I’ve tried! I’ve plotted. I’ve made an attempt!
But I just cannot remain consistent when it comes to tracking chores my kids do each week.
Let me explain.
Once, I hand drew a “chore chart” on a large piece of paper. I planned to mark each time the kids did their regular chores (dishes, putting away clothes, cleaning a bathroom, sweeping the floors, cleaning their rooms). Then they could earn a quarter for extra chores (helping with the backyard, cleaning out the car).
It lasted a week.
No one said anything for a while, so …

OK, brace yourself. Five weeks from today is Thanksgiving. Christmas is nine weeks from Saturday. My son started his Christmas wish list a month ago! (Thankfully since sales have started and grandparents are asking…) I have scheduled our family’s Christmas photo shoot (Thank you Capture Life photography). I’ve started talking to family about Thanksgiving (we have gone out of town the past few years, but I’m working this year). My sister has bought her plane tickets to come visit (YEA!). I found a few websites that send me reminders of …

Today is National Day on Writing. I found this out while researching a story that took me to the U.S. Department of Education website. I’m taking the challenge a teacher posted there to write a six-word autobiography (supposedly inspired by Hemingway). Perhaps you can challenge your own kids (or yourself). Share your post here.
This is mine: Mom of three. Lover of life.

I’m feeling a little guilty about an episode that took place at our home Saturday.
That morning I was REAL tired (hey – I have a 10 week old at home!). So when the bigger kids woke up (5 and 8 years old) and asked to play Wii, I didn’t argue. It gave me a few more minutes to snooze while baby slept.
About 20 minutes later I heard kids playing at the park. The weather is just turning here in the Valley so mornings are nice outside.
First, the kids had to …

Helping my son understand school work is taking some time at night and I’m worried my daughter, in kindergarten, is getting short-changed.
Each night my son has 15 minutes of reading and a page of reading or math homework. Plus I review assignments his teacher has graded, which are growing in volume.
So the past two weeks as I’ve reviewed with him at night, my daughter asks, “What am I going to do?”
She wants to be just as involved in school as her brother. She can’t read yet so I can’t unleash …

When it comes to seeking words of wisdom or advice, we moms move in circles.
Case in point: When my son was born 8 years ago, a girlfriend recommended we try her pediatrician. He was closer to our house than the one we were seeing. Plus, my friend – a nurse – thought highly of her doctor.
Seven years later I still take my kids to her pediatrician.
Another time, the same friend, recommended I try a daycare center where her child’s Sunday school teacher worked.
I didn’t look elsewhere. My son and daughter …

Reading a bedtime story is routine in our home. However, also routine are the bedtime stories my kids hear.
When my son was born, I adopted a few favorites: “The little mouse, the big hungry bear and the red ripe strawberry,” a few Thomas the Tank Engine tomes and “Goodnight Moon.”
I read them so much that I memorized them.
My infant son heard these stories night after night. Then my daughter came along. It was just as easy to share with her the same stories.
As they’ve gotten older, we’ve broken up the …

My kids got their first tardy this morning. Hey, it’s October. That’s got to be a new record for us. I’m pretty sure we’ve hit this milestone, oh, the second week of school in the past.
I didn’t even have my baby to care for. At 7 a.m. I dropped her off at her aunt’s for the day.
But when I returned home, my children were still in their sleep clothes (read: yesterday’s outfits), my husband was putting his shoes on, and no one had made coffee!
I still had to shower, get …