wait? We'll be staying in the area, but we'll be starting over in a new neighborhood and a new school. Do we want to spend another six years getting comfortable where we are, only to leave, or should we spend it falling in love with a new home and community? It takes so long to feel settled in a new neighborhood, a new community, a new school. It takes a while until a house feels like home and until the drive home feels so familiar, every tree, every curve of the road, every old barn. And what about the boys? My husband and I both lived in one district from early elementary school through graduation. I really want those kind of roots for my children, too.

A beautiful sunrise in our back yard

What Are The Best Summer Shoes for Kids?

Today I want to talk about something of utmost importance: Summer shoes for kids. My boys are so rough on their shoes, especially when the weather is warm and they are running around outside a lot. Check out Zip's sneakers.

This picture actually does not do them justice. Zip has had these for maybe two months (after the strap ripped off his last pair of sneaks). They've been covered in mud and scrubbed out in the sink at least every other week. The soles are ripping and the fabric is worn. They aren't even his primary pair of shoes and they are falling apart. That's pretty much how it goes with shoes in this house.

So I've been on a mission over the past few years to find shoes that are 1) durable, 2) easy to wash, and 3) cute. Important criteria, right?