One of my favorite places to walk to with our children is the Edeka Neukauf. This little store is part grocery, part drug store, part bottle shop, part clothing and stationary store. I like to think of it as my little Target. Aren’t the flowers lovely? Every year I buy a few for my windowsills [...]

A well worn brown leather wallet… Carried through 2 deployments… Inside are laminated photos from Seth’s 2 week leave last summer… Memories of little boys in super capes… Big brother pulling a wagon in our summer garden… A sleepy little girl in footie pajamas… What do you keep in your wallet to remind you of home? Do [...]

One of the wonderful things about having another adult in the house to share responsibilities is the slow and steady reappearance of more ‘free time’.  While Seth is deployed, much of my day is spent caring for our young children as well as the cooking, cleaning, and planning needed for running the household.  Free time [...]

Sometimes even brave super heros need a nap in Mommy and Daddy’s big safe bed. Do your children ever sneak into your bed at nap time? (Guess I won’t get any of that laundry folded today!) Sorry for all the brief posts recently – it’s been a very busy week! Not to worry, my camera [...]

Why are the male portion of our species seemingly hard wired to repeatably test the physics of gravity? Yeah… I have no idea either… What are the little boys in your life up to?

One of my children’s favorite things to do in the kitchen is grind coffee beans. They constantly stop to peek into the small metal chamber to see how many beans have disappeared inside. Watching them makes me thankful for such modern conveniences so often taken for granted. What is your favorite morning beverage? Do you [...]

So while executing “Operation Purge the Toys” over the weekend, I bargained with my children for good behavior by offering dinner with “special blue slushies” from Chilli’s.  Now let me just say, that one adult braving a public restaurant with three small children is not for the faint of heart.  But I was feeling confident that [...]

twinkle twinkle little lump… go to sleep, don’t be a grump… sleeping is what bedtimes for… shut your eyes, try not to snore… twinkle twinkle little lump… go to sleep don’t be a grump… Where are the most interesting places your children have taken a nap? How do you refresh yourself as a parent when [...]

Look who was helping me unpack the groceries today… How do you keep your children distracted while you bring in the groceries? I’ve found that by sitting them down with a snack, I can get most of the car unloaded without much ‘help’!

During long separations from my spouse, I try to plan one day of activities and then a quiet day at home to recover. This has worked very well for both our children to maintain a routine, and me to keep our household in order. During the past week, each day has had an activity or [...]