After months of a frustrating, drawn out bedtime struggle, I finally came to a breaking point. In those “why did I have children? moments” the idea of “5 in 5!” was born.

It was time to talk to Elle about The Birds and The Bees. My husband’s parents never said anything to him about sex-ever. He claims they never even talked to him about wearing deodorant. To my parent’s credit, my dad did talk to my sister and me, but it was a few years too late, and we still tease him to this day about his embarrassing methods.

I believe that the punishment should fit the crime- especially when parenting. Sometimes consequences are a no brainer.  Like when I found the ABCs written in ball point pen on the dash of my car. It made sense to have the culprit “clean” it off.  She couldn’t get the pen…

I first heard the idea of “juxtapose” at a Ricks College fireside almost 20 years ago. I have loved the word ever since. Juxtapose means to place side by side, put up against each other, for purposes of comparison and contrast. In this post I will juxtapose my family banner and my kids’ parade costumes at Philmont Scout Camp… and then learn from the juxtaposition.

We were that family at Philmont Scout Camp. You know the one with the kid throwing a tantrum at every turn. The one every one feels sorry for because the mom looks frazzled with too many kids. The one whose dirty kid is wandering around unsupervised. We were that family.

Motherhood is a series of boring tasks repeated over and over again- like making lunch. Here are a few ways to turn a mundane task into something a little more fun for moms and the kiddos: