Labor day has passed and Summer really is winding down. I noticed this morning that all the kindergarten girls who were wearing sundresses two weeks ago have all switched to jeans and hoodies. I’m not ready to give up yet, though! We’ve got a least a few weekends of gorgeous weather left [...]

I love to be outside. I so appreciate the expansiveness of nature and its juxtaposition against the tiny details you find if you look at anything up close. An anthill under a leaf, the pattern of veins on a leaf, the scent of a butterscotch pine…there’s just so much to find. Of course, [...]

We’ve just arrived home from an, er, extended vacation to my parents’ house only to realize that our vegetable garden has kept going without us. The tomato plants are absolutely staggering under the weight of red and green fruits, the rhubarb is a huge mass of stalks and leaves, giant zucchini have magically appeared, [...]

I swore it wouldn’t happen, but here I sit. Summer is half-over. School starts in less than six weeks and we’ve barely accomplished anything on my ‘things to do this summer while the kids are little and fun’ list. I’m sure my extended roadtrip (and the extended recovery time) contributed, as will [...]

It’s my eternal struggle. I want the children to paint, I truly do, but it can just be so so messy…especially for a two year old who paints for two minutes then requires ten minutes worth of cleanup (and a bath to get it out of his hair). Often enough I bite the [...]

I was looking around for something totally unrelated and stumbled upon Let’s Explore, a blog serving up creative ideas for preschoolers. Today’s post on Ice Treasures really caught my attention since the weather’s heated up so much in the past few weeks and we’ve been spending as much time outside as possible (the better [...]

Last year for Mother’s Day Josie (then barely 4) whipped up a special drink for me, and all summer we drank pitchers of our ‘Mother’s Day drink.’ It’s totally simple and delicious, and not so sweet that it isn’t refreshing (don’t get me wrong, I love me some lemonade, but it can be just [...]

After my post on sunscreen the other day, I kept feeling like there had to be more to know so I kept poking around. Here’s what I found:

Katja at Skimbaco has a very helpful post up expressing her concerns about the ingredients in many sunscreens, a review of the various formulations, and some specifics [...]