Family Briefs

Instead of going to see the Parade of Costumes at my children’s preschool this morning, I opted for a trip to KMart (considering we were completely out of detergent, the laundry seemed more important at the time).

Now, I really prefer Target - it’s a good fit for my taste in decor. However, I usually leave there feeling deprived or poor. But when I go to KMart, I’m usually pleasantly surprised by some hidden deal somewhere in the store.

As I was looking for the blue-light specials, I stumbled across back-packs on sale. REALLY on sale! Since I have one that will be starting kindergarten next year, I bought him a back-pack. It was originally $24.99, marked on sale for $10. Seems like a good deal, until I got to the register. IT WAS ONLY FIVE DOLLARS! That’s a GREAT deal!!!!!

I’m sure with Christmas fast-approaching, you haven’t been planning for next fall. Take my advice and head over to KMart and buy a back-pack. You’ll be all set for school next year (as long as you remember where you put it ).

For lots of great family blogginess, head over to the Carnival of Family Life at LittleLegends.Biz

My husband, who I never would have expected to don a costume for a party, suggested that we go dressed up as a family to a Halloween party we were invited to attend last Friday. Not dressed up as a family, mind you, but all of the family dressed in some kind of coordinating costumes. He, of course, mentioned this Friday afternoon about 3 hours before the party was to begin.

Google saved him from my strangle-hold . After {hours and hours} about 30 minutes of research, I came up with Read the rest of this entry »

Being the good southerner that I am, I can’t resist a true southern event! Obviously, as the title implies, the Fall Y’all Giveaway is not an event to miss!

I’ve been doing cross stitch for years and years, and just recently I started making personalized bibs for baby shower gifts. I should have been making pictures of them all along, but I do have a picture of the one I completed most recently. Read the rest of this entry »

I usually post my menus for the previous week - that means I only pass along the really good recipes (or at least I can forewarn you if something is hard to make or doesn’t turn out very well).A few weeks ago, Laura was sick and I didn’t bother checking back to see if she got well and posted that week. I never linked that week’s menu with Mr. Linky. So I just linked to that menu last week (are you with me so far?). Technically now, I’m two weeks off (which feels like the story of my life in so many aspects ).

We’re going to fast forward to the current week, however, so I can share one of my favorite traditional Halloween meals Read the rest of this entry »

I have four children. I have two eyes. I need AT LEAST two more to keep up with all of them. Really if I had my way, I’d have at least FOUR more eyes. You know, just so I could drive safely. Or maybe I could burn cook supper and keep them from bouncing the exercise ball off the television in the living room. Maybe I could even get some computer work done while I made sure no one decided to explore one of the many piles of dog poop in the yard.

Better yet, I could fix my 3-year-olds’ hair without her younger sister sticking Read the rest of this entry »

If you have more than one child, and your oldest child happens to be in a school that has a car line, and you have to take the younger siblings with you to go pick up said older sibling, and the younger siblings whine and complain about how long the car line is EVERY.SINGLE.DAY, then this tip might be for you. Of course, there may be other applications, so read along just to humor me .

I think I’ve mentioned that my oldest really had Read the rest of this entry »

My husband left town Thursday afternoon for a backpacking excursion with a boy scout troop. He just thought he was going to be roughing it - I was the one stuck here with all four children (3 of them with colds)! That’s roughing it!

Given the difficulty score I’d give our long weekend Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always done well with reading to my children, well at least as part of our bedtime routine. Even when my oldest (an elderly 7) insisted he could read to himself, we chose to read to him anyway. It’s great quality time, but it also continues to expand his listening vocabulary (I learned that great jargon from this guy).

A few weeks ago, I read Ramona The Brave (by Beverly Cleary) to him. I enjoyed it almost as much as he did. I started to Read the rest of this entry »

In one of my favorite commercials, a guy is walking through his new home turning on all the lights while making a phone call. He is apparently talking to his mom and says that he just wanted her to know that every light in the house on. He then walks out onto his front porch, leaving the front door open behind him and says, “Oh yeah, and tell Dad I’m air conditioning the whole neighborhood.”

I loved that first sense of freedom - of making my own choices and rules - when breaking out on my own. Somehow I developed a different mindset with children. It means something to Read the rest of this entry »

Every parent struggles with getting in that quality one-on-one time with each of our children - feeling guilty if we fail, especially if the child’s behavior is reflective of what we perceive is our neglect of them.

I keep stumbling across articles about the Read the rest of this entry »