My daughter Meghan was a late bloomer in the water. As a toddler, she stood on the sidelines watching the other children splash and play in the water fountains, but didn't let herself get wet. If we did convince her to get wet in some water feature at a park, it was usually followed with tears. As ...
Parenting
The Giant List of Healthy School Lunch Ideas
Are you ready for the start of another school year? Whether you are ready or not, it's happening. Time to permanently wash the sand off of our feet, dust off our alarm clocks, and prepare ourselves for the early mornings, the after school snacks, the homework sessions, and the hectic dinners ...
Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles
We've got four kids this week. My two nieces are staying with us for the week, doubling our load from two to four. Can I just give a hats off to all moms with more than two kids? You are absolute heroes. I thought adding two more kids to the picture wouldn't make a difference. But whew! Life ...
3 Important Things I Want My Daughter to Know About Her Body
All parents have their own unique parenting roles. One parent is good at something and fills the gaps where the other parent is lacking. Tim is the official Rough Houser in our family. He can play hard with the kids and has the strength the throw them around like I simply can't. One evening he ...
Spring Cleaning Challenge: The Kids’ Toys and Books
I thought the last spring cleaning task, my clothes closet, was difficult. I had no idea what I was up against when I decided my next assignment was going to be to spring clean the kids' toys. I was so overwhelmed at one point, I almost seriously considered getting rid of all of their toys. ...
Rainbow Smoothies: A Tasting Activity for Kids
One of the most important lessons about food I want my kids to learn is the importance of variety. Eating fresh, whole foods is important, but your body doesn't benefit nearly as much unless you are eating a wide variety of foods. Since for kids St. Patrick's Day is all about leprechauns and ...
The Dinnertime Rules
A while back I got an email from a reader asking if I could "pull back the curtain" on how I handle dinnertime. I love getting topic requests from readers, but I found that choice of words a little odd. It made me feel as if I'm hiding something. I assure you that I'm not. I can see, however, ...
Snow Art
What a week! We started the week with Luke breaking his leg and then the cold, snowy weather means Meghan hasn't had school yet this week. This isn't the post I had planned for today, but with one child needing me for every little thing ("Mommy! I can't reach my car!") and another one looking to ...
Extended Breastfeeding: Why I Did it, What it Was Like, and the Bittersweet Tale of Weaning my Toddler
Breastfeeding can be a polarizing topic. Women who breastfeed sometimes like to shout loud and proud about the benefits of breastfeeding and tout it as the best way to feed a baby. Then there's the equally passionate women who formula feed and are quick to defend their decision. As far as I can ...
10 Activities to Do with Your Kids over Christmas Break
Happy Monday! If you have school-aged kids, this is probably the first day of their Christmas Break. Are you wondering what you're going to do with them for two weeks? If your kids are anything like mine, they like to be busy. Even though Luke is home with me all the time, it's different when ...
6 Things I’ve Learned in 6 Years of Motherhood
6 years ago yesterday, my first child, Meghan Jane, was born. I spent my pregnancy reading books on babies and parenting, trying to prepare myself for what was coming. I didn't know, of course, that there isn't a book out there that will prepare you for this wonderful, crazy, exhausting, ...
What Can Happen If You Decide To Speak Up?
During Meghan's first year of preschool, they served juice and some sort of processed food (such as crackers) for snack everyday. It bothered me because those were not things I gave her at home often, but I didn't say anything since she was only there three mornings a week. The next ...