I first heard about Galentine’s Day from Parks and Recreation, where Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, made it a tradition to celebrate female friendships on February 13th. Honestly, she was onto something—because while motherhood is incredibly rewarding, it can...
Seasons & Holidays
No matter the time of year, there’s always something to celebrate! We’re right by your side through birthdays, major milestones and changing seasons. Discover ideas for fun summer activities, new holiday traditions and more ways to make memories with your loved ones year-round.
Embracing Tiny Wins: A Mom’s Realistic Approach to New Year’s Goals
As a full-time personal trainer, health and wellness are literally my career—I spend my days helping others prioritize their well-being. But even with all my knowledge and experience, I still struggle to practice self-care as a mom of a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old....
Soaking Up & Building Up Our Kids
Hi. I'm Rachel, and I'm Ashlee. Welcome to the CapitalMOM Real Life Conversations. It's real life. Rachel’s December Glimmer We're going to start with our glimmer and our dimmer. And my glimmer for this month is Wicked. Have you seen Wicked? Because I saw it, and I...
Holiday Season Self-Care for Moms
For my kids, it’s truly the most magical time of the year! For me though, as a mom, it’s also the season of heightened mental load and sensory overload. I feel the weight of planning, coordinating and making sure every moment is brimming with holiday cheer. I want my...
The Magic of Christmas
Hi, I'm Rachel, and I'm Ashlee. Welcome to the CapitalMOM Real Life Conversations. Our Mutual Dimmer Let's start with our dimmer. We actually have a mutual dimmer. My middle kiddo started throwing up yesterday, and then threw up until about 3:00 in the morning. And...
Summer Reflections & Prepping for Back to School
This week, we're going to roll into a tribute to summer and talk about getting into the swing of back to school. Our Summer Glimmers & Dimmers But first, let's go ahead and start with our glimmer and our dimmer. Rachel's July Glimmer My glimmer this month is my...
Fostering Sibling Relationships
This month, we're going to talk about fostering sibling relationships as we move into the summer months. Ashlee & Rachel’s Joint Dimmer So we're going to start with our dimmer first. A joint dimmer. It probably seems like we talk about this a lot, but this was too...
Home for the Holidays
The holiday season is always a busy and delightful one. I enjoy opening up our home to family members, their children and grandkids. Our grandkids are growing older, so several of them are seriously dating others, and we do our best to accommodate everyone. Almost 30...
Six Common Ways We Struggle During Holidays
Elvis once sang about feeling blue at Christmas time, and I’m here to tell you: It’s perfectly normal to feel that way. There are many reasons why your days may not be merry and bright around the holiday season. Jam-packed social calendars, deadlines at work, loss of...
What to Do When Children Don’t Want Your Heirlooms
John and I are tired of taking care of the yard, trimming, planting, spraying for weeds and yes, even killing garter snakes. It’s not that we don’t want to do it, but it seems to be taking us more and more time to accomplish our tasks. We take care of all the...
Halloween for Teens
Every year, kids across the country look forward to Halloween, mine included. It’s a night of dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door asking for treats. It's almost as much fun when I’m the one passing out Halloween candy to adorable little ones in disguise....
How I Embraced Being Present This Summer
It’s that time of year again—back to school. This summer felt like it lasted a second. I blinked and it’s gone. I feel like we just had an end of the school year party and now here we go again. Cherishing Summer Moments With My Kids I don’t know who enjoys summer...
Many Memories Worth Sharing
I don't know if my daughter thought I was going to die soon, but I do know she gave my husband and I the gift of Storyworth, a keepsake book to record our lives so that we could pass down our memories and heritage to our family. Below is the experience we had writing...
Summer Eye Safety
For many families, summer is the most wonderful time of the year. School is out, days are long, sun is plentiful and vacations, cookouts and family time outdoors are common. Here are four tips to keep your eyes safe during this summer season. Avoid Getting a "Sunburn...
