the HillTap Festival & an unexpected turn of events

As if we needed ANOTHER event on our calendar in July, we joined friends in Ellicottville for the HillTap Festival at Spruce Lake! To be fair, stopping in EVL on our way home from DC after our Cabo trip decreases our drive by one hour, so it made sense 😉

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a trip of a lifetime

Earlier this month, Andrew and I spent a week in Cabo with both of his sisters and their spouses! Talk about an amazing vacation. It was the epitome of relaxation, sun and water. It was the first time the three of us have ever really ‘hung out’ without being surrounded by children, and I think all of us were overdue for a TRUE (aka kid-free) vacation!

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Letting Your Kids Choose

This is the fourth column in a series about talking to kids about food. My first column used the colors of the rainbow to illustrate how to describe the benefits of certain foods to elementary-aged children. Next, I taught you some phrases to use with your kids, such as “Dinner is soon,” or “I’m not offering that food right now; maybe it will be in the menu tomorrow.” Last month, I offered some helpful hints to navigate food with your kids at all of the summer events you have coming up.

One of the phrases I included in my column two months ago deserves a bit more attention, as it just might be the way to end mealtime frustration.

“You don’t have to eat it.”

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