Adventures In Motherhood

Summer escapades are not for the faint of heart in our family of six; further evidence we never do anything small! A family of avid outdoor enthusiasts, we participated in Sunday Parkways last weekend in North Portland, an 8.8 mile loop bringing out cyclists of all persuasions from Storm Troopers and Unicyclists playing the violin, to dogs on bikes (my own included). Sunday Parkways in Portland is family friendly and the Forced Family Fun (#FFF) our family has grown accustomed to! As parents of two teenagers, ages 15 and 13, not to mention an 11 and 8 year old, sometimes we have to force the family fun, with less than eager participants. It becomes 'Extreme' when we load on the miles or level of difficulty, for us as parents that is. North Portland is quite a distance from our SE Portland hood, and the exact length of the 24-mile trek was not something we initially divulged to our children as they ventured out along the Springwater Corridor, wind at their backs and smiles o...

There is a secret society to which I'm convinced moms of four children belong. We simply smile in understanding of our shared journey when we cross paths. Without a sister of my own, it warms my heart to feel accepted into this compassionate sisterhood without judgment, united knowing we are all somewhat crazy! The 'secret sisterhood spy craft' is tried and true and our circle is growing... Reminiscent of CIA spy craft, we use simple code word exchanges in passing, as if validating an asset's bona fides. Appearing dumfounded one of us cautiously queries "You have four children?" Immediately recognizing the glimmer of hope in the other mother's weary eyes, she enthusiastically affirms, "Yes, but no one has four kids!" The exchange is complete and just like that, another mother is accepted into the secret sisterhood. One such brief exchange happened last week while hanging with my children (#FFF) at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast and I welcom...

Last week my husband and I spent a blissful week in Cancun for our 23rd wedding anniversary. It was time we prioritized our marriage and ourselves, besides our children needed a break from us as much as we needed time away from them! A true blessing to experience, we relished the time together at an adults-only all-inclusive resort, never discussing nor missing our children who were experiencing an all-inclusive 'stay-cation' with relatives. Quite frankly, I didn't want to see children, hear children or smell children our entire celebration and we laughed at the couples who phoned their children from the beach. Needless to say, a week following our return, full-on into the final week of school projects, 5th grade continuation, marching band parades, baseball games, and 2nd grade stomach flu, I scarcely recall the ocean waves lapping the shore or the peace I felt reading three novels without agenda. Today I sit here, kids momentarily out of school, as panic ensues and summer...

Everything I learned about parenting I learned from episodes of The Simpsons! Not exactly true as I responsibly recount smatterings of Parenting With Love and Logic along the way; however, as sure as the streets of Portland (creator Matt Groening's hometown) point to Springfield's namesakes, I can't help but admit my admiration for the show's creativity has impacted my parenting style. At my wits end this past month with my boys' hormones on fire and my patience wearing thin during 'May End-of-School-Year Madness', I reached for a consequence. D'oh!! Bart and his chalkboard antics came to mind and I reminded my children that parenting their Bart Simpson behavior was also in my playbook! Don't knock it until you try it! Seriously, parenting from a cartoon has its benefits. My children believe in the authenticity of sentence writing, having seen Bart's disdain for chalkboard punishment firsthand on T.V. Writing sentences on a notepad in the solac...

The past month has been anything but dull, consumed by two kids with birthdays, a new job involving travel for my husband, 5th grade science projects, band/vocal concerts, baseball games and track meets! Most days I'm treading water, barely surviving the end of school year/spring athletic schedule for our four children and bigly outnumbered. Just when I believed I had thought of everything, meticulously plotted out on our antiquated wall calendar, the low-balance lunch alert email came. My kids really despise all school lunches, with the exception of Thursday pizza, so there are worse calamities; nevertheless, I was confident I had diligently pre-loaded all of their accounts at the beginning of the school year to eliminate it from my to-do list. Dumbfounded, I activated my spy tradecraft to uncover the perpetrator weaseling away funds undetected. Busted! I caught the sneaky 7-year-old bandit with the toothless grin, who spilled the beans before I was forced to play my CIA 'lie ...

When people ask me "What do you do?" I laugh and reply, "Whatever it takes!" From non-profit fundraising and career work, to volunteer service and parenting one day at a time, I simply do whatever it takes! This is especially true with regards to my writing, whether personal stories or letters to persuade legislators, I'm certainly not in it for fame or fortune. Writing is personally cathartic and while it's my hope to lift the spirit of others, my true passion resounds with my children and memorializing our experiences. I cannot help but reflect on this passion today, April 20th, an important anniversary of the tragic Columbine shootings and other 4/20 'cultural' events, it also happens to be the date of my late father's birthday. My father would've been 71 today, had he lived longer than 47 years (a surreal number I'm fast approaching). It's hard for me to fathom experiencing only 20 years with my children, the short length of...

Parenting is a mixed bag of emotions requiring a thick skin. My husband and I must stay strong, rather than succumb to the pressure presented by our seemingly 'less fortunate children'. I am reminded of our children's inequities in relation to their peers on a daily basis. It seems we cannot keep up with the Joneses! "Everyone in 5th grade has a iPhone mom, but me!" exclaims my 11-year-old son. His 13-year-old brother with a flip-phone decidedly nods in agreement, chiming in "and you are the only parents who don't let us game all the time like my friends do!" "How come I'm the only one who has to buy her own cellphone?" shouts my 15-year-old daughter in frustration. "Why can't I have a laser tag ninja warrior party this year?" my 7-year-old inquires, keeping up with his siblings' attempts to wear us into submission. "Why do we have to do dishes and garbage?" they complain daily as we attempt to ease o...