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Edit:  June 2023 – I have come to realize that this post has some outdated information so I have deleted places that have since closed in Hamilton and will endeavor to make a day trip to Hamilton to make some updates this summer!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...
Latest entries
Ten Ideas for St. Patrick's Day Fun

Ten Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day Fun

I wanted to share some fun St. Patrick’s Day links with you to help you get in the mood for celebrating.  And then I have some links for recipes that aren’t necessarily St. Patrick’s Day fun related, but they have a bit of green or mint involved.  I love getting into the spirit for St....

Circus Recap…DRAGONS!

We went to the Circus last night at USBank arena, and it was a blast!  This year’s theme (DRAGONS!) made for a show like any other that I’ve seen before.  The kids were enthralled, and so were the parents.  There were lions and tigers and elephants, oh my!  And at the end a fierce dragon...

Throwback Thursday ~ Dad’s Family

My father’s family on the front steps of their home  (my dad is the boy smack in the front-center) Covington, Kentucky Spring 1960 …And in 1963… And in 2002:

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 11

Another Monday, another menu plan…I know I sound like a broken record, but planning our dinner menu in advance each week really does keep me sane.  And it has made for much more peaceful evenings.  I don’t stress out trying to figure out what to cook, I don’t spend forever trying to pull a meal...

Tomato Bread Appetizer

I have this tradition of putting together a set of family recipe cards for the brides in my family.  And every time I collect recipes from my family members I find a few that I simply must try.  My Auntie Annie shared this recipe, and I’ve held on to the card for a few months...

Throwback Thursday ~ Max 2008

Max Age 2.5 2008

A Sweet Shower for a Baby Boy

We attended a shower for my cousins Kiley & Lindsey a few weeks ago.  It was very charming, and I wanted to share some pictures from the event.  I’m always filing away ideas for future parties…and there were some very sweet touches at this baby shower.  There wasn’t any grand theme or over the top...

Mikesells Review & Giveaway with the Cincinnati Zoo {Closed}

The Mikesells & Cincinnati Zoo giveaway is now closed.  Somehow, I have accidentally deleted the entire post I wrote last week, save for the comments.  I have no idea how I did it, or how to recover it, but I want you to know, that we tried the new Mike Sells Snacks (sour cream and...

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 4

We had some of our very favorite meals last week…click on the links below to find the recipes!  And for more menu-planning inspiration check out my “Recipes I Love” Pinterest board and Org Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday Roundup!  And please do share your own menu plan or favorite recipe links in the comments below, I’m...

Ella’s Monster Doll Tutorial

For Christmas Ella wanted to make a Monster doll for her cousin, so she took the initiative to figure out to make the doll herself and with very little help from Mama she created an awesome felt doll!  While working on the doll she decided that she wanted to blog about the process, so I...

Throwback Thursday ~ Mike & Kit

My parents on their Wedding Day October 26, 1974 Taylor Mill, Kentucky
The Obsession with Big Nate Books

The Obsession with Big Nate Books

 A few weeks ago my dear friend Ms. Amy, who is a librarian at our local library (the awesome Kenton County Public Library) suggested that Max might like the Big Nate books.  So I checked a few of the books out just to see what he thought.  He picked one up that night, started reading...