I’ve always said, if there was one job in parenting I could pay someone else to do, it would be potty training.  No, I’m no longer dealing with this (unless you count the endless occurrences of unflushed toilets).  But I can still share my story 🙂

First, here is the best, most amazing advice I got from my friend Christine. “They don’t ask on a college application how old they were when they were potty trained.”  AND exhale.

Second, I didn’t start until my kids were dry through the night.  I was lazy and wanted to just be done all … Read the rest

We made it!  1700 miles round trip as a family of five.  We had such a great trip, and by far the most peaceful one.

The trip there was split into two legs (8 hours Friday, 8 hours Saturday), so I was stingy with surprises from the activity bag (compiled from various “road trip ideas for families” searches).  I saved most items for the long, long, LONG 15-hour drive home.  Here is the breakdown for how the items went over.

1. A binder – given immediately
This was great.  They enjoyed having the step-by-step maps, played road trip bingo repeatedly, … Read the rest

I deeply, deeply love planning and making lists.  I full-on geek out about it.  This post is dedicated to the searching I did for road trip ideas for families, and the work I have put into packing an activity bag for our kids (8, 9, and 10 years old) on our upcoming road trip to South Carolina – 840 miles one way.  I know that’s not a lot for some people, but it is for us.

What’s in the bag is a surprise to the kids, and I will keep it that way.  I will give them things as needed … Read the rest

I felt the need to capture this for my own purposes, for someday when my girls are wedding planning and I can show them what their wedding plans were in 2014…

Ada’s dress: purple
Bridesmaids: red and pink

Grace’s dress: white
Bridesmaids: red
Groom & Groomsmen: blue

[subscribe2]… Read the rest

I’ve been on the couch for 3 days with a cracked lumbar disc.  My perspective has been, “It’s not as bad as labor,” which means Chad has had to force the couch time on me.

Most Part of the problem is that I’m stubborn, but also that I just have so much work to do at home, and I don’t feel right asking people to do things for me when I’m perfectly capable of doing them myself!  Anyway…

My children know I have to rest, and I am so proud of their response.  They come right away if I ask … Read the rest

I have saved and sorted all of our pictures digitally for the 10+ years that we have been parents.  Quite frankly I love sorting them by year and then month.  This especially comes in handy when I am feeling nostalgic.

With Halloween being tomorrow, I was thinking about previous years’ costumes.   I used to pick the kids’ Halloween costumes, first just by what I wanted them to wear.  It then morphed into choosing a character from a favorite show for them.  Now they choose their own costumes, but still need the Mom Stamp of Approval.  This is not their favorite … Read the rest