What My Daughter and I Love about Moana

Songs from the movie Moana have been bouncing around my head for months. Immediately after seeing it in November, my kids and I were watching songs on YouTube and then buying the soundtrack.

Letters from My Aunt

My great aunt passed away last month. I hadn’t seen her in years, but we remained connected through the mail. Yes, actual pen to paper cards and notes sent via the United States Postal Service. In a world where texts, tweets, and Facebook updates are more of the norm, I treasured the moments I opened the mailbox to find a brightly colored envelope addressed to me.

Digging in Dirt

My children love to be outside. My son learned to walk on the rocky, uneven hills of our woods, and my daughter scampers over rocks and boulders as easily as she can hop into bed. They much prefer to be outdoors than indoors, and on cold and rainy days, they stare longingly out the windows until I relent and release them back into the wild.

Tires Spin and Angels Sing

As I start to unwind from the chaotic fun of the holidays and perhaps collect my thoughts into some sort of cohesive piece of writing, I keep returning to thoughts of my mother.

A few days before Christmas, I was honored to have a brief piece I wrote about my mom published on Mothers Always Write:  Snow Angels. 

Snowed in with Kids and Cookies

It snowed and then rained, so we are delightfully stuck at home for the moment as the driveway and roads are still an icy mess. The ice will melt soon as the temperatures rise, but I am just enjoying a morning of having nowhere we need to go and nothing we really need to do.

25 Days of Christmas Fun

I’m going to be trying to do one different Christmas activity a day with my kids this month. I did something similar this summer by trying one new thing a day. (You can read about it HERE).  It was fun (and exhausting) to do something new each day with the kids, but it definitely made me be more present and enjoy just being with my kids.

The holidays can get a little overwhelming with all of the present buying and money spending, so I’m going to try to finish my shopping early and then keep it simple. My kids are 4 and 6, so it’s a fun age to do all of the little things that make the season so special.

Christmas Traditions and Mayhem

I love passing down family traditions to my children, especially around the holidays. I sometimes go a little crazy about wanting everything to be perfect and making sure everything stays the same from year to year. Logically, I know that traditions change and evolve over the years, but it is hard for me to let go.

The Joy of Jumping in Leaves

We live in a wooded area, and in the fall the leaves fall like raindrops. My children gleefully wait for it every year. As soon as it officially turns fall in September, they are anxious to get started on their favorite fall activity.

Music Therapy: A Lesson of Hope

Today, I am honored to have a piece published on The HerStories Project titled “The Healing Notes of Song.”  It’s an essay about my experience watching my sister recover from a brain hemorrhage when she was only 14. This experience changed my life in so many ways, including how I raise my own children.

While in the hospital, my sister participated in several music therapy sessions, which I was able to attend with her. The music was often mixed with a great deal of pain and sadness, but mostly there was hope. That hope still resonates with me today.

4 Signs That My Children Think I Work for Them

This afternoon I raked leaves into a pile, so my children could jump in them. As I sweated in the unusual November heat, I looked over at my son. He was sitting on a nearby rock eating a popsicle and watching me. When he saw me pause in my activity, he immediately gestured behind me and called, “Mom! You missed some!”

Some days, despite my implementation of chores and my animated lectures on responsibility, I feel like my two children think they are my little bosses, ordering me about here and there.