• Family

    Music Review: Slugs & Bugs

    Looking for music that will entertain and engage your young children but wonโ€™t drive you crazy at the same time? Iโ€™d like to introduce you to the entire Slugs & Bugs collection. Randall Goodgame and Andrew Peterson, both seasoned singer/songwriters,…

  • Family

    Merry Christmas!

    Putting up our familyโ€™s Christmas decorations, including decorating the tree, usually only takes a few hours. We could probably get it done even faster, but we get distracted by watchingย Itโ€™s a Wonderful Life, which is our yearly tradition. We also…

  • Family

    Firsts

    On a cold January afternoon back in 2001, at a hospital in Texas, my husband and I looked at each other with a mixture of fear and uncertainty in our eyes. Are they really going to let us take her home?…

  • Family

    For Love of the Game(s)

    I played softball in second through twelfth grades, basketball in third through eighth grades, and volleyball in seventh through twelfth grades. (I ran track in seventh grade, too, but that was a terrible experience. I hate running but somehow got…

  • Family

    Family Reunions

    So many Fourth of July holidays when I was young were spent driving with my family from our home in Memphis, TN to my great-auntโ€™s house in Batesville, MS. I didnโ€™t know Aunt Molly and Uncle June all that well,…

  • Family

    Birthday Party Wins and Fails

    Since this issue of Parents & Kids Magazine has a lot to do with birthday parties, I thought Iโ€™d revisit some of my own childrenโ€™s birthday party โ€œwinsโ€ and โ€œfailsโ€ from over the years. Win: My first childโ€™s first birthday party included pretty…

  • Family

    Hard Conversations

    Hard conversations are part of life. And for those of us who really donโ€™t like confrontation, these conversations can be extremely taxing. The easy way out would be just to avoid them altogetherโ€“to โ€œkeep the peaceโ€โ€“, but we all know…