Ages + Stages

My heart raced as I pulled into the parking lot. I was late. Again. I tried to keep my voice level as I told the kids to hurry while frantically fighting to undo my own seat belt. How had...

I was grocery shopping at Winco several years ago with my baby son who had just starting to sit upright in the cart. I wiped the cart down with at least 100 sanitizing wipes and padded him in with...

Grandparents and gifts; two words that often go together. On Grandparents Day, I find myself reflecting not back on my own relationships, but at the relationships my son is building with all six of his grandparent relationships. Gifts, however,...

At the end of August my daughter and I spent a week in Southern California at my grandparent's place. It was one of the best vacations I can remember. My grandparents are in their late 80s, and life is...

It's almost back-to-school, an exciting time because kids are growing, seasons are changing, and I’m about to have three kids in school all day for the first time. Huzzah! Each fall, the dramatic return to daily schedules feels like a...

How many of us head into the fall with summer guilt from all of the didn't-dos? We start our summer vacation making to-do lists that include projects we will catch up on, exercise schedules to keep, day trips to the zoo, and...

I know, I know... You don’t want to think about the cranky kids who don’t want to get out of bed, the last minute dispersing of school supplies, the mad dash to get some kind of lunch pulled together....

It's here. 'Back to school' season. Screeching into my neighborhood Fred Meyer, not to mention the foothold it's had on Target for the last two weeks. Last summer I could. not. wait. for school to start again. My girls...

It’s midnight in Minnesota and my four-year-old daughter can’t sleep. I thought my day was almost done, but my daughter has a lesson to teach me about what showing up as a parent really means. We are visiting the...

“Mom, I’m gonna have to call you back. Jane just spanked some guy on the playground.” I couldn’t hang up fast enough. I had just witnessed my barely-five-year-old daughter slap the backside of a man I had never seen...