Ah, puppy love! Puppies are cute, lovable, and a lot of work. At some point your children will ask for a puppy. Perhaps they already have and you are pondering the question, “Are we ready?” We were asked the question years ago. Finally, in September, the time was right. The kids’ ongoing efforts to convince us to get a puppy, which included adding “dog” to the end of the grocery list, and leaving googled pictures of cute puppies on my computer screen, culminated with a school assignment to write a persuasive essay.   My highly-allergic son, it turns out, is also highly-persuasive. His essay “…

For Hopkinton families, going out to eat after a long week or ordering take-out on a busy weeknight is standard fare. However for those requiring gluten-free meals, until recently, dining out has been anything but fun or easy. With the regular, crazy schedule of most families, I longed for the chance to put away the crockpot and just pick up dinner somewhere. But, with three-out-of-five of us eating gluten-free, I knew that was not an option. Until I saw a sign. Just when I needed it most, during a dinner-hour carpool to Framingham it appeared: a placard at La Cantina that simply stated, “GF …