Politics, Stories
Sarah Holland
Campaign Update: March

"How's the campaign going?"

It's the question I get most often. It's also the question I'm never quite sure how to answer.

Good? ... Great! ... Your guess is as good as mine. ... We'll see May 17th!

The truth - I suppose - all depends on what you're measuring. 

Campaign Update: March
Celebrations
Sarah Holland
Felix's Winter ONE-derland

This weekend we hosted a Winter ONE-derland party in honor of Felix's first birthday. Considering this child was born during a snow, it seemed like an appropriate theme. Well, the weather had other plans and it was 70 and sunny! I could have hosted the dang party outside! 

Felix's Winter ONE-derland
Stories
Sarah Holland
Ruby

For my 30th birthday, I created a list of 30 things I wanted to do. One was to write a historical fiction short story. This is the story and as Ruby keeps calling to me here lately. I thought I'd share it here. 

Ruby
Food
Sarah Holland
Nicholas's Freezer to Crockpot Meals

One of Nicholas's New Year's resolutions was to try freezer meals. He'd prepped meals for the week on and off through 2015 and wanted to see how it would work to prepare an entire month's worth. Then, we could just pull a meal from the deep freeze, throw it in the crockpot, and on a busy day dinner would be waiting for us.

Nicholas's Freezer to Crockpot Meals
What I Learned
Sarah Holland
5 things I learned in January

Dear 2016, Slow. Up. I just picked my word for the year and finished off my New Year's Eve champagne like five minutes ago and now it's two days until February!

Whew.

5 things I learned in January

Parenting

,

Will personal choice end the mommy wars?

,

If you’ve been on Facebook recently you’ve probably seen these photos. Connecticut Working Moms launched a photo series entitled “End the Mommy Wars” in which mothers with “warring” ideas are photographed together with placards representing the two sides. The idea being that we can all peacefully coexist and there’s no reason to judge one another.

It’s a really nice thought. At the risk of sounding a bit like George W. Bush, being a mother is HARD. Every day there seems to be endless ways to screw your kids up and get it all wrong. The guilt-ridden voices inside your own head are enough to deal with without the judgmental voices on the street or the playground adding to the cacophony.

However, I’m not sure that the answer to the “mommy wars” is embracing every parenting decision as an individual choice.

Fun (and educational) Snow Day Activities

Between the polar vortex and winter storm currently reeking havoc across the Midwest, families are facing many more snow days than they expected. Movies and board games only get you so far before you and the kids begin pulling your hair out. Try some these instead!

1. Snow Experiments There is lots to be learned about snow. From temperature to climate, take this chance to teach your kids about what temperature things freeze or how quickly depending on the item. Not to mention, there are fun things to make from snow ... like snow cream! Here's a roundup of other experimental ideas!

2. Snow Flake Comparison We all know every snow flake is unique but there's nothing like a snow day to really explore the magic of snowflakes in depth. Take a dark sheet or dark piece of paper outside with a magnifying glass. Have your little one capture snowflakes and compare and contrast their differences. 

3. Snow Library Collect all your winter-themed books and have a frosty read in. Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day. Caralyn Buehner's Snowmen at Night. We all have a few snowy classics on our bookshelves. OR you could switch it and find all your books featuring sunshine and warm sunny days to warm you on on a cold snow day. If you'd like to explore some classics on the screen, this a great roundup of movies and shows available streaming online based on children's classics. 

4. Selective Screen Time Not all screen time is bad! There are a ton of amazing websites that offer learning resources like Khan Academy where your child can learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more! If your child is interested in computer science, Codecademy is a great place for them to start exploring that passion in more detail. 

What are your favorite snow day activities? Any classic wintery books you'd like to share? Leave a comment!

,

Elf on the Shelf® the EASY way

,

To have an Elf on the Shelf®? Or not to have an Elf on the Shelf®?

THAT is the real question at Christmastime.

For several years, Griffin was just too young. Then last year he never mentioned it. It was easy to ignore the great Elf on the Shelf® debate. I was ambivalent to an elfish presence in our home. On the one hand, I understood how much fun it was for kids and I knew several friends who openly advocated for the little guy. They said all the hassle was worth the look on your child’s face when searching for the mischievous creature every morning.  On the other hand, I wasn’t completely comfortable with the NSA-like surveillance that went with the elf and bribing my kid to be good.

, ,

Guest Post: Holiday Safety Made Simple

, ,

My favorite child safety expert Pattie Fitzgerald is back with a new book, a giveaway, and tips to keep your child safe this holiday!

Every holiday season I get lots of inquiries from parents, usually with two concerns:

“How do I manage all those tasks and errands with kids in tow?”  

“How do I deal with those big family gatherings where there are so many friends, relatives, and kids running around – especially if there’s that one relative I’m not so sure about?!”

When my 16 year old daughter was much younger, I was faced with the same concerns that every parent with young kids thinks about.  There’s a lot to distract us (and our kids!) whether we’re at the mall, the airport, or Auntie Barbara’s house for her annual holiday bash.  

Here’s what I did – and it worked.  

How to use a timer to potty train

Today I'm potty training Amos! Since our approach with Griffin worked so well, I'm following the same strategy and thought I'd share a post I wrote on Salt & Nectar explaining our potty training technique. 

You will have correctly surmised from the title of this post that I have in fact potty trained. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I now only have ONE child in diapers. Let me try that again for those of you in the back...

I ONLY HAVE ONE CHILD IN DIAPERS! HALLELUJAH!

Higher Education: Worth the cost?

Recently I was at dinner with a group of friends, several of whom were mothers. As is often the case, the conversation had turned to the education system. We were discussing testing and home schooling and teachers, when another friend – who does not yet have children – asked me a question that caught me off guard.

“Let me ask you a question. Will you tell your children they have to go to college?”

My response surprised me almost as much as the question. I told her five – even two – years ago I would have said absolutely. I wouldn’t have hesitated. Yet, here I was hesitating and giving a different answer.

“I don’t know.”

Geocaching for Beginners

Over fall break, my family developed a new obsession. We began geocaching and now that we've started we can't stop! I wanted to share our new hobby with all of you.

What is geocaching? 

Basically, it's a real live treasure hunt  happening all over the world. Containers ranging in size from a large bucket to a tiny test tube are hidden by geocachers in every possible geographic area. (Over two million of them!) You sign up online or download geocaching.com's app, get the GPS coordinates, and go find the treasure!

Guest Post: 5 ways to prepare your children for the unthinkable

Due to events in my own life, I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about how my children would cope if I were to pass away suddenly. It's an incredibly difficult thing to think about but I know no better person than my friend Emily to tackle this tough subject.  

Recently, I posted a rant on Facebook. I had read several sugary-sweet posts in the mom-to-baby vein wherein the parent promised to be there for the child through everything from the first day of school to the bad high school haircut.  These posts, and presumably the parents who write them, are idealistic bordering on delusional.  

It is a hard reality that many parents will not be there for their children—something health-related or financial could happen to jeopardize that storybook ending.

Approximately 1 in 20 children under age 15 will lose one or both parents.  As many as 1 in 7 will lose a parent before age 20.  Some websites had the stats even higher.  Furthermore, these statistics do not account for dealing with an accident or disease not resulting in death.  

I don’t need statistics to tell me how devastating the loss of parents is.

 

The online home of Sarah Stewart Holland