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Parenting Jun 23, 2014

Mini Putt Putt Golf

When my kids were little, they loved playing mini golf. In fact, I’m pretty sure they still enjoy it! So I love the idea of setting up a mini golf course at your own house, so your kids can play any time they want to – and you get to save some money. On my guest post on My Kids Adventures today, I s

Parenting Jun 2, 2014

Creative Discipline Ideas for Kids Podcast with Mark

Need some creative discipline ideas for your kids? In today’s podcast with my husband, we talk about how you can discipline effectively with our Creative Consequences tool that we developed at iMOM. Read more.

Marriage May 26, 2014

3 A’s for an Awesome Marriage Podcast with Mark

What can you do to have an awesome marriage? How can you be a better husband or wife? In this podcast with my husband, we talk about just three things you can do to accomplish just that. Read more.

Parenting May 21, 2014

Toddlers and ADHD Medication

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common behavioral disorder of childhood, yet experts are worried by statistics that show very young kids are now getting powerful medications to treat the problem. Some 10,000 toddlers across the U.S. are being diagnosed as hyperactive and

Encouragement May 14, 2014

Join Me in Supporting Moms’ Night Out

From the crazy mom characters to the silly scenarios they found themselves in, I found myself as a mom really relating to so many moments in Moms’ Night Out. So when critics recently came out against the movie, I was completely caught off guard. I couldn’t think of one way in which the movie “never

Encouragement May 5, 2014

Look Up From Your Phone

Are you suffering from digital distraction? “You need a new pacemaker and another ablation.” I have heard this before. Last month, I had my 5th pacemaker replacement and next month I will have my 3rd ablation. My heart keeps me very grounded in the reality that life is tenuous. Every minute, hour an

Encouragement May 1, 2014

My Moms’ Night Out on the Red Carpet

Wow and wow! I love this movie. It is funny, it is encouraging, and it is awesome family entertainment. But what I love most is that this movie celebrates MOMS and the producers, directors, and Provident Films made that very clear at the premiere. Everywhere you looked on the red carpet, you saw mom

Encouragement Apr 17, 2014

3 Things You Never Knew About Easter

Time for Easter. And you know what that means? CHOCOLATE! Well, maybe not quite. My friends know that I am obsessed with chocolate and my kids are convinced that all I eat are chocolate covered almonds. However, as much as I love chocolate and all the chocolate Easter has to offer, it is not what Ea

Parenting Apr 10, 2014

How to Know When Your Child is Ready to Make Choices

Every child must learn to make choices on the path to adulthood. Little children make little choices and are rewarded by being given bigger choices. The problem arises when little children are given the opportunity to make big choices or lots of choices—or worse, they contest a choice their mothers

Encouragement Apr 9, 2014

Derailed: Getting Off Track Again?

Have you ever been derailed in life, by life? Getting off track seems to happen to me often, so you’d think I would be used to it. But how do you get used to something that is constantly changing like life? The 4 things that tend to hi-jack my train are:

Parenting Apr 7, 2014

Easter Fun Ideas with the Kids

One of my favorite new sites for kids is My Kids Adventure. They are big on family. Today, I have a post on their blog that was an idea from my friend Nancy. How do others celebrate Easter and how can we make that international experience fun for kids? She found some interesting Easter goodie tradit

Encouragement Apr 5, 2014

My Bathroom Organization Trick

Lately I have been doing a little spring home organization blogging here. Lest, you think I am an organized person as one mom who reads my posts and commented to me–I want to make a huge disclaimer: I am NOT organized! Sometimes out of sheer desperation I stumble upon an organization/housekeeping ti

Encouragement Apr 1, 2014

Come Play in L.A.!

Come play in L.A. with me and my husband, Mark! For real! We are giving away an entire trip including round tip airfare for 2, 2 nights in a hotel, 2 tickets to the movie premier of Moms’ Night Out, 2 tickets to the premier post party and $200 spending money for meals. Can I hear a WOOHOO?! But real

Marriage Mar 25, 2014

A Bossy Wife Confession

When we discussed today’s iMOM Espresso Minute topic in our brainstorm session I was convicted. I am a bossy wife. And I know it. I am not terribly bossy just generally. Offhand I couldn’t quite put my finger on how or why I am bossy, my gut just told me the title fit. So I asked Mark because that i

Parenting Mar 20, 2014

No More Perfect Kids

I’ve always been impressed with my friend, Jill Savage. And I can’t help but take a second to brag on her a little bit. Jill gets the whole “mom perfection” thing – the way we are so hard on ourselves about doing everything just right, every day. Now in her latest book, No More Perfect Kids, Jill ge

Encouragement Mar 18, 2014

Laundry Tips from a Mom

I don’t give a lot of practical household advice because I am not the queen of clean! But we were sharing a few tips during an iMOM content brainstorm and I realized I have a couple good ones that came to me out of desperation. With 5 kids I had to develop a laundry strategy out of self defense! Thi

Parenting Mar 16, 2014

I Should Have Listened

My son was just 4 years old. It was his first year in preschool and the very first week. I got a phone message from a mom inviting him over to play with her son. “This is wonderful!” I thought. “He is being sought out and may already have a friend at school.” I immediately shared the good news with

Parenting Mar 13, 2014

Tag Team in Parenting

When we were little, we all enjoyed playing the game of Tag. We’d run barefoot through the grass, laughing and trying to “tag” anyone we could. Tagging them meant passing on responsibilities, taking turns being it. Now that we’re all grown up, we aren’t as likely to be found running around and screa

Parenting Mar 2, 2014

Is Your Teen Ready to Leave Home?

Over the years, we’ve said many things to our kids… From “Time to wake up, sweetheart” to “Time for bed.” From “You lost your first tooth!” to “You lost your homework, again?” From “Shhh, Mommy’s trying to sleep” to “Shhh, it’s okay, honey.” The thing we dread saying the most, but the one thing we e

Parenting Feb 24, 2014

An Uncommon Family’s Adoption Story

I have to smile when I hear people talk about blended families. “Every family is blended!” I think to myself. When you take a man and a woman from two different families, and they get married – boom! You have a blended family. My family became even more blended when we adopted two children. And thou

Encouragement Feb 18, 2014

3 Sanity Secrets for the Stressed Out Mom

Life is full of pressure points. On any given day I can handle them, but sometimes, for whatever reason, they all start throbbing at the same time. Multiple kids have multiple issues. Projects at work loom large. A friend calls with a crisis. My parents get sick. The throbbing becomes so intense it

Marriage Feb 17, 2014

Stand By Your Man

Tough times can come into any marriage at any time. For my friend Lauren Dungy, one of a tough times for her came when she had to move her family at a moment’s notice because of her husband’s new job. She and Tony had been living in Pittsburgh, just down the road from her family. The move took them

Parenting Feb 16, 2014

Tantrum Tactics

I learned early on in my childhood that tantrums never got me what I wanted. Growing up, I remember the time my mom took us kids to the grocery store with her to pick a few things up. Halfway down the first aisle, my 4 year old brother began to pitch a fit over wanting a box of cereal that we didn’t

Encouragement Feb 13, 2014

Mom Love…Pass It On!

Love this Valentine for Moms from iMOM and wanted to share it with all of you!