We made Snickerdoodle cookies as a family on Sunday evening, and they were gone in a flash. Everybody was craving more today, so we made them again tonight. (Don’t you wish your mom had let you have cookies two nights in a row?) As we made the dough up tonight I was realizing that this is probably among the simplest cookie recipes, and the ingredients are all really inexpensive. Not that chocolate chips really break the bank, but when your watching your pennies every little bit helps, right?

So here is a refresher of my favorite Snickerdoodle recipe — they come out soft, buttery and satisfyingly chewy.

Snickerdoodles

½ cup Butter or Margarine
1 cup Sugar
¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 Egg
½ teaspoon Vanilla
1-½ cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

In a medium mixing bowl beat the butter or margarine with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup of sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar. Beat till combined, scraping sides of the bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla till combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in the remaining flour until it is combined. Cover and chill one hour. (Cookie dough meant for shaping often needs to be chilled first for easier handling).

Combine the two tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon. Shape dough into one-inch balls. Roll balls in sugar-cinnamon mixture to coat. Place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Makes 24 cookies.

Why do kids like to run around naked? Ever since we potty trained my two year old, we can’t seem to get her to keep her clothes on. I swear every time I turn around, the kid is streaking around the house in her birthday suit. What’s worse, both my girls have been obsessed with the Hannah Montana movie lately, and watch it at least once a day. So more than once, I have walked into the TV room to find my child, nude, standing on the table and singing the “Boom-Boom-Clap” song from the movie.

Table dancing at two. Do you think I should be worried?

Packing lunch is probably one of the last things on a Mom’s to-do list each day, so it’s easy to see why PB&J makes pretty regular appearances. Don’t get me wrong, I love peanut butter, but if you are looking for a way to liven things up — and maybe even add a few extra nutrients — I have some ideas for you:

Upgrade the bread. Switching to a whole-grain bread can make a big nutritional impact. Shop carefully though, making sure the packaging says “whole grain” and not just “100% Wheat.” Labels can be deceiving; if you’re not sure how to spot the real whole grain read this. Also consider switching to whole-grain pretzels, crackers, etc.

Try tuna sandwiches. Of course there will always be a few picky eaters out there that won’t take to tuna, but a lot of kids enjoy the mild and satisfying flavor. Plus tuna sandwiches are the perfect hiding place for veggies like cucumbers, celery and carrots. If you’re worried your kiddo might object, don’t mention anything about “fish” — for all they know, it could be chicken. Speaking of which, if the tuna isn’t working out, chicken salad sandwiches provide a lot of the same benefits and might be easier for your child to swallow.

Forget the fruit snacks. Although they are called “fruit” snacks, there is not much fruit in them. Plus your dentist will thank you for leaving out these sticky numbers. Give your child fruit snacks the way Mother Nature intended. Some kid-friendly favorites: grapes, blueberries, bananas and cut-up melons.

Watch the juice. Packing a juice box is a good idea — especially if you freeze it beforehand so it can double as an ice pack to keep the whole lunch cool — but you need to be picky about which juice you choose. Look for one that contains no added sugar. Since a child’s recommended daily intake of juice is fairly low (for kids age 6 and under, it is just 4 to 6 ounces a day), try watered down juices like R.W. Knudsen’s Sensible Sippers (with the Berenstein Bears characters on the box), which have a nice flavor but a lot less sugar. Better still, you could try good old H20!

Pack some love. Including a note from Mom on the napkin is a great way to help your child feel loved, which might be just the reminder they need if they’re having a rough day at school.

What are your sack-lunch tricks?

A pacifier keeper never looked so good! Binkies are known to stray so keep yours on a tight leash. Lots of cute and unique designs only $8 at cuckooboo.etsy.com

Living in a place where Autumn is fairly non-existent I have to rely on other signs of Fall, like receiving my Halloween edition of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog.

Flipping through those catalog pages takes me back to the four years I spent living in Virginia. Fall was my most favorite time — the weather is not too hot or cold but just right, and the tree-lined neighborhoods boast the most amazing shades of orange, red and yellow.

We moved to Phoenix soon after having our first child because we wanted to get back out West where we would have a little more wiggle room. This time of year, though, I secretly wish we had never moved, and I contemplate flying my family out to Alexandria, Virginia, to go Trick or Treating the right way. The charming colonial architecture, winding roads and gorgeous fall colors have a fairy-tale quality that on Halloween night is so spooky in an absolutely wonderful way.

