Road trip prep

Jun 19, 2013 by JSeiderer

 Subtitle: Taming the Wild Animals

On Friday, the family and I are leaving on a road trip to my parents’ house in northwest Pennsylvania. Google Maps seems to think it will take eight hours but I’m pretty sure it will take a tad longer than that. I mean really, there’s no check box for, “recalculate to factor in two small, crazy boys,” so how can their estimate possibly be right? My mister and I have done the trip in eight hours before, but that was pre-kids. To date, the longest road trip we’ve taken with the boys took four hours. That was a year ago, though, before Big implemented his Zero Tolerance Policy for car rides. If at all possible, we’d like to prevent utter chaos and meltdown. Am I crazy to even be attempting this?? Be honest with me.  Read more...

The Top Summer Toys in Our Yard

Jun 19, 2013 by bernhardsonbunch

Summer has arrived, or technically, I guess it will arrive this Friday. But in our house, preschool is out for the year and it’s summer, for all intents and purposes. I think my kids would gladly live in the backyard 24/7 if I didn’t force them to come in for horrible tasks like, you know, eating, baths, and sleeping. Mean Mommy.

My boys happen to be the first grandchildren on both sides of the family, which translates to mean…they have a lot of toys. However, you wouldn’t necessarily know it. Why? Well, let me introduce you to their favorite summertime toys:

The 30-year-old ride-on ducky

This is a toy my brother and I had as kids and rode until we were way too large for it. My parents gave ours to the neighbor kids years ago, and they bought this one for the boys at a yard sale. I think it was $2. They fight over this one daily.  Read more...

When Life Gives You Lemons…Stick ‘Em In Your Bra!

Jun 18, 2013 by Kriste

Boobs seem to be a theme around here lately, whether it is Cora’s post on boobs and bras or just us girls making a statement about breastfeeding our tots or not. I thought it was a good time for me to weigh in on the boobs in my life. I love breasts and always wanted big ones. Not huge, but shapely, big, round melons. I was so glad when I had a little girl of my own to dress up and share girly secrets with. I imagined buying her first training bra light years before she would need it. But things don’t always turn out the way we plan, do they?  Read more...

Becoming Mom

Jun 18, 2013 by jilchrest

I was a babysitter growing up…I mean full on babysitter. In addition to the weekend babysitting I did throughout my high school years, there were two summers in a row that I worked as a “nanny” for children from 8:30 AM- 5:30 PM while their parents worked. The first summer I cared for a 5 year old and the next a 2 and 4 year old. After that, I was about to enter my Junior year at college and was invited by a friend to live and work on the Jersey Shore. Not surprisingly, I worked at a summer camp as the “field instructor”, organizing and playing games with 5 year olds all summer.

And yet, I never “dreamed” about babies. When asked how many kids I wanted, I had my canned response of 2 or 3, most likely because I am the third child and I have an affinity for my siblings, but I didn’t have an image of what that would look like or how I would be as a mom. And so, motherhood has been an interesting journey thus far.  Read more...

Mom, PA

Jun 18, 2013 by Patty

It was just another Monday morning for me, same old, same old.  Our household AM routine went about as smoothly as it ever does and I actually realized that my son’s lunchbox was still in the fridge before pulling out of the driveway (Score!).  I arrived at work earlier than usual (but still late) and sat down at my desk.  I logged on to my computer and was ready to start my day.  Read more...

I am a child, I’ll last a while / You can’t conceive of the pleasure in my smile

Jun 18, 2013 by Randi

When I was a child, I read incessantly. I went to the public library every week, joined the summer book club, and basically always had my “nose in a book,” as my disapproving mother would say. She thought I read too much. Can you imagine?

I was thinking about how that has changed, since I don’t read books that often now. My life is just too busy. Darned full time employment gets in the way. The last book I read was “Silver Linings Playbook,” which was just as good as the movie. Highly recommended!

These are the books I loved as a girl:  Read more...

Brunch for Lunch

Jun 17, 2013 by Sarah Bourne Perillo

If you have a school-aged child I am sure you are familiar with the hot lunch phenom known as “brunch for lunch.” Brunch for lunch is…well, eating brunch during lunch. The hot lunch ladies serve up scrambled eggs, pancakes with syrup, turkey sausage, and french toast sticks. Kids can’t seem to get enough of it! In our household brunch for lunch is every other Tuesday, and you better believe, those off Tuesdays are a real downer.

Obviously, the only maple syrup we are serving in this house is real VT maple syrup!

On brunch for lunch days I have witnessed students running into the building chanting, “Brunch for lunch, brunch for lunch!” I have seen students smiling ear-to-ear, grasping their hot lunch money tightly in their little, sweaty, fingers. On one special Tuesday I saw the hot lunch lady herself, usually curmudgeonly in nature, pushing the food cart down the hallway smiling and whistling a tune.  Read more...