Mom
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Is Your Parenting Style Hurting Your Child?
This post has been weighing on my heart for a long time…I’m talking years. This particular aspect of parenting keeps creeping into my life and then I get busy and forget about it, but it’s one that I think is important to discuss. Now, this post is mainly for parents, however, I know I have at least a few teen readers out there and I would love to get your perspective on this topic as well. Please don’t be shy! Leave me a comment with your thoughts so we can some more insight into whether or not this phenomenon actually exists and if it does, what we can do as…
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The Mom Machine
Growing up in a large family, our house was pretty much chaos 24/7. I think my mom liked it that way. If the house was too quiet she seemed uncomfortable. She slept with the television on just for background noise…come to think of it, the television was ALWAYS on, not because anyone was watching it but because Mom liked the noise. My mom did a lot for our family. She kept the crazy together if you know what I mean. Dad worked a ridiculous number of hours each week to provide for all of us and Mom kept the house running. It’s just how our family worked. Now that I…
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Baby, There Are Simply No Words…
I honestly don’t even know how or where to start this post. And for a writer, it is a rarity that I ever run out of things to say. Something has been weighing heavily on my heart, not just recently, but for the past 9 years actually. I’ve held it in. I’ve journaled. I’ve cried. And now I share it…with all of you. I had a son. His name was Brendan. He would have been 9 years old this September…actually, he wasn’t due until November. He was a vibrant baby…always kicking and rolling around. The kids were thrilled to be adding #8 to our beautiful family, especially Nathan. You see,…
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The Best Advice I Have Ever Given to My Teenage Daughter
Life is hard. Period. Sometimes things just suck. As a Christian, I believe that these times in our lives serve an important purpose: to draw us closer to God. Some think this is illogical. Why wouldn’t God make my life perfect with rainbows and unicorns if He loved me so much? My answer is that growth comes from adversity. You can’t grow into the person God has intended you to be without a few hard lessons, bumps and bruises along the way. You learn to ride a bike by falling off and scraping you knees just as you learn who you can trust and who you can’t by either having…
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The Hidden Power of PB&J
One of my absolute most favorite memories from being a kid starts with a simple, ordinary peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We didn’t have much growing up, but one thing we always had, by the grace of God, were three good, healthy, hearty meals every single day. My mom was a thrifty shopper, and back in the day grape jelly was the cheapest…so that’s what we ate, every single day. Lunch meat was a luxury that was saved for my dad’s lunches out of respect for the hard work he did to support our family and the fact that he was the head of the household. This is something that…
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Homeschool vs Public School
I am a former homeschool mom. I have been around the block a time or two on both sides of the Homeschool vs Public School debate. Making the choice about how your children receive their education is not an easy one these days. We have tons of options…homeschool, public school, virtual school. So sometimes it’s difficult to feel completely confident in your choices. Here’s our story… When it came time to start thinking about our oldest child starting school, I had mixed feelings about sending her to public school. I was concerned about the environment she would be in, from the bus ride to the classroom. I was concerned about…
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5 Tips For A Smoother Morning Routine
I’m a doer…I like to get things done. Kick butt and take names, yep…that’s me. But when it comes to mornings I’ll admit I totally suck…that is, unless I prepare! With 7 kids, 3 dogs, 2 cats, a husband and about 95 gazillion things going on at once, this girl has got to bring her A-game, especially if the family needs to be somewhere at a certain time. I pride myself in the fact that I simply cannot remember a time in our almost 17 year history of having children when we showed up late for something. It just doesn’t happen. I despise being late. It’s disrespectful. I follow…
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Let’s Talk About the A-Word
Let’s talk about the a-word for a moment. Accountability. We’ve all gotten up on a Monday morning and felt somewhat ambitious…”Today is the day I am going to reach all of my goals! After all, it’s Monday. And we all know the only day you can start anything new is Monday!” Out comes the Post-It notes and colored pens, dry erase boards to chart your progress…you even update your Facebook status to let the world know “Hey out there! Today I am going to reach all of my goals!” And then comes Tuesday. If you’re laughing right now or nodding your head in agreement, then you and I are in…
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I Caught Myself Doing It Again…
Yep, I caught myself doing it again…being a big, fat negative loser this morning. Let me bring you up to speed… So my 9 year old tells me at 6:10 this morning that, “Oh yeah Mom, our field trip got rescheduled for TODAY! I’m so excited…and we have to be to the bus depot by 7:30. Can I have a banana?” What the what? Now the race is on. It’s too late to have the 2 younger girls get ready fast enough to make the bus, plus I need to drop off cake pops for Teacher Appreciation day anyway…so I guess they are going to be late. Sigh…there goes my…
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Life With Balance
As a working mom, I often times find that my biggest struggle lies in finding a good balance in my life. I am a “people pleaser”, so it is important to me to make sure my clients are happy, my children eat home cooked meals and have help with their homework, and that my house is somewhat in order. With so many thing on my plate these days, I find myself in a juggling act of sorts…and I’m on the losing end! Something always suffers. If I put more time towards work, then I don’t get a workout in and most likely make poor food choices. If I take…
