Memorial Day around our house typically involves one of the following events: cookout, traveling (usually from a grandparents’ house), swimming, fishing or visiting.  Sometimes, it includes all of these.  Those are the best Memorial Days.

Being a day set aside to remember those who have given their lives for the freedom of our country, Memorial Day holds a special place in my family’s circle.  I have several relatives who have served - uncles, cousins, aunts - and family members who are now gone but were an integral part of different events in history, such as my grandfathers and even further back from that. Read more…

My mother-in-law started a project almost 8 years ago that has evolved into an Event each August.  She hand-wrote a letter to her first-born grandson, my son, Travis.  Read more…

Children grow so quickly.  One day, you are changing diapers, chasing toddlers and relaxing during naptime.  In the blink of an eye, homework abounds, the phone is ringing off the wall - and it isn’t for you, and fashion has a whole new meaning. 

We found a way in our family to celebrate life’s more monumental feats…the birth of a child, first steps, first day of school, and even graduation.  We plant a tree.

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When my older son was beginning to show an interest in reading, we looked for ways to encourage his interest without pressuring him to learn to read (he was four at the time).  I have observed, much too often in my preschool-teaching days, parents who want their child to succeed at reading to the degree that the child becomes completely turned off of the idea of understanding the written word.  Combining things children love with print can encourage the child to want to know more about how words work and what reading is all about. Read more…

A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I took our sons for a little day trip.  We took a leisurely drive through the Texas Hill Country to the place where it all started, our college alma mater.  It was Homecoming weekend, and even though it wasn’t a time-honored reunion year for us, we still felt compelled to go, enjoy the picnic lunch and once again walk our boys around the same grounds that my husband and I met each other. Read more…

We spent this weekend in the company of my family.  My parents were in town, as well as my uncle, aunt and cousin from Slovenia.  And, my almost 92 year old grandmother was here as well.

There’s something nice about being around family, especially those you don’t get to see all that often.  And, for the boys, it was a wonderful experience in meeting a great group of people who are a part of their family history. Read more…