Growing Up

Mothering Through Grief During The Holidays As the holiday season approaches, I feel a sense of dread come over me. Seeing all of the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations fill the store shelves is not giving me the same excitement that it has in the past. And instead of excitement about Christmas, I feel anxiety. This year is different. You see, my mom passed away earlier this year so this will be my first holiday season without her. Grief is funny because I didn’t always spend the holidays with my mom, so that's not really what has me feeling down. In fact, since I moved away from my hometown and started my own family, we often choose to make memories in our...

My husband was on his way home with both our girls. I had just arrived home from work, and I began my daily routine of feeding pets and changing into my workout clothes. I sat on the sofa and put on my socks and shoes. I wonder if my bonus-daughter’s phone is in her room, randomly popped into my head. I have never snooped at her phone before, so this thought was new and definitely random for me. But my brain could not let go. Starting to stretch for my evening run, I kept marinating on the idea. So, I said a little prayer, asking God for His wisdom, and I felt an even stronger urge to put my secret...

4 Reasons To Give A Kid A Camera Last Christmas I was talking with some friends about Christmas gifts for our kids when one recommended a toddler camera. I loved the idea! I remember getting my first "real camera." It was a purple Minnie Mouse camera that used 110 film and needed flash cubes. I'm sure it could get costly to buy film, flash cubes and pay for processing. Then there was the wait the time to get those photos developed. While all of that is probably a foreign concept to some, the prevalence of digital cameras makes getting one for a toddler, preschooler or young child much more reasonable and accessible. My kiddo was 3 that Christmas and it seemed like...

Teal Pumpkin :: What It Means And Why It’s Important Halloween is a scary time for many families and children, but not because of ghosts and goblins, but because of peanuts and soy and dairy. For children with allergies Halloween can be a time fraught with danger and sadness. A candy and treat filled holiday is a minefield for parents of children with food allergies. Thankfully, the Teal Pumpkin Project was created to address this situation.  What it Means The idea behind the teal pumpkin is simple: it is a non-verbal signal to trick-or-treaters that you offer allergen free options like non-food trinkets. It allows children with severe allergies to participate in trick-or-treating without being “othered” and it offers some peace of...

Property Brothers :: Money, Mercy, and Monopoly Flashback to New Year’s Eve, 2021. That night, we stayed in as Covid cases had spiked and gifted us with the Omicron variant. I would eventually become well-acquainted with Omicron a few weeks later. But on this quiet and cozy evening playing board games, laughing, and enjoying the “Mini Sweet Tooth Buffet” I’d pulled together following a last-minute Target run, I looked around and felt better than I’d felt in months. I could have sworn I tasted a bit of sweet hope intermingled with the sour gummy worms. That night we played Monopoly as a family for the first time. It had been at least a decade since I’d opened the game, and pulling that...