10 recipes in 10 minutes. Any other suggestions for quick week-night meals? Tacos are always a favorite in our house. I like to either roast a chicken on Sunday or brown some extra ground beef to have ready for tacos during the week. Add some pre-grated cheese, canned beans, lettuce and tomatoes or salsa and you can have tacos, burritos, or a Tex-mex salad. For me, doing some of the prep work on Sundays, makes the rest of my week go so much easier!

My daughter and I love to cook together on the weekends. Our biggest challenge is usually what to make. How exciting to have a whole set of new ideas from Annabel Karmel. I think for lunch today we will try the Little Pita Pizzas and Caesar Salad. She is having a play date with her friend Logan, so this will be fun for both of them.

I also encourage moms to get creative and have fun with food. Think about cooking like eating rainbows! Kids love rainbows and they love fun, silly food. Disney has a fabulous website: http://familyfun.go.com/ that is full of crazy, silly and simple ideas to get you and the kids active in the kitchen and eating more healthy foods.

by Stephanie Arbetter

For years, research has proven that a direct link exists between the academic success of a child and his or her involvement in the arts. Being that I am currently in college and …

I don’t know about you, but I am firm believer that children need to play, they need down time, time to learn to socialize with others and be creative and imaginative in their structured time. The following press release shows that new core stands may lead to a plague of standardized testing in Kindergarten! Forcing young children to stay seated and focused for long periods of time feels like punishment – for both teachers and students.

Every time we bring new office supplies into our office in Plano, the kids think they are just for them. I have to hide my favorite pens, especially Sharpies and my Expo markers for the white boards. It never fails that on a Monday morning as I am preparing for our weekly sales meeting, I end up searching every office looking for markers that still write. The kids’ zone, as we call the space set aside just for the kids (with their own bulletin board, white board, t.v. and computer of course,) is full of Expo Markers, most of which have smooshed tips and little ink, because the girls love to play school, color and generally use up lots of ink!

Out of the mouths of babes… my children never cease to amaze me with their creativity, with the depth of their thought processes and the clever metaphors they come up (although they certainly don’t know they are spouting out metaphors and similes on a regular basis…) What I discovered is that my children are constant reminders of the joy we can find in learning something new every day! Where do you look for inspiration?