Fourth Family Lunch For the past four years, we have made it a tradition to go to my parents' house for the 4th of July. I absolutely love the 4th and celebrating the freedoms we have of living in the United States of America. We are so lucky and blessed to live in a free country. I am so grateful to live in this free country where I know I’m safe, where I am free to practice my religion, where I have rights, where I can have my own political opinions, and where so many more freedoms exist. We had quite the spread for our Independence Day lunch! My mom made this red, white, and blue blueberry salsa (with blueberries...
4th of July Breakfast In 2022 we were sitting in my parents' front yard watching all of the neighbors' fireworks and we decided we should contribute somehow since we didn't buy any of our own fireworks. The idea came to us that we could give a neighborhood pancake breakfast. We started right then to plan what our breakfast would look like and enjoyed planning it for the next 365 days! We, of course, used the Tari Slicer to slice the strawberries and we had a bowl of strawberries, a bowl of blueberries, a plate of breakfast sausages, and a whole bunch of pancakes! My mom started on the pancakes about an hour and a half before the start of the...
Popsicles & Kale I went to the store to get popsicles for Nellie, my two year old, and had a difficult time choosing which ones were best. Should I get the zero sugar one that maybe has other things that aren't great to eat? Or should I get the ones full of sugar? Do I get the "just fruit" ones? But those ALSO have a ton of sugar. Turns out I can VERY easily make my own popsicles that are made with frozen fruit but I also throw in some kale so make it a tad better for little Nellie! They were super easy to make and literally took seconds! I simply took some frozen fruit and threw them...
The Big Apple Family can means a lot of things to a lot of different people. It can encompass parents, carers, extended family members, in-laws, and those we look up to as mother or father figures. But whatever your family looks like, strengthening those relationships to create safe and supportive environments are central to our wellbeing and happiness. Family relationships often exist from birth, but they are not strengthened by just existing. They take work, effort, and diligence to truly stay strong. Keeping up a strong relationship with my mom is easy as I call her everyday. But strengthening my relationship with my siblings and in-laws takes a little bit more effort. After I'm not entirely sure when it...
My Morning Routine My husband Bryan started a new job in November of last year. He had to get up at 7:30 in order to arrive on time to work and I would get up with him, see him off, and then go back to bed until 8:00 or 8:30 until Nellie woke up. A couple weeks ago I found myself on my phone until almost 9:00 while Nellie happily hung out in her crib and I realized I was wasting precious time, so I decided to start a morning routine. While Nellie sleeps or as long as she is content in her crib, I now do the following: I wake up at 7:30 with Bryan but I don't go...
