Your bags are packed. Your ‘How to Keep the Kids Alive While I’m Gone’ speech has been delivered. Your anxiety is building, but your excitement is building faster. You step out into the cool morning air, coffee in hand, and slip into your Uber. You’re headed out on a rare solo mission. And not the ‘Grocery Store By Myself’ kind of mission. An extended travel mission. It may be for work; it may be for play. But either way, it’s quite the rush. Why? Because today, my friend, you’re the Kid-Free Traveling Parent. And it goes without saying that your senses are ablaze with delight. First up? The tantalizing taste of alone time. It initially hits your lips on that quiet ride to the airport. You know, the one that’s devoid of any milk-begging, potty-needing or ad nauseum question-asking. The str...
This 34-second video has been featured by People, The Huffington Post, and it has gone viral on social media, with over 3.2 million views on Facebook alone. So what makes it so compelling? Moms everywhere can relate! Because sometimes we just want to hide in the pantry and eat a treat. The parents of quadruplets, Ashley and Tyson Gardner initially didn’t know if they would be able to have children. But, after in vitro fertilization, the Gardners suddenly found themselves expecting four children and it’s been a wild ride ever since. And yes, “they’re always there.”
Kristina Kuzmic has some seriously awesome ideas for keeping your marriage fun. I particularly love their first date idea because sometimes, don’t you just miss those butterflies?
During the holiday rush, I was asked what I have against shopping malls. “What are you, some kind of commie?” “You have something against capitalism?!” “Don’t you know that malls are what make the world go round?!” My answers: 1) Stay on topic 2) Sort of, but we’re talking about my aversion to MALLS 3) Isn’t that taught in seventh grade science? So let’s examine my mall issues, shall we? I’m not against buying/selling/trading or eating greasy hot dogs on a stick for that matter. Sure, I prefer to buy my Steve Madden platforms online, but that’s just laziness, not fear. Malls are fine. Overpriced, but fine. I don’t even mind the occasional “Excuse me but would you like to sign up for Cricket and receive a fr...
With the chocolate money festival (Hanukkah) upon us, it is time to reminisce about growing up in northern Jew Jersey. Back in the 70’s Hanukkah was a burgeoning holiday for jealous Jewish children begging their parents for presents. My father reiterated time and again how Hanukkah was not traditionally a gift giving holiday and the rise in commercialism was merely a competition against Christmas in which our family would not participate. I took that to mean he was cheap. One night when I was in fourth grade, my father mumbled a prayer in what I believed to be fake Hebrew over the electric menorah in our kitchen. He then handed me a small wrapped present. My nagging and crying about being a deprived Jewish child had paid off! My first Rubix cube w...
Micah and Whitney Slade’s family first created a video Christmas card in 2011 and received more than 92,000 views on YouTube. This fun family tradition has continued for six years and videos have included food fights and an underwater music video. But the Slade family has taken it one step further and they have added an element of service for someone in need. This year, they are giving away a 2016 Nissan Versa could go to someone you love. http://www.sladechristmasvideo.com Check-out their darling videos from years past. 2015 2012 2011
I don’t want to imagine what filming a Christmas video in one take would look like but guaranteed, it wouldn’t be anything like this. The Holderness Family of “Xmas Jammies” acclaim is back again with a super fun recap of 2016: The good, the bad and the ugly!
A couple of weeks ago, I had one doozy of a meltdown. I usually thrive on change and being pushed beyond my comfort zone but the feelings of being overwhelmed have been building for months. Factor in a move, a new job while juggling the old one, missing friends, financial stress, finishing two rooms in our basement, the holidays, and a to-do list a mile long with no time to go outside and play….something was gonna give and it was my sanity. The straw that broke the camel’s back was over milk…and it wasn’t even spilled. A certain insubordinate tween called me lazy when I asked her to get the milk at dinner after I’d spent 10 hours working and then fixing our meal. After I stormed out, my sweet son suggested to my husband they clean up because t...
While driving home from a party one night, my husband asked me if I was happy with our relationship (we’re newlyweds so we still ask about this from time to time). I said yes and asked him the same question. He replied, “Yes, I’m just not used to all the belching, farting and drama.” I thought that would make a really honest anniversary card. To my darling wife, You are the light of my life. I love you so much and I’m so happy we are married. I’m just not used to all the belching, farting and drama. Love, Your dearest husband. It kind of threw me though, that he thought there was a lot of drama attached to being with me and my daughter. After 8 of years of being a mom, the level of drama was normal for me. I wouldn’t even call it drama...
Hello Formerly-Well-Rested-Humans-Turned-Parental-Zombies, I’m one of you. In fact, at this very moment I’m writing to you from the depths of sleep-deprived parenting pandemonium… otherwise known as “sleep training.” For the purposes of this post, I am defining “sleep training” as the super-fun process of teaching my kiddos how to fall asleep on their own AND soothe themselves back to sleep when they awaken between sleep cycles. Pause. What ever happened to the days when the term “training” meant nothing more than hitting the gym (like a boss)? My oh my, how the mighty fall. But yes, here I am: incredibly blessed to be the mom of two amazing little hooligans (23 months and 4 months… #twoundertwoCHYEAH). And perhaps only borderline blessed to currently be in the thick of teachin...
It’s that time of year again when kids trick-or-treat their little hearts out and parents pretend to steal their candy, all in the name of getting a few laughs on Jimmy Kimmel. When given the bad news, there are tantrums, there is violence, and there are a few forgiving sweetie pies that are completely endearing. It was also the first year Kimmel roped his 2-year-old daughter Jane into the prank but she didn’t bite. Mostly. Just wait until next year.
My family was recently chuckling about an overnight stay at The Curtis-a DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Denver a few years ago where each of their 16 floors is dedicated to a different theme. Their 13th floor is “horror” and for Halloween they converted in into a veritable haunted house with a haunted elevator ride, hallways dripping with cobwebs, staffers dressed up in creepy costumes like a clown and Freddie Krueger, and redrum “murder” scrawled across our bathroom mirror with spiders and bugs all over the sink. One of the rooms had a bar with a creepy lady serving up treats and shots…in the head. Sounds scary? It might have been for young kids but we had so much fun interacting with the playful characters that we spent our entire evening laughing! I&...