The grandparents, in turn, were lucky enough to experience Boden’s flag football game in the pouring rain.  (Or should I say, Lucky for us??)

We left Sunday morning for a 3.5 hour drive north to the Vermont country.

Friends, it is gorgeous in Vermont.

We thoroughly enjoyed biking around these hills (um, hello I’m out of shape!), eating our way through fabulous restaurants, and sleeping for copious amounts of uninterrupted time.

We visited Manchester Village, and stayed at the Equinox Resort.   Sunday night rate, friends, was what made this possible.  It’s a gorgeous hotel.

And we drove and biked these stunning country roads.  The greens were so beautiful.  Fresh.  Alive.  Spring!

If you are driving Route 7A south of Manchester, I highly recommend this place – The Chocolate Barn.  I have nothing but love for this barn.

And their Dark Chocolate Walnut Fudge.

Especially the fudge.

Then we continued to drive country roads south through Massachusetts and into Stockbridge where we visited the Normal Rockwell Museum.

Their collection has changed since the last time we visited.  I really missed my favorite painting, “Family Tree”:

In case you were wondering, my family tree closely resembles the left side, and The Running Man’s the right.  I have a sordid family history: Amish, Jewish, Mafia, you name it…  It would be rather colorful, just like this.

The Running Man’s history is Quaker and upright, just like this.

Then we drove home, were greeted warmly by the adorables, and my mom remarked that my boys were just like Wally and the Beav from Leave it to Beaver.

I was pleased as punch.

Have you gotten away from your adorables?  How long do you think is optimal?  Where did you go/ what did you do?  Any tips?

When I was a child I had a life altering paradigm shift when I read Cheaper by the Dozen. It wasn’t the part about the large family. Being the second oldest of 10 I knew all about that. It wasn’t the story line or how it was biographical in nature. What stuck me was Mr. Gilbreth’s job – he was an efficiency expert. A light bulb went off in my young mind. And as strange as it sounds I have been thinking about efficiency since.

Case in point – unloading the dishwasher. In the evening, while unloading the dishwasher I leave out the dishes I will use in the morning on the counter. Why put them away to take them out a short time later. Time saved, maybe 15 seconds but 15 seconds over a lifetime equates to a lot of time. I leave piles on my stairs at the base and top of items going up and down. Why make an extra trip when you are going to be going upstairs at some point anyway and can take it then. Another example –  snacks. I prepare baggies of goldfish or animal crackers or whatever it is I am bagging, all at once for multiple days. I am saving the time to take out the items, and the bags, and it put it back. It is the assembly line concept. Yes, I equate packing my children’s lunches to the McDonald’s idea and assembly lines. Welcome to my strange and organized world.

Here are some of my favorite mom time management tips and tricks for saving time:

• Group like tasks together. This is borrowed from David Allen. I was lucky enough to go to one of his training sessions early in my career and I still use a lot of his concepts. The idea behind this is keep your to do list segregated by grouping your like tasks together. For example, when you create your to do list, group you calls together, then errands, computer work to do etc. It is much easier to go from phone call to phone call, then from phone call to email to something else. By the way, women are better at multi tasking so if you are like me you may make a phone call and while on hold type an email – notice the efficient time saving technique demonstrated here. Pretty fancy!

• Keep your errands geographically grouped. For example, I will do all errands in one area and then tackle some in another area. This will save you time and gas instead of zipping all over town. I will usually choose my supermarket based on this – so if I want to go to the bagel place it is Giant or Whole Foods depending on what I need. If I want to go to the Farmers Market, I will work in Trader Joe’s.

• There is no time like the present. I have many things I have to do immediately or they will never get done. As in, will never get done.  This works with quick tasks that I know will only take a few minutes. An example, any time I am discussing dates, I need to put them in my phone immediately. I can only remember so much. I wish I could buy more memory and cloud space for my brain but I am working with a chock full schedule and three busy kids. My phone and calendar are my friend. My very good, organized friend who keeps me together.

• Have a command station – for me it is the side of my fridge (fancy girl) and my dry erase board and calendar (very fancy). This is where I keep upcoming events, the school cafe menu for when they buy, days off, all of that and much much more. The dry erase calendar has the current month and I use the board for reminders and events the following month. My kids all know to check the calendar and the school schedule that is posted for library, PE and show and tell. Having this all in one place keeps me together, and them as well.

