In my early 30s, I was living the quintessential DINK (dual-income, no kids) lifestyle. My partner and I had established careers, no children, and PTO to burn. During one 12-month period, we averaged taking a trip every other month. We went hiking in Acadia National Park and Arizona. We rented a house with a pool
At our first dinner on Hurtigruten’s MS Trollfjord, my parents and I spent most of the meal imagining what my 3-year-old son would have thought. Aksel would have picked at the bread, asked how many courses of “real food” were left before dessert, and probably driven his Hot Wheels through the butter. Instead, he stayed
I am the mom of an only child, and my 17-year-old son is a senior this year. I’ve always tried to volunteer and get involved to help out and enrich his school experience, but in recent years, I’ve scaled back. When he started high school and joined the marching band in ninth grade, I no
For years, I was an active elementary school volunteer. Although I never dove headlong into the often intense world of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), for more than a decade, I dutifully served as a room parent for one or more of my four children’s classes. Now, my youngest child is moving on to middle
I’m a registered dietitian, a career I chose after becoming a mom. I thought for sure when it came time to start packing school lunches, I would be the one all the other moms looked to for inspiration. I’d have all the answers and tips and tricks, and I’d be the one making those picture-perfect
There are a few questions in my household that irritate me more than “What’s for dinner?” I think it’s the casual assumption that I have created a meal plan for the week, done all the food shopping and prep, and gotten dinner on the table at exactly the time everyone wants it, all while trying