My 10 year-old daughter Tessa, her brother Reed and I are watching Soul Surfer, a DVD that Tessa picked out from the local Redbox with Daddy while Mommy was out of town. They’ve already watched it but we see it again together.
It’s a feel-good movie with heartwarming moments of triumph over adversity and portrayal of [...]

One of the many upsides of having a large family is we have enough people for our own in-house fantasy football league. There are 10 of us, so we fill out our brackets nicely and split into 2 neat divisions.
One of the downsides of having a family fantasy football league is when the 13-month-old’s team [...]

A recent study determined that marriages are happiest when the wife is thinner and better looking than the husband, which is why I am doing my best to be as fat and ugly as possible.
Wife: Why are you having a second chocolate sundae?
Me: Because I want you to be happy.
I guess what happens in relationships [...]

It seems like for the past few months, I’ve been asking myself over and over, “Were certain things in life always this aggravating? Are people getting more exasperating or am I just getting older and more crotchety?” And, lately, I’m usually asking myself that question while I’m at the grocery store.

Two years ago, my daughter Hadley and our family were delighted to walk the parade route of the Arvada Harvest Festival with Arvada West High School’s cheerleaders. She was one of many kindergarteners from six elementary schools that feed into the high school who took part in this local tradition.
We looked forward to doing [...]

On Friday, my 7-year-old daughter did not come home on the bus as expected.
In a frenzy, I tore over to her school and was terrified when the staff was unable to locate her. “Haddie’s teacher said she got on a bus but we’re not sure which one,” they assured me.
As I was conjuring up [...]

Friday was our back-to-school night. For the first time, my kids will be at the same school: my daughter is entering second grade and my son is in kindergarten.
Before you start congratulating me that I have “arrived,” kindergarten is for a measly 2.5 hours, a mere drop in the bucket in the downpour of motherhood.
What [...]

The best thing about riding around in a 27-foot-long hot dog is watching people burst into full smiles and wild waves as it rolls by. Our family was granted this rare and wonderful experience last week when the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile arrived in Denver.
All week, I kept the visit a secret. Thursday night was the [...]

If there is one thing I despise about back-to-school, it’s the shopping.
Now, let me be upfront here: If it isn’t Costco or Target and ends in ________ mall, I generally have to be dragged in kicking and screaming. For this reason, I left my kids’ school supply shopping until just a few days prior to [...]

What would you do if you wanted to be able to show your face in your favorite place again?