• Find synergies in your children’s schedules. Managing sports, birthday parties and activities can make the most organized person unhinged. My crew is all taking tennis lessons and piano lessons together. The tennis lessons are back to back which cuts down on trips back and forth across town. Piano is back to back and at home which is most wonderful. I also try to schedule play dates and sleepovers so they are on the same day – sometimes it is easier when everyone has a friend.

• Do in advance what you know in advance. I apply this to almost everything. For example, I know that come June I will have birthday parties almost every weekend. And I would be running to Target and Lucky Duck Toys every Saturday for tea sets and Lego kits. I have learned to keep a stash of birthday gifts, gift bags and wrapping paper on hand. When the kids have party I go to my trusty treasure trove, select the gift and off we go! I also replicate gifts to keep the decision making and shopping to a minimum. For example, at Christmas, everyone may be getting monogrammed tea towels, or throws. I take a good idea and replicate it. For the teachers gifts – same idea.

• On line shopping is your friend. I use amazon.com for things most people probably don’t use amazon. Out of sun screen? amazon.com. Reward for filling the marble jar? amazon.com. Shin guards from last season too small? amazon.com Free shipping and arrives at my front door? I am in. It is so great to order on line and know it will arrive a short while later. I find it so frustrating to go somewhere and find they are out of what I need. I have learned if it is uncertain to call ahead and check. Or – amazon.com! Otherwise, kids clothes – shopping on line! I love Mini Boden and Lands End. I even use for Old Navy and Gap which are five minutes from me. I used Peapod when my children were younger and groceries being delivered was essential to eating. These days I use when on vacation. So if I know I am arriving home Saturday evening, I will schedule a peapod delivery for early Sunday morning. It is a luxury after a trip and travel to not have to leave to restock the house. I have not used Fresh Direct but my sister has and loves it. She is now a convert from Peapod to Fresh Direct. I want to find out what all the fuss is about!

Who else has some mom time saving ideas to share? I love this stuff!

The day I found them resting together with all their stuffed animals. Ages 1 & 3

Neither of my girls took much to a pacifier, but they were both avid thumb-suckers.  And I tried different ways to get them to stop, but it was always a struggle.  Finally, by Kindergarten, I came up with two different methods that worked to get them to break this once cute, and now not-so-cute habit — different kids, different solutions! Perhaps one of these will work for you!

SOLUTION ONE:

My oldest only sucked her thumb when she had her beloved duck in her arms (see above picture). His name is Crackers. He’s been through three beaks and had a few stitches, and he still holds a pretty big part of our hearts!  So during the day, he stayed in her bed.  She’d hold him tightly during naps and bedtime and enjoy her thumb, but otherwise, she’d never consider sucking her thumb.

So, to break her habit, we set up a little bed next to her for Crackers to sleep in at night. He was next to her, but not in her arms. By 2nd or 3rd night, I went to go to bed and found him in her arms and her thumb securely in her mouth.  When I asked her the next morning about it, she informed me that indeed Crackers crawled into her bed and he put her thumb in her mouth!  Oh, that bad duck! We decided maybe he needed to sleep in my bedroom if he was going to do things like that! She agreed (reluctantly).  After about six weeks, I gave him back. And she never sucked her thumb again!

SOLUTION TWO:

Well, let’s talk about daughter number two.  She sucked her thumb whenever she had her ear (again, see photo above)! One hand on the ear, the other thumb in her mouth. Umm, I can’t take away her ear.  And she sucked her thumb everywhere, all day long. Even in Kindergarten. I did not like this, but what could I do?  Then if I do say so myself, I had this genius idea! Here it is…

I filled a basket (kinda looked like a treasure chest) with lots of cheap toys from the dollar spot.  Lots of them.  I needed motivation here.  And I bought her a pair of mittens. You know those two pair for $3 ones from Target?  Yep, those ones.

I then made this deal with her.  If she kept her mittens on her hands all night long, then in the morning, she could get something out of the treasure chest! She LOVED this idea.  And she kept her mittens on each night.  It was her choice, if she would have said ‘no’ – then I wouldn’t have made her wear them, but she was motivated by the toys, so she said ‘yes’.

Often in the mornings when I’d go to wake her up, I’d watch her thumb instinctively, and habitually, try to make her way to mouth, but as soon as it felt the the mitten fuzz on her lips, she’d drop her hand.  We did this for about six weeks. After I noticed her thumb no longer trying to go to her mouth in the morning, I told her she could stop wearing the gloves. And guess what?! It worked!! Not just at night, but it also broke the habit for the daytime too!!

So if you are in the season of trying to end thumb sucking in your little ones, I hope of these ideas inspires you!! And if you’ve had success in this area…share your tips to encourage other moms!

