October 2011

It’s time for the usual fall rituals, everything from leaf peeping to pumpkin picking. While many people follow the traditional pilgrimage along the Blue Ridge Mountains, you may want to steer your family off the beaten path and make an October jaunt to Fredericksburg. This fun-filled destination offers everything from…

Have you ever been out with a group of friends for coffee or cocktails and one of them came up with a great idea for a business, a service, or even a product? I have, many times. But did those ideas go anywhere? Alas, no. Though the spark was there,…

With Washington debating how best to create jobs and inject some much needed adrenaline into the lackluster economy, schools and teachers have moved to the center of the discussion. “Efforts to provide a high-quality education to every child are key to overcoming this crisis and ensuring competitiveness in an increasingly…

Sugar is a double-edged sword of childhood. It brings so much pleasure to our little ones. Their sweet, angelic faces light up at the prospect of an ice cream cone or cupcake, and then the devil inside them emerges as they spiral downward from the bliss of a sugar high.…

So here I am again, standing at the end of the walk with the flashlight in my hand. Up at the front door, past the jack o’ lanterns on the stoop, the monsters, superheroes, and fairy princesses crowd around the huge bowl of candy held out by the lady of…

October was already one of my favorite months. Now, it has even more significance. It marks RFM’s anniversary – two years! How fitting that one of our features this month is all about mompreneurs, a term I never thought would apply to me. I was always content to be the…

“You can do one all by yourself, Mommy.” It was our first trip to All Fired Up, the paint-your-own ceramic shop in Carytown. Mistake number one was assuming I could get away with purchasing a single item to paint that day. It was more about funding than anything else. I’ll…

On the third night after Hurricane Irene, I went to bed feeling a little bit dramatic. We still had no power, and the neighbor with the really, really loud generator prevented sound sleep. Our 3-year-old had reverted to waking two times a night to inform us, via bloodcurdling scream, that…

What if the hardest day of your life was also the very first? That’s just how it is for one in every eight babies who are born too soon. Every week in Virginia, over two hundred babies are born pre-term and spend weeks in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) struggling…

1. Sausage Wontons Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with nonstick spray. Gently press wonton wrappers into tin. Bake 6 to 8 minutes. In a large skillet, brown 1 lb bulk sausage and let cool. Combine sausage, 1½ cups shredded sharp cheddar, 1½ cups shredded Monterey jack, 1…

These days, it seems as if you can’t turn around without seeing someone wearing a pair of earbuds connected to an iPod or other portable music player. It’s common for kids of all ages to plug in, especially while riding in the car. Many of us have family members who…

Q: We have gotten a lot of input through the years about our 11-year-old son’s behavior from his teachers and this year’s teacher has commented as well. We’ve heard everything: focus issues, high-energy, etc. I want to know if he has ADHD so we can get him the help he…