I just picked my first garden tomato of the season and ate it with some cottage cheese. I can’t wait to eat tomatoes on my scrambled eggs, cheese toast, tacos, sandwiches, cottage cheese, salads and pizza. I plan on basically eating tomatoes every day from now until October. And I am excited to can spaghetti sauce for my 3rd year in a row. In short, happiness is garden tomatoes.

I have been trying a new parenting technique lately that I made up (sorry no PhD to back it up.) I call it Bad News/Good News. When something negative happens to my children, I acknowledge what is wrong or what is frustrating or what hurts about the problem with the “Bad News”. Then we find a bright spot in the situation with the “Good News”.

I always knew I would resurrect the “Garbage Can Words” lesson of my youth; I just didn’t dream that I would be the reason I would need to. It all started when my son told my friend, “My mom says the D word every day.

I’ve gotten away with school lunch the last 3 years, but Elle’s taste buds have finally had it. She officially declared that she will no longer eat school lunch. The days of sending her with a check for the month (and thinking nothing more of it until she comes home with a stamp on her hand) are over. Elle is demanding a home-made lunch this year. I have no idea what I will make day in and day out, but I do know that I will throw in a little love at lunch:

Most of us praise our kids when they’ve done something great and we punish them when they’ve done something wrong. But what about those neutral moments when nothing good or bad is happening? Do we show sufficient love to our children in those times or do they go unnoticed?

We’ve all experienced that must have item. You know the Esprit sweatshirt or the Girbaud jeans or the Air Jordans , but our moms said no because it was too expensive. We were mad at her and she was ruining our life. This budgeting technique allows the kids to have some control and manage the budget so mom is no longer the bad guy.