I found this recipe in my May 2013 Better Homes and Gardens Magazine and it has fast become one of our household favorites.  The Running Man and I have really been trying to eat much healthier and this is seriously healthy, tastes amazing, and has all the fresh crunchy ingredients that remind me of summer.

And the adorables like it too (sans the yogurt sauce – but the very same yogurt sauce makes the recipe for the adults.  Crazy kids.)

Photography courtesy of Rachel McGinn Photography

1. I throw out the tattoos they get in their goodie bags.

2. I throw most of the contents from their goodie bags.

3. Any balloons around the house I pop and discard of after a couple days. I feel really mean writing that. Allow me to clarify, they stop playing with them and they are just there. In the corner, or the middle of the room. And it annoys me. So they forget and I pop them. Not when they are around. That would be really mean.

4. Puff the Magic Dragon makes me nostalgic and weepy – “dragons live forever, but not so little boys”. My eyes are filling. Totally normal.

5. I can scarcely think of what I did with my time before I had children. And why did I think I was so busy? What was I doing?

6.  Game Stop, Chuck E Cheese, 5 Below don’t all close as early as I say they do. “Kids, _____ is closed”.

7. There are some items they wear that are purely sacrificial on my part to allow. Examples include but not limited to – Skylanders t shirts, florescent gym shorts, the Justice American flag mustache shirt I just purchased. Yes, I need to repeat that – the Justice American flag mustache shirt I just purchased.

8. Being a mother has made me a better and stronger person and changed me in ways I could never imagine.

So a few weeks ago, I was scrolling through facebook when I came upon these pictures from a friend on FB.

Her son wanted Skylander posters in his new room, but she couldn’t find anything she liked.  SO, she decided to…

1. take pictures of his toys
2. upload them to Shutterfly and design her own collage posters.

Aren’t these awesome?!?!  I think her son’s smile says it all!

She did have these tips:

“I got on their site to see what kind of layout I liked the best. Then I took pictures according to the layout. If you notice in the picture, the “big” picture is offset a little to accommodate the smaller pic’s on the sides. I knew this going into the photo shoot & took the pictures accordingly.”

Thanks Colette, for letting me share this amazing idea with our readers!

FYI, A 20×30 poster is $24.99 at Shutterfly, but watch for sales and coupons and get it for less!

Also, while I was at Shutterfly looking up poster info, I also saw they offered these ‘Center Stage Posters’ where you can add your kids photo next to their favorite characters (GI Joe, Transformers, Dora, Spongebob, Littlest Pet Shop, etc). Fun, fun!

Journal found on Etsy!

I sometimes find myself dolling out advice and wonder where it came from because it certainly didn’t come from me. Advice, kept hidden away in a deep Mom vault where the wisdom of the ages is kept. And when the time comes, starts pouring from my mouth – “take turns, if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all, chew with your mouth closed and finish your homework, stop teasing your sister, don’t forget to say thank you”. “Wash your hands, always tell the truth, stand up for each other, be thankful for what you have, share”.

This advice  comes from the vast, timeless and endless inspiration of Mothers, who pass along their wisdom to their daughters, who pass it along to their children, who then pass it along to the next generation. Moms before us have been saying the same things probably since the beginning of Moms. And although the context was different I am sure the message was the same.

And when I consider it, all the things my Mother taught me didn’t teach me simply how to “be” but really how to live. And if truly put to work, could change the world and make it a place every Mother would feel good in which raising her children.

Allow to me to explain:

Issue – wars, oppression

Mother’s advice – stop fighting, treat others as you want to be treated, do the right thing

Issue  - crime, violence

Mother’s advice – tell the truth, be peacemakers, keep your hands to yourself, don’t take things that don’t belong to you

Issue – world hunger, famine

Mother’s advice – share what you have, treat others as you want to be treated, help each other

Issue – the environment, pollution

Mother’s advice – take care of your things, clean up after yourself

Issue  - materialism, greed

Mother’s advice – don’t worry about anyone but yourself, be grateful for what you have

This Mother’s Day, I am going to try to live up to my Mother’s standards – to always do my best, to be a good sport, share, and be patient and kind and to get along with my brothers and sisters in the most global and broad sense possible.

Thank you Mom, I love you! Happy Mother’s Day!

What is the best advice your mom gave you?

Last year, Cathy wrote about her Couch to 5K experience and I was thrilled!  It was exactly what I needed.

