Kids know how to party! Check out the latest festive celebrations from the Apartment Therapy's Family channel, which posts kids' parties every day. We'll be bringing you a roundup of these inspiring parties every week.

• Ruby's Summer Rainbow Confetti Party
  
• An Ice Cream Picnic Party
  
• Max's Construction Party
  
• Nola & Kira's Artsy Heartsy Valentines Tea
  
• Yosef's Truck Party
  

I pride myself on making things from scratch, but with three children to feed, not to mention a decent sized crew of regular dinner guests, I don’t always live up to my own expectations. Like most of you, I’m a label reader, sometimes pleasantly surprised to find a pancake mix that saves me the trouble of mixing ingredients or a jar of marinara sauce that needs little more than a sprinkle of this or that to mimic the one I would create. Here are five prepared foods that I especially like and that have helped me get a homemade dinner on the table. Would love to hear your picks too! 

Kids know how to party! Check out the latest festive celebrations from the Apartment Therapy's Family channel, which posts kids' parties every day. We'll be bringing you a roundup of these inspiring parties every week.

• Charlotte's Pioneer Party 
  
• Arlo & Oliver's Valentines Day Party  
  
• Milo's Trucks, Cars & Power Rangers  
  
• Giacomo's Yellow and Gray Party 
  
• Daisy's Circus Party
  

It always seemed a no-brainer to me that I would make my daughter's baby food. It couldn't be that difficult, right? But throw in a clunky food processor requiring approximately one million parts, and then baby food that was not smooth enough to please my finicky first-time eater, and I was quickly feeling defeated. Then I discovered the game-changer...

Kids know how to party! Check out the latest festive celebrations from the Apartment Therapy's Family channel, which posts kids' parties every day. We'll be bringing you a roundup of these inspiring parties every week.

• Jasper Jack's Superhero Party
• Kai's Winter Party
• Ellie's Gingerbread Party
• Miles' Curious George Party
• Twins' Milk & Cookies Party

As soon as I agreed to make the cookies, I entered the event on my calendar: "Make Cookies for Teacher Treat Day." Several times in the two weeks that preceded the big day, I thought to myself, sometimes out loud even, "Is today the day I make the cookies?" I always knew the answer and was sure I would remember. And I did remember, at 11:30pm, when my husband and I were in the middle of catching up on The Bachelor, the night before I was supposed to send the cookies to school with my son. More

Like many parents, I was determined to raise my babies with a taste for healthy food. I obsessed, researching to find out if rice cereal really was the best first food, or if a homemade quinoa cereal would be better. I hovered, sure that a well meaning grandma would try to feed my babies cheese or, even worse, sugar. More

"If you liked it, then you would have put a steak on it." Go ahead. Channel Beyonce and sing while you read this.

Kale, chard, spinach, and the like are super foods. I've tried to get my children to eat them in a hundred different ways. Heck, it took me a while to learn to love them, and I would still prefer a large plate of fries smothered in pimento cheese, but you have to grow up sometime. More