20 Creative Writing Ideas for Kids of All Ages

20 Creative Writing Ideas for Kids of All Ages

Just because summer is here doesn’t mean the kids need to stop learning!  I wanted to make learning fun this summer so with the help of some friends I put together a list of 20 Creative Writing Ideas for Kids of All Ages.  My kids are all very creative, and...
Cincinnati Chili Spaghetti Pie

Cincinnati Chili Spaghetti Pie

Growing up in the Greater Cincinnati area makes it hard not to love “Cincinnati Style” Chili.  It’s not like your traditional hearty chili recipes, Cincinnati chili has a bit of sweetness to it and it’s perfect atop noodles and smothered with cheese.  We have our local preference on where to...
Sandusky:  Cedar Point and Hotel Breakers

Sandusky: Cedar Point and Hotel Breakers

Recently we made our first visit to Sandusky, Ohio for a long weekend spent at the Hotel Breakers.  While much of my time was spent learning great things at the Bloggy Conference, we also spent many hours exploring Cedar Point (known as the Roller Coaster Capitol of the World) getting...
Rowe Woods Cincinnati Nature Center

Rowe Woods Cincinnati Nature Center

The Rowe Woods Cincinnati Nature Center is one of my favorite places in the Greater Cincinnati area to spend a day in the woods exploring nature.  There are over sixteen miles of trails in Rowe Woods and they meander past a lake, over bridges, along boardwalks, over hills and through the...
Pesto Cream Cheese Dip

Pesto Cream Cheese Dip

You must know by now how much I love easy appetizer recipes.  Well here’s something you might not know about me, I cannot go to a party empty handed.  That’s where all of my easy appetizers come in…I have a collection of easy appetizers that I can throw together in no...
Spend a Day in Hamilton Ohio

Spend a Day in Hamilton Ohio

Edit:  June 2023 – I have come to realize that this post has some outdated information so I have deleted places that have since closed in Hamilton and will endeavor to make a day trip to Hamilton to make some updates this summer!  That being said, there’s still some good...
Our Chicago Vacation

Our Chicago Vacation

For Spring Break 2014 we took the kids on a mini-vacation to Chicago for three nights and four days. We crammed as much fun as we could into those four days and had adventures all over the Windy City. For our next trip, we may even take a trip to...
Five Easy Appetizers

Five Easy Appetizers

I have lots of favorite easy appetizer recipes, because I love making Hors d’oeuvres for any occasion.  Over the Thanksgiving weekend we had five different events going on!  So I had lots of easy appetizers to make.  I put together five of my favorite easy appetizers this weekend and thought...
Our Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes

Our Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes

My slow cooker is my best friend during a busy school week. I really don’t know what I’d do without it. If you don’t have one, I really recommend buying one! You can browse the best ones at somewhere like https://buyersimpact.co.uk/ to see if there are any that take your...
Cheap Date Nights in Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky

Cheap Date Nights in Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky

My husband and I value our date nights.  We have four children, we love said children, but we also cherish our alone time.  Sometimes we will jump at any chance to have a date night.  While we enjoy having nice dinners in swanky restaurants from time to time, we also...
Family Fun in Siesta Key & Sarasota

Family Fun in Siesta Key & Sarasota

Last year we took our family of six to Siesta Key for a long vacation.  We had so much fun exploring Siesta Key and the surrounding area, that I wanted to share my ideas for family fun in Siesta Key with you.  Our focus was mostly on beach lounging, so...
Getting Organized :: Children & Chores

Getting Organized :: Children & Chores

I am a stay at home mother of four children. I hate housework, but I also hate a messy house. It’s a frustrating way to live. And with five other people in this house with me, keeping up with the housework is a never ending task. My husband and I...
Walt Disney World with Kids :: Tips for a Fun Trip

Walt Disney World with Kids :: Tips for a Fun Trip

For Spring Break last year we took the family to Florida and spent three days at Walt Disney World. It was a blast! I was so thankful to have the tips & advice from friends and family before we went…I felt somewhat prepared for the special kind of chaos that...
Our Favorite Homemade Pizza Recipes

Our Favorite Homemade Pizza Recipes

Homemade Pizza with Salad is a favorite dinner around our house. I would venture to say we have homemade pizza on the menu almost every week. Homemade Pizza When Michael and I were first married he would make the dough and I would make the sauce, and we made some...
LEGO Birthday Party

LEGO Birthday Party

Last summer we had a big birthday celebration for all four kids at a local Civic Club. I wanted to find a common theme that they were all interested in, and settled upon a LEGO Birthday Party! They all love their LEGO blocks and especially their Minifigures. When I told...
Thirteen Ways to De-Stress

