With only one of my three kids officially in school, getting involved can be a challenge.  And knowing how to get involved can be an even bigger challenge.  Last year, I walked aimlessly through the halls of Hillcrest Elementary completely clueless.  Sometimes I felt like the only kindergarten mom who had no idea what was going on.  Before I knew it, the year was over and I really had nothing to show for it.  Don’t get me wrong, I had good intentions of going to PTA meetings or volunteering in the classroom, but my schedule and completely overwhelmed psyche wouldn’t allow it.  This article, …

Many of us are at the end of our ropes.  Is it Aug. 29 yet?  True, it’s been a long summer, but I promise, the next few weeks are going to fly.  None of us want to crash through the doors on the first day of school with three half-dressed children in tow, lost and confused.  I’ve compiled some sure-fire ways to prepare for the big day.  Even the most disorganized, procrastinating parents out there will find themselves armed and ready.  I may or may not be preaching to the choir here. Get the Stuff:  At the end of last year, Hillcrest PTA provided a way for us to purchase the entire supply …

With temperatures reaching over 100 and nearly a month left until school starts, the question on every mom’s brain is: “what the heck do I do with these kids?” Seriously, they’re going insane and so are we. Well, super moms, I think it’s time we beat the heat with some very fun and easy ways to entertain the munchkins. Are you ready?  Obstacle Course (Water-style): The key to this activity is to let the kids design it themselves. Not only will it tap into their creative sides, but they’ll have a blast running through it over and over again. Plus, they can always change it up. Gather every …

Four weeks into summer and I’m a freaking train wreck.  I wasn’t prepared for it, even though I knew it was coming, even though I was forewarned. This was our first official summer break as my eldest just finished kindergarten.  Honestly, I wasn’t  expecting it to be this difficult.  Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson.  Next year I’m taking a line from the boy scouts: “be prepared.” All of a sudden, I had all three kids at home all the time.  By the time I’d realized what was happening, my home had transformed into a three-ring circus in a combat zone.  Clearly I was in over my head.  It was …

As we drove around Catonsville looking for homes, I remember thinking to myself, “what’s up with all the chairs? Do they just sit on Frederick Road and people watch?”  Actually I didn’t get my question answered until we moved in to our new house three weeks later.  “Ah, that makes sense.”  That was three years ago and I haven’t regretted it a day since.  We moved here for the schools and the historic feel.  I have to admit I wasn’t prepared to call it home so quickly.  (Mom, close your ears)  Our neighborhood is amazing (Thanks Keith for the shout out across two lawns when we were looking at …

There are many different kinds of fathers in this world.   None are perfect, but admittedly, some stand out far more than others.  Now, I’ve been known in the past to take advantage of special occasions such as these to shower my loved one with praise and encouragement. Why change my M.O. now?  Today I want to tell a tale of two fathers, two very different fathers.  One would be my own dad, a nearly absentee version of Dr. Huxtable himself.  The other would be my husband, who happens to be the father of my three beautiful children.    What separates these men? Perspective.  My perspective to …

Sometimes I think my 4-year-old’s goal in life is to embarrass me.   Of course I know in my heart, he’s just a boy.  A 100 percent boy that is.  Plus, he’s four, so he really hasn’t a care in the world.  If he wants to run around the front yard naked, it shouldn’t matter, right?    No really, yesterday, I caught him standing in the front yard with his pants around his ankles peeing on the grass, a habit I’m guessing he picked up on a recent camping trip with Dad. And tonight he comes into the back room butt naked, pull-up in hand.  He promptly plops down on the ground.  “Mommy, I got my pull …

I can handle a lot of things when it comes to my kids.  Quite frankly, I have a fairly high pain tolerance and I'm not so strong on the empathy thing.  Put those two traits together and I could be a hardened criminal.  Thankfully, I'm just a horrible parent.  Okay, maybe I'm being over dramatic and maybe I should just get on with the story before we all need therapy.  Owen complains of a tooth ache, so I schedule a trip to the dentist.  That's the correct response, right?  Exactly, except that this would be his first dental check up ever.  The child is almost 6 years old and we're just now …

A few months ago, I wrote a tribute to my mom.  I don’t exactly remember what prompted me to do so, but she deserved it.  Plus, I totally made her cry, which made it worth it.  Today, I’d like to honor my other mom, my mother-in-law.  Many of my friends don’t get along with their MIL’s.  Let’s face it, mothers and daughter-in-laws are always going to be at odds.  It’s like the law of physics or gravity or karma; I don’t know, one of those scientific-ish things.  We’ve taken their little boys away from them.  Of course I don’t think I ever realized what a big deal that was until I had boys of …

With my oldest in kindergarten, we’ve become slaves to the school year calendar.  So much so that we weren’t able to make it back south for the holidays.  There just wasn’t enough of a break to make the 12-hour trek to see family.  Seriously, what is up with that anyway? Since we didn’t go home for the holidays, we promised we’d make it down for Spring Break.  And here we are, although we almost didn’t make it.  Being a mostly one-income family, the threat of a government shutdown put our trip on the fence.  You can’t really justify that kind of expense when you’re not sure if there will be …

