Mom Life

The first year as a stay at home mom was the hardest year of my life. And I've had some tough years. The most important and helpless person to come into my life relied on me for what felt...

Springtime has always been my mother’s favorite season. I never quite understood this as it was my least favorite season. It was “mud-season” and merely a necessary transition. It meant the fun, sledding and fireside days of...

  Currently, I'm watching giant snowflakes that resemble ash flow down from the sky. Hard to be in the mood, a bit, to write about the upcoming swimsuit season. But, alas, it's that time of year here in MN, where...

Breakfast used to be my husband’s domain. I don’t like getting up any earlier than I absolutely have to and he enjoys spending time in the morning with the kids, so we settled on this arrangement years ago. But...

Photo by: Leslie Kellum Photography Wait, what? The changes brought on by Covid-19 have left many reeling, especially parents of young families who may now find themselves working full-time from home and simultaneously caring full-time for their infants, toddlers and...

I tend to prefer the view of my neighborhood these days. Walking block to block I notice the flowers blooming, the tree branches stretching to the heavens, the puffy white clouds against the clear blue sky. If I let...

The blue dusk air turned into black night, flickering with a million city lights as traffic moved slowly in every direction. Entering into the warm glow of home, families reunited, breathing in the delicious aromas of sautéed onions with...

It’s 4:00 on a warm and sunny afternoon. Another hour stands between me and when my co-pilot shows up to help me steer this ship to bedtime. This is when we need to shake things up, get out of...

Hi friends! Just checking in... Does it feel like everywhere you look, everyone has a new puppy? In our neighborhood alone we have three friends who have been blessed with the cutest, fluffiest little puppies. I mean, so cute!!! Lately, our...

Being a mom has been a huge part of my identity the last nine years. Yet, there’s another part of my identity that I will always and forever cling tightly to. It’s the identity I’ve had since I was...

I usually reserve the word "hate" for things I feel very strongly about, like Crocs and people who whistle or pop their gum in public. But I can confidently tell you that I hate COVID-19. I really thought this was...

The thought that I don’t want to turn out like my mother has always haunted me. And I recently realized that this wouldn't have been so deeply rooted in me unless my mother also must have had it in...

Nobody imagines their marriage ending in their 30s.  When I became a young widow at the age of 33, one of my best friend’s divorce was finalized a month later. We bonded in the year after our losses in a...

{Aptly named Spring Beauties} In Minnesota our spring season is a little (or a lot) later than almost every other spot in the country. That can leave us staring longingly at those bare branches, willing them to bud. As someone...