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Yes, You Can Make Real Money Working from Home

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  Each month, thousands of parents sign up for my newsletter and when they do,  I always ask them about their biggest struggle. Guess what... I've heard back from A LOT of you that it boils down to just not having enough time! I've also heard from many of you that a little extra income could really help with that. That’s why I want to talk a little today about my experience building a home-based business. Many of us spend so many of our precious hours working, wouldn’t it be … [Read more...]

7 Things Teachers Wish You Knew About Summer Break

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Teachers, parents and kids alike breathe a sigh of relief as the school year starts to wrap up.  Nine months of hardcore learning is exhausting. Plus the school year usually ends with an Open House, which means kids are working hard or projects to show parents what they've learned.  So, by the time we are looking at the last few weeks of school, everyone is staggering toward the finish line. Summer break can mean different things to different people.  Working parents need to line up child … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: The One With The Puking Kid

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You know it’s going to be an eventful day when your five year old wakes up puking. And maybe it’s just me, but by kid number three, we're long past stripping the sheets when one of them tosses his cookies all over the bed. Now, we clean up the crying kiddo, lay down a few towels and wait. Because there’s always more to come, right? Also, I take out my contacts before bed and I’m legally blind when I’m stumbling around at night. I may not be so willing to throw down a towel and call it … [Read more...]

Happy Family Habit #11: Take a Time-In

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  Image Credit: © Alexandre Normand | 06.09.13 & 04.30.12 | CC by 2.0 Be honest... When was the last time you yelled at your kids? Sometimes right before a major "parent fail," I can actually see myself about to fly off the handle, yet I still can't seem to diffuse my emotional momentum in time. Can you relate? Most days, I'm as cool as a cucumber and can handle a tantrum like I'm Super Mom. Other days, the littlest bit of whining triggers a nasty, snapping response in a … [Read more...]

“Camp Mom” Post-Memorial Day Sale!

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Since last weekend was the official kick-off to summer, what better time to have a sale on our Camp Mom eBook and activities pack? POST - MEMORIAL DAY  SALE: Get Yours Now for $11.99 $9.99   Here's more info. on what Camp Mom is all about... What's on your spring break and summer vacation bucket lists this year? How about the simple goal of entertaining the kids with some good 'ol fashion at-home fun? Sounds like a good plan, right? But scouring the web to find activities to … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: The Kid Who Doesn’t Eat

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  The other night at dinner – and I don’t need to tell you about all the work that goes into planning, preparing and serving dinner for six, let alone the legwork involved in actually getting all six people to sit down in one spot at the same time – our two-year-old took one look at her bowl of some shredded-chicken-and-quinoa dish and slapped the entire thing onto the bench, where it fell to the floor. Cue… absolute silence. The three older kids were wide-eyed, forks halfway to … [Read more...]

My Tried & True Non-Toxic Beauty Routine

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I am WAY overdue on this post guys - so sorry it's taken me so long to share my non-toxic beauty routine! I know I promised it to you long ago (maybe so long ago, you've totally forgotten about it by now). My only excuse is that overhauling your beauty products to go non-toxic is a bit of a tricky task and it has taken me a while to really find my favorites. But find them I did and I'm so excited to share them with you today.   Before we get to that, though, if you're … [Read more...]

3 Last Minute Mother’s Day Gifts That Aren’t Flowers

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I'm not the only one out there still scrambling to pull together Mother's Day gifts, am I? I didn't think so. No worries, though, with a little ingenuity you can still totally pull off a heartfelt gift that she'll have no idea was last minute. Here are my top 3 favorite ideas and I've even hunted down some deals too! #1 - Birchbox My MIL gifted me a Birchbox subscription last year for my birthday and seeing what arrived in the beauty box subscription every month was so fun (also the … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: Taking a 2-Year-Old on a 9 Hour Road Trip to Disneyland

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  Fun fact – our two oldest kids have the same April birthday. Our son was two weeks early, and two years later, his new little sister was a week early. So far, the dual birthday party thing has worked out, but now they’re ten and eight, and I think that window is coming to a close. So this year, we decided to surprise them with a trip to Disneyland instead of a party. My husband and I were extra secretive about our internet research, ferreting out bargains on three-day hopper passes … [Read more...]

Natural Play Spaces: Children’s Veggie Gardens

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You guys! It has been the rainiest season in Seattle in the history of ever (literally) but the sun is out today. And - of course - it's making me want to plant all the things.   If you're feeling me, here's a post we did a few summers ago on one of the coolest kinds of gardens out there; the kids' garden. Enjoy and happy planting! Now that the bark has been laid, we've made one more major addition to our backyard natural play space.  But don't get too excited - I haven't had a chance … [Read more...]

Tips from a Teacher: 9 Questions to Get Your Kids to Finally Open Up!

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  When your child gets in the car after school, do you immediately ask, 'How was your day?'  Nine times out of ten, the answer is 'good' or 'fine.'  Most kids don't elaborate.   Maybe it's because their brain is on overload after a full day of school.  Maybe it's because they aren't able to verbalize what they're thinking.  As parents, we need to ask the questions that allow kids to explain their day at school.  It gives us a peek into their world in the 6-8 hours they are away from … [Read more...]

“Mommy, You Had a Gold Star Morning”

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"Mom, you had a gold star morning." Those words from my 6-year-old daughter almost brought me to tears yesterday. After what seemed like months of sick kids, snow days, school vacations, and a very busy workload, our routine had gone down the drain. More and more I was finding myself hurried, frazzled and irritated when trying to get the kids out the door, to do their homework, to get to bed, or to do pretty much anything else. I realized when my daughter spoke up, as much as it was … [Read more...]

I’m Doing Something I’ve Never Done Before…

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Big news today guys! It's that one time of year when my favorite parenting resource, The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle, miraculously appears again for 6 days only - until Midnight, May 1st! Always valued at thousands of dollars and priced at 97% off (this year the value is over $2000), the library of resources changes every year but they are always incredibly helpful. Despite the unheard of value of the bundle each year, I inevitably hear from some of you that you're just not sure what you'd … [Read more...]

Parenting Styles: When Your Child Just Isn’t Ready for Childcare

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Image Credit: © Presidio of Monterey | Month of Military Child Parade | CC by 1.0   After spring break ended – sob – and three kiddos went off to school today, I tried taking our youngest, three in July, to the playcare thing at our gym. It did not go well. She’s been going on weekends for months now, with all three siblings, and it’s been great. She comes out proudly bearing scribbles and curls of tissue paper haphazardly glued to more tissue paper. She excitedly tells me about … [Read more...]