Melissa from Another Lunch is one of my favorite bloggy buddies and her site always offers up something fun and inspirational. She puts together themed bentos and muffin tin lunches for her kiddos that are super-creative, but simple to execute (once she’s passed on her clever ideas).
Cooking with My Kid
Cooking with My Kid is one of those wonderful 365 projects — a mom cooks a new dish with her young son every day for a year. The dishes are usually pretty simple but they’re chosen to introduce her boy to new flavors and ingredients. She helpfully lists out which steps her son helped with for each recipe. The site is new to me, but I can’t wait to try some of them out with my kids.
Nurture Baby
Though Augie is well out of the baby food stage, I still check in with Nurture Baby from time to time for ideas for toddler-friendly dishes. I particularly liked the Bebe Bolognese — as did my boy — and I loved having small portions in the freezer to pop into his lunch box on day care days.
Meal Makeover Moms
I discovered the Meal Makeover Moms via their weekly podcast, but their website is a source of great family-friendly recipes too. The difference between these woman and many other food bloggers though is that they test the heck out of their original recipes before they release them out into the wild. As a result, every recipe of theirs that I’ve tried has been top-notch — and my kids have eaten (almost) all of them too!
Gourmet Mom on the Go
The Gourmet Mom on the Go isn’t a bento site per se, but it offers up some insanely cute serving ideas. A sandwich shaped like a lion with a grated carrot mane? How freaking cute is that? The recipe archive on this site is enormous, so no matter where your tastes lie, you’re bound to find something your family will enjoy.
I think I’m probably late to the party on this one, but have you all heard of One Pretty Thing? Rachel Klein runs this amazingly comprehensive site where she posts multiple round-ups of links to craft projects and tutorials she finds on the internet. I first heard of the site earlier this week when Rachel was interviewed on the CraftyPod podcast (which I also discovered earlier this week).
Rachel posts a daily round-up of between 8-16 general links to craft projects every day and she also posts one or more themed round-ups per day. Some of the incredible round-ups she’s posted in just the few days I’ve been subscribed include:
Felt Food Round-up — This one rocked my world. I’ve been wanting to make some felt food for Augie for Christmas but I had no idea so many free tutorials existed. I can’t wait to dive into this list!
Birthday Party Round-up — I was thrilled to see that Rachel included my Robot Party on this list, but humbled by the beautiful parties I was surrounded by. Do not miss the Construction Site party if you have a little boy who likes heavy equipment.
Edible Gifts Round-up — These ideas and recipes also have my head spinning with ideas.
In fact, Rachel’s whole site has me so inspired and ready to create that I don’t know quite where to start! I have been working my way through some of her older posts but I have to go slowly because, honestly, my brain can’t soak in so many ideas at once. Please go check out One Pretty Thing if you haven’t already seen it!
Some of my other favorite crafty blogs:
Craft Zine — Another site that showcases the best of the crafty web.
Sew Mama, Sew — They’re in the midst of a holiday gift idea series that’s pretty great. Last month the theme was using your scraps, which was also inspiring.
Made in Brooklyn — This one is different from some of the other blogs I’ve highlighted here. Robyn is a one-woman show who shows daily photos of her baking, sewing and paper craft projects while blogging about family life.
StoryCorps — Have you heard StoryCorps? They play it on Morning Edition on Friday mornings. I found the podcast on iTunes a few weeks ago and I’ve been running through the episodes at an amazing rate. It just features people’s stories. The stories of their lives. Big stories, little stories, funny stories, touching stories. I laugh or, more frequently, tear up every time I listen to one. It’s like an oral scrapbook of the American experience. Except great and not as pretentious as that description sounds.
Maclaren Quest Stroller — I wrote a little about this stroller back when we first got it a few months ago. Now that I’ve been using it for awhile, I can tell you that it is the best stroller ever! It was pricey, but when you consider how many strollers we bought when Wyatt was a baby — three — I think that the cost of this one stroller is about the same as what we spent on all of those. I like that it is slim and light, that I can easily maneuver it one-handed and that it doesn’t look all cheesy. I wish I could load it up a bit more without it getting tippy, but I can live with that.
