Our family recently enjoyed a wonderful vacation on a fairly remote beach. We loved having no phones, sleeping late, and seeing nobody else on our beach. However, as I was exploring and photographing the sunrise one morning, I stepped on something…
Ahhh, the cooler temperatures of autumn! They are met annually with celebration, like a prize earned for enduring a Central Virginia summer. Fall is a great season for evaluation and renovation in the landscape and in the garden because of…
What is it this time? Did she fall in the cafeteria? Did somebody make fun of her on the bus? Maybe she couldn’t do the PE activity? Or perhaps she had a seizure at school? It was hard for Alison…
Another RVA summer has come and gone, and it’s time to get back into the routine of the school year. I’m not gonna lie, I have some mixed emotions about it all, as I gaze at the decorative sign hanging…
As summer winds down, I have found that most people think the peak harvest time for fruits and vegetables in Virginia comes to an end, too. Many of our wonderful farmers’ markets may see fewer visitors, but there is still…
Divorce is never easy. When parents divorce, a major concern is: How will this affect the children? Each family is unique, and the answer to that question will depend on the age of the children and the family dynamics. Generally,…
As the first, largest, and wealthiest English colony in the New World, Virginia has a rich political history reaching back to our nation’s founding. Four of the first five presidents – Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe – were Virginia-born. In…
Parenting is a series of ever-increasing circles of distance you let your children get away from you before you freak out and pull them back in close. When they are first born, someone is always holding them. When they get…
We just spent a weekend with my brother’s family, and it broke my heart! His kids get along perfectly. What can I do about the perpetual fighting that goes on between my kids (ages seven, nine, and thirteen)? Our house is…
It’s check-up season, and you hear the pediatrician ask, “Is there anything we should give special attention to at today’s visit?” Your mind goes immediately to the big changes you’ve noticed in your son’s sleep habits, or to your daughter’s…
