Memorable Memorial Day

Image source.

We honored Memorial Day by attending the Annual Memorial Day Celebration at the Soldier's & Sailors Museum in Oakland. 


It was special celebrating the day while observing the opening ceremony, enjoying admission to the museum and viewing the time capsule's contents.


Based on our visit, we would recommend visiting later in the day at next year's event. When we arrived in the morning, the children's activities were not ready for usage - the bouncy house was still deflated with an unknown time for its readiness.


How did you and your family honor and celebrate Memorial Day?

Child Friendlier Shelves

It took me several months to learn that placing softer, child-friendlier items on the lower shelves benefited our family. A few examples include...

The kitchen's pantry provides endless activities for reorganizing, stacking, sliding items and more. Lighter weight items include Jello or pudding boxes; Ramen noodle packages; small soup containers; herbs or spice bottles; and other light-weight ingredients.

An antique bookshelf used to display a clock, trinkets, DVDs, pictures frames and now a more child-friendly version stores books, stuffed animals, storage containers, etc.

A third example relates to precious scrapbooks in our guest's bedroom. Instead of my primitive style of storing scrapbooks on the bottom shelves, with a bit of rearranging the more appealing books for children are located on the lower shelves. Such reorganizing helps to prevent children's exploration of delicate scrapbooks, and welcomes their curiousity towards more age-appropriate materials.


Here is a final example, with a photo. Our fireplace is not in working order so it was remodeled to store toys. 

Toy storage plus decorations for Valentine's Day!

What storage solutions do you suggest?

This Little Light

It was enjoyable spending the day with family and enjoying activities in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. One of the exciting events available in Pittsburgh was complimentary admission to the Carnegie Science Center. Other cool happenings included Many Hands, celebration at CMU, ideas from Sewickley's Patch, Events listed by CBS and visiting August Wilson Center on 1/17.


How did you remember MLK?

Healthy Turkeys

In preparation for Thanksgiving, our family is considering to do some of these healthy plans.

• Register in a local Turkey Trot. 
• Make crafts
• Begin decorating traditions
• Create a placemat at the library
• Donate non-perishable items to shelters, food banks, etc.
• Invite friends to join us for the holiday
• Use our sense of humor
• Bake home-grown pumpkin for pie from scratch without wasting anything... puree, seeds, etc.
• Plan to use healthier ingredients

Autumn Scene in PA

How are you preparing to celebrate the holiday?