Celebrate the everyday with Donna Erickson cooking, crafts, activities

Dog-eared recipes deserve some review now and then, and I’m glad I rediscovered this classic from my mom’s recipe box. It’s a never-fail, fabulous one-step pound cake that is a perfect “first” cake baking experience for kids. ​Read the recipe together, and let them search for the dry ingredients in…

Kids and dirt seem to have a natural attraction for one another. Why not promote a love for a favorite activity this season by giving children a chance for some responsibility and fun by messing with dirt, sprouting seeds and tending their own little plants indoors? They’ll give your family…

It’s growing season, an ideal time for your family to poke around and play in dirt. Begin indoors! Popular plants are easily started inside during spring months to give a jump-start to your summer garden. ​While many serious gardeners purchase seed-starting kits, you’ll discover with this kid-friendly activity that you…

You and your kids will be inspired to create a blooming bouquet of colorful paper flowers to celebrate the arrival of spring. In fact, these flowers can be enjoyed just about anytime and anywhere. ​You’ll only need basic items such as an empty cardboard egg carton, tissue paper from gift…

Bring spring indoors, even if it’s just a handful of sticks, and look for new beginnings as you share your time and talents with those you love. Take a nature walk in your yard and look for young budding branches. With garden shears, clip off branches that are about 20…

Opportunities for families to experience life’s simplest pleasures abound during summer’s final days. They take minimal planning and yield happy rewards. We enjoy impromptu evening bike rides, or a jaunt in the country to pick berries. On the return home, I choose juicy nectarines, peaches and plums at a roadside…

As summer wanes, I’m all for bringing on one last hurrah for watermelon. It’s such a convenient, “good for you” cool-down snack that quenches thirst and satisfies the sweet tooth, all in one. Refreshing with a squeeze of lime, or kicked up with a dusting of ground chili pepper and…

Blow up a balloon, blow your nose and we hope the pitcher doesn’t blow the save in tonight’s baseball game. If it’s your birthday, blow out all the candles on your cake to make the wishes, blow in the wind … It’s fun to play a mind game with kids…

Leaves that were green may be turning to brown, gold and red, but summer’s growing season isn’t over yet. Tall and free, sunflowers still climb upward like Jack’s beanstalk. Their bright yellow blooms sway with afternoon breezes, crossing property lines and surpassing the heights of fences. So full of life…