Gratitude When Something Doesn’t Go the Way We Hoped It Would
We all know it’s easy to be grateful when things are going our way, according to our plan. But what about when things are going the exact opposite of how we hoped they would? As adults, we have come to…
DIY Cake Catastrophes…and the Teachable Moments They Provide
Picture this. My five-year-old son asked for a King Kong-themed birthday party, to which I quickly agreed and began planning my DIY King Kong birthday cake masterpiece. It is worth noting here that I am neither a professional baker nor…
An Education in Life: Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments During the School Years
Not all lessons taught during the school years involve textbooks. And they’re not all taught by teachers in classrooms. In fact, most important lessons are taught by us parents, and we do our teaching at home, in the car, in…
ELECT to Have Teachable Moments with Your Kids
The harvest is ripe for teachable moments with our kids during election season! Seriously, they’re everywhere, just waiting to be picked and used. Parents, are we looking for them? The obvious one is to make sure our kids understand that…
True Confessions
We used the train-your-baby-to-be-on-a-schedule-and-sleep-through-the-night-so-that-you-can-sleep-too-and-everyone-is-much-happier-this-way method with each of our children. One night we heard baby Callie crying in her crib. I honestly don’t remember how long or short she cried, but we knew that she wasn’t hungry and didn’t need…
The Trouble with Facebook – or – My Lack of Confidence in Parenting Publicly
I’m the first one to admit how much I love Facebook. But I’ll also admit that I’m glad it wasn’t even around (except for college students) when my kids were babies and toddlers. While there is truth to the idea…
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
I was born at 5:05 pm on March 5, 1975, which was my Granddaddy’s 50th birthday. I love the month of March…and the number 5! I also love that I was named after my Granddaddy’s mother, Carrie Elizabeth. In turn,…
All-Skate
My husband and I recently took our three children, plus some extra girls, to the roller skating rink. We had been skating once or twice before, but it had been a while since our last venture. Callie, my 12-year-old, took…
The Pressure
In the last year or two, several of my close friends have entered the world of motherhood for the first time. As I went to the baby showers, visited the proud (and very exhausted) parents and babies in the hospitals,…
On Parenting Yourself
Here’s what I’ve discovered: My firstborn daughter is the most like me. Here’s what else I’ve discovered: She is quite often the most difficult child for me to parent. And I think I know why. So many of the things…
