Parents of the Great Pacific Northwest, brace yourselves.  It looks as if all three of our local news weathermen are predicting a sunny weekend in our area!  Now, after you have recovered from hearing that news (doesn’t it seem like we’ve been waiting an awfully long time for summer to get here?), you may be [...]

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After a highly technical process of elimination (I had my 9-year-old draw a number from a bowl), the winner of the Camp Pack from Mabel’s Labels has been chosen.
Congrats to Shannon!  YOU are our lucky winner, and it sounds like you’ll be getting these in just the nick of time!
Here is Shannon’s winning comment:
“With my [...]

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We all know by now, hopefully, that having kids means having stuff. It doesn’t seem to matter if you have one or eight kids, little by little their stuff will creep into your life, your kitchen, your wine glass . . .
Come on, am I the only one who has ever found a Polly Pocket [...]

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When I found myself pregnant with our second child (our first are 18 months apart), I knew I felt different.
Having only been pregnant once before, I just thought all that pressure was normal.  I thought that was the price you had to pay for having babies so close in age.  I thought my poor old [...]

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Playdate.  Just saying the word outloud makes me want to hide under the sheets and never come out.  That isn’t to say that I do not see the benefit of providing regular and stimulating activities for very young children involving their peers, but it is just that sometimes, I get a little “playdated out.”
 When my [...]

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It is hard to live in the northwest and not be aware of the environment.
When we moved into our 2nd home, my daughter was a baby, still consuming those disgusting disposable diapers by the dozen. I know, hide your pitchforks, I used disposable diapers. It was after all, only 2004, and there were not as [...]

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It was a cold and rainy night . . .
Well, not rainy, but cold? Yes.
There I sat at the 5th-grade parent orientation meeting with all of the other folk who were sharing this horrifying experience with me when it hit me.
My days of sleeping in are over! Finished!
The Principal tried to scare us with tales [...]

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I remember thinking (keyword: thinking) that I was pretty on top of the whole parenting gig when my first-born was reaching important milestones.
He scoots forward on his bottom? Oh! He is exhibiting pre-crawling movements!
He rakes at the Cheerios on his high chair tray? Yippee! The beginnings of being able to grab something!
When he repeated, “ma [...]

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Last year, before the head-shaving and diving off the deep end incident involving the distraught young celebrity, I was thinking about writing something defending the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
Sparked by a February 12, 2007, Newsweek cover, “The Girls Gone Wild Effect: Out-of-Control Celebs and Online Sleaze Fuel a New Debate Over Kids [...]

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“We’re going to go waaaaaay up into the woods and cut down our Christmas Tree this year,” my husband told our wide-eyed children when they asked us where our tree would come from.
“Like, hike in and pick out any tree we want?” they asked.
“Oh yeah guys, any tree we want,” their Daddy answered.
“How will we [...]

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