Happy Friday! I have just two quick things to share today!

First, let’s talk email. Until now if you signed up to get emails from my blog, those emails have been automated messages from Feedburner that were sent when new posts were published. Well, all that has changed! I have taken control of my email list and the emails will be much more personal, much more useful and less frequent. All great things in my book! If you want to sign up, just click here and add your email address! (Be sure to to click the link in the follow-up verification email after you sign up.) If you were already getting the emails, then you don’t need to do anything. I know it doesn’t sound like particularly exciting news, but I’m PUMPED about the change!

Second thing, I published a post on Parade’s Community Table this week that is CHOCK FULL of awesome recipes: 15 Scrumptious Ways to Enjoy Asparagus This Spring.

That’s it! Be sure to share your own stuff – links to your blog, links to fun things you found, or just whatever you want to share!

Happy Friday!

Today I have two posts I wrote for Babble that I’m super excited to share with you.

First, the kids and I made Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs. I found the recipe in a Cook’s Illustrated magazine and it was GENIUS. I will never cook ribs another way again!

If you like chai tea and bourbon, then you will LOVE this recipe for Bourbon Chai with Spiced Bourbon Cream. That cozy little drink should definitely help those of you currently buried in snow!

Show and Tell is for the whole class – share your stuff!

Today I have two things to share with you. First, I wrote a piece for Babble this week on feeding picky eaters, based on great input from a lot of friends and bloggers. It was actually really helpful for me personally to write this as I tackle feeding Owen (who is quite picky these days!). Click here to read the article – there is some great insight!

I also have something a little more serious to share for Show and Tell. See that cute guy there making a perfect picky-eater face? Well, our little Owen has pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough. The doctor confirmed Owen’s test results last night and now our entire family is on antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

I am not here for a debate, I simply want to share our experience. We vaccinate our children and are firmly pro-vaccine, and yet, here we are, with a very preventable, potentially-deadly disease in our home. I am aware that the anti-vax contingency has been growing, but honestly, I thought that there were only a few small pockets where people had stopped vaccinating. Well, as I learned this week, this is not the case. There are many communities where schools no longer have herd immunity because the number of vaccinated children is too low. When that happens, these previously-eliminated diseases start popping up. California has been tracking district-specific immunization numbers since 2000, so it is a good case study of the phenomenon. Click here to see some great maps and get more info about California’s numbers. I learned that in our school district there are only 4 out of 15 elementary schools with immunization rates above 93% (the magic number for herd immunity) and our school is only at 84%. The neighboring district has 0 out of 5 schools above 93%. We live right in the middle of one of those red dots you see on all the maps. (Note: California is 39th in the country, so there are 11 states with worse numbers.)

Photo source: Washington Post

In the last few weeks our community (North County Coastal San Diego) has had confirmed cases of both measles and whooping cough. My son Owen is 3 years old and has 3 out of 4 of his shots for pertussis (he needs to be 4 years old to get the 4th shot), leaving him about 15% likely to contract the disease if exposed. Sadly he was and he did get pertussis. Thankfully he is doing well and I can’t imagine how terrible the cough would have been if he wasn’t immunized (having the vaccination makes symptoms less severe). We are feeling lucky despite the fact he has pertussis, but also feeling that it is just so unnecessary that we’re dealing with this. No one should be dealing with these diseases.

If you live in California, there is a petition for the state government to make vaccinations mandatory for all K-12 students in the public school system. Click here to sign. This month the federal government approved a pledge of $1B for vaccines to Gavi to save millions of children’s lives all over the world. It blows my mind that there are developing countries with higher vaccination rates than my kids’ school. We need to remedy that so all of us everywhere will be protected from these diseases.

I do believe some of the unvaccinated children in the stats are, in reality, partially vaccinated. I’m really hoping that the resurgence of some of these diseases will be the kick in the pants we need to get our vaccination rates back up.

And, as I said, Owen is doing well. The first two days of the cough were the worst. We actually went to the doctor at that point but were told it was a cold – we had no reason to think it was pertussis. Ten days later he was still having coughing fits and we also learned that there were, in fact, cases of whooping cough in town, so we went back to the doctor. Owen is being treated and is in good spirits.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Obviously this is all I can think about right now. Have a good weekend!

I just have three words for you today: Orange Monkey Bread.

Over the long weekend last week the kids and I did some baking together and created a recipe for orange monkey bread. The monkey bread was easy to make and it made for a great kids’ baking project. Plus, it was scrumptious. Even Nate, who isn’t that into treats, declared our monkey bread “dangerous.” I consider that success. To get the recipe, check out my post on Babble!

Show and Tell time! Please share your own stuff from the week! Remember, anything goes! A simple comment with something you accomplished, a link to something funny/delicious/inspiring/crazy, or a link to your own blog posts, all of it is welcome!

Happy Friday! I have just two quick things to share today!

First, I just heard about Food Forward on PBS. Has anyone seen it? I can’t wait to watch!

Second, my Babble post for the week! I shared a basic, easy recipe for Baked Yogurt Chicken and provided a roundup of 6 other savory yogurt recipes. Lots of yumminess to be had, my friends.

As usual, please share something! Whether it’s a link to your own blog, a link to something you’ve discovered or just a quick peek into your life, it’s all welcome!

Have a great weekend!

