School programs.  If you have school-aged children, you have been to at least one of these.  If your child has been in school for several years, you have been to a countless number of these.  Still, parents seem to not understand the rules of a school program.  Apparently all politeness goes out in the window with the parents' goal of seeing their child.  Because they are the only child in the program.  At least that is the impression that some parents give.  There are rules, unspoken ones…

You've lived there.  You know, next to "The Joneses."  The place where you are always trying to keep up with them and in some cases compete and surpass them.  I've lived there.  No, really, right next to them, our neighbors were actually Mr. and Mrs. Jones.  And we kept up with them.  Then we moved...continue

One word,  There is one word that makes parents (mostly mothers) everywhere cringe.  It sets my teeth on edge, makes my blood pressure rise, and ignites my temper.  A word that is innocently said everyday everywhere, but when said "that way" in "that tone" the meaning changes entirely.



A few days ago I was having a conversation with my third grader.  When we were done, I asked her to clean up her room.  That's when I heard it.  When that awful, eye-rolling, word that I would expect…

Today is the first day of spring.  However, because of our mild winter, it has felt like spring since February.  So since the weather has been conducive, I have taken the kids to the park, as have a lot of other mothers.  And they have taken their iPhones, iPads, or some other technology to the park.  Before I get started, let me point out that I have no problem with mothers having their phones at the park, I have mine there too.  What I have a problem with is the fact that some mothers stop…

Once upon a time in a life far, far away, there was this thing called a social life.  A thing where you actually did things with other people, where responsibilities were forgotten and fun was had, where there were plans every weekend with friends.  Yes, friends.  You know what those are.  If you have forgetten, look at Facebook, I"m sure you have a list of your closest 500.

Friends.  That one word is used to describe the people we have been trying to surround ourselves with since the…

Lately there have been a lot of blog posts written about how people have changed since they have become a parent, and how they shouldn't judge anyone.  I agree, but I think we need to go a step further.  I'm tired of the "one-upping" on how tired people are or how busy they are or how they are super mom and still have energy left over.  Seriously, it is becoming a problem amongst moms and I don't think anyone even realizes what…

There is something that I have been preaching and teaching about since I was in middle school (back then we called it junior high).  It has always been one of the most important things that a female of any age should know.  I have now passed the knowledge on to my oldest daughter.  She now knows about...um...continue

There is an epidemic sweeping through the homes of families all around the world.  Very few homes are safe from this epidemic, and there is no cure.  It begins relatively small, with only a few symptoms, and then escalates to the point of no return.  Wives everywhere are continue

I don't run.  It's not that I can't, I just don't.  I don't like it.  I never have and I never will.  Plus I've got excuses.  I have a 1 year old that can't stand staying in a stroller for very long (nevermind that she stayed in her stroller for 4 hours yesterday while I was shopping at the mall, but that was different).  I also have bad knees (one of my knee caps got chipped in an accident on some ice back in college) and bad ankles.  Oh, and I don't like to run.  So running is out.  I know…

I know, I know, who has time to clean their house every single day?  I don't, and I don't expect anyone else to either.  However, it is nice for your house to be "presentable" even if it isn't immaculate.  I struggle with this everyday.  I have three kids (1 yr, 6 yrs, and 8 yrs) and I am a stay-at-home-mom; so no matter what the expectation is of me, I feel as if my home must at least be "presentable" (you never know when the neigbors, neighborhood kids, or unexpected guest will show up at…

I have never had a problem with cleaning out my children's rooms.  I have never had a problem with putting things away that they had outgrown.  Whether it was toys or clothes, I had not one problem with putting it away.  Until now.  Continue

You know the scenario.  Balloons, cake, your kid waiting in anticipation on their friends to get to their birthday party.  You assume, as most rational people would, that because hardly anyone "regretted" the birthday party invitation that just about everyone is going to show up for your child's birthday party.  Your child is super excited and can't wait.  Then three kids show up out of about twenty.  Your child doesn't understand why the rest of their friends aren't there because…

On my blog, I have a page dedicated to food.  I love food.  I hate spending a ton of money.  On this page I have inexpensive recipes with the breakdown of how much it costs.  Come check it out.  My latest post is Blueberry Breakfast Cake  Click here to view the yummy recipes!

It happened to us.  I never thought it would.  We had escaped it so many times.  But then last Tuesday when I answered my cell phone, I heard the words I did not want to hear.  Especially right then.  I was not at home and I had so much to do with no time to get it done.  And just like that, all of my plans for the week were stopped.  Everything I had planned just went out of the window.  Everything that I was going to get done and be ahead of the game for once.  All of that, all of those…

We had to come up with a project for my kindergartner for her 100th day of school.  The only requirements for the project was that it had to have 100 items.  Since my 6 year old is a self-proclaimed "hungry, hungry, candy-eating machine," we decided to "grow" a sucker plant.  Here is how we did this:...click here to read and see the steps to this project...

We all do it.  I know that I am guilty of this.  We all do things that we don't want our kids to do.  We all have TV shows that we watch that there is no way we would ever want our kids watching.  We all say things that we would never want our kids to repeat (and no, I'm not talking about cussing).  If we don't want our kids to do them, then why do we do these things in front of them?  They want to be just like us, they learn from us.  Yet the lesson we are teaching for some things is "Do as…

from "Rediscovering Our Family" blog

It's time for the Reading Fair at my third grader's school.  I would like to be blase about this, but I have to face it, I just can't be.  Reading fairs, science fairs, social study fairs, all school fairs bring out the worst mom competitions because let's be honest, do the 8 year olds really care that much about their project?  No, but we do.  Well, some of us…

It's the new year and my house is still not cleaned, my closet is still a mess, my resolutions are not written, and my energy is on vacation.  I had grandioise ideas about how my new year would start out: I would have a clean, organized house with a place for everything and everything in it's place.  Then I woke up and realized that I live in my house.....Click here to keep…

This morning has been a hodge-podge of feelings.  When I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror, I did a double take.  I looked so tired from being up during the night with our 17-month-old that I looked older than my age.  Let's put it this way, there isn't enough coffee in the world to take those "tired-lines" away that were on my face this morning.  Maybe Botox is in my future (never say never).  After getting the older kids off to school this morning, the youngest one finally…

When I was a kid, we didn't have computers or cell phones or iPads.  We had

video games, but I wasn't allowed to play them.  When I was a kid we played with

toys, real toys, not electronics.  I realize that times are changing, but I

think that we, as a nation, are trying to make our kids more like little adults

rather than letting them be kids. 



I was in Wal-Mart the other day

buying a Barbie for my daughter's birthday; she was turning six years old.  As I…