Yesterday it was 7:00pm and we still were not done with online school. I refuse to call it homeschool because we are in no way, shape or form homeschooling here. That would imply I am doing the work of an educator. I do zero lesson planning or assessing or any of the actual work of…

They used to line up to watch me leave. Even if I was just running to the store for 10 minutes…5 little faces would be pressed up against the glass. “Don’t forget to beep and wave!” they’d yell, knocking each other over trying to claim their spot by the window. We eventually even had to…

The gut-punch comes without warning. The realization that things will never be the same and also I really liked the same. Dropping my girl off yesterday after a quick dinner since I happened to be in her new town I found myself in tears once again and it totally caught me off guard. I have…

If tonight you are feeling discouraged. And like the demands of the world are just too much. If you’re feeling like you don’t measure up. And everyone else seems to be killing it at all the things, their houses are cleaner, their children are more polite and certainly don’t fight over the remote and their…

So here’s the thing about parenting teenagers. It sort of makes us into liars. Like when someone asks how our tall kids are we say things like… Great! They’re starting football in the fall! Or They just got into a great school! Or They’re doing the play right now and it’s so much fun. All…

What does romance look like when you’ve been married lots of years? It looks like this. Yesterday was hard. There was a ton of commotion around back to school and room changes and a small flood in our basement. It was 8:30pm and somehow I still hadn’t eaten dinner. I was the kind of tired…

This one is for the middle and high school teachers. The ones no one is bringing a fist full of dandelions to and who will receive nary a handmade card during teacher appreciation days. The ones whose desks aren’t overflowing with gifts and who might do a double take in shock when a student remembers…

What do you want to be when you grow up? How many times have we asked and answered this question? Friends I’m starting to think it might be the absolute wrong thing to ask anyone including ourselves. At senior choir night all they read the kids names along with their plan after graduation. This is…

One summer when my kids were small they all conspired for my time seemingly every second of every day. I remember feeling so overwhelmed. It was so hard to focus on each individual soul when 5 of them hovered in my orbit near constantly, telling elaborate stories and demanding, “Mom, look at me!” (For the…

He’s the kid who never listens the first time. Or the second. Or even the tenth. You can pick him up out of the line up in the school hallways.  He’s the one who doesn’t walk in an orderly fashion. He runs or spins or stops in his tracks if something catches his eye. He…