Si's Profile

Baked oatmeal with flax (kept in the fridge and warmed for a few seconds in the microwave) lasts days, smoothies as already mentioned, pumpkin waffles frozen and then toasted, and definitely yogurt/fruit/granola parfaits with a good non-sugary granola. All easy quick options.

Banana pops, canned tomato salsa with quesadillas or tacos, ice cream sundae buffet...

I just made the Brown Eyed Baker Pumpkin Whoopie Pies for our Halloween party and they were great. I'm not a fan of cream cheese though so we substituted this marshmallow maple filling and it was fantastic.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2009/10/pumpkin_whoopie_pies_with_maple_marshmallow_cream_filling

This is our "go to" recipe as well for years. We all love it, kids and adults.

I have 2 young kids and I use plexi all the time now. I have had a glass frame fall off the wall and smash and that was scary enough to convert me. I live in Calgary (usually dry) and the gallery cautioned me that plexi would collect more dust and therefore need to be wiped and potentially scratched more but I have had no trouble at all with that issue. I just think the safety outweighs all cons for me.

I read Amanda's blog everyday. Love it.

We've done this with our kids for the past year and a half (though winter slowed us down here in Canada) and they love it. They are now 5 and 3 and we call it treasure-hunting. It's just another fun thing to do outdoors with the family.

We just had my son's 5th birthday party and have always asked for no gifts. We did a humane society donation one year but then it's still a shopping trip for the guests to do, so we just really want nothing but our friends to come and celebrate with us. Sometimes people do still bring something small which is fine. This year, one friend brought a gift card to a local ice cream store and I thought that was sweet and a nice idea so we can have an outing another day and he can select his own treat. Kids really only expect what they're used to, so if it's more about us parents needing to decide what we really want celebrations to be centered around in terms of gifts.

Thanks, Balwearie. I certainly didn't intend my comment to be mean-spirited. I just find after years of reading AT, I am getting more and more confused by the content. I used to look to the site for posting the best of the best and so posts like this just seem oddly out of place...

My husband and I both loved these and now we have bought all that we could find for our kids too. Their friends love them when they come over. Great books!