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....
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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 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...
During the beginning of the pandemic, I challenged my grandkids each month to learn something new. I tried to be a good role model, and l challenged myself as well. The challenge took place mostly during the winter months of our isolation. I remember baking bread,...
Ever since the grandkids were little, we've included them in the picture on our Christmas card. We don’t send many cards anymore, but we always try to send them to family members who live out of state and some close friends. Pictures have included cutting down our...
During the pandemic, I have become relatively efficient with the process of Zoom calls. With the necessary isolation, I appreciate the ability to see friend’s faces and their expressions and hear their voices. I was on a Zoom chat with grandkids last week, and when I...
Eat healthy, lose weight, exercise—these are some of the things I think about when it comes to New Year Resolutions. But this year, I not only wanted to do these resolutions for me, but I wanted to include my family in some as well. Resolutions for the Family When it...
When I was growing up, I was fortunate to know both sets of my grandparents. My paternal grandparents were farmers and lucky to keep their farm in spite of the depression, which was no small feat.
I vividly remember how special my parents made the Christmas season, especially Christmas Eve. We had supper, went to midnight mass and then around 1:30 in the morning, we opened presents. Somehow mom managed to keep all the gifts hidden, and while we opened presents she had a story for each one.
Oh, the end of the year. The time where we tend to reflect over the past 365 days. Reflection gets to me every time. Reflecting upon the memories, the accomplishments, even the fears, but most importantly, reflecting encourages me to improve.
It’s funny how the older one gets, the more time it takes to do the simple tasks of preparing holiday meals, buying and wrapping gifts, and dealing with all things holiday. Why should I think this year would be different?
Our Thanksgiving meal has been eaten. My lesson plans for December are complete. Our Christmas tree is decorated. Everything about the holiday season is in full force.
Growing up, I was required to write thank you notes for all my birthdays. My grandma would always call after my birthday and ask if I’d gotten her card in the mail. I always felt awful if I didn’t acknowledge her with a phone call or note.
We have many family holiday traditions. I sometimes worry that’s the only way our grandkids will remember us. I realize their lives will grow as they get into college, begin a career and start their own families.
I’ve always considered the end of every school year to be a rite of passage. Both students and educators go through a similar routine of cleaning out lockers or files, saying “See you next year!” and making special summer plans.
Ringing bells for the Salvation Army is becoming a tradition for my family. This year, I took Cohen with me to ring the bell for an hour or so. It was amazing how much money a cute little boy in a Santa hat saying “Happy Holidays” to everyone will collect in 60 minutes!
New Year’s Eve is not a huge celebration on our list of family traditions. Don’t get me wrong — we love the idea of making new resolutions, watching celebrations on TV, toasting with a glass of bubbly and even shooting off a firework or two.
Christmas was such a fun time when my three kids were little tykes. We did so many wonderful things together as a family during the Christmas season. Watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on television, frosting cookies and driving around looking at Christmas lights were favorites.
The ‘kids table’ or the ‘adults table’? Families often tend to split up during holiday meals, delegating an area where the younger members can all sit together and not interrupt the adults’ polite, conversation-filled meal.
Christmas is coming, which means it’s time to write a letter to Santa Claus! During the holiday season, Cohen writes a letter with gift ideas for our relatives and with his one big gift idea for Santa.
Many of the traditions we started when our grandkids were infants are long gone. Traditions from when they were in elementary and middle school are still present, but they have also been modified in one way or another.
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