When my oldest was 6 months old, we did 10 hours of tornado disaster relief with her on my back. When my middle daughter was one, our family served other children in the community teaching them how to play soccer and fulfilling their every need. And now with my youngest, we regularly go grocery shopping…
Today it was a blue slushie. Yesterday it was the iPad. They’re things that my nearly 4-year-old daughter feels entitled to. She pleaded her case declaring that she ate “real food” and reminded me that she spent countless hours frolicking around the house and playing outside. Her righteous indignation came out demanding that she deserved…
Tall and skinny. Those were the words the doctor used to describe my picky eating child. He dropped to the 10th percentile for weight, and while he was still growing, it was concerning. The doctor glanced over in my direction, cocked her head to the side and reassured me with a variety of tips to…
From the back of the van I heard Jenn jabbering about a memory she had as we drove past a nearby park and wildlife reservation. “Daddy climbed this HUGE rock and then he let me climb a big one too!” It sparked memories of my husband explaining the adventures that the two of them had…
My whole world slowed down to a screeching halt and spun past me in slow motion as I screamed in sheer panic “WHERE ARE YOU JENN?!?!” I was in my own 900 square foot home and yet somehow could not find my 3-year-old daughter. Really. How does that even happen? The following minutes on the phone with…
Last week out family had plans that fell through and when we mentioned this to our 4-year-old happily declared “That’s ok. You don’t have to apologize to me. I understand.” I sat there in a little bit of disbelief, expecting to have to squash the meltdowns and fires that I just knew would burst onto the…
Scrolling through my social media feed I see angry people daily. Threats to “unfriend me if you believe in…”, “I will delete you if you…”, or “I just lost 20 friends because of my last post” and bright red emojis that look like they’re going to pop litter comments on every thread. But friends, aren’t…
Switching between 7 different news stations and rotating through trying to make what I could of the numbers, I stayed up until 3am watching the 2016 presidential election unfold in real time in some sort of twilight zone that no side predicted. Personally, I did not feel like I had a horse in this race,…
“… and the BIG Jenn bear stomps into the room. CRASH. BANG! BOOOOOMMMM!” I hear my husband say from the next room as my oldest giggles with sheer glee as she winds down for bed. They’re making up stories again and her little creative juices are flowing. I can only imagine what kinds of dreams…
Back when my sweet Emma was not quite 2, I found her in the kitchen mopping up pomegranate juice that she had spilled happily exclaiming “Pom Pom!” as she worked. I didn’t ask her to wipe up her mess, but it was important to her to get it fixed and cleaned. She had seen her…
Ninety-nine pennies. That’s all it costs per pound to have someone wash, dry, fold, and package my family’s laundry. It comes out to something like $8-10 per normal load, but frees up hours and hours of my time. Time I can now spend on my family and more important things in my life. It’s a…
Looking around the room, I see signs of 21st-century life that I could never have dreamed up as a kid. Things that could only found in sci-fi movies and futuristic literature. You know… because the internet wasn’t around when I was born. A phone in the palm of my hand. Touch-screen devices. Multiple laptops. A…