About Meghan Zeile

Mom-in-the-know and local writer for Rochester Media. Always looking for tips with kids, family life, and fun local adventures. Contact at Meghan@rochestermedia.com

Grieving at Christmas

Christmas shopping is one of those things that we all get frustrated with and complain about but, in reality, having to do Christmas shopping reveals the fact that we have people to love and people to love us right back. What are we to do though if a dear one is missing from our shopping list this year? Missing from the list because he or she has moved on from this earth? Instead of a tangible gift that we choose from a store, the gift we give is simply our grief. It's costly--just as a … [Read more...]

Cultivating Gratitude

As the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaches, we begin to plan out our holiday weekends. If you"re hosting Thanksgiving dinner, then you"re collecting recipes, planning your schedule of what to cook and when, you"re assigning family members their dishes to bring to dinner and creating your shopping list. If you"re a Black Friday shopper, then you"re sorting through the shopping ads advertising sales and planning out where you"ll shop and what time you"ll be there. Most of us with young … [Read more...]

Inside National Adoption Awareness Month

November is such a fun month. We're all hyped up from eating our kid's Halloween candy and Christmas music has been playing 24/7 since November 1st. Everyone is gearing up for Christmas shopping and Target is shoving a holiday catalog into your hands every time you shop. Fun times! November is also National Adoption Awareness Month. It was created to honor those families touched by adoption as well as make society aware (obviously) of adoption, in general. For the most part, adoption is a … [Read more...]

Pregnancy and Infant Loss

The month of October is not only home to Halloween and Fire Safety Week but it is also Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. It's such a difficult thing to think about and unless it happens to you or someone you love then you can almost pretend it doesn't exist. That it doesn't happen. This attitude further isolates the women and men who experience their children for such a short time. For those who haven't experienced it personally then it can be very difficult to know what to do or how … [Read more...]

Getting to Know the Neighborhood Child Care Center

Right in the heart of downtown is an award-winning preschool and daycare center with a unique approach to educating children. Neighborhood Child Care Center, lovingly nicknamed NC3, is run by Mary and Todd Greenbaum, two of the most passionate, creative children"s educators I have ever met. (You can read my opinion on what qualifies as a great program here.) They opened Neighborhood Child Care Center thirty-eight years ago in Pontiac and have spent the last twenty-eight years operating out of … [Read more...]

Avondale Theatre Company Announces 2015-2016 Season Celebrating “Two Worlds, One Family”

The Avondale Theatre Company (ATC), Avondale High School’s award-winning drama troupe, announces the main stage productions for the 2015-2016 theatre season revolving around the theme “Two Worlds, One Family,” which focuses on plays and musicals that show how opposites can attract, or struggle, to live side-by-side. “We wanted to follow up this year with a season that shook up the expectations and routine,” explains Mr. Edmond Guay, Avondale theatre teacher and director who will be starting … [Read more...]

#shameshameshame

Hashtags have made an impression on our lives, haven't they? Before social media I doubt that this fun little character ever got much attention. However, now it is super popular, first appearing on Twitter and now having been absorbed onto Facebook. Personally, I don't use hashtags publicly because it's just too much pressure. You have to be clever, funny and get your point across with as few letters as possible. That's not really my thing. My husband and I have been adding hashtags to our … [Read more...]

Moving Madness Part 2

My family and I recently moved into our new home. I was determined not to repeat the same mistakes I did with our last move and overall, this experience was much better. I had a better plan, put a few good ideas into action, but I still made some mistakes. Here's what I did right and here's what I learned: Pack Early The first thing I did right was to pack early. I took down and packed away all of our decorative items like pictures, art and knick knacks. Anything that didn't have a … [Read more...]

Enjoy One of These Egg-cellent Easter-Themed Books

As I sit here compiling this book list for you guys, there are snow flurries coming down outside my window. I am so tired of cold weather and snow! I'm sure you're as ready for warmth and sunshine as I am. These books will fill your story time with spring colors and flowers and a lot of soft, furry animals. Chin up, friends, warmer weather and budding flowers are just around the corner! Happy Easter! 1. Grandpa Bunny- a Little Golden Book Classic I remember my grandma reading me this book … [Read more...]

Get Creative with Leftover Holiday Candy

I try really hard to limit the amount of junk my kids eat. Not only does this help them but it helps me, too. We aren"t perfect by any means but I do try to do a few things to keep us on the healthier side. First, I try not to even buy the junk food. If it"s in the house then we"ll eat it. Second, if I do buy sweets, like ice cream, then I"ll buy the smallest size container so there"s enough for everyone to have one serving then it"s gone. Third, I plan ahead. This meant that last week, leading … [Read more...]