I have a lot to do this week, and by Tuesday I was handling myself well — that was until MY DRYER CAUGHT FIRE! Then the anxiety of that minor and embarrassing emergency (two trucks, the chief and the fire inspector, along with the village police) seemed to ooze into the rest of my life. Are you like that? I am, especially when I am hormonal. My mother calls it “leaky emotions.” Anyway, I was starting to get worried about... Read more
I had a humbling mother moment today when I realized one of my kids was feeling really low. “You don’t tell me ‘Good Job’ very much and instead, I’m always getting in trouble” he mumbled through tears. Ouch. Was he being dramatic and irrational? Perhaps a little. But once I opened my ears, put down my defenses, and really listened, I realized this was my child crying out for some encouragement. Double ouch. He is the oldest child. He is... Read more
I am so excited to join the parenting conversation at The New York Times Motherlode blog. Do you make time for family dinner? Read what we do, and share your thoughts in the comments: parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/the-family-breakfast/ I am editing to add a link to a great website that I came across through the comments on that post, The Family Dinner Project. Check it out! I like the games and activities suggestions, we like to play games when we are waiting... Read more
I’m having so much fun learning how to french braid over here in our corner of the world, and thanks to my patient 4 year-old, I’m getting lots of practice! I’ll admit that my technique is still far from perfect, and I’m certainly not a natural, but it has been fun to learn something new and to see improvement with practice. When someone complimented Maria on her hair the other day, she told them, “Thanks, my mom did it... Read more
Double knife-wielding princess: Read more
Baby # 5 is arriving in the next couple of weeks… into our 3 small-bedroom house. She will occupy the nursery within a month of her birth. So as of this week, our current baby was ousted from the nursery at the ripe age of 14 months and officially graduated into the already-brimming “kids’ room”. I think we are entering military-style large family living (a la Yours, Mine and Ours), except without the uniformity. Notice the mismatched bedding that doesn’t fit... Read more
Just when you think you’re going to have a calm summer day with the children, there’s nothing like a little super-glue drama to spice things up. Yes, friends, I have spent the past hour scrubbing super glue off of the fingers of my right hand after an unfortunate malfunction while opening the tube. Only a few remnants remain. Thankfully, my fingers managed to remain unstuck from each other, otherwise I would probably be having a panic attack right now :)... Read more
Thirty two years ago, my first Olympics was boycotted. Twenty two years ago in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Ben Johnson tested positive for doping. My childhood admiration took a tumble as I realized honesty was not a given in life. Fourteen years ago, while immersed in my own running pursuits, I was enamored of greats like Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey at the Atlanta 1996 games. I was readying to enter my senior year in high school and complete my... Read more
My husband and I were discussing how we can incorporate fun learning and maybe some virtue and habit training into the exciting time surrounding the Olympics. We both love watching world class athletes compete and our kids do, too. We will keep track of medal counts for several countries as we have done in the past, but Mr. Incredible thought it would be a great opportunity to work on building good habits and virtues. So for each day the boys... Read more
“You have four kids?” “You homeschool them?” “Ohh, you must be so patient, I could neeevver do that.” This line of questioning, punctuated with the certain conclusion of my undoubted gifts as a mother has become a refrain in my life. I know the women who express their incredulity at my selfless nature in this manner are well-meaning, but I detest it. I am selfish. I fight it hard every day, every hour, I want to tell them. Rather than... Read more
Building Cathedrals
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