My oldest daughter is a sophomore in high school, and I knew to expect the flood of college brochures and postcards we’d start getting in the mail toward the end of this school year. What I did not expect were the other letters – some of them Very Important with Great News for Your Child [...]

Everyone seems to have an opinion, a story, or at the very least a reaction to the phrase “PTA.”  I know I’ve been sounding off via Twitter and a few blog post mentions about the rocky start I’ve had this school year as a PTA Board member.  It’s easy to get frustrated – PTA is [...]

2:30PM – pick up 6th grader and 7th grader at jr high 3:30PM – pick up 3rd grader at elementary school 5:30 – pick up 10th grader from marching band practice at high school 6:30 – attend PTA Board Meeting at elementary school never:30 – luxuriate in having absolutely no responsibilities Tweet This Post

I used to treat the first day of school like a finish line – the whole idea was to get every pencil bought and sharpened, every blouse purchased and pressed so that we could sprint across some imaginary line at 8am on the first day of school and feel victorious. I’m not sure what has [...]

edited to add:  OH NO!  I don’t want this post to scare anyone away from joining PTA!  Do it!  They NEED you!  I’m just at a school where (a) I’m on the board, not a general member – being a general PTA member is not nearly as much work (so do it!), (b) we’re brand [...]

It’s that time again!  And whether your oldest is just starting school, or your seasoned school kids are heading back, chances are there might be some butterflies on “back-to-school jitters” duty.  The new children’s picture book, I’m Your Bus (Scholastic Press) by Marilyn Singer is a sweet book that might help put your kids’ nerves [...]

On the first day of school, it’s not just what your kids are wearing, but what they’re carrying that counts, too!  For my kids, gone are the days when they were happy with the solid-colored spirals and plain white binders.  If they’re going to be sitting through lessons and lectures, they want a little bit of personality [...]

Sometimes I think I should only approach our family calendar with an inhaler close at hand.  The patchwork of places to be and times to be there scrawled across 30-odd tiny boxes often illicits a barely-contained panic and touch of hyperventilation.  Especially now that August is here. August in our family means Marching Band.  And [...]

My Suburban’s name is Nellie, and I am often found patting her dash, giving her the Little Suburban That Could speech, “I think you can!  I think you can!  I think you can!”  She’s an old(ish) girl, but we still owe on her we love her, so we want her to last. One of her [...]

The show was FABULOUS!  We made some last minute tweaks that were really just small sacrifices compared to the huge payoff.  I also had a few more helpers tonight, and extra hands made the costume changes go much faster.  I guess after such a chaotic rehearsal today, the music director was able to see what [...]