Camera Strap Cover at Design*Sponge — I made one of these for our camera the other day. Not only is is fashionable, but now I don’t have to put up with that weird rubbery side of the strap touching my neck.
Stone Loops of Jurassica — I’m totally addicted to this game. I play it on my iPhone while Augie nurses.
Cosmo Cricket Snorkel paper — I love the bright, summery colors of this paper. Perfect for photos of my cutie little California boys. Actually, I’m loving all the Cosmo Cricket papers right now. Must resist….
Red toenails — Every summer, I paint my toenails red. I finally got to it this week and it gives me so much pleasure to look down and see my toes painted.
Charlie and Lola — I’m suddenly totally enamored of this kids’ show. We’ve checked out some of the books from the library before and they’re great, but I think the show is even better! That’s not something I say very often, either. The voices are perfect and the cool collage-y animation is wonderful to watch. If you have kids, you should go get a DVD to watch, right now!
The Freakin Never Ending To Do List — You have one too, right? Right? Download this free printable and like me, you can laugh every time you pull it out.
Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes — I’ve made three of the cupcakes in here so far. The red velvet recipe was fantastic. The others I’ve made are the brown sugar poundcake with brown butter icing and the triple citrus. Those were good too, but not good enough for me to make either of them again. I think the next kind I’m going to try are the one bowl chocolate cupcakes. I’ve heard lots of good things about those.
And finally, this is going out to all the mothers out there. I hope your kids treat you right!
Manic Mommies — This is practically the only podcast I listen to. It took me a little while to get into it but now I’m totally hooked. I haven’t spent much time on their website, but I’m going to be checking it out over the next few days.
Bejeweled for the iPhone — I don’t think I can link directly to the iPhone app, but I’ve been crazy addicted to this game over the last few weeks. A good time killer when I’ve been nursing for hours.
Cathy Zielske’s Design Your Life class at Big Picture Scrapbooking — I’m taking this online class right now and I’m loving it.
This cute bon-bon garland — I so want to make one of these for our Christmas tree or to hang as a garland on the mantle. Can you tell I’m into garlands these days?
Pumpkin Muffins — I made my own pumpkin puree a few weeks ago and I’ve been using this recipe to make pumpkin muffins. Yum!
Michelle Obama — Oh, how I love Michelle Obama! She is my new celebrity crush. This is a First Lady I not only like, but one I can really relate to. Just a few years older than me, she is promising to make helping working moms a top priority. She also is a snappy dresser.
I’ve been collecting some good links lately and thought I would share them with you, Internet.
Craft Blog — I feel pretty neutral about Craft magazine — don’t love it, don’t hate it — but I looooove their blog. They always have great, interesting, amusing projects and post a bunch every day.
Bembo’s Zoo — Great site for kids. Animals and letters combine in a cool visual tool.
Where the Hell is Matt — his videos rock. I find it very difficult to watch these without tearing up at the thought of how amazing this world is. And we’re going to vacation in Vallejo this summer….
Japanese Paper Dioramas — I keep telling myself, “I don’t have time for another hobby. I don’t have time for another hobby.” So far I’ve resisted.
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Back to School Back to Lunch · bento equipment and supplies · bentos · food · kid · kindergarten · links · toddler
— I wrote a little about this stroller back when we first got it a few months ago. Now that I’ve been using it for awhile, I can tell you that it is the best stroller ever! It was pricey, but when you consider how many strollers we bought when Wyatt was a baby — three — I think that the cost of this one stroller is about the same as what we spent on all of those. I like that it is slim and light, that I can easily maneuver it one-handed and that it doesn’t look all cheesy. I wish I could load it up a bit more without it getting tippy, but I can live with that.
— I’ve made three of the cupcakes in here so far. The red velvet recipe was fantastic. The others I’ve made are the brown sugar poundcake with brown butter icing and the triple citrus. Those were good too, but not good enough for me to make either of them again. I think the next kind I’m going to try are the one bowl chocolate cupcakes. I’ve heard lots of good things about those.
