Spring break wraps up today. Tomorrow it’s back to school; much to my second grader’s chagrin. After nearly two weeks of vacation all I can say is… I’m not prepared for June. Spring break gave us a taste of summer and now I know why area day camps filled up in February. As in the second month of 2012, nearly a half-year away from the start of summer vacation. Parents around here don’t fool around when it comes to getting rid of their kids when school is out. I mean immersing their children in valuable summer enrichment programs designed to … Continue reading →

On the tenth day of spring break my second grader gave to me… a heart attack when she climbed our neighbor’s Lebanon Cedar tree. Sing it now. On the eleventh day of spring break my second grader gave to me… If your child’s school spring break is pushing the limits on your sanity, then consider the following activities: Spring Blooms: Get out and enjoy the fabulous spring weather by having your child collect a variety of blossoms. Look for daisies, roses or lilacs which can be pressed in between heavy books for a few days. When the flowers are flat … Continue reading →

Day One of spring break and the living is easy. Day Two of spring break and the excitement of being out of school is still fresh. Day Three of spring break and the Easter sugar high is waning. Day Seven of spring break and mommy is ready to carpool… solo. Where are you on the spring break scale? My daughter’s Catholic elementary school breaks for nearly two weeks around the Easter holiday. This is great if you are traveling to Hawaii; not so much if you are stuck home for the entire school recess. If you are looking to preserve … Continue reading →

If your family participated in World Wildlife’s Earth Hour tonight, then your children might have thought that April Fools’ came a day early. No lights for an entire 3,600 seconds can be a nasty prank to spring on a kid. It’s even nastier if you cut-off all electronic devices… but you might want to save that one for tomorrow. April Fools’ Day is just a few hours away, and if you don’t want to go with the no electronics prank, then consider punking your offspring with the following harmless jokes: Bed Swap: If you have multiple children at home, wait … Continue reading →

If someone told me that I’d be dragging a water table outside for my swimsuit clad kid to play with on March 18th I would have likely thought he or she was still wasted from St. Patrick’s Day. After all, we live in the Frozen Tundra that is northern Wisconsin, where it snows in June. Experiencing 80-degree temps in March is beyond the luck of the Irish; it’s downright dreamy. And by dreamy I mean hello global warming, where have you been all my life? Our neighbor flew to Los Angeles early this morning only to find that the southern … Continue reading →

Yesterday afternoon I picked up my daughter from school and informed her that her babysitter would be coming over in a couple of hours so we needed to do her homework right away. She was thrilled! She said, “She is the best girl in the whole world.” My son had been exclaiming how he couldn’t wait to show her his new toy all day long. My husband was thrilled because he was going to have his wife for a few hours all to himself. Me? I was exhausted from cleaning the house all day long in preparation for the big … Continue reading →

I love my children. I must say this 100 times a day. No matter what day it is, there’s some sort of yelling between them, getting hurt, or just doing things that make my heart skip a beat. They are children, after all. That is what children do. However, it drives me nuts. Some days I have no idea how I will get through it without having a nervous breakdown. Often times, I lose my cool and yell, “Can you please just stop.” It doesn’t do much. They get stunned because I don’t normally yell but then they shrug their … Continue reading →

That’s the view from my kitchen window. Okay, not really. Minus the whale and it comes pretty darn close. Winter in Wisconsin. Enough said. Still, weather experts keep harping on the fact that we’ve had a mild winter thus far. Of course, our neck of the woods often experiences wind chills in the -20 to -30 degree range (take note of the minus signs), so I suppose single digits, teens and 20s above zero is a virtual heat wave. But, I’m from Hawaii, so everything is relative. Regardless, when you have kids, winter can be a real drag even if … Continue reading →

A few years ago my 9-year-old cousin fell out of a tree and broke his arm. Turns out the reason he was climbing the tree was because my aunt felt it was too dangerous for him to bike over to a local park to meet up with a bunch of his buddies. Rather, she felt it would be safer for him to play in their backyard where she could keep an eye on him. About 45 minutes after she made the call to have him stay home she was dialing 911. Irony. Oh, what a bitter pill to swallow… especially … Continue reading →

Have you heard of the “Twinkie diet”? I hadn’t until I posted a blog about my young daughter’s obsession with HoHos and the potential demise of Hostess’ popular pre-packaged snacks. A few days ago the company filed for bankruptcy protection and like millions of Americans I felt the need to voice my exasperation about the unfathomable thought that Hostess’ creme-filled treats may no longer be a staple in my kid’s lunch box. A short time later I received an email from a reader sharing his own Hostess memories. Apparently, his mom tucked a Twinkie in his lunch box each day … Continue reading →