Until they invent a “family” sized voting machine that all the children can squish together and watch, the children take turns accompanying us to the voting machine. Last week, Noah was my voting buddy. “Why isn’t it a touch screen?” “Where’s the keyboard?” “How old is this machine?” “What if you don’t like either one?” […]
“They said I can graduate early if I skip guard this year.” Those words were the tap that sent dominoes falling without a way to stop and with no do-over option. Once you tell a teenager that they don’t have to be at school . . . they have no intention of being at school. […]
We have a pile of old, rusty paint cans that have too much leftover paint to waste. After seeing it day after day for several years, I decided to find a purpose for the paint. This week, the leftover paint from 2002’s staircase railing project became the new color of some kitchen shelves that have […]
Sarah: “Everybody knew Justin and Adam. Oh, and Z used to be friends with the guy that beat Henry. A bunch of my friends are going to Sundown tonight. Can I go too?” Can I just lock the doors and keep the children home?
Step one: Girls dance while boys hide at the snack table. Step two: Girls physically drag boys to dance floor (and photographer). Step three: Boys lump together on one side of the dance floor while girls lump together on the other side. Step four: Brilliant DJ gets everyone to line dance. Step five: Boys and […]
My children have cell phones. Their friends have cell phones. Cell phones serve a purpose and I don’t want to argue about what others have said so clearly. I do want to point out two things. First, parents need to have identifying information in their child’s phone so that it can be returned to the […]
Although she was a passenger in a minor accident (thanks to a quick thinking driver), Sarah has demonstrated excellent driving skills. She backs down our steep, narrow driveway to park. She travels Interstates and the twisty, dangerous roads of Knoxville without fear. She doesn’t just drive safely, she likes to drive. She drives siblings to […]
As a rule, I try to always be at *home on school nights and be a part of the evening routines. As frantic as the evenings are, I can’t imagine not getting to tuck my children in bed at night. It’s probably much more important to me than it is to them. Don’t tell the […]
When the familiar name and face took the stage in the intimate auditorium, I felt a rush of fan-girl adrenalin. I clicked to his IMDB profile and tried to silently explain the significance of the speaker to the 13-y-o. The 13-y-o looked blankly at the credits that meant nothing to him. I clicked to the […]
“Augh! My paper that I spent an hour writing is GONE!” “Relax. Let me see if there’s a saved copy of it. Were you using Word?” “I was typing it up on facebook.” “Facebook? You were writing a school paper on facebook?” “Yes.” “Open up something other than facebook and start over.” “Did you see […]