*Please note, I am not currently updating the blog or accepting guest posts. Nevertheless, I hope you will find the past resource posts interesting and helpful.
Whether it is a small gathering of just our nuclear family or a larger event with friends and neighbors, we like to start the new year right with a New Year’s Day Brunch emphasizing lucky foods. The menu is eclectic, but definitely favors our southern roots. It has just the right mix to ensure luck, love, progress, and success in the new year…
Read MoreAs I mentioned in a previous post, we are all about Thanksgiving in my house. Hands-down, it is my favorite holiday. We cook for a week in anticipation of that meal. In the past, we did a repeat variation of Thanksgiving for Christmas Dinner, but years ago, roughly coinciding with having a toddler and a young baby underfoot, we threw that idea out and decided to go for something far simpler and non-traditional that would stop stealing Thanksgiving's thunder and create its own. These days, we take an Italian-inspired approach. Christmas Eve is focused on pasta and seafood + artichokes, my favorite. The recipes we will be having this year are...
Read MoreCame across this while looking for some fun family activities to do in Austin during the winter break. The Bullock Museum is currently running an exhibition, Pong to Pokémon: The Evolution of Electronic Gaming, that looks like fun for the whole family. Runs through March 2018.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again when many of us are looking for winter camps. In an effort to make your life easier, I have compiled a partial list of camps offering winter sessions. In my experience, winter camps tend to be more expensive than summer camps, are harder to find for little ones, and often do not cover the full school break. I have tried to include camps in different areas in or near Austin, with a variety of price points, and a few options for littles.
Read MoreIn light of our recent post on allowances and teaching children the value of saving as well as giving, I recently came across a great New York Times article, "How to Make a Personal Plan for Giving" by Carl Richards, that I want to share. The article and simple worksheet is a great resource to help us adults (although kids could certainly use it too) clarify and articulate why we want to give, what we want to give, and how we want to give. Whether you have a little or a lot to give, check it out. I'm off to fill out my worksheet...
Read MoreMy husband and I went back and forth deciding whether or not to give our girls allowances. The main sticking point was that we did not want to pay our kids (or train them to expect payment) for cleaning up after themselves and contributing to the family. At the same time, how many of us work for free, you know? The other thing that delayed us was deciding on all the details (e.g., How much to give them? For what?). Eventually, with my oldest turning eight, it seemed time to take the plunge…
Read MoreEnriched Family will be tabling at the Austin Baby Show this Sunday, 12/3 from 12-4pm at the Palmer Events Center in Austin (900 Barton Springs Road, 78704). Join us!
Read MoreThanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I love the idea of coming together with family and friends to share a meal and focus on our many reasons to be grateful. While I am a vegetarian, my husband and children are not. Without the centerpiece of turkey on my plate (I substitute with "nurkey") my focus has always been on the side dishes. While the decadence of the carb-bomb of Thanksgivings past is certainly something I have enjoyed, these days I try to make a more healthy-ish meal. Without completely tossing the carbs, my compromise is to up the vegetable quotient of the dishes I serve.
Below is the tried-and-true menu of recipes compiled over the years that we will be having at our house...
Read MoreThe girls recently had a few half days of school, so we took advantage of the extra time and took a short road trip to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls (less than an hour's drive from us in Austin). This family-run farm is lovely and offers a wide range of activities.
Read MoreOn November 1st, the girls and I created our annual Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead altar.
Día de los Muertos is typically celebrated between Halloween and November 2nd in Mexico (where the holiday originated) and in many other Latin American countries, as well as among Latino communities in the United States. There are many similar traditions in other cultures as well. The general idea is that the separation between the living and the dead is lifted on All Hallows Eve (Halloween), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day (November 1st and 2nd) and the spirits of the dead return to visit the living.
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