Nothing makes you feel more proud or more inadequate than watching your mom as a grandparent. It makes my heart swell to see how excited the kids are when they learn we are going to visit them. When it's time to leave, my heart swells to bursting to hear them say they want to stay at…

On a recent visit to Chesterton to visit my parents, the kids relaxed before bed with a viewing of 101 Dalmatians that my dad recorded on their DVR. Our TV viewing at home is limited to DVDs and Netflix, so it was mildly amusing to watch how riveting the kids found the commercial breaks. Until it…

The kids have been fortunate to enjoy time at their mom's parents' lake house through the years. They always have some kind of story or adventure to relate about their weekends there. Most recently, Ana was excited to tell us all about how she had gone tubing. We cheered her bravery and shared in her excitement.…

Tim and I recently returned from a ten day trip to North Carolina. He participated in a national high school rugby tournament as a referee. Even though it was chilly and damp, he had a great time and I loved watching him referee! We were then off to the beach. We met up with my parents had…

Today's Mother's Day post comes to you courtesy of Ana and Yoseph. I asked them this morning what the rules should be for a StepMom. Below is the interesting potpourri of their responses, aka their summary of life at our house! Ana: "Eat protein every day." (someone's been listening when I explain why you can't just eat carbs…

I learned early in this stepparenting adventure that disciplining the kids sometimes punishes the parents more than the kids...especially if it's no TV during the winter. Today was another one of those days. We promised the kids they could see the new Jungle Book movie after school today if they each had good behavior on their days…

As the election returns came in last evening, my heart was very heavy. But instead of dwelling on that, I thought I would share a short conversation with Yoseph last week. Those who know me won't be surprised to hear that we talk a lot about politics and government in our house. We were talking about…

I realized that today marks 16 months of marriage. Weird anniversary milestone, right? I have been contemplating a top ten list of things I've learned as a stepmom, but figured I may as well turn it into a Top 16 List in honor of our 16 months of marriage. (Let's be honest, I've learned hundreds of…

Kindergarten homework is sometimes more challenging than one might think. But a couple of worksheets stand out for me not in their level of difficulty, but in the level of work I had to put in to keep from laughing. This week, Yoseph completed a worksheet where he had to choose between different sounds to complete a word,…

What do these two pairs of shoes have in common? They represent two of the biggest challenges I have witnessed Yoseph confront: learning to tie his shoes and learning to walk in flip-flops. I was reminded about the flip-flop challenge when I pulled out their summer clothes over the last week. Again I'm struck by something unexpected about this little…