Mother’s Day in the United States is just around the corner. Looking for some unique gifts for your mom or wife, here are my top three favorite personalized photos gifts. iPhone Personalized Case. I love mine! I carry around pictures of my kids every day and it puts a smile on my face every time I look at photos.  Several companies offer customized iPhone case, but my personal preference is Shutterfly.  The case is high quality, the price is reasonable and they have ample style designs to choose from – 44 to be exact.  You can customize iPhone cases for the iPhone 3G/3GS, iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5. Here is a list of companies that offer personalized iPhone cases. Shutterfly  – $34.95 (my personal favorite) not including taxes or shipping and handling Tiny Prints – $39.95 not including taxes or shipping and handling Walgreens – $29.99 not including taxes or shipping and handling Walmart – $29.98 not including taxes or shipping and handling Target – $32.99 – $34.29 not including taxes or shipping and handling SkinIt – -Starting at $14.99 not including taxes or shipping and handling Fleece Photo Blankets. I do not own one, but have made more than a half a dozen of these blankets for gifts.  These make for a great gift for Grandmas. The blanket itself is so soft; it makes you want to cozy up with the blanket and a good book.  Several companies offer customized fleece photo blankets, but my personal preference is Shutterfly. Shutterfly offers the blankets in two sizes 50×60 or 60×80 (featuring up to eight photos per blanket). I have always purchased the 50×60 and they are plenty large for two people to sit comfortably under the blanket. Here is a list of companies that...

In order to put things back into the perspective after the terrible tragedy at the Boston Marathon yesterday, I went home hugged my husband and kids and I went on a family run.  We strapped the kids in the double jog stroller and went to our favorite lake and ran.  Not unlike the rest of the world, I am stunned, shocked, horrified and restless.  Who would do this? Why would you do this? My heart aches for the father who lost his precious son and his wife and daughter suffered major injuries while waiting for him to cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I am saddened that spectators who came to share in a glorious moment of celebration with their family member(s) and/or friends will forever associate this tragedy with the Boston Marathon. I am sad that runners/racers will be concerned – myself included – that entering any major race is no longer safe or fun.  Why put ourselves in harm’s way? Should we race? Should our family come out and celebrate with us? While my heart heals, my legs will keep running.  Yes, I will continue to race. Yes, I want my family to celebrate my accomplishments with me. Yes, I will still be fearful that we are in harm’s way.  But, I will keep going.   Each day I am suffering on the bike, or tired of the monotony in the pool, or breathless running fartleks, I be grateful that I can still run and I have my wonderful family around to support me.  I am grateful that my teammates racing the Boston Marathon were all safe. My prayers and thoughts go out to all those who lost a loved one or have loved ones injured. From the Washington Post Boston...

I usually don’t post recipes, but I wanted to share one I created this weekend out of necessity. I was making baby food and I ran out of storage containers and had two ripe bananas leftover, so I made Nutella Banana Popsicles. I did not have a recipe for it, but after creating my concoction, I decided to see if a recipe already existed.  Low and behold you can find several recipes  for Nutella Banana Popsicles, but they all called for milk, cool whip or some other variation. I used no milk because I did not even consider it, but I am sure the other recipes taste as good or better. FYI, these were a big hit with my 3 yrs old.  Furthermore, for all the people that workout, this is a great recovery food too. NUTELLA BANANA POPSICLES GLUTEN FREE 2 medium ripe bananas 3 tablespoons of Nutella 2 scoops of non-flavored Protein powder (optional) Yields 6 Popsicles Instructions In a medium bowl warm up three tablespoons of Nutella in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mash the bananas up in a blender or with a fork.  I just used a fork because my bananas were so ripe. Add the banana into the Nutella and mix well. Add protein powder if you so desire. Pour the mix into 6 Popsicle containers. Freeze at a minimum for six hours, but overnight might just be easier. Nutritional Facts Without Protein Powder 1 serving = 1 Popsicle 85 Calories 0.80 grams protein 14 carbohydrates 3 grams of fat Nutritional Facts With Protein Powder 1 serving = 1 Popsicle 118 calories 7.5 grams of protein 15 grams of carbohydrates 3 grams of fat    ...

This week for this first time, I realized how quickly people are to place blame on little boys and classify them as “bad”, “naughty”,” aggressive”, etc.  Here is what I witnessed.  My son C2 – newly turned 3 years old – and his little girl friend were playing around; they are always so excited to see one another. His little friend kept pulling at C2 shirt collar and pushing him to get his attention and C2 repeating asked her to stop. She persisted and finally C2 hit her.  At that moment, the teacher scolded C2 for pushing his little friend. Now, I do agree his behavior needed correcting and hitting wasn’t warranted, but what I do not agree with is that the little girl received no correction and/or direction from the teacher.   The teacher and I watched the entire scenario unfold and of course, I did correct C2 as soon as I saw him hit his little friend, but I was stunned by how the teacher reacted.  She physically gasped at C2 and made an ugly, disgusted face before correcting him, when she clearly could have stepped in and told the little girl that C2 asked her to stop.  C2 friend’s mom did correct her and both C2 and his little friend said their apologies, hugged and ran off to play. And at that very moment, I finally got it; this is how little boys get such a bad rap. As a parent, my job is to help C2 learn how to cope and find other ways handle his emotions. But, my job also is to protect my children until they can protect themselves. Prior to having a son, I really never gave credence to how little boys are treated or perceived in school...

I was told by a creditable source that Amazon is enhancing their Amazon wish list feature to allow you to “remember” a hidden wish list. As a mom of two wonderful children with two very different needs and wants, this new feature will significantly reduce my time, frustration and repetition.  Every holiday or special occasion (e.g., birth present, baby shower, birthday, Christmas, just because, etc.), I will not need to send an updated email with the kids’ “private” Shared Wish List URL to my family and friends of their (our) latest gift requests.  I will simply be able to share the list and my family and friends who will be able to “remember” it. My very first blog post “Gift Registries, Are They Worth The Drama?” I discuss the benefits of having a wish list for my child. When my son turned one, I made C2 Amazon Wish list public for his 1st birthday because I had so many people ask me what C2 wanted and I found myself copying/pasting the links into an emails and repeating that process several times.   So to be more effective, save time and reduce frustration, we made the decision to go Public (anyone can search for and see this list. You can also share using a link.). I did have hesitation not only because I did not want people to think we were greedy, rude or ungrateful.  But, the main reason was I did not want some predator checking out my son’s wish list and deriving Intel about our family through the wish list.  Being “public”, left us vulnerable.  The day after his birthday, I did change the privacy setting back to “Shared (link only).  Only people with the link can see this list. It will not appear...