Early this morning, summer vacation officially came to an end, and The Greatest Kid On The Planet went off to school. It was his first day of middle school, and the first time I didn’t walk him to the bus stop on day one. He’s a sixth-grader now, a big…

The other day, while I was sitting in our kitchen working on my laptop, The Greatest Kid On The Planet walked in and started rummaging around in the pantry. And he was singing these song lyrics: “Won’t you…come see about me? I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby. Tell…

We love movies. Whether we’re heading off to the movie theater or popping fluffy white corn at home, one of our favorite things to do together is to sit and watch a good flick. When The Greatest Kid On The Planet sees a movie he likes, he’ll watch it again…

With so much negative news and disparagement circulating around us, it can seem difficult to keep a positive attitude. And with social media running rampant, it’s a chore just to manage the images and messages bombarding us, and our children, on a daily basis. So, in an effort to fill…

There are so many reasons to love summer; fun with friends and family, being out of school, the beach, and the food! Around here, we love fresh fruit and vegetables, and summer is the perfect time for both. This Summer Stone Fruit Salad from Gaby Dalkin of What’s Gaby Cooking is amazing! You won’t be disappointed!

Every day, we have the choice to look for the good in others. Unfortunately, at some time or another, many, if not most of us, will put our trust in someone who doesn’t have our best interests at heart. It’s disheartening, and sometimes heartbreaking, when we find that someone we trusted didn’t honor that trust. For many of us, the first thing we do is blame ourselves for “letting” someone hurt us, or for not seeing what we think we should have seen.

Next week, my eleven-year-old will graduate from elementary school. He will spend his last days as a fifth-grader, and then we will spend the summer soaking up the sun and digging in the sand and getting excited about the approaching football season. And at the beginning of August, when vacation is over, he will get on a new bus, at a new time, and go to a new school, his first day as a sixth-grader and the beginning of his middle school years. It’s a really big deal.

Often, throughout our lives, we are our own worst critics. We can be particularly harsh and show ourselves little mercy when we’ve failed or fallen short of our own expectations. And the last thing we want is to share these failures or inadequacies with the rest of the world.