Lots has happened in the last month, but I’m only catching my breath now because Todd, our foster son, was placed with a family member last Monday. In New Jersey, reunification with the child’s parents is the top priority, but placement with a family member or close family friend is the next goal, so when …
Category Archives: Parenting
Searching For Camp Once Again
Don’t worry, Fulton isn’t still in the hospital. If you don’t follow me on Instagram or my page on Facebook, you might have missed the happy discharge photo. Thankfully, he’s been feeling back to normal here at home since Friday May, 27. We took him in to CHOP after only a few days of being …
Documenting April
It was not my intent to stop blogging for the entire month of April. I’ve been mentally writing an Easter post since Good Friday, but made no success at actually putting those thoughts down. If you could see the calendar in my kitchen, and stopped by any time outside school hours, you’d quickly understand why …
A New Parenting Level Is Unlocked
As we approach Passiontide, I thought it was time to update everyone on the big news around these parts (if you didn’t already see it on social media). We got our first foster placement on Thursday, March 24 around dinner time. I got the call on Tuesday and this child, who I’ll call Todd Flanders …
Games and Toys Kids of Different Ages Can Enjoy Together
Despite my insistence in an earlier Facebook Live, I decided against titling this post ‘Minimal Screaming Toys and Games for Large Families’ because I thought it might affect Google search result traffic and Pinterest traffic. Sorry. Ideally, if your whole family is stuck inside together, you can enjoy one another’s company. We’ve spent our evenings …
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How To Get Stuff Done When Everyone is at Home
Your kids’ schools have closed, you need to stay at home to watch them, and possibly you and your spouse are trying to work from home as well. Maybe you can’t work from home, or your employer is temporarily closed. You’re stressed about finances, you can’t go out, and your kids are bouncing off the …
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Parenting Advice 17 Years in the Making
I’m just an average parent with five children, but I feel overly qualified to offer you parenting advice. A few friends agreed and asked me their most pressing questions. Here’s what they, and any parent fresh out of boxed wine, should do. I would LOVE advice on how to convince children (7 year old girls …
My House Is Still A Mess In October
Halloween is less than a week away which means our dining room is littered with bits of cardboard and duct tape. Even though everyone seems to settle on costumes earlier than they used to, I still can’t seem to start assembling anything until the middle of October. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if …
The Best Mixed Drinks For Back To School
By this point, everyone has headed back to school. Kids are figuring out their new schedules, teachers, classmates, subjects, and books, while simultaneously trying to decide what to hate the most. Us moms are either trying to get back into the habit of sending kids out the door of the house or car properly dressed …
‘Accepting the Gift’ in Review
What great weight is lifted off one’s shoulders when a major project finally comes to completion. I spent all of last Sunday walking around and smiling and remarking to Tony, “I’m no longer planning a conference!” Of course on Monday I dove into video editing, and by Wednesday I was making notes for another event, …
Advice for Parents Whose Children Are Scheduled for Surgery
We are officially six months out from Fulton’s spinal fusion surgery. While we will be sticking with some of the care methods we adopted during his recovery, life, for the most part, has gone back to normal for him and us. It’s a new normal; the rigidness we feel is his body, not an external …
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Making Time for Teens
I was going to make this just a post on our current ‘Morning Time’ routine, but when I started fleshing out what I wanted to say, I realized that right now, the thing I love about morning time is actually that it gives me more one on one time with my teens. And that is …
How To Be A Minimalist When People Want To Spoil Your Kids
The idea for a post on how to be a minimalist (with a “generous” extended family) has sat in my ideas folder for quite some time, but as Christmas approaches, as well as a move, it seems an especially fitting time to reflect upon all the stuff that has accumulated in our lives, and all …
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