As the weather has warmed up outside, I have noticed more children and teenagers in my neighborhood outside playing and riding their bikes, scooters, or skateboards.  I have noticed that the children in our neighborhood think that they own the road and aren’t always paying attention to traffic around them.  Sometimes they will even continue riding in the middle of…

One of the best ways to develop relationships and build confidence is to have fun together as a family.  I just discovered there is a month long celebration aimed at that very thing, strengthening families and building healthy, confident kids.  National Family Month is exactly what it sounds like, a celebration of family.   It runs annually from Mother's Day to Father's Day. 

An easy way to have fun with your kids is to remember what you enjoyed when you were their age and then do it…

Parents/primary caregivers are the most important advocate for their children in all areas of their development, including social-emotional.  May is Mental Health Awareness month.     Children as young as newborns can have social-emotional issues.  Research shows, behavior problems that surface in early childhood are the single best predictor for several long-term outcomes, such as adolescent delinquency, gang involvement, incarceration, substance abuse, divorce, unemployment (Center for…

“Do you have kids?“

I can not emphasize enough, how many times I have been a target of this question. I understand where people are coming from, I do. Here is this young women, that doesn’t even have kids, telling me what to do with mine? Believe me, I can see where you are coming from. I told people many times I did not have kids. At some point, tired of the question, I never lied about having kids, but spoke in a fashion that made it seem like I did: “Well, what we…

Mother’s Day is May 12^th, that is a week from this Sunday.  There are likely to be lots of articles to suggest ways to honor your mom or help your children honor their mom.  I would like to take a different approach and speak to moms directly.  Give yourself permission to pat yourself on the back and to take a break.  Parenting is both the toughest and most rewarding job in the world.  This is a good time to remind moms (fathers too) that you have to fill your own bucket before…

Originally posted on my blog Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/03/trip-to-aquarium.html

Yesterday, we visited the Dallas World Aquarium.  There are actually two aquariums in the DFW metroplex and I've never been to the other one but I've heard that this one is much better and we try to go around this time at least once a year.  The girls had a really great time and so…

Originally posted on my blog Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-little-life-back-in-independent-mommy.html

As my girls grow older, they play together more.  They also fight and argue more but from time to time, I notice I get about a ten minute stretch  when I can actually finish a task without being interrupted or having to stop to go see…

I have a little shadow; her name is Violet. She follows me around and gets upset if I leave anywhere without her. She constantly follows me around to inquire whether she could come with me, whether we are having plans to go out or not. Except of work, I hardly ever leave the house without her, but still, she needs the constant reassurance that we would not leave her behind. Richards joked at some point that she might have been abandoned in a past life. However, we're also very worried about…

Originally posted on my blog, "Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!"

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/03/lucy-wears-many-hats.html

Lucy Wears Many Hats!

Originally posted on my blog, "Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!"

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/03/t-ball-or-bust.html

Imma had her first t-ball/softball practice yesterday and it went about as well as I had expected--which wasn't very well at all--but then, we did it and survived and now we can look forward to doing it again on Saturday.

For one thing, it was pretty cold and windy…

Originally posted on my blog, "Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!"

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/03/imma-doesnt-like-paparazzi.html

Please follow the link above to watch the video. :)

Brian is out of town for a few days. I wanted him to see what Imma does when she brings in her lunchbox every afternoon at 12:00.  She usually just throws it in the room and yells, "Here's your lunchbox,…

Originally posted on my blog, "Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!"

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/03/pictures-from-our-excursion.html

We had a good time at Water-Owl and here are the pics to prove it!…

As NEDAwareness week wraps up, I’d like to leave you with one last post.    *Note: I do plan to add other posts pertaining to this subject well after this week is over ;)

There is a lot of attention on the current childhood obesity epidemic that seems to not only over shadow another epidemic, but fuel it…

Originally posted on my blog, "Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!"

http://immajane.blogspot.com/2013/02/5-things-i-love-about-taking-my.html

I am one of the few blessed individuals who are able to take their daughter to work with them everyday.  One of the reasons I decided not to be a stay-at-home mom was because I wanted to make sure I was still a teacher when my children were old enough…

Originally posted on February 18th, 2013 on behismother.wordpress.com