It's sad but a lot of kids don't get have those experiences over summer break - they spend it indoors, in front of a screen, probably with a care giver. We're fortunate to have a stay at home parent dedicated to enrich their lives through play, adventures and new experiences. They'll go on nature walks, visit the zoo, ride bikes, do kitchen science experiments, get dirty working in our vegetable garden, cook with us, and run in sprinklers giggling wildly. Of course we'll read a lot and they'll both look forward to writing stories and letters about their adventures, other "lessons" will come naturally as we play. I'm not worried about my kids slipping at all.

Great example of why brands need to make listening a high priority - and have a plan in place ahead of time for responding when stories like this arise. These are the very kind of stories that "go viral" because of the emotional David and Goliath twist that brands need to be most concerned with. Lesson learned for UO?

To make it healthier you could use a turkey dog or vegan dog, and use whole wheat spaghetti or even something gluten free like brown rice or quinoa pasta. You could also get creative with the dips by using pasta sauce, or a veggie dip. Dipping the wiggly noodles was half the fun at our house.

What a great concept! I have so many lists of things like fun activities, projects, crafts, recipes, etc. to try that it's overwhelming. I'm slowly entering them in nice folders in Evernote which is on my phone and laptop. So far, it's made a difference.

Great ideas, all of them. My best ones are - putting my most important tasks on paper so that it's visually there, and planning realistically. When I used to plan too many things in my day, I'd get overwhelmed and not as productive. Limiting my time in social media to 5 mins every hour as a mental break helps too.

This too shall pass. As a new mom with an undiagnosed sensory processing disorder infant, my own mom shared this phrase with me & I repeated it often.

Such an important message, and an often overlooked critical part of life and business. As I was rushing out of the coffee shop yesterday, cup in hand, head down, I was thinking how our culture is so focused on the "what next", and not in the now. With tech advances moving at light speed, our lives have the potential to become more efficient, which allows us to achieve even more on a daily basis. I look for tools that help my efficiency, so that I can work smarter, but still enjoy life with my family and friends, or puruse my personal passions. It's all about balance. As I noticed my rush yesterday, I secretly dreamed of spending a slow, relaxing summer in the village near Florence where I went to cooking school almost two decades ago.

Great points & often overlooked. I've seen where it can be a challenge to get the right people involved at the right stage, which means that critical insights or details are missing. It can also be tempting to quickly go to market without the due diligence of having packaging, pricing, or positioning in place - in which case, the product doesn't stand a chance beyond luck. There's incredible value in a strong strategic plan.

We buy my son's gluten free cereal (EnviroKids) on Amazon because the Subscribe and Save option is such a deal. You need to have the space, but it's super convenient and saves us money so I don't mind setting aside the space.

We love roasted veggies around here - this technique brings out a carmelized sweetness, no matter what vegetable you start with! We tossed roasted cauliflower into a butternut squash ginger soup (from Pacific Foods) and mixed with curry for over brown rice recently - it was amazing! Even the kids loved it. Good point on spreading out the veggies when roasting. My husband doesn't always follow the instructions I leave behind and recently had soggy potatoes in a pyrex that was way too small for the amount he had. I like to spread them out on a cookie sheet - and use two if I need to. I also like to hit them with the broiler for a minute or two at the end, for a little crispiness on the outside. yum!

I immediately thought of this cartoon by Tom Fishburne on the Antisocial Network. http://tomfishburne.com/2010/10/the-antisocial-network.html There often seems to be this huge disconnect between an organization's social media goals and the execution. It comes down to a number of issues from training and follow through, lack of strategy and priority - or worse, put into the hands of a marketing intern. I often hear comments like "well, we need to be on Facebook so we'll put up a page and talk about what we're doing here". Yes, in February of 2011 I still hear this. I don't think brands see the damage done with poor attempts at social media. Nor do they completely understand the potential of social media done brilliantly.

Love it...and bet that it takes no more time than the blue box!Benefit: real food and you know all of the ingredients!

I remember reading that, at least initially, men were being let go at a higher rate that women with the current economic recession, which meant that many were suddenly promoted to "head of the household". With that new position came a lot of responsibility, and tremendous buying power to an individual who had to get on -the-job training and ramp up quickly. With many of the food retailers I work with, they could see this in their stores daily. Smart marketers who frequently study their customers and watch who actually buys their products have witnessed this shift - but, sadly, most have been slow to change in fear of ignoring the all powerful female buyer. My husband has been home with our children by choice for years and handles most shopping for our family. I can honestly tell you that the way he prepares and shops couldn't be any more different from my process. He's a much smarter shopper than I care to be, does more research, and saves our family a lot of money. I hope that retailers are listening, and acting quickly.

