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Category: raising boys
Do you love words as much as I do? I am such a word-nerd. I’m awed by how much meaning can be conveyed in one little word or phrase. Whether it’s scripture, a line from a favorite hymn, an age-old quote, or your favorite phrase, just hang some words on your wall and you have meaningful art. 😉 (Read about easy, meaningful, one-of-a-kind art in this contributor post.) Last week, I shared my heart for the job we do as full-time mamas. It is a joy and a privilege. But it…
Writing is a lot like standing on a stage in your birthday suit. You open up a very personal part of yourself for ridicule, and as your hand hovers over the publish button, you have to decide if it’s worth it. As a writer, you want to please everyone, but that’s not possible. So you write for the ones who need to hear your message. This post has been on my heart for quite a while now, and I’m finally getting around to sharing it. It really sums up a lot of the reason…
This weekend I’m sharing a guest post for my friend, Keri, on her blog ONE MAMA’S DAILY DRAMA. We all have our share of drama, don’t we? 😉 Head over and check out this idea on dealing with Children and Chores, that might make your day just a little bit easier!  …
Your hands are busily trying to finish dinner without burning it, it’s the baby’s fussy time, the phone is ringing, you have a long list of to-do’s, and your mind is occupied with all of these things, while your other kiddos whine that there is “nothing to doooooo.” After a couple of rejected suggestions you may find yourself saying, “I don’t know…just do something!” Does this scenario sound familiar? It may or may not be a composite of personal experience. 😉 In times like these, it…
It’s about that time again… when we can all kick up our feet and relax a little. You know, in between gardening (I’m really good at growing weeds), beach-going, spring cleaning (yes, I do mine in the summer), and finishing all those projects I have lined up. My kids have big summer plans, and I’m sure yours do, too. But just in case you have some down time, or the occasional rainy day… I have something really fun to share with you! We discovered Adventures in Odyssey when my oldest was…
My children are at different ages, different stages but all with one thing in common… they’re growing up and growing up is hard to do. While we would all like to revisit yesteryear once in a while, growing up is something most people wouldn’t want to do over- because it’s hard work… skinned knees broken hearts hurt feelings and tough decisions. That’s the big one. And the bigger you get, so do the decisions. I tell my children that’s the way they know they are getting closer to…
Where we live, we get to experience all the seasons–sometimes in the same week! Winter here is very fickle. We get springlike days, and cold, rainy miserable days, and sometimes… we get snow. But not too often. So we try to thoroughly enjoy it while it’s here. We have a snow day. And what I like about snow days is that everybody gets to be a kid for a day. Which means… no schoolwork, boogie-board sleds, snowball fights, snow cream, and throwing snow at the exact moment the picture is snapped, which…
We got new school books the other day. Please excuse the lonely little cotton stem; he needs friends. Yep. In January. Adds a little excitement to the drab days of winter. I mean, who doesn’t need a little sparkle amidst the gray? We’re conditioned to think that our students must begin a new textbook in September and be finished with it by May. And sometimes it works out that way… sometimes, it doesn’t. The reality is, a child might speed through a book because they love it and be ready for the next…
No, I’m not kidding. I thought about naming this post “How to Get Your Very Picky Teenage Son to Eat Vegetables,” because that’s how it came about. For a child who has had a life-long aversion to vegetables and all things good-for-you, he somehow loves restaurant salsa and store-bought salsa in the jar. In his mind there is no connection to vegetables here. However, if I buy tomatoes and chop them up to make fresh salsa, which is amazing, nope. He won’t eat it. Go figure. So…
I remember where I was when I was first confronted with the truth. I’ll bet you do, too. A cousin of mine (who was much older and wiser, six months older than I was) informed me as we stood in my grandparents’ house after Sunday dinner that, of course she “didn’t believe in Santa Claus anymore…there’s no way he could get to all those houses in one night.” I stood there, stunned. She had a point there. It’s a funny story now, but at the time, I…