Hi Everyone! I am currently buried in boxes and shipping tape, so I’m just going to quickly share two of my holiday posts on Babble this week!

• 3 Kids, a Mom & a Kitchen: A Quest for Grandma’s Pepparkakor (Gingersnaps)…the quest is not yet complete, but we did find a great recipe in the process!
• Copycat Recipe: Trader Joe’s Jingle Jangle Holiday Mix (this is GREAT for gifts!)

You know the drill…share your stuff! 

Happy Friday! I think I might actually be done with Christmas decorating. Normally I get it done in 1 day, but this year it’s been 1 week! It’s kind of been fun stretching it out, though. The kids just need to finish the tree and I need to decide which wreath to hang above our fireplace. I am the most indecisive person you’ll ever meet, so please help and tell me which wreath is your favorite!

Option 1: White wreath that is super cool and unique and that I am in love with. I like how it contrasts with the green wall and ties in with the white shelves and mantel. It’s a little smaller in diameter than option 2 and  doesn’t fill the space quite as well.

Option 2: Red berry wreath that is perfectly Christmasy against the green wall and just seems to fit in the room. It makes less of a statement but is a bit bigger. I really like this one, but I’m not in love, but I wonder if it isn’t better for this space.

Now that the decorations are almost done, it’s time to watch some Christmas movies. I started browsing Netflix to find some Christmas movies to watch with the kids and stumbled on One Magic Christmas. I remember looooooving that movie as a kid. I’ll have to see if my kids are equally as enthralled. I was always a sucker for high drama and mysticism as a kid, but don’t know that my kids are like that. Should be interesting…

I have two posts on Babble to share with you this week:

• How to Host the Ultimate Princess Party for Under $50
• California-Style Turkey Sandwich with Thanksgiving Leftovers

You know the drill, Show and Tell is for everyone, so please share your stuff! And please chime in on the wreath!

I have a LOT of cleaning to do, so I’m gonna make today’s Show and Tell super quick! I have two links on Babble this week – I kind of love both of these posts!

9 Genius Ways to Overcome the Weeknight Dinner Struggle

I Don’t Succumb to Pinterest When It Comes to Planning Thanksgiving Dinner

As usual, please share stuff with us! Whatever you want! Things from your own blog, great stuff you found on the web this week, anything! And have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week and are having a ghoulish Halloween!

If you are on Pinterest or Facebook, today’s Show and Tell is for you! I have some info on Facebook and Pinterest settings that could make your news feeds include more of what you want to see.

Pinterest: Recently Pinterest changed the way you see the pins on your home page. Previously your Pinterest home page was chronological, so you would simply see the most recent pins from all of the boards that you follow. Pinterest recently adjusted this so your pin news feed is based on web cookies and your browser history. Essentially Pinterest’s smart algorithms are now curating your feed, pushing pins to the top that they think you will be most interested in as well as featuring sponsored pins more heavily. If you’re fine with this, then you’re all set! But if you’d like to get your feed back to the way it was before, you can do so. Here’s how!

1. Go to your profile page on Pinterest.
2. Click the gear icon in the top right corner and then select “Account Settings.”
3. Under the first section “Account Basics” you will see a small section called “Personalization.” Switch both buttons in that section to “No.” Your feed should revert to the original stream.

Seeing Content from Facebook Pages You Like: Did you know that just because you “Like” a page on Facebook doesn’t mean content from that page will actually show up in your feed? In fact, it most likely will not. As I talk with friends I’m learning that Facebook users who do not manage pages have no idea this is the case. (People who do manage pages are very well aware – any given item I post on my Facebook page may only be seen by as few as 100 people and rarely tops 3,000, which does not match up to the nearly 18,000 likes I have on my page.) SOOOOO…if you “Like” a page and actually DO want content from that page showing up in your news feed, here’s what you need to do!

1. Visit the page that you like.
2. If you haven’t already, “Like” the page.
3. The little box that says “Liked” has a drop down menu – click on that then select “Get Notifications.” Now that page’s content will appear in your feed.

Hope that’s helpful!

Here’s one fun food link for the week, this time on Cosmo: 15 Red, White, and Blue Snacks and Drinks to Serve on Election Day

As usual, show and tell is for everyone! Please share whatever you like. (Cute Halloween costumes are especially welcome!)

Happy Saturday! I didn’t get a chance to publish this week’s Show and Tell post yesterday because I was at the AYA Summit for Women and Girls put on by ONE in Washington, D.C. It was AMAZING. I can’t even begin to process everything I saw and heard this week, which included meeting one of the girls who was kidnapped from school in Nigeria earlier this year. Needless to say, many tears were shed hearing so many inspiring stories. I will most definitely be sharing some of my week with you soon, but until then check out this news story the local D.C. CBS news did about the conference!

Today I would love to share a beyond-cute book with you that is perfect for the upcoming holiday season. My friend Kami’s new book Washi Tape Christmas came out this week. I received a copy and it is wonderful. I highly recommend it! You can buy it on Amazon, but if you buy it through Kami’s site you can get a signed copy! Even me, the most craft-averse person you will ever meet, is ready to dig out the washi tape and start creating!

Here are a few posts I wrote for Babble this week:

• Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate
• 3 Kids, a Mom, & a Kitchen: Ham and Kale Leaf Frittata Cups

As always, please share your own stuff! And have a great weekend!