Family and Parenting

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Shari's Berries regarding their Happiness Happens promotion. They offered to send me a free product to spark a post about happiness. I loved the sound of it, but because of my Eosinophilic Esophagitis there is literally not one thing on their website I could safely eat.However.I realized what would make me truly happy was picking out something David and Caroline would enjoy and surprising them with it. Folks, they have been through so much with me the past five years. If anyone deserves a little bit of … [Read more...] about Happiness Happens in Our House!

One of the oft-cited cardinal rules of having a strong family is eating together as a family. I agree with this in theory. I do think a lack of regular and meaningful family time is a significant problem in our culture. In our case, because we work from home and homeschool, we have the opportunity to basically eat three meals a day together, seven days a week. Sounds ideal, doesn't it?However, there's also reality.At one point, David and I realized that we would all be a lot happier if we dumped the idea of eating breakfast as a … [Read more...] about Why We Decided to Stop Eating Together as a Family

I received a one year subscription to Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability and Filtering in exchange for reviewing the service. All opinions and content are my own.We are heavy technology users. Between working from home, homeschooling, and having a daughter who learns best with technology, we utilize our laptops and Kindles a lot every day. I want to allow Caroline as much freedom to use technology as possible since it is a big part of her life, but I am also deeply committed to keeping her from destructive and harmful information online. … [Read more...] about Internet Accountability and Filtering with Covenant Eyes

Do Moms Need "Me Time"? was originally published March 9, 2009, on my previous blog to accompany a poll I had in the sidebar. I'm republishing it as is. I was tempted to edit it since I would word things differently now, but if I did the discussion that follows in the comments might not make as much sense. At the time, Caroline was two and a half years old. I will add my current thoughts about "me time" later in a new comment.I've seen different places around the internet that suggest that moms, especially Christian moms, don't need "me … [Read more...] about Do Moms Need “Me Time”?

We have two picky eaters in our home. My daughter is a picky eater. I'm the other one.Because I've always been very particular about food, it makes it much easier to accept my daughter's eating preferences. And she has had them from very early on. Raising a Picky Eater I remember one day when my in-laws were visiting  and Caroline was less than a year old. I had lined up four little bowls of various kinds of baby foods on the table, each with its own spoon. Caroline pointed to each one that she wanted, when she wanted it, and in the order … [Read more...] about Why I Don’t Micromanage My Picky Eater