I don’t know about you, but I am sick of winter.
OK, that’s putting it mildly.  I am ready for winter to pack up its’ snow and go away.  I am ready for daffodils to shoot their stems through the ground, unfurl their leaves and open their sunny yellow faces to the shining sun.  I am [...]

Last Monday we loaded the family, invited cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents and went to Incredible Pizza for an evening of food and fun.
The first thing you notice when you walk into Incredible Pizza is how huge it is.  It sits on the corner of 86th and Douglas where Albertson’s grocery store once was.  [...]

For Brenna’s very first “friend” birthday party we finally used the Kid’s Pizza Party Kit I got from AllChildrensFurniture.com back in August. This fun kit makes 6 personal sized pizzas and the kids had fun creating their own dinner!
The kit comes with the basics you need + a few fun extras.

dough mix + yeast
6 pizza [...]

If you are around Des Moines next Tuesday, October 7, be sure to mark your calendar for a fun FREE event at the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines from noon-2 pm.
Come enjoy the Official Drink of Halloween tour when it rolls through Des Moines!
Learn the nutritious facts about chocolate milk
Try some tasty new [...]

Pumpkins are spilling out of bins at farmers markets and grocery stores; pumpkin patches are opening their gates for the pickin’.  Here are a couple ideas besides the traditional Jack-o’-Lantern.  Both recipes came from the October 2009 edition of Family Fun magazine.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Scoop seeds out of pumpkin and rinse well.  Blot dry with paper [...]

This Saturday, September 26, 2009 over 1200 museums and cultural institutions will celebrate by offering FREE admission!
If you’re in Iowa some of the great locations include:

Terrace Hill, our governor’s mansion
Living History Farms
Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
Amana Heritage Museum
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville
Danish Immigrant Museum [...]

We spent Sunday at the Iowa State Fair courtesy of Got Milk?and the Milk Mustache Mobile Tour.  We even had our own milk mustache photos taken.
Lovely, aren’t we?  They had a nice set up with free chair massages, ice cream shakes and a dietitian.
You may remember that I had three “Got Milk” goodie bags [...]

100 feet of plastic
30 feet of tarp
2 sprinklers
1 big hill

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Last week we loaded up the girls, some food, grilling essentials and sunscreen and headed out to our town’s newest park.  There’s a reason we’ve been named a Playful City 3 years in a row.
The park is in our newest development (Prairie Trail) so there is lots of building going on and very few people [...]

My sister’s family has been visiting grandparents out of state this past week so we have been dog-sitting for them.  (I wish they could return the favor when we go out of town but, well, you’ll see why they don’t in a minute.)
Zeus is a Yorkie and quite used to being overlooked by my sister’s [...]

Mine is. And we have a sign to prove it. As you enter my town (listed first on the 2008 Playful Cities page- it helps to begin with the letter “A”) you are greeted by it.  And I’ve noticed it often.  In fact my cousin commented on it a week ago, “The sign [...]

The past month has gone by in a blur…  Believe it or not, my family has only been home from Massachusetts for a month.  I know!  I’ve done a lot during that time…
You might remember that I threw together the Des Moines Mom’s Nite Out (with help from my IRL bloggy friend Paula) in just [...]

Last weekend the girls experienced their very first live theater performance at the beautiful Wang Theater in Boston. Thanks to Mom Select we all enjoyed Thomas & Friends Live.

The girls both enjoy watching Thomas on TV so I knew they would be interested- at least for a few minutes. But I didn’t expect the [...]

When we’re at home we don’t have cable TV. And, surprisingly, the girls don’t miss it. We watch a few shows on PBS in the morning and then turn it off the rest of the day. One of the favorite shows is Thomas & Friends. Brenna walks around singing the catchy [...]

I got a great “heads up” on some family friendly outings from Mom Central the other day. I apologize for the delay in bringing the information to you… My internet was a week late getting hooked up.
Disney on Ice is a “Disneyland Adventure” featuring all my kids’ favorites (and probably yours): from Cinderella [...]