I made a promise to myself to keep it simple this holiday season. I honestly have had to keep saying this mantra quietly to myself for the past month. I, and all of us, have a tendency to think we can do it all. I've also been trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Being thankful and giving, spending quality time with our families and friends, giving to those in need, creating memories that put awe and a twinkle in our little one's eyes, making time to kiss under the mistletoe. For ...
Mom Life
Favorite Toddler TV Shows
Here's a list of our favorite toddler TV shows. If we're going to let our kids watch TV, we try to make it educational (obviously, there are some exceptions). We generally try to do as little TV as possible - an hour or two a few days a week. Also, we prefer to have a number of days throughout the week when they watch no TV - otherwise Ellington seems to crave it and ask for it all the time. BUT, when the TV is on for the Ellington, this is what he watches. Ellington is a little over 2 1/2 - I ...
Wild Salmon Cake Recipe on a Grateful Thanksgiving Day
The Sarnor family is a blended family. Lateef was married before and he and Sophia had Evan. One of the things I am most thankful for is that our blended family functions so smoothly. This recipe for wild salmon cakes is a recipe Sophia shared with us and it is now in my holiday brunch rotation. One caveat, this recipe does take a bit of time so I would not personally make it if I were also hosting on the same holiday, but this is perfect if you are just bringing a dish or two to someone else's ...
Moms Gone Wild
Apart from all the amazing-ness that is Japan, one thing this trip inadvertently did was allow me to be Hilary Sledge again. Not the mom or the wife, but just me. All those things now define me and I love it, but every now and then, every woman needs the chance just to hang with her friends and let loose a little. And also not to feel guilty about it. It will make me a better mom and wife. Don't get me wrong, I think I was in bed by 11 every night of this trip so it wasn't exactly moms gone ...
Review of Udi’s Gluten Free Bagels
My whole family was in town this past weekend for Sienna's dedication (like a christening). My parents and sister Jackie stayed with me and my cousin Khari (Sienna's newly minted godfather) was over every morning at 8:30 to get the party started. When I have a house full, one of the mornings I usually end up asking Lateef to run and get bagels and lox - even hungry hungry mama gets tired of cooking every meal. I asked him to stop at Whole Foods and grab me a bag of Udi's Gluten Free Everything ...
Long Weekend in Stinson Beach
I'm a bit late in getting this post up, but I've been meaning to share our recent long weekend in Stinson Beach. Our close friends invited us to hang at their summer rental in Stinson Beach for a few days since we were going to be in the Bay Area for a wedding. Stinson Beach is a small beach community about 45 minutes north of San Francisco.We were wavering on the invitation, mainly because the thought of hauling the kids and all our stuff to another location sounded tiring. I'm so glad our ...