So I  eeked my way through a program and I made it to a full 30 minutes of running.  But walking seemed so much more fun and the thrill of running (ha!!) wore off.

Fast forward one year.  My friend Amy asks about the Couch to 5K and I jump on the chance to gain a running buddy!

This makes all the difference in the world.  Since I’m meeting her, no more getting dressed to run and coming up with excuses on the way.

Since I’m running with her, no more wimping out after 15 minutes.

And it’s WORKING!

We’ve also run one 5K so far, with plans to do more.

Again, it’s WORKING!

So here’s the simplified program we’re running:

8 Week Learn to Run Program

Always walk 5 minutes slow and easy to warm up and again to cool down afterwards.  Make time for at least 3 runs every week.

Week 1

Run 1 minute. Walk 2 minutes.  Do this 8 times.

Week 2

Run 2 minutes. Walk 2 minutes. Do this 7 times.

Week 3

Run 3 minutes. Walk 2 minutes.  Do this 7 times.

Week 4

Run 4 minutes. Walk 2 minutes.  Do this 6 times.

Week 5

Run 5 minutes.  Walk 2 minutes.  Do this 6 times.

Week 6

Run 6 minutes.  Walk 2 minutes.  Do this 5 times.

Week 7

Run 8 minutes. Walk 2 minutes.  Do this 4 times.

Week 8

Run 10 minutes.  Walk 1 minute.  Do this 3 times.

______________________________________

Most programs I’ve seen change the program during the 3 different runs every week.  Frankly, this just confuses me.

And I highly recommend finding a Run Buddy.  Amy and I just gab, gab, gab and before I know it (most days, that is), we’re done!

It also keeps me honest.  Painfully so.

And sign up for those organized 5Ks!

So how is it going for YOU?  Have you found a program that you like?

Some women seem to exude loveliness. Their homes are warm and inviting, their recipes and dishes – superb. They make you feel welcome and relaxed whether it is a scheduled visit or you are popping by on your way to somewhere else. That is my friend Anita. She always has a simple display of fresh flowers on her kitchen island, along with something delicious she whips up at a moments notice. And she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. And funny. And kind. And I miss her. When we were staying with her this past summer she made the following recipe for a barbecue with our friends. Because everything Anita does is always perfection, I was taking copious mental notes.

She sent her husband John to Balducci’s and gave him a list that included 2 baguettes (you only need one – this was for about 4 families), cherry tomatoes and ricotta. The rest you will have already – olive oil, salt, pepper, honey. Not your spouse or children honey, the bee variety.

And this is what she did -

pre heat the oven to 400

slice the baguettes

mix in a bowl the olive oil with a pinch of kosher salt

Slice the baguette and brush with olive oil with salt

bake for about 10  -12 minutes or until golden and crispy

In the meantime mix the ricotta with a little salt. I warm it in the microwave so it isn’t cold. When the baguettes are done add dollops of the ricotta to the slices, drizzle with honey.

Bon Appetit!

The tomatoes can be roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper on about 400 until they start to pop. Don’t forget to add tin foil to the pan to save yourself a messy clean up! I serve them on the side, they can be a topping for the baguette / ricotta.

Another nice addition is slices of fig on top of the ricotta and honey.

Simple, easy, delicious – thank you Anita! As a side note, I made this when Team Farmer was visiting. As I was putting it together Heidi whipped out her camera and started snapping away! Talk about multi tasking – we covered about 4 posts in that weekend – one more to come!

And completely random but I have a new found love of honey – on apples slices, and cheese, on pears. Delicious. Okay, I am done. Make this. You will not regret it.

(You know how I love a deal.)

Have you heard of Straight Talk Wireless?

You should.

For 49.95 per month, you get:

• Unlimited Minutes Nationwide.
• Unlimited Texts Nationwide.
• Unlimited Mobile Web Access.
• Unlimited Calls to 411.
• No Contracts.

Are you still with me?

That’s more than HALF what I currently pay on my Verizon contract.

You bring your existing iPhone, Droid, Galaxy or whatever phone you have.

You visit their website or call 1-877-430-CELL (2355) to get started.  You can renew every 30 days or get a discount for buying 3, 6 or 12 month plans.

You KEEP your same number, or you can get a new one – it’s your choice.

I am SOLD.  We are currently paying so, so much more for so, so much less (at the end of every month, I run out of texting!)

Now how to get out of my Verizon contract…

Ideas??

*While we were compensated for this post, my eagerness for Straight Talk Wireless is genuine.  I WILL be leaving my Verizon contract!