Preschoolers Are Fast (or Why Your Deadbolts Should Be At Least 4′ From The Floor And Too Sticky For A 3yr Old To Turn)

I’m laying at least part of the blame in this fiasco on getting new front doors installed last year:

My youngest turns 3 in a few days. He’s sound asleep at the moment and I’m always amazed at how peaceful he looks when he is at rest.

A generally easy-going kid, he has a twisted sense of humor and a penchant for unexpected mischief. Lately, this has been demonstrated in his love of locking everyone out of the house. The first couple times it happened to me, I was lucky — it was hot, so our windows were open and screens are relatively easy to get through (something to remember, should I ever decide on a career shift from coffee roaster to cat burglar). Since then, if I go out, I make sure someone else is nearby in the house with him or I grab my keys.

This morning, when I was gardening and he was in and out of the house, I had my keys in my pocket and was smugly prepared when he inevitably locked the storm door and the inner steel door.

Recipe: Meatball Orzo Soup

This is a family favorite and a cinch to double or triple if you want to make extras. (If making to freeze or can, though, add the uncooked orzo to the soup just before packaging to avoid it turning to mush!) Don’t be put off by the seasoning — it really works!

Threshold

Credit: Trish Robicheau – Image used with permission.

There are moments in all our lives from which we cannot go back, moments that leave us forever changed or transformed, points of metamorphosis that we can rail against or embrace.

Pregnancy is one of these thresholds; birth is a doorway through which no woman emerges unchanged.

DIY: Minecraft Terrain Block Cake With Marzipan Piggies!

Minecraft is extremely popular with my three boys, so it didn’t really come as a surprise when Boy#1 requested a “Minecraft cake” for his birthday this year.

I put my thinking cap on and decided to make a terrain block — the “easy factor” is a key component of my homemade cakes. I like to have fun with them, but I neither need or want them to look cake store perfect. Using terrain blocks as the basis makes it easy to dress up the top in an infinite number of ways.