Sometimes I find out that I really don’t want to know what my children are up to behind my back. Tonight I found out that my son is a little more hygenic than I’d prefer. How is that possible you say? Well read on.
Tonight I happened to walk in on my son in the bathroom, just as he was finished going “Number 1″. I’ve been married long enough to know that there’s always that little drop left that either gets flicked into the toilet or …

I’ll tell you what man, this is my week. Yep, this is it. The one I’ve been waiting for. Two separate, completely unrelated and costly pieces of my van fell apart within three days of each other. Half of my back decided to stop working. I practically knocked myself out when I opened the refrigerator door into my skull. I wore my underwear inside-out to work two different days. I’ve lost most of my verbal capacities due to “that time of the month”. …

I know, I haven’t written much lately. My life and my schedule have been through many changes lately, and it’s been so crazy that I have not even had time to write about how crazy it has been. But let’s put it this way, for the first time since I gave up my job to stay home with my kids I have begun to barely understand what a working mom must endure.
I’m taking on more hours at the preschool, bringing work home with me, keeping up on my son’s Kindergarten …

It’s one thing to spend a Labor Day weekend laboring, if that was the plan. But it’s quite another to spend your entire weekend just trying to keep your head above water, when you were really just trying to enjoy yourself and your family.This past weekend my little family and I headed up North with the rest of the valley. Now I’ve been feeling sinus-y this week, and I really wasn’t looking forward to it in the first place. I really really tried to talk my husband …

Do you ever feel like I do, that we are treated differently because of the various cars we drive? I don’t mean in the obvious fashion, like a red Ferrari who gets pulled over for speeding even when it’s standing still. No, I mean in much more subtle ways. I mean like how everyone on the road expects that my minivan will never reach 45 mph and they make sure to pass me as soon as they see me on the road.I think it’s the little sticker …

Here’s the thing about parents. We are not an elite group of highly trained, intelligent and experienced human beings that were hand-picked by someone important or official who knew what they were doing. We are merely very average, very confused and just as surprised as you are that we have such an awesome responsibility set before us each day.We did not have to take any classes for this job, nor did we have to fill out an application or prove our worth in any way. In fact …

The definition of “stand-up comedy”.

Jack came home from school today with an Accident Report. These reports generally contain things like:

“Incident: Scraped his knee on the playground.

Action taken: Cleaned and applied a band-aid.”

Jack’s report however went something like this:

“Incident: Jack was using the potty in Room A when he went to stand up. Apparently he then put his foot down right on his underwear. Grabbing his shorts, but not his underpants, he proceeded to yank his shorts high – while leaving his underwear still underneath his foot. …

My Great Aunt Darlene turned 80 years old this year.

Has she taken up knitting and grabbing the shuttle to Casino Arizona with her buddies? No, she has not. Instead she hopped on an international flight looking for adventure.

This spring Darlene spent 12 weeks in Costa Rica with a volunteer organization, living in a dorm with people 1/4 her age, teaching and loving less fortunate children.

I could go on and on about how proud I am to be related to such a strong, accomplished and sweet lady. But …

My 5-year-old son Nick is becoming a man under my nose. His behaviors have become such a mystery to me lately that I made a trip to Barnes and Noble in search of help. I came home with a book called “Raising a Son” by Don & Jeanne Elium.It reads a little bit like stereo instructions, but it has so far helped me to at least understand why he does some of the things he does, even if I haven’t been able to modify them yet. I’ve …

With small children in the house my entire day has been broken down into tiny increments.

“Time Out, Emma. Three minutes.”

“One more minute Jack and it’s Nick’s turn with the motorcycle.”

“Nick, you can play in the fort for three more minutes and then it’s Emma’s turn.”

“Mommy! Can you help me put on my princess dress?!” “Sure honey, just a minute.”

There are also larger increments at play, but sometimes these activities drag out so long over the period of a day that you feel as if you could watch …