Heading out the door in the morning is an extended process for my family this year. My three kids attend three separate schools. My 9th grader, Colton, scrambles to catch his bus at 6:43. (This is the kid, who, when given the opportunity, would sleep past noon.) My middle schooler, McKenna, sets out at 7:25. My youngest daughter, Ella, enjoys a more leisurely pick-up time of 8:30.

Since my oldest child, Colton, was born 14 years ago, I have been an avid scrapbooker. When I grab one of my older scrapbooks, of course it’s delightful to look back on my children’s milestones and our big family celebrations such as birthdays and Christmas. But, I have the most fun re-living those small, spontaneous moments in our lives.

Every spring when my husband Joe was living at home, his mom, Grandma Lucy, would take one day to make homemade doughnuts. The exact day was always a surprise. He and his siblings would walk home from school and know as soon they approached the door that this was doughnut day!

We take birthdays very seriously at our house. No, we don’t go overboard by celebrating birthday "weeks" or "months," but we definitely make the festivities last all day. To kick-off the special day, my husband prepares breakfast in bed for the birthday girl/boy/wife. He wakes up before the rest of us, cooks breakfast, and then brings it upstairs on a tray for our very own breakfast in bed.

My family knows Saturdays always start with a "special" shared breakfast. Bowls of cold cereal or a breakfast muffin on the go are fine Monday through Friday, but weekends start with some combination of eggs, pancakes, waffles, sausage or bacon.

A few years ago, my husband, Brant, and I established a fun Christmas shopping tradition. We choose a weekday shortly after Thanksgiving and clear our schedules. While our three children are at school, we set out together to tackle our holiday shopping.

For the third year in a row, I’ve traveled with my daughter Zoey and her good friend Livi to Wisconsin during Cranfest. Our official business is biking the Elroy-Sparta Trail, but Anita, the innkeeper at Amil’s Inn, always manages to bake a lot of cranberries into our trip.