We use the smaller caddy for toting those little jars of paint, the brushes and sponges to the desk or easel. It certainly makes clean up and transporting of the supplies so much easier.

My daughter loves doing tissue paper art like this but always ends up with more glue on her fingers than the paper. I had forgotten about using the end of a pencil - great reminder! Thanks. I think we'll make a few of these for her little besties too!

We plan our meals Sunday, make the shopping list at the same time (so nothing is forgotten!), buy our school scrip Monday and go straight to the grocery store. Before we head out Monday morning, my husband goes to the usual coupon sites (Coupon.com, etc) to look for offers on products we're going to buy. Since we tend to buy staples from the same brands, he visits their website and Facebook pages to see if they have special offers there. It doesn't take much time, and we end up saving money each week, so it' time well spent. By shopping at the right place, being selective on which products we buy organic, planning our meals, and looking for deals, we've cut our grocery bill in half. And not sacrificed taste or quality of food!

Growing up, my parents saved bacon fat and I associated that with the 5 to 10 extra pounds that I held onto during my high school years. Needless to say, I don't save it here. Never have. Probably never will. We use paper towels to degrease our bacon and it kills me. I try to be efficient, but still. I like the idea of using the broiler pan. We've never used ours & it just sits under the oven - like it's just waiting to prepare some bacon goodness. Thanks for the idea!

Oh, Jennifer, this brought goosebumps to my arms. Thank you for sharing this meaningful story on such a special day. Each birthday is a reminder of where we've been and an opportunity to reflect on where we're going. Hopefully, that's a place closer to our dreams. I'm glad that you've influenced my kitchen - you're welcome there anytime. Cheers to you and the new year ahead!

You look amazing! Beyond the reminder to all women to go out and schedule those exams, my favorite quote (not just because I completely agree) was... "it's the little things that drive me crazy, and it's the little things that make me happy". Thank you for being such an inspiration. While I pray that I don't ever face what you have so strongly gone up against, you've demonstrated how to tackle it head-on with courage and grace.

Our preschooler is almost exactly as Asha describes above. She's a good eater...when given enough time to do so. But she would prefer to be social with her girlfriends, and eats painfully slow. When we pick her up from school, rarely is more than 1/3 of her already-small lunch touched. Sometimes we just let her finish up lunch in the car or at home, although she really needs to be eating at school and get into that routine. One success...a variety of small things in bright colored cups! We put a few of our mini silicone baking cups into this SnapWare box we love. We fill them with grapes, cut veggies, nuts, crackers, cheese, etc. so that she has variety and gets what she needs (fruit, veg, protein, whole grain).

My garden looks the same way. I pulled so much chard, kale & other greens because there was nothing the darn slugs hadn't eaten! I hate slugs. While we respect the lives of ants, flies & spiders in our house, I don't have a problem erradicating slugs. They serve no purpose that we can find. Last summer we tried little bowls of Pabst Blue Ribbon throughout our beds. That got some, but others refrained. Two years ago we used copper tape around the top of our raised garden beds which TOTALLY WORKED! But, the tape has to be replaced each year and our wood has expended and contracted over the years so we now have gaps where they sneak in. My husband was told by our local nursery that sluggo is natural, organic and safe to use in our organic garden. I'm on the fence with this one. Right now I'm on the hunt for crushed shells (which should be at our local nursery but isn't). They don't like to crawl over them so they "won't" (so I'm told). I keep hoping slug season ends soon but it isn't. For other bugs we will spray water with a teeny bit (like one drop) of dish soap (good, safe stuff) right onto our plants to keep the little guys away. We do this about once a week or so and it seems to keep things under control. Good luck!

Whether we make it or buy the Pacific brand (which we like & is often on sale), my husband is really good about writing the date on it so that we can toss it in the freezer before the time is up. Of course...I'm not as good about thinking to look in the freezer ahead of time to see if we have stock in there to use. I like the stock ice cube tray idea!

Asha - I'm so happy to hear that homeschooling is going well and having such a tremendous benefit with your son. I'm anxious to learn more about how you're pulling this all together - work + family + homeschool. We may have a combination of things in our future and I'm in learning mode right now. Best wishes to you all.

This is such an important topic and I'm so happy to see people across our nation talking about it. That's a huge step towards change. The first time I watched Jamie's TED video, I cried. Then I felt disappointed that we couldn't take care of our own problem here. Then I was motivated to help. It's going to take everyone talking about the elephant in the room and doing something about it. Little changes really can add up to big impact. Thanks Jennifer! I'll join the revolution with you!