Thanks to everyone who participated in the Book Birthday 2018 Swag Bag Giveaway celebrating the 1st birthday (or 1-year anniversary of the publication of my book, How to Be a Good Mom (Or at Least Not an Epic Failure). The winner, selected at random through Rafflecopter, is … a Rafflecopter giveaway Kathy wins a paperback […]
Category: Children
Down But Not Out
Let’s say life is like a boxing match, and last week nearly TKO’ed me. Actually, it felt more like a cage match from which I couldn’t escape – so I clung to the sides like Spider-Man and waited for the bell. Things started out just fine, albeit a little more hectic than usual. On Friday […]
Published!
Oh, what a wonderful word that is! I’ve spent this week up to my eyeballs getting everything ready to have my book published. The soon-to-be-10yo is gone to camp, and all this attention to detail has served to distract me from missing him unbearably. The book is ready to go now (and thankfully, Wonder Boy […]
DC-Area Museums and Government Locales #dcchristmas
Continuing with our #dcchristmas trip … The Smithsonian Institution maintains 19 museums and galleries, plus the National Zoo, in the DC area. Thus, we knew before we even arrived that we’d barely make a dent in that number. The newly-opened Museum of African-American History and Culture was operating on a ticketing system while we were […]
Throwing Holiday Traditions Out the Window? #dcchristmas
The holiday season that ends one year and ushers in another is often a time of tradition. I think most people would say they have some sort of Christmas tradition, whether it be a big feast and fellowship with family and friends or something smaller, like marathon watching A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful […]
Adventures with spiders
I’ve been working on what I call the “blog book” a lot lately. It’s the “parenting book” I’m writing, using a lot of stories I’ve blogged about before. So, pretty much out of necessity, there’s been a lot of looking back on old posts and a little uncontrollable nostalgia. Then, this morning, one of those […]
Faith Required
Remember that saying about best laid plans? I feel like this is the story of my life. I recently made a decision (much like flipping a coin but it took a lot of debating in my head) as to which writing project I was going to focus on. See, my problem isn’t lack of ideas […]
If Cars Could Talk
I think we’re all feeling a little nostalgic about Aunt Bee. Not the original Aunt Bee. See, that’s what we call the van. She’s getting on up there in years and, with her dents and dings and moans and groans, she always seems frazzled and on the verge of breaking down. But, nevertheless, she always […]
First-borns and First Dates
Reflections from a Friday night: You know how they say, “time flies”? Well, just last week the 15-year-old asked when she was allowed to go on dates and tonight I’m sitting outside the Books-A-Million, while she has coffee alone WITH A BOY. First, I’m going to pause right here and let the location sink in. […]
“Mom, can you come get me?”
Contrary to how it may seem, we really try hard not to “spoil” our children. We don’t want them to grow up being disrespectful or feeling entitled to anything. Sure, they have TVs and X-boxes (Christmas gifts and/or purchased by someone else) and phones (our hand-me-downs), but they have chores and responsibilities as well. They […]
Our Next Adventure
For the last couple of months or so, hubs has been commuting to Hot Springs (about an hour and half drive from us one way) to work at in an interim position at a hospital there. He’s been staying there some nights and driving back others, mainly to not miss kid-related events. Yesterday, he accepted […]
Mother’s Day 2014
This Mother’s Day post is dedicated to the teenager in the house, who remains the sweetest child of mine. Now, don’t get me wrong. The boys have their sweet moments. The way hubs tells it, Wonder Boy (the almost 7yo) took extra special care in picking just the right Mother’s Day card for me yesterday, […]
Which superhero are you?
That was the semi-random question asked on the way home from guitar/voice lessons the other night. Only semi-random because, being the nerdy family we are, we’re regularly debating things such as “what superpower would you want,” “who would win in a fight” (hint: always Superman), and other *super* issues. The 11yo (Boy Genius) instigated this […]
The Fun Parent
This week marks what has become an annual occurrence that I call “Kidcation.” The kids get a vacation from cleaning their rooms, milking goats, feeding animals and doing other chores; and they get to spend a week with their Mema, where the order of the day is as much fun as possible, as little “no” […]
My Baby’s Growing Up
Today the 5-year-old becomes the 6-year-old. The one I affectionately call Wonder Boy on this site isn’t a baby anymore. He has graduated from kindergarten and reads to me every night. He dresses himself, brushes his own teeth, and showers solo, though there’s some debate as to whether he actually uses soap. Yesterday, he made […]