Maybe someday we’ll make it out there, but this year I’ll have to settle for the catalog.

My girls are obsessed, OBSESSED, with phones. They are particularly fond of my husband’s and my cell phones. This can be a bit problematic. (We don’t want them calling 911 or China, do we?) So of course, I have bought them toy cell phones, but do they play with them? No. They want the REAL deal.

Before Christmas last year, Fisher Price started selling again their old Chatter Phone — a toy I remember loving as a child. I was so excited when I saw it on the shelf at the store, that I got one to give to my little phone lovers. Interestingly, with its rotary dial, my daughters didn’t even recognize it as a phone. It’s funny how technology changes so rapidly, which is a blessing I guess because our outdated cell phones seem to be the best middle ground we have for the ongoing phone battle at our house.

Last week in a public restroom I was again reminded that my daughter is definitely a product of the 21st Century. My four year old had proudly used the toilet all by herself (Mommy had to stand outside of the stall and not interfere). She came out, dutifully washed her hands, and went over to the paper towel dispenser, which was an older model with a crank on the side. She held her hand beneath the dispenser and eventually started waving her hands side to side in frustration. Then it dawned on me that she thought it was one of those newer dispensers that feed the towel out automatically when their sensor is triggered. I couldn’t help laughing as I wound the paper towel roll for her. Boy does she have a different childhood than I did.

My brother sent me a link to this article, and when I read the headline: “How to Let Go of Hyperparenting and Learn to Relax With Your Kids,” I didn’t think I needed to read it because I am so clearly NOT a hyperparent.

I have never been one to fuss over my kids– even babies. Whereas some mothers carry around a thermos so their baby’s bottle will be warm, I’m thinking, “Hey, if I never give my baby a warm bottle then she will not expect it.” I also totally believe in the 10-second rule for crackers, lollipops, and, yes, even binkies. (gasp!) Okay, I think I might have sucked off any dirt from the binkies myself before handing it back to my baby, but I wasn’t racing all over the place trying to find a bathroom or drinking fountain to wash things off, and my kids have always been very healthy.

For most moms, now realizing that kids are pretty resilient, the second child is so much easier because they finally let themselves relax a little. I have always thought that I parented this way even with my first. I was raised in a family with seven (yes 7!) kids. I was second to oldest and my two youngest sisters are twins. My mother had her hands pretty full, and she relied on my older sister and I for help (although looking back, I’m not sure how much help I really was). I was pretty sure that I had plenty of parenting experience and decided to skip the how-to books and just let things come naturally.

So when I got that email from my brother this morning, I was reflexively going to archive it without reading, but I decided to just quickly skim through. Surprisingly I found the author’s suggestions useful (particularly numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 & 9), and, though I loathe to admit it, applicable to my own parenting.

When I was just weeks away from giving birth to my first daughter, a close friend (who already had a child) asked me if I had a video camera. I didn’t, and I had never thought of it as the parenting necessity that it truly is.

Since then I have used several video cameras from the ancient camcorder dinosaur that used actual video tape and was way too complicated, to early digital contraptions with poor image quality and lighting. Then my first digital camera recorded video, only there was no sound — a major flaw when you are trying to capture those cute little coochie coos that your newborn is making.

Thankfully when I replaced my digital camera the newer models included sound with the video, and although I could only record a two-minute snippet, that seemed like more than enough. (I mean honestly, who wants to sit through hours of home videos anyway?)

I had finally reached my perfect home video place. Then I saw the Flip. This amazing hand-held video camera is the size of a two-year-outdated cell phone and can record up to 2 hours of video IN HIGH DEFINITION!

It is so easy to use that when my four year old was playing with it she accidentally turned it on and upon seeing the red “recording” light on the front thought something terrible was happening. She brought it over to me and tried to blame it on her sister. I believed her too, until I watched the very incriminating video she had unknowingly made, and so then we had a talk about lying.

But back to my point: the Flip recorder ($170 at Amazon.com) is so small and convenient that you can carry it in your purse to be quickly retrieved for capturing that first step, word, etc. It automatically adjusts for low light (I told you it was easy!), and the video quality is worthy of viewing on your big screen at home. Oh, and I recently discovered that it’s also a really great way to entertain kids on long road trips. Let them record and watch a video of themselves, then delete it later — that’s the beauty of digital.