Two boys, and the girl is the first in a cast?  Go figure.  Picture this.  We're sitting in the the urgent care center at the Kaiser Facility in Towson.  The doctor asked, "What happened?"  Fair question.  My answer?  "Would you believe me if I said I have no idea?" Doctor: "Believe it or not, it happens all the time."  Enter sigh of relief.  I was pretty much expecting for Child Protective Services to show up right then and there.  Seriously, how does your 2-year-old break her arm and no one notices? Of course we all know that hind sight is 20/20, so here's what we can piece together: On …

So we have this clock.  It hangs in our dining room, up on the wall, over the arch.  It doesn't work.  And it hasn't for some time.  At first it was one of those things that just kept getting pushed down on the to-do list.  Then just fell off the list altogether. None the less, it still hangs there stalled at 20 minutes to 12.   Honestly, I never even think of it about it.  That is, until someone comes to visit.  It's become quite a conversation piece.  Even this morning, at a women's breakfast, I was thinking, complaining really, that I had yet to come up with a topic for my column.  Mid-…

Finding balance as a work-at-home mom (who's never home might I add) can be extremely difficult at times, especially when I find myself having to reach out to others for help at times.  Whether it's for childcare in intermittent spurts or the occassional visit from a housekeeper.  I wasn't always a working mom.  In fact, up until about a year ago, I was 100 percent stay-at-home.  Granted I still was never home much, with running a mom's group and local community involvement, but the mentality was different. Our family epitomizes on the go.  However, when I started my business last July, …

We make mistakes. We’re not perfect and to my surprise, no one expects me to be except me. How many times have I snapped at my kids, not because they were doing something catastrophic, but more because I was at my wit’s end, frustrated, stressed, and alone?  Of course normally this occurs during what I like to call, the “I can’t take any more, get my husband home” stretch. It’s that hour to hour an half between the time my 5-year-old gets home from school and the hubby walks through the door.  It’s not like I have a lot of dignity to begin with. After three labors, births and breast feeding, …

Being a mom can be lonely, which is ironic since you’re never actually alone.  Whether you stay at home or work, it can still be extremely difficult to build lasting relationships with people your own age.  We can also become quite isolated.  I often joke that unless they start play news excerpts during Dora the Explorer, I’d be clueless as to what’s going on in the world.  It’s just funny how as moms we can be so clued into our kids that we can often miss the world passing by us. I think this is one of the reasons that playgroups are so important to me.  Not only do my kids have an outlet …

Seventy two hours of being snotted and coughed on has finally caught up to me.  The worst thing that could possibly happen to a mom, aside from true disasters of course, has happened.  I’m sick, done in, beat down and laid up.  I’m achy and feverish.  Even my hair follicles hurt.  Oh and let’s not forget hacking up a lung every so often.  There is no escape.  It’s not like moms get sick days. Life must go on whether I feel good or not.  The kids are still going to get up at the crack of dawn in need of a mommy to get them dressed, fed and off to wherever the schedule dictates.   Of course …

My daughter seems to have caught a slight cold, which wouldn’t be so bad except that she has developed a rather annoying symptom, the incessant and whiny use of the word, “mooommmmyyyy.”  Oh how my heart would warm when she’d look up at me with those doll like eyes and say, “hey Mommy,” smiling, giddy and happy. Those days seem so far away as of late.  Now it’s clingy, constant and drawn out.  It’s not like I can ignore her completely.  One, she doesn’t give up and two, she is still my baby, even if that means I go bald by week’s end.  I must admit I have never had this experience with my …

Did you happen to notice the absence of “Behind the Cape” on Monday?  Don’t worry; I’m still here, just moving to a new day of the week.  Be on the lookout for more mom-friendly content on the site as well, especially on Wednesdays.     I’m a busy mom.  It’s no secret.  In fact, most people ask me how I do it all.  I manage a household, a business, a non-profit.  I cook, clean, write.  I balance a budget, do taxes, and change poopy diapers. How do I do it all? I have no earthly idea, but it’s certainly not for a lack of time.  Despite the many hats I wear, I still manage to find ways to be …

Is anyone else struggling to make it through the winter?  I’m actually starting to feel a little claustrophobic.  With the temperatures not even hitting freezing this past weekend, I suddenly became keenly aware of how much time we’ve spent inside lately.  There’s only so much Super Mario Brothers a girl can take, right?  In full disclosure, I’m not really the type of mom who has activities planned throughout the day.  Believe me, I wish I were, but no matter how hard I try, my plans always seem to deflate like a day-old balloon.  Most of the time, we’re playing the Wii, which might also …

My mom and stepdad are visiting this week.  They live way down in Panama City Beach, Florida.  Needless to say, we don’t see them too often.  However, since Southwest started flying into Panama City Beach, we’ve been able to see them more often.  Thank you Southwest for bringing families, at least mine, closer together.  When I told my mom that I needed to write my column, she said, “don’t say anything mean about me.”  I said, “Be careful mom, I haven’t found my inspiration for the week yet.”  Then I started thinking, searching for a topic to write about.   Why not write about my mom?  Don’t …