Thirteen Ways to De-Stress

I have days where I feel stressed & overwhelmed all day. There’s a huge amount of reasons, one is that I’ve just found out that I can get cheaper broadband deals with the help of someone like Usave, but there are many other things that are stressing me out. I’m...
Create Your Own Chihuly Sculpture

Create Your Own Chihuly Sculpture

Our family loves the arts, and we also love creating our own works of art. A few months back I read about a very cool art project for kids on the blog Mary Making and it inspired me to do a similar project with my children. The project was to...
Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs

Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs is a quintessential comfort food, and a favorite at our house.  I found this recipe years and years ago and have tinkered with it over the years until I deemed it perfectly delicious.   This recipe is written for making mass amounts of sauce and meatballs…because I...
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Easy Blueberry Cobbler Recipe

Easy Blueberry Cobbler Recipe

After much trial and error, I think I have come up with the most perfect easy Blueberry Cobbler recipe.  I say that it is perfect because it’s just the way that my family likes cobbler – NOT mushy.  After a few attempts with mediocre mushy cobblers and studying our grandmother’s cobbler recipes I put together...
Thai Chicken Pizza

Thai Chicken Pizza

Pizza night happens quite often around these parts.  We all love homemade pizza and I love experimenting with toppings on pizza night.  One of our favorite pies is the Thai Chicken Pizza because the flavors are just perfect.  This reheats well the next day for lunch – or eat it cold, that is just how...

Unique Baby Shower Gift Ideas

I am usually not one to shop off of baby registries, because I prefer to try to come up with unique baby shower gift ideas.  And most of the time these unique baby shower gifts involve books.  I am a preschool teacher and a big advocate for early literacy, so I sometimes use baby shower...

Sake Bomb Sushi & Korean BBQ

If you are in the mood for Sushi in Northern Kentucky look no further than Sake Bomb Sushi & Korean BBQ on Dixie Highway.  Their food is amazing and the service is fantastic. This place is a favorite of our family because the Sushi lovers get top notch rolls and those of us who are ...

COVID Cooking in Our Kitchen

When the schools closed in March and we all began working and learning at home we all had to find ways to fill our time will social distancing.  We spent a lot of time in the kitchen doing some COVID cooking and we have been eating very well since all this began.  We have had...

DIY Cloth Mask Adventures

It has been a good long time since I have learned how to sew something new with my limited sewing skills.  COVID Pandemic times called for me to learn how to make a DIY Cloth Mask for myself and the family.  It was actually fun to pull out all of my scraps and small pieces...
Taco Bar Party

Taco Bar Party

Need an easy dinner idea for a big crowd?  You should have a Taco Bar Party!  It does not break the bank or take an inordinate amount of time to put together.    For New Year’s Eve this year we wanted to have a fun dinner party that would not keep us stuck in the...
Quarantine Cooking with Chef Kayla from Arnold's: Gnocchi & Truffle Brie Sauce

Quarantine Cooking with Chef Kayla from Arnold’s: Gnocchi & Truffle Brie Sauce

I have always wanted to learn how to make pasta, and it took the recent pandemic to inspire me to do so.  Thanks to Arnold’s Bar & Grill, we learned how to make Gnocchi & Truffle Brie Sauce this week alongside their star chef, Kayla Robison. Each week, Arnold’s and Kayla release a virtual cooking...
Cincinnati International Wine Festival GIVEAWAY

Cincinnati International Wine Festival GIVEAWAY

Whether you are a wine experts, wine lovers or just want to learn more about wine there is a perfect event coming to town just for you!  the Cincinnati International Wine Festival is just a few weeks away and it will be a weekend-long celebration of wine.  This is no ordinary wine festival though, the...
Broadway in Cincinnati Presents: The Lion King

Broadway in Cincinnati Presents: The Lion King

The Lion King on Broadway may just be one of my all time favorite productions that Broadway in Cincinnati has brought to town.  The show was breath-taking and entertaining from start to finish.  Last week I took my son Sam to see The Lion King and it was the first time either one of us...

All-New Harlem Globetrotters Pushing The Limits World Tour

The Harlem Globetrotters are coming to Cincinnati this weekend and we can’t wait to see them!  Stay tuned for a review after the show.  In the meantime, here’s a promo code for upcoming cities in the tour. UPDATE 12.28.19 ~ REVIEW: Today we saw the Harlem Globetrotters.  It was my first time seeing them and...
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!)

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!)

I do not consider it the holiday season until we have been to see Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!).  It is one of my most favorite holiday season experiences.  This show is HILARIOUS and squeezes all of the holiday madness and magic into one performance with just four actors. ...