Growing Kids « Occupation: Mommy

Helping your child make new friends

Somehow, after six years in our elementary school, two older sisters with multiple friends who have younger siblings, three kindergarten classes, and five children at our school from her preschool class, Sydney has not one child in her class that she knew before school started. Her best buddy, O, is in the classroom next door. [...]

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What's for breakfast on a school morning?

Of course, they would always eat donuts...

Breakfast: the most important meal of the day, so we are told. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, who doesn’t love a great breakfast? Audrey is not such a fan of breakfast. Unless it’s something elaborate. She can put the waffles, french toast, or breakfast casseroles away. But when it comes to the everyday, school morning breakfast, it [...]

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Tea Party Birthday Party

For her fifth birthday, Sydney wanted a tea party birthday party. Believe it or not, even as our third daughter, I had never hosted a tea party birthday party! So I immediately checked my favorite creative source, Pinterest. It was easy to find hundreds of fabulous, beautiful ideas. Gorgeous, time-intensive, expensive ideas. But it’s possible [...]

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A Trip to the Crayola Factory

There are not many things my daughters love more than arts and crafts. Coloring, painting, drawing, and especially cutting and gluing happen almost every day around here. And our very favorite art supplies are Crayolas. I’m not being paid to tell you this, either. We just prefer Crayola crayons, markers, watercolors, and colored pencils. A [...]

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Farewell to the crib

It’s bittersweet, but Joel has said goodbye to his crib. Ever since I wrote the last post about transitioning toddlers from the crib to a big bed, I have been thinking about the big move. I went back and forth about it, since he never gave us a hard time about sleeping in his crib. [...]

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7 Tips for Surviving Sleep-Away Camp

Audrey just got back from a week of sleep away camp. Last year was the first time she experienced a week of sleep away camp, and it was the best week of her year. This year was no different–a smash hit, even though it was hot and there were thunderstorms. Her camp is a great [...]

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Grocery shopping with a tween

One day a few years ago, when Audrey was pestering me one day in the grocery store, I promised that when she was ten, she could get her own cart and help me shop. Well, guess what? She is going to be ten next week, and she is the type of child who Never Forgets [...]

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Summer Reading Goals

Ahhh, summer. Long, lazy days to relax, play, sweat… As a kid, my favorite way to pass the summer days was to lay across my bed and read. I tried to be as completely still as I possibly could, with my ceiling fan on “high,” the windows open, and the lights off. We didn’t have [...]

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Touring San Diego

Rich and I had a great mini-vacation in San Diego last weekend. We stayed at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, which was absolutely beautiful. It is right on the bay (obviously), and in between the convention center and Petco Park (where the Padres play), near lots of shops and restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter. [...]

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It’s not pushing if she’s running ahead

One of the best parts about motherhood has been watching my children develop their personalities as they grow. I love seeing what their likes and dislikes are, the things that interest them, motivate them, and challenge them. It can be a stretch for me when they are drawn to things that wouldn’t necessarily interest me [...]

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