Green Bay Area Mom

It's a story about a boy named Auggie who was born with many facial defects and has had many, many surgeries to help him. Due to appearance and his medical conditions and surgeries, he has been homeschooled so far in his life.

Pain. Tear inducing, not wanting to even play with her friends anymore pain. It started on the night of her school dance. I really just thought she was sore from running around with her friends all evening—doing the hokey pokey and chicken dance and everything else that comes with an elementary school dance. I gave her some ibuprofen and tried not to silently freak out that it was mid-January and she was having leg pain—AGAIN, for the 5th year in a row. If I really think about it, she was having minor pain all month leading up to this point, but there was no swelling. That all changed. 

A little over a year ago I wrote about surviving my daughter's fifth birthday. I lamented over the fact that her little girl days were numbered. Well, you guys, it's happening. She's growing up.

Quite the title right?  Let me explain.  Evenings are tough for most kids from infant on. I know my babies were the crankiest from 5:30-bedtime most nights. The witching hour. But I’m not talking about babies or even toddlers. I’m referring to the school-age group of kids!

Today is my birthday.  I’m now 33, which is not a big milestone by any means. It actually takes me a beat lately to remember my age. But, nonetheless, it feels like I’m entering that interesting age range titled “mid-thirties.” On one hand, I welcome my new sophisticated age category with pride! On the other hand, I’m cringing because somehow “mid-thirties” sounds much older than “thirty.” These high and low conflicting feelings go along well with #momlife right now.

October's arrival brings with it so many activities! This is in no way intended to be a comprehensive event guide. We are highlighting those we think may be of most interest to families in the Green Bay and surrounding...

My girls know this is serious business. They’ve long abandoned any dreams of taking over the remote when “Mom is watching her house shows.” It’s gotten out of hand. So, too, have dreams and designs for my own home. It still has the same layout and many of the original features from when it was built in the late 1990s. Many days, instead of vacuuming or gardening, I waste time obsessing about updating the flooring in our living room, adding a French door to the master bedroom or pouring a concrete patio in the back yard. It sounds ridiculous when put into that perspective.

When you are a competitive person, you often do a lot of comparing. It is a natural tendency in competitive people; to evaluate whether or not something was better or worse is a habit of mine. However, sometimes this has taken a serious toll on my confidence. My husband always felt super competitive against his brother, which led to a lot of sibling rivalry as well. Because of this, my husband and I always said that we would work hard to make sure our kids are not competitive with each other! One of the ways we would foster this would be to not compare them against each other. However, this has proved to be more difficult than I expected.

If you are already in a rut packing lunches or are just looking for fresh ideas, here are some foods to send with your child!

It's the jeans and hoodies season and the leaves become amazingly brilliant and beautiful, so it's time to take advantage  of it! There are so many great environmental and nature centers in our area that are free! Depending on the age of your kids, it might be more walking than hiking, but it doesn’t matter.  We are so spoiled to have so many options in our area.  Here are some great ones to check out if you haven’t before.