Every time I meet with my money guy, Ara, he makes me listen to an explanation of the risk level of my investments. It’s his job to determine if I’m feeling risk averse or if suddenly I’ve become a new person and want to roll the dice, invest with abandon. I always listen politely and…

Three and a half years ago I wrote about the pain of parenting, opting to keep the details of the medical decision private and write instead about the emotions I was experiencing. In the end, the decision was made to move forward with a disruptive but mostly pain free treatment for our daughter’s medical issue. A year…

This post is part of a sponsored post campaign. Compensation has been provided. As a mom of two digital natives, I’m constantly looking for digital media that will not only entertain my kids, but that will also meet our rigorous standards for what we’ll allow our kids to view. The number of digital learning tools…

If you were to go into the Drafts folder of this blog, you’d find the following: 1.   “The reality of day to day life, this challenge of just living, is nothing like what I expected. After ten years and two kids, I’m just now becoming the mom I had always hoped to be. I more often…

With over a month of the new school year already behind us, all of our children have surely by now reviewed their school’s safety plans with their teachers. They’ve sheltered in place, they’ve prepared for a tornado, and a staple of every school, they’ve reviewed their fire safety plans. But do your kids know what…

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.  Have you ever stopped to think about the power of a smile?  Over the last six years, I’ve traveled extensively for work, from Las Vegas to Orlando, Los Angeles to east Africa. Walking swiftly through airport after airport surrounded by busy…

Alison loved the color blue. She loved irises, her cat Tigger, writing, music, acting, dancing, Sylvia Plath, order and neatness. She loved soothing candles and homemade soup that she’d make with specific friends in mind to show them she cared. She tucked in her shirts. She wrote thank you notes on thick stationery. She tied…

I want all of you to meet Patrick. This sweet baby began his fight against cancer during his first year of life. As he approached his first birthday, his mother noticed a lump in Patrick’s belly. He was later diagnosed with Wilms’ Tumor, a rare form of cancer that strikes the youngest among us. I…

(This post was originally published 5/5/2011.) The first time I visited my husband’s home state of Texas, I was baffled by the roads running parallel to every major highway.  Imagine building two of the exact same road right next to each other, one with six lanes, one with two, one moving quickly, one not as…

(This post was originally published 4/19/2010) “…I try to draw the line but it ends up running down the middle of me most of the time.” – Ani DiFranco I grew up in a family that gave very little thought to how other people lived. Certainly we sat around summer picnics and shared all the…

This post was originally published 9/12/2009. Last week my dad handed me an interesting article he was reading about children and self-discipline. The basis of the article was new research showing that children can be taught self-discipline (is ‘taught self-discipline’ oxymoronic to anyone but me?). While I agree that parents can work with children to…

This post was originally published October 24, 2010. And you won’t believe where we’re going… A year ago I reviewed a book calledSpilt Milk, and while I enjoyed the entire book, there was one passage in particular that never left my heart.  Author Linda Vujnov writes: “‘All men are idiots, and I married the king…

This post is part of a sponsored campaign on behalf of Rack Room Shoes.  We’ve had a bit of shoe drama in our house over the last few months. Back in March we rescued a puppy from a foster home and quickly learned that her one vice is stealing shoes. Winnie doesn’t discriminate in her…

(originally published 8/1/13) When my grandfather died rather suddenly several years ago, I have to admit that I was heartbroken.  He never took me fishing or held my hand while telling me stories.  He hadn’t showered me in gifts or doted on me as some grandfathers do.  He was a man who smelled of motor…

Just like you, my Facebook newsfeed is filled with link after link asking me to watch a stunning (Really! You have to see it to believe it!) video or read about an amazing kid who can sing the National Anthem backward in five languages. I usually just scroll past them and instead stare at your…

This content is part of a sponsored campaign. I just took a long, hard look at my June calendar. With only a week of school remaining, I’m looking forward to leisurely starts to our days and afternoons at the pool. Unfortunately, getting through the next half a month is going to be an incredible challenge…

This school year has been trying. Yes, I know they’re all like that. I get it. But this one just seemed…soul killing. Between the dying cat who then became the dead cat, the endless snow days and historically frigid winter, the flooded basement that included a probably broken and certainly mangled foot, the pneumonia, the decision…

If we’re being honest, we all know that family vacations tend to include more than their fair share of stress. Add a couple overtired children to that stress, and what you’ve got is a recipe for parenting disaster. My husband and I have traveled to Walt Disney World Resort enough times now to be able to do so without…

Before we took our kids to Walt Disney World Resort for the first time in 2008, this is what I thought I knew about my children: My four-year-old daughter was quiet, intelligent, timid, sweet, and loved Disney princesses. My two-year-old son was brazen, a dare-devil, and I hoped he would someday get into college on a football…

This post has been sponsored. All opinions and strange food habits are my own. I am a creature of habit. In first grade I carried the same lunch in my yellow Cabbage Patch Kid lunchbox every day: a sandwich with American cheese and yellow mustard, a thermos full of apple juice. Various lunches cycled through…

I’ve experienced more Disney magic than is really fair for one person to enjoy. I was blessed to grow up in a family that sometimes had more than enough and was led by a father who believed those extras were gifts to be enjoyed, namely in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. At the tender age of…