Uplifting Relationship Resources

I was in the basement with my three-year-old today. We were searching for the box of brother’s hand-me-downs so he would have something to wear this summer. As we sorted, he spotted them – the Elmo Snow Boots he wore last winter. “I want my Elmo boots,” he said. I tried to explain that it [...]

Ah yes, Field Day. The annual end of the year phenomenon in American schools is the gym teacher’s equivalent of a spring concert. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and it’s time to get out and compete. Only, you know we don’t actually compete anymore. Today was my son’s very first Field Day [...]

I realize you may think this picture is horrible. You may think it is wonderful. I don’t know what I think about it, except I felt compelled to mark this news item when it came. I made my children watch the news. I explained the headlines and the word “Mastermind” to my six-year-old. I felt [...]

Because I write for a living, I get the chance to meet some interesting people. Recently, I got to talk with a 102-year-old man. He made the 94-year-old woman I also interviewed that day seem like a spring chicken. It is hard to comprehend that much life – more than a century. I am in my thirties. As [...]

I miss getting to walk into the post office on April 15th and commiserate with my fellow Americans… I got married. We combined finances… getting that last minute postal stamp was a ritual that bound us together as Americans…My dad used to bring out the convertible for the trip…It symbolized the shared pain of tax time…

There’s nothing to renew your marriage relationship like a little bit of time apart. My husband is a Navy Reservist and has to be gone for a couple of weeks a year for annual training. Usually, the boys and I are able to go visit or make it a part of our summer vacation plans, [...]

I think I’m going to have to give up going to parades. I know St. Patrick’s Day is this week and parades are certainly the mode of celebration for the holiday, but I am beginning to think they are not worth the effort. I actually LOVE the showcasing, the cheering, the waving, but I can’t [...]

This little stuffed Peep has been causing great consternation in my house lately. Yes. It is a stuffed remnant of an Easter Basket from several years ago. It has not been seen for months, if not longer. But a couple of days ago, the little one randomly picked it out of the stuffed animal box, [...]

Mom too busy…make a plan. “The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.” …is just a matter of perspective…My newest kick is a cleaning plan. I make a list of all the regular household chores. I assign them daily, weekly…my husband’s first response to my new plan was, “Oh, I can do that.”…

Shortly after my sons and I returned from a friend’s house, I saw them playing with some loose change in the living room. I asked where he got it. “Oh no,” my mother instinct instantly filled in the blanks of this question… and I thought what do you do when your child takes money?

A Mom’s New Years 2011 – These are not my party years, but they ARE something that can be much better. Christmas day is done and New Year 2011 is right around the corner. Last night on the local news, the 20-something anchor (who is looking a lot less like a scared cat with her [...]

Why do we persist in telling our children that they have to be “Good” to have a Merry Christmas? It doesn’t work at my house. Does it at yours? The newest bit of this phenomenon for Christmas 2010 is the “Elf on a Shelf.” There’s a little stuffed elf doll in the box that you [...]

“Making life special is one of the gifts of Christmas, not one of the chores…it falls on Mom’s shoulders to make everything work…it’s really Mom who does all the buying, all the cooking, all the mailing, all the planning and all the thinking…”

Oh, Christmas tree you’ve got to be kidding me!  Ode to the power of advertising – It sent our family this Saturday off across the highways and byways to the Christmas Tree farm my son saw in a TV commercial. While he was quite pleased with the experience, the Christmas Trees at this farm really [...]

I thought it would be a nice treat on a day off school – a trip to the bowling alley. My little one’s pre-school teacher had given us passes for a free game. So, I thought I would finally give in to the pleading of both children to enter the bowling alley. Usually, I make [...]