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Edit:  June 2023 – I have come to realize that this post has some outdated information so I have deleted places that have since closed in Hamilton and will endeavor to make a day trip to Hamilton to make some updates this summer!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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Sewing Inspiration

Sewing Inspiration

I try to find time to sew whenever I can…but I’m very much a “rookie” seamstress!  Here’s a few of my favorite places to find patterns and fabric!  I hope this post helps other folks out there with your sewing! My Sewing Inspiration & Patterns :: SouleMama Bend the Rules Sewing by: Amy Karol  Oliver...

Silly Faces Game ~ Perfect for Preschoolers!

 Our family LOVES playing games together.  And there are so many games to choose from, we have a crazy amount of board games, card games, etc.  The kids love playing Monopoly Jr, LEGO Creationary, Battleship, and games of that sort.  But our selection of games that are appropriate for the littlest one in our house...

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see!...

Jenny’s Wedding Shower :: Pink & Black Roses & More…

My sister-in-law Jessica and I planned a shower for our future sister-in-law Jenny last summer and I thought I’d share the details with my readers!    We wanted our daughters (the flower girls) to be a part of the shower, so we had a girls night and made decorations for the party.  The wedding colors were...

Throwback Thursday ~ Ella 2004

Ella & Michael August 2004

Cards by Katie ~ Fabulous February Special

I just wanted to share the current special in the Cards by Katie Etsy shop.  My “Fabulous February” special is that for every $25 you spend on note cards you will get a $5 gift card to spend on your next purchase!  There are a few new designs in the shop, including these cute new...

Flight of the Butterflies at the OMNIMAX

Wednesday night I had the opportunity to preview the newest show at the OMNIMAX at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  Since there were four tickets I decided to take the boys for a Valentine’s date night with Mommy.  Meanwhile, Ella & Daddy had their own evening out with Mexican for dinner & a bit of shopping. ...

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey presents: DRAGONS! [GIVEAWAY]

This giveaway is now CLOSED.  Congrats to Vicky, who said that her favorite part of the Circus is “anything way up high that gives me sweaty palms!” And Brian who said “My family really enjoys the circus, and it’s here the week of my birthday.”.  You two have 24 hours to claim your prize!  Contact...

Menu Plan Monday ~ February 11

It was another yummy week at our house!  For more menu planning inspiration check out OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday roundup!  Or find my “Recipes I Love” board on Pinterest!  I’d love to hear what’s cooking at your house too!  Leave me a comment below and share some of your favorite recipes…I need some new ideas...

Seafood Dinner from Keegan’s Specialty Seafood Market

UPDATE 2019 ~ Sadly Keegan’s Specialty Seafood Market is no longer open. We’ve been on a fish kick lately, Michael has made some delicious fish twice in the past week.  Lent is coming up, so it’s the perfect time to be on a fish kick.  We usually spend every Friday evening at our neighborhood fish...

Easy Homemade Valentines

Tis the season for hearts and cupid and such. Each year our family has a Valentine making day where we make valentines for each other and last year the kids and I made super-cool Valentines together for them to take to school. But this year because of other projects going on I didn’t have the...

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama ~  A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and...