I couldn’t fall asleep last night. Just before Chris and I went up to bed, we heard a woman yelling in the courtyard behind our home. We live in a busy part of a big city, and occasionally people who don’t live in our development stroll through, picking through trashcans or perhaps taking a shortcut.  [...]

The kids and I went to an indoor playspace tonight. The place is designed so kids can run and play while moms drink a coffee.  Its perfect because the kids have fun and the moms get a few minutes of freedom from entertaining them. Every time we visit this place Mack spends 90% of his [...]

Chris and I have enjoyed several date nights lately.  With the flurry of the holidays and my birthday came several opportunities for us to sneak out together.  Evie and Mack were feeling a little left out, so we planned a family date night last night.  I put on some makeup, Evie wore a dress and [...]

For our family, the differences between boys and girls are quite clear.  Evie is dependable, Vivian is patient and Mack is…Mack.  He wakes up at 7 am and does not stop running until bedtime 12 hours later.  His days are filled with flipping and jumping and climbing and wrestling.  I cannot contain his energy.  And, [...]

Chris and I have had an ongoing discussion about toys for the past six weeks. We have plenty of them in our house. And with Christmas on the way we’re about to have plenty more added. But, the problem is that our kids just don’t really play with many of their toys. Mack loves cars, [...]

Christmas is fast approaching, and like most parents I am busy squirreling away boxes of treats and treasures, crossing my fingers that curious kids don’t stumble upon a secret gift. We follow a WANT.NEED.WEAR.READ mantra with holiday gift-giving: the kids get a gift or two from each of the four categories.  It keeps me focused [...]

Living in the city, I worry that my kids are missing out on some essential experiences in nature.  Sometimes city living is so focused on getting from point A to point B that we don’t have a moment to slow down and enjoy the moment.  I’ve been making more of an effort lately to incorporate [...]

Lately I’ve been feeling like I need to keep a slightly tighter reign on the day-to-day flow of our family.  We are settling into a new home and a new back-to-school routine, and I need a better balance between work and life.  I’ve always believed that kids thrive on a predictable routine, and it is [...]

As a Homemade Mother, I pride myself on my spirit of self-reliance.  I like doing things on my own, and I take great pleasure in working out simple solutions to everyday problems. But, tonight I was faced with the most daunting of challenges: The car battery died. And I was miles from home. With all [...]

Evie started her second year of pre-school last week.  A year ago I was very anxious about sending Evie to school for the first time.  Would she miss me? Who would she turn to if she got hurt? How would her view of the world change without me there to guide her?  She had been [...]