The Summer of Yes: Prioritizing Family Over Work
It happens every single school year: the last day. Our children are anticipating summer more than ever, but I just want to put off summer for a few more days. Just a few more days to hear the chattiness of the juniors outside my door. Just a few more days to prolong...
Summer Planning for Tweens & Teens: How to Keep Them Busy
Summer break can't come soon enough. We’re all desperate to decompress from the wild pace of the school year and enjoy a little downtime. But for parents of preteen or teenage kids who are past the age for camp and too young to find summer jobs, there’s a slight...
Beating the Winter Blues
I’ll admit, winter has never been my favorite season. I would gladly trade cold weather, less sunlight and getting sick more often for sunny days at the beach. The “winter blues” is a common term used to describe the increased sadness, lower energy and reduced...
One Way to Stick to Your New Year’s Resolution
The start of a new year—an opportunity to start fresh, set goals and resolutions, and on and on and on. Somewhere, someone has already given up on their resolutions just reading this never-ending laundry list. Here are my recommendations for creating a New Year's...
Grieving During the Holidays
The grief bubbles up unbidden. I never know when or where it will surface, but inevitably it comes when I least want it. My mom contracted COVID-19 six months ago. She nearly died of complications from the virus. The anticipatory grief I experienced was different from...
Past & Presents: A Holiday Gift to Remember
Nearly five years later, I can still vividly see my mom at her quilting machine. Perfectly piecing together different colors of fabric and swiftly moving them through the sewing machine. I can remember seeing my aunts’ watery eyes glisten when they opened a quilt...
Toys, Cash or Bust
It’s November 1 and the Walmart toy catalog has arrived. You look and see that things have already been circled and an entire page has a large circle around every toy. This is what happens every year. The toys wanted are circled with my kids’ names next to them, so I...
Taking Family Vacations
The kids are out of school, and we’ve banked up just enough vacation time for this exact moment. After a few years of travel being limited, it’s time for a summer trip! Do you recall that one summer vacation or that one family trip as a child that was etched into your...
Making Summer Memories
Summer has always been my season. Growing up I spent my time riding bikes, and swimming, but most evenings were spent at the softball fields. Nostalgia sweeps over me with the small summer moments of eating vegetables straight from the garden with my dad, picking...
Thursdays with My Grandson
I’ve always enjoyed the playdates I had with my grandkids when they were young. Those were the good old days when they had time to come over to our house and play. We did artwork with the help of Michael’s art store. The theme of most creative pieces centered around...
Continuing My Mom’s Tradition of Giving
Generosity. As defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary: characterized by a noble or kindly spirit; having an abundance. As we begin this holiday season, this third season without my mom, I can feel the presence of my mom working through my hands and my heart....
Let’s Talk About Santa
The holidays are fast approaching, and with them, a question that has haunted me each of the past few Christmases: Will this be the year my kids stop believing in Santa? If they ask, how do I tell them the truth? And how do I tell them the true meaning of Santa? The...
How to Survive the Holidays with Diabetes
It’s that time of year when the leaves are falling, days are getting shorter and finally it’s jacket weather. For those living with diabetes this can be a tough stretch ahead…the dreaded Holidays. Does this sound familiar? It’s much tougher to get that evening walk in...
Enjoying Summer Days with My Kids
Netflix binges. Golf tournaments. Softball games. Cleaning closets. Reading. Extra screen time. Falling down the Twitter rabbit hole. Way too many frozen pizzas. Late nights on the deck. As I try to blog this month I am quickly halted by writer’s block over and over....
Celebrating Easter Over Zoom
I don’t need to tell you that this is the second Easter of the pandemic. It’s funny how I’m starting to keep track of events by connecting them to COVID-19. Many of our friends have received their second vaccine, but we're just starting to talk about getting together...
Valentine’s Day Throughout the Years
Valentine’s Day has always been special in our house. My mother’s birthday was on February 14th, so growing up my sister and I always had plenty of cake and presents in our house to celebrate both events. I remember giving out valentines to all my classmates in...
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