Kids + weddings
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| Read the article here! |
If you’re worried about squeezing in all of your photos between the ceremony and the reception or you’re dreaming of a Maritime-y shot that involves a few hours of travel time — Allen says many photographers will be happy to take you out a few days after the wedding.
“It’s actually my favourite shoot to do, because we don’t have to worry about getting grass stains on the dress, or rushing off to the reception — we can just play,” says Allen. “They probably don’t have time to go to Lunenburg for photos on their wedding day, but we can go another day to get some relaxed shots that really incorporate Maritime flair.”
Read the full article on how to add local flair to your wedding.
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| Read the full column here! |
Of course, jonesing for my baby only lasted about three minutes into the ceremony, when it became clear that small children and weddings do not mix. I didn’t have to miss the vows because I was pacing the halls with a crying kid, or shush them and worry if I was disturbing the other guests.
I was even more grateful to be child-free for the evening at the reception, as I watched the couple passing their son back and forth so they could take turns eating. I’m sure my husband and I had bruises on our sides by the end of the night, as we continually nudged each other to say “I am so glad we didn’t bring the baby. Can you imagine if we’d brought the baby?”
Read the full column on whether or not children belong at weddings.
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My only hands-on wedding experience was with Best Friend’s wedding (the year after ours). I was the Matron of Honour a.k.a. Project Manager of The Big Day a.k.a. That Crazy Girl Chasing Us with Lists and Spreadsheets and Itineraries.
(To those of you who thought I was nuts leading up to her big day — and, well, certainly ON the big day, as well — I would like to point out that the entire day went perfectly)
There are probably brides out there who would happily have me as a Matron of Honour so I can keep everybody else in check. Hmmm. Matron for Hire?
xoxo
How to paint and distress furniture
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| Read the full tutorial! |
xo
It’s a love story (for kids)
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| This picture of C makes me laugh — and I can’t believe how much her hair has grown in less than a year! |
So when Put Me in the Story approached me about doing another personalized book giveaway, I jumped at the chance.
The kids ADORE the books we reviewed last time (this one + this one), and I actually just read them both to C this morning.
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| Seriously, how sweet are their books?! |
I can’t wait until they wake up on Valentine’s Day and see their new personalized stories. There are the ones we chose this time around …
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| My pick for D (age four) |
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| My pick for C (age two-and-a-half) |
a Rafflecopter giveaway //widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Nooooooo! The era of toddler destruction
Exhibit B (during naptime, I was was working … and she was supposed to be sleeping)
Oh, did I mention this has all taken place within the last WEEK?!
- Put things up high, you say? She climbs. She uses step-stools.
- Put things behind child-locks, you say? She can open them.
- Put a child-lock on her bedroom door, you say? She can open it.
- Put a baby-gate across her bedroom door, you say? Ha! Haaaaaaaaa! (Over she goes)
- WELL, FINE, how about putting her bedroom doorknob on backwards with the lock on the outside?! We did. She figured out that if she shimmies it enough, the door will open with the lock intact.
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We’ve been through this with D, who is now a reasonably (mostly) calm four-year-old. We keep asking ourselves when he finally came out of this Phase of Destruction, and the answer seems to be “three years old.”
C turns three at the very end of April, so we’ve got a few months left of nail polish up to the knuckles, Redken hair wax all over the bedroom carpet, and absolutely none of our possessions being safe.
It’s a good thing she’s cute.
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xo
Five ways to make dinner FASTER
I work every weekday afternoon, but I don’t get to work many mornings (usually one a week). That means my afternoons are JAMMED with things to do, and I’m working until the very last second before dinner.
Then … oh, right … I have to make dinner?
In this way, I’m pretty similar to a parent who works outside of the home. Except many of these parents are good cooks, and I am most definitely not. (I’m a baker, though)
Since making dinner (quickly!) is a struggle for me, I’ve put together some of my patent-pending methods for speeding up the process.
Behold!
- Plan as if your life depended on it. I’m amazed when people have the ability to walk into their kitchen at 5 p.m and *wonder* what they feel like making for dinner. If I tried to throw dinner together on a whim, we’d end up eating rice with canned soup and maybe some half-thawed cookie dough. I have a written-out meal plan that takes into account which days are busier for us, which meals will give plenty of leftovers for lunches, and which fresh ingredients in the fridge should be used up first. It’s like a manifesto, really. Our meals are definitely not fancy, but they are planned, dammit. We eat what the paper says.
- Make love to your slowcooker. I could kiss my slowcooker, I love it so much. It saves my butt MULTIPLE times a week. Now, there are a lot of gross slowcooker recipes out there. We tend to stick to pretty basic things: salsa chicken (which we use for wraps, tacos, and nachos), meat sauce for pasta, pulled pork, etc. If I’m throwing everything in at breakfast-time, I set it on “Low,” and if it’s lunchtime, I put it on “High.” Then I forget all about it.
I baked these turkey meatballs at lunchtime (recipe here) and tossed them in the slowcooker for the afternoon - … and then have a three-way with the bread-maker. Our bread-maker gets a lot of use, BUT we never, ever use it for actually making bread. (It doesn’t fit properly in the toaster) We use it for making homemade hamburger buns and rolls, but our go-to recipe is pizza dough. I throw alll of the ingredients in at lunchtime, hit the switch, and it’s ready to toss onto the pans as soon as I’m done working. Which brings me to my next point …
- Start making dinner at breakfast-time (or lunchtime). I don’t have any time in the afternoons, but I do have a few minutes here and there while my kids are eating breakfast or lunch. I grate cheese, cut up vegetables, brown ground beef, cook chicken, etc. and then it’s much faster to pull dinner together that night. If I’m really ambitious, I’ll make most of the meal at lunchtime and toss it into the slowcooker to stay warm until supper. This works well for things like taco meat, pasta sauce, and Sloppy Joes — just add a little extra liquid to keep it from drying out.
I put the pork in the slowcooker at breakfast-time, and prepped these roasted sweet potatoes at lunchtime. - Set yourself up for success. That sounds very self-helpy, doesn’t it? What I mean is: if I’m making pasta for dinner, sometimes I’ll take a few minutes at lunch time to fill the pot with water, add salt, and put it on the stove — and I’ll set the box of pasta right there, next to the stove. I’ll dig out my beloved microwave veggie-cooker (this one, from Pampered Chef) and sit it on the counter so I can run upstairs at 5 p.m. and toss frozen broccoli into it. It sounds like overkill, but it makes a huge difference on the really busy evenings.
xo
As featured on …
Heather's Handmade Life 