Over the years, our family has visited every single Virginia State Park (that’s forty parks!) and stayed in a wide variety of cabins, ranging from one-room log cabins built in the 1930s by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) to six-bedroom…
Parenting a two-year-old is not for the faint of heart. Two-year-olds are fiercely independent one moment and incredibly needy the next. The highs are higher and the lows are lower. Despite this, I find myself almost looking forward to my…
Mindfulness is simply the practice of being present in the moment, intentionally and without judgment. We could all use a little more mindfulness in our lives right now. Whether you’ve experienced hardships and heartbreak due to the pandemic or are…
Shortly after her fourth birthday, my daughter Gwen lost every hair on her body, probably forever. Before Gwen’s diagnosis, I’d never heard of alopecia areata. Fast forward through two years of parenting a child with the most extreme form –…
Is a puppy on your holiday list? With a year like 2020, I think we are all looking for ways to make up for a challenging year of struggles and mixed blessings. My family knows first-hand the joys and realities…
What do you want to do when you grow up? It’s a question asked of children from an early age. For many children, college may be part of the plan. As a parent, I’ve experienced the decision-making process around college…
To say these are uncertain times is probably the most overused, but understated, way to describe our current situation. After facing a summer with fewer options for kids due to the pandemic, many families are now heading into the fall…
Most of us have been stuck at home since March due to the COVID-19 stay-at-home guidelines. And for many, it has been stressful and challenging. Working from home and rarely leaving the house can be difficult for many families who…
Family folklore has it that I have loved dogs ever since I was born – even before I could walk or talk. Due to an incident in her childhood, my mother was afraid of dogs, especially large ones, so we…
My aha moment for reducing plastic came at my kids’ elementary school playground when I noticed all the juice box straw wrappers. I picked up fistfuls of wrappers and threw them away and realized that when we give kids juice…
