It’s a math drill with no flash cards!
It’s exercise without leaving the patio!
And it’s also an idea I blatantly stole from Parents Math Night at Big Guy’s school – but, hey, there’s nothing wrong with …

Boots is going to have two babies, and he’s already set on their names – Lightning and Juan Pablo. The latter is a NASCAR thing.
But what if one’s a girl? What’s her name going to …

Yeah, we have all the toys: Digital audio recorder for capturing bedtime stories, digital video recorders (yes, plural) for reliving sports and school programs, a digital still camera for everything in between and a scanner …

It was the second week of karate, and Boots was starting  his new sport the same way he’d started soccer.
He’d flop. He’d flit. He’d spin merrily and smile broadly. Then he’d look appropriately chagrined when …

It was garden-variety stuff – cat chases mouse, cat catches mouse, mouse bonks cat’s head with an iron skillet, dog pummels cat – but I hadn’t heard Big Guy laugh so hard in ages as …

I’m certain it was the bright-blue goggle-eyed pug on the cover that drew Big Guy’s attention. The fact that I was trying to steer him to what I thought was more age-appropriate reading material – …

It’s funny how a simple question can stop you dead in your tracks, like when a high school classmate I’d recently reconnected with asked, “How do you like Cali?”
I love it, I thought.
Then I wondered …

I don’t know what I was thinking when I opened two cans of tuna the other night.
Before deployment, those two cans wouldn’t have lived to see the next day. Dad would have made four tuna …

She had the same reaction I did when she went to the pre-season meeting for soccer parents and found out that her 4-year-old’s team didn’t have a coach: This will never work.
The director assured everyone …

We’ve read the books, and we’ve eaten the cake at the library. That’s all old Cat in the Hat now. What else could we do to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Read Across America, I …

When we last left Big Guy, his big mouth was causing problems at school on a daily basis. It’s a seasonal issue for him that’s going to crop up just as sure as the teacher …

The U.S. Army recognizes that I might need a little help when Dad is away. That’s why the military offers 16 hours’ care a month to children whose parents are deployed are wounded.
So why did …

Have you ever had the bad luck to be good at something you don’t like doing?
It happened to me once, between my sophomore and junior years in college. I’d accepted a summer internship as a …

What could possibly be more annoying than a 6-year-old who fritters away every dime on candy or a bright shiny object that’s going to hold his interest only for as long as it takes to …

When she rang the doorbell Monday after school, tears streamed down the second-grader’s face. I was shocked, because while I don’t know her well I do know that she’s a tough kid who doesn’t hesitate …

I consider myself to be a fairly thrifty person. Not as tight as my grandfather who recycled coffee grounds – for brewing, not gardening – but I’m hardly a spendthrift in most areas.
For example, when …

Big Guy came home excited after library day at school a few weeks ago – not that he isn’t usually excited, because the library is like shopping, only everything is free.
This time, though, he’d scored …

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
I cannot change soccer snacks. Well, technically speaking I suppose I could if I …

Mommy, BFF’s been lying to me, Big Guy said last night. He doesn’t really have a brother.
I had suspected as much for months.
In the fall, the “brother” was a teen-ager who’d left a few weeks …

You’re a soldier spending your last day with your family before you deploy. In your dream world, the schedule would include:

Waking up at 10 to a nice leisurely breakfast, followed by an afternoon of lolling …

Big Guy wanted a Nerf gun for Christmas – a big one. “A pazooka,” he said.
He also wanted night vision goggles. And he “needed” walkie-talkies because he was tired of squawking into a fake plastic …

A mere 12 hours after I’d plowed through the top row of a Whitman’s Sampler in an attempt to console myself because we wouldn’t see Dad for at least six months, my phone rang.
It was …

Other than spinning around MarioKart-style on the court every time he gets bumped, Boots is just not that into soccer. Which is fine with me, because his spins are kind of cute. They play on …

Years ago, a reporter handed me a cartoon outlining OSHA regulations covering how many people were allowed to ride her butt at one time. Because I was No. 8 in line I’d have to wait …

When a friend asked recently if I’d babysit her toddler during the week, I quickly declined.
I really can’t get any work done during the day when the kids are home, I said. Besides, I’m not …

Take one over-sized wall map of the United States.
Add quick sheets filled with random information about various states.
Combine with a boy’s passion for racing, stir with a DryErase marker and marinate for 36 events over …

Don’t get your hopes up, Dad told me last week, but there’s a slight chance I might be able to get home for a few days.
Does immediately hitting Travelocity count as “getting your hopes up”? …

Scooby is beginning to represent the attitude that has dogged me my entire life. I want to be an optimistic. I’ll go out of my way to look for reasons to be sunny. But deep, …

Sloth is battling greed now, and I have no idea which side is going to win.
Greed: Look at all those beautiful baby basils. Imagine all the sauce they can grow into, all the spaghetti, lasagna …

Valentine’s Day has been canceled according to Boots’ school, which should save a few relationships that normally would shatter in the “I don’t want to buy a present” pre-holiday breakup rush.
Don’t breathe that sigh of …

Garfield now seems to be determined to head down that same bedraggled path Chia Scooby is taking. Note the scraggly brown on one side of his head, though the other remains optimistically green. I’m wondering …

Big Guy came off the court Saturday with a predictable grumble: “I didn’t score a single goal. Not one stinkin’ goal. I barely got to kick the ball.”
I’d warned him about that, telling him that …

Uh-oh.
There’s a white growth on Scooby’s ears, and I don’t think Head and Shoulders is going to cure it. The chives – make that chive since the pot is declining to produce more than one …

I missed Family Night at Big Guy’s school yesterday, and I feel a little bit bad about that. Only a little bit, though, because it was the right decision.
The teachers had talked up Family Night …

Scooby is shorn, and Eloise Laptop CheezIt the hamster has enjoyed a tasty snack.
Only time will tell whether the pruning will result in renewed green growth or whether this is the end of the line …

The occasional late fee aside, you rarely get to see the cost of procrastination other than in the price of the mental stress it creates.
Lucky for me, I now have a cash register tape that …

I don’t think the thin, scraggly look was quite what the guys were going for.
“He’s looking bad,” Big Guy said. “Maybe we should cut some and feed it to Eloise. Maybe that will make it …

Mommy, is that how Daddy’s going to fight the bad guys, Big Guy asked as he looked at an illustration in a school book showing a line of soldiers with pistols aiming at enemy troops …