When I was a kid, my girlfriends and I had hilarious slumber parties.  We had “Miss Slumber Party” contests.  For weeks, we prepared and refined our “personas” with the hope that we would be robed with a sleeping bag, crowned with a pillow, and sent strolling through the living room as the victor.  I’m not […]

A few weeks ago, I took the kids to see the eye doctor.   Other than the trip I made to the pediatric ophthalmologist with Riley when she was three, this was our first circus-wide “grand adventure” with the eye doctor. First, you should know that the pediatric ophthalmologist we saw when Riley was three was […]

I have been touched by the story of Jason McElwain for quite some time, but in light of our current adventure with Riley, it’s taken on an even greater significance.  Even though I’ve watched several different versions of this video, every time I see it, I am moved to tears.  The thing that touches me […]

Mom and Dad have always said, “Toys are really more for parents than for children.”  What they mean is that children don’t need expensive toys to have fun; it’s parents who think buttons, gadgets, and electronic wonders will bring happiness to their kids.  Thinking back on my own childhood, that was certainly true.  I grew […]

I love Carolina snows.  I used to think we were all pretty pathetic, hanging out of our windows catching the snowflakes on our hands even for just a flurry.  A few years ago, it took me 3 hours to get home from picking Riley up from school on a snow day (the school was about […]

Our sweet Adam had dental surgery today.  He’s not completely a stranger to the hospital; all the short little beds and nurses with cartoon characters on their scrubs took me back to December of 2004, when Adam was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.  Back then, he had to sleep in this sterile metal crib (that looked […]

It is my blessing to watch Adam change every day.  He is so funny.  Every time someone calls me on the phone and he thinks that I am not paying attention, he sneaks away and tries to find some trouble.  One day last week, I hung up the phone and found him throwing a stuffed […]

Over track out, my kids are learning how to help out around the house.  I don’t know if it’s me, my situation, or just the way parenting happens (Is it an illusion that some of you are just way more “on point” than me?), but most things just suddenly hit me and I think, “Wow. […]

Riley is passionately in love with schedules.  If you ask Riley what is happening on any random date on her calendar, she will recite every single one of life’s details that may be written there and even some that you may not have known she plans to have written there as soon as possible.  Of […]

I think it was my mom who first introduced me to the descriptive phrase that so aptly describes this time of day in almost every household with children.  She calls it “the witching hour.”  When Riley was a baby, I spent 5 o’clock standing at the sink in the kitchen, singing Dock of the Bay, […]