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Experience Gift Ideas for Kids
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Give the Gift of Experience Instead of Stuff

Both of my kids have birthdays shortly after the Christmas holidays. For anyone else in the same boat, you may share my hesitation to see any new toys come into the house. As we are committed to decluttering our home, one option that needs…
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Monday Meal Plan Jan 28 Random Recycling
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Monday Meal Plan Jan 28

It's not just another Monday in our house. A little someone is turning 4 today! How did she get so grown up already? This week is happily filled with birthday parties, class cupcakes and her choice of pizza for dinner. Can't argue with the…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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All Those Crafts...Where To Put Them?

As we try to clean up post holiday, I want to know the answer to this question. How do you store your kid's art supplies? It's a hot topic in our playgroup right now and I thought I would ask if anyone has a great suggestion to share. Leave…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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DIY Finger Paint With The Kids

When it's too cold to go outside, it's time to get creative inside. Our craft project of the day was to make DIY Finger Paint. One of my goals is to finally make some of the many kid-safe recipes I have found on Pinterest. There are recipes…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Monday Meal Plan Jan 21

The cold is coming! Our menu plan calls for crock pot dinners, comfort food and yummy cookies. That's what I like to eat when the temperature drops outside. I still have a bunch of freezer meals too that I'm trying to test out each week. Last…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Green Power at the New England International Auto Show

Today I got to check out some of the latest and greatest updates in the car industry.  The most exciting thing is all the advances happening in the world of fuel efficiency. At this year's New England International Auto Show happening in…
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Get Your Kids Excited to Cook {Giveaway}

One of the things I am most passionate about it is teaching my children how to cook. As soon as they are steady, they received their own kitchen step stool so they can work right at my side as we make breakfast, lunch and dinner. While they…
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DIY Vanilla Extract

I'm Dreaming of a Spring Garden

As our stash of preserved produce, applesauce and herbs starts to dwindle a bit, I'm starting to look forward to next summer's garden. Here is a cheat sheet of some of the better seed catalog sites. You can do your homework online or pick…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Monday Meal Plan Jan 14

This week's meal plan was a little more challenging than usual for me. My husband is doing the South Beach diet so it means a little more protein and veggies added to our usual mix. It's hard to break the mold of protein-veggie-starch that I've…
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The Green Hour

As the sun stays out a little longer these days, we are trying to get back outside. Our new goal- the "Green Hour." A Green Hour is time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. In 2007, the National Wildlife Federation…
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Motherhood ebook Bundle Sale

 Last week some of you heard about the new e-book opportunity to buy a little collection of coordinated ebooks. This week, BundleoftheWeek.com is offering an amazing bundle of ebooks designed to support you in motherhood and parenting in general!…
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Monday Meal Plan Jan 7

This week's menu features more meatless meals than we typically make. My husband won't join us for dinner part of the week so I get to try out some vegetarian meals to see if they make the cut. Sunday~ Both lunch and dinner are covered at birthday…
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Why do kids love food served on skewers?

We recently found ourselves in a little eating rut. The kids were being picky, which is a bit unlike them. Time for a secret tool~ the skewer. Both kids are old enough to manage them with some adult supervision. At lunch, we included small…
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Green Shopping Reference Guide

One of the questions I get the most is "where did you buy that?" I decided to pull together a list of some of my favorite eco-friendly shopping sites, plus some of my favorite books for further reading. This will always be available as a page…
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DIY Vanilla Extract

Top 10 Posts of 2012

I took some time to look back over the past year of blog posts to see which ones you all liked the best in 2012. This is a fun exercise and it helps me brainstorm about new ideas to talk about in the coming year. If you have ideas for a future…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Monday Meal Plan Dec 31

Last meal plan of 2012!  I can proudly say we stuck with menu planning for the whole year.  The chalkboard menu plan in the the kitchen turned out to be just the right system for us.  You have to decide what works for your family. It may…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Did You Know Jan 3rd is National Returns Day? #HassleFreeReturns

I did a large amount of holiday shopping this year online. It's an easy way to get great prices, but also order from some unique shops on Etsy. As we sort through all the lovely gifts we received, we have a couple that need to be returned or…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Make Your Own Homemade Vanilla Extract

You are going to learn how to make your own homemade vanilla extract in the steps ahead. I'm going to guess a few of you do a fair amount of baking. Did you have to buy vanilla extract at the store? It's expensive and it's not always that healthy…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Monday Meal Plan Dec 24

Let the countdown begin! The kids are excited that it's nearly Christmas Eve and the big day is almost here. They are exhausted from staying up too late at a holiday party but it was so much fun seeing them party like a rock star till well past…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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Stay Alert in the Ford Fusion

Raise your hand if you ever have fallen asleep driving?  Even one of those nanosecond naps counts as falling asleep. It's estimated that more than 250,000 people fall asleep behind the wheel a day.  As many of you travel in the coming week,…
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DIY Vanilla Extract
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The Ninja-My Little Kitchen Helper {Giveaway}

If you are a regular reader of my meal plans, you know that I often use a slow cooker.  What you don't see is how often I use it for non-dinner meals and for making homemade yogurt. About six months ago, I realized we need a second slow cooker.…
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