Blog Posts by LilSugar

LilSugarSource: Bye-Bye Pie! 9 Thanksgiving Cakes For Your Pie-Adverse Kids

It's hard for some (i.e., me) to believe, but not everyone loves a great piece of pie - especially the littlest diners at the table. If any members of your family are on that list, consider spicing up this Thanksgiving's sweet selections by going for a nontraditional dessert: cake! From individual-size cake pops and cupcakes to large cakes featuring the holiday's favorite flavors, these nine cakey goodies might just become your family's new Thanksgiving favorites. Keep clicking to find a cake that just might make you say goodbye to pie this Turkey Day!

• Turkey Cake Pops: OC Pop Shoppe's turkey cake pops are Thanksgiving perfection - no gravy needed.
• Turkey Cupcakes: I Heart Baking's turkey cupcakes are made of brown sugar pound cake topped with candy corn and M&M turkeys.
• Pumpkin Spice Cake With Coconut Vanilla Icing: My New Roots's pumpkin spice cake is topped with a yummy coconut vanilla

LilSugarSource: Create a Kid-Friendly Thanksgiving Table With Tips From Martha Stewart's Darcy Miller

Thanksgiving dinner may center around a long, delicious meal, but when there are little kids in the mix, it tends to feel more like fast food, because dinner gets inhaled and the kids go back to their fun and games. But when the kids have a special table - filled with details and activities just for them - they're more likely to spend a few extra minutes sitting at it.

We turned to Darcy Miller, editorial director for Martha Stewart Weddings, and a mother of three, for some tips for creating a kid-friendly dinner that both parents and kids can enjoy. Among her ideas is using craft paper as a tablecloth and an orange paper runner with a punched edge for accent; the paper doubles as a great way to keep the kids entertained. Placing coloring pages, crayons, stickers, and rubber stamps (holiday-themed, of course) on the table can also help keep them at the table a few minutes longer. Keep

Source: Work It, Mama! 5 Exercises to Do at Home With Your Baby

Finding time to hit the gym is tough for anyone with a busy schedule - but add a baby to the mix, and it's virtually impossible. That's why we're such big fans of combining quality time with your kiddo and a workout into one manageable routine. And if you can do it at home? Well, that's even better. We caught up with Zoe Bowick Levine of The Thriving Body, who teaches a wildly popular "Work Out Baby" class for moms and their wee ones in Brooklyn, NY. Here are five of Zoe's fave at-home exercises to do with the baby:

• Reverse Lunge and Belly Tickle: Stand tall with baby just in front of your right foot. Reach your right foot back into a lunge as you tickle baby's belly with your right hand. Bring right leg back in, stand tall, and repeat 15 times on each side.
• Tricep Peekaboo: Lie on your belly with your head toward baby and your hands under your shoulders. Press into your hands and raise your head and chest

LilSugarSource: 111 Indoor Activities For Rainy Fall Days

If a string of rainy days in a row has got your kids singing the cabin fever blues, then you're in luck! We've come up with 10 great ways to stay entertained indoors (and there are 101 more on our site, click the link above). Challenge your little ones to do something different next time, and try out a craft, recipe, or game that wouldn't have otherwise interested them. Prove to them that being stuck indoors doesn't always have to be a bad thing, and remind them that (maybe) the sun will come out tomorrow!

• Marble Racetrack: It's one thing to race cars around the house, but it's another to race marbles. This fun activity involves little more than a cut pool noodle (follow My HomeSpun Threads's instructions and a marble!
• Rearrange the Kids' Rooms: Channel your inner interior designer, and get the whole family involved in "Project Room Makeover." Tackle a DIY design project, spruce things up with updated bedding or some fun new

Source: Doesn't Dad Deserve a Work-Life Balance Too?

The dialogue about moms in the workplace is one that's constantly up for debate, igniting strong opinions from parents and employers alike. But what about dads? The Harvard Business Review recently shared the results of a new series of studies on how men integrate work-life responsibilities from the Boston College Center for Work & Family, and the results suggest that the American workforce isn't where it needs to be in terms of gender equity. Here's the gist of Boston College's findings:

• The first study, "The New Dad: Exploring Fatherhood Within a Career Context," examined a group of new dads who were hoping to adjust their roles at work in the interest of becoming more involved and engaged parents.

More from LilSugar: Adam Sandler Jokes About His Girls Enjoying the Good Life

• "The New Dad: Caring, Committed and Conflicted" followed up on the first study and found that for a whopping 99 percent of the dads surveyed,

LilSugarSource: 5 Apps That Teach Tots Life Skills

Sure, there's an iTunes store filled with kid-friendly apps - some educational, plenty just plain fun. But there's a small subset of educational apps that do more than just teach tots sight words and basic addition skills. They introduce important life skills they'll carry with them in the future - everything from hygiene and fire safety to proper dressing for the weather. Before handing your smartphone or tablet over to your tot for play, check out these five apps that will help prepare them for life.

• Fire Rescue: Fire safety is no joke, and the Fire Safety app ($2) takes it seriously. The app teaches tots how to stop, drop, and roll; how to touch the door to feel for heat; and - perhaps most importantly - how to dial 911.
• Guess the Dress: Tots have a tendency for wanting to wear their swimsuits in the middle of the Winter and their snow boots on the hottest day of the year. Guess the Dress ($3) not only has beautiful

Source: What If a Scarf Wasn't Just a Scarf, but a Lifeline For Needy Women?

It's no secret that we love scarves. More than just a trendy accessory, the gauzy scarf has become a mommy must have - just ask Jessica Alba, who says that she's always spotted in them because "if my baby has an accident - and I'm holding the baby - I can cover that accident up! So I'm not walking around with a big puke stain or poo stain on my shirt!" So we're always on the lookout for a scarf that does the job and helps tie a tired mama's outfit together.

But what if the scarf did more than that? What if it helped take a young girl out of the sex trade? What if it helped a woman climb out of poverty? Welcome to FashionABLE, the Addis Ababa organization that gives at-risk Ethiopian women a new shot at life. Rather than simply hand the women money, FashionABLE is a sustainable business, training the women to make beautiful, handmade cotton scarves ($28-$44) out of Ethiopian cotton harvested from local

Source: Scent of the Season: Homemade Cinnamon Ornaments

Celebrate the Fall season with homemade scented ornaments made from fragrant cinnamon and applesauce. Your lil one will love stirring and mixing this fun dough together and then rolling and cutting out shapes and designs. Hang the dried ornaments from plants or in a window to help usher in the season or just to scent your home. Your child can use cookie cutters or a craft needle to make her own unique shapes.



What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup cinnamon
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/4 cup glue

• Invite your child to measure and add the cinnamon to a small mixing bowl. Now she can measure and add the applesauce and flour, giving the ingredients a stir.
• Offer your child a glue bottle and invite her to squeeze the glue into a measuring cup and then add to the mixing bowl. Along with being fun, squeezing boosts your tot's hand-eye