7 Mickey Mouse trivia tidbits in honor of his birthday
Oh boy! Happy birthday, Mickey Mouse. The iconic character first appeared on November 18, 1928 in the animated short, Steamboat Willie. In honor of his birthday, check out some fun Mickey Mouse trivia * Mickey Mouse originally named Mortimer Mouse. Lillian Disney, Walt Disney’s wife, wisely advised her husband to ditch the name Mortimer. She […]
Holiday treats added to Treasures from the Disney Archives exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry
The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago is one of my favorite places, and Christmas is my favorite season, so of course I love the MSI’s Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light exhibit year after year. This year, I was even more excited than usual to see the Disney spin given […]
On Erma Bombeck and achieving goals
I adore Erma Bombeck. She is one of my favorites. I love her writing and her fabulous perspective on life, and parenthood in particular. She made it possible for people like me to be writing about parenthood and suburban life. Though she was published in newspapers, not online, and she passed away before the blogosphere […]
Marking Veterans Day and Armistice Day with poppies and gratitude
“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” —Elmer Davis Today, the United States observes Veterans Day, and the rest of the world observes Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day. It marks the signing of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War […]
Happy 45th birthday, Sesame Street, and thank you
Happy 45th birthday, Sesame Street and the good folks at the Children’s Television Workshop! I am a card-carrying, life-long, die-hard Sesame Street fan. I have loved Sesame Street for as long as I can remember. My brother and I named our very first fish Bert and Ernie. My favorite number growing up was 6, because […]
7 Fun facts about Monsters, Inc.
“Mike Wazowski!” Tonight’s feature for family movie night was the fabulous Monsters, Inc. from Pixar. My husband hadn’t yet seen the movie, and it was fun to watch his reactions to the movie. He liked it, and my tween is always happy to see it again. In honor of this evening’s fun, here are a […]
Bravo, Kelly Ripa, on separating parenthood and friendship
Kelly Ripa spoke the truth about parenting during a recent appearance on the Wendy Williams Show. Ripa shared how she caught her 13-year-old daughter, Lola, on Instagram when she was supposed to be studying Spanish. Ripa said, “‘I don’t think she likes me, but I don’t care. I’m like, ‘I’m not your friend, I’m your […]
Letter to my daughter about what truly matters
Dear Daughter, I hope you know that you regularly make me proud. I was certainly proud last night when you received your award at the band concert. I know that you worked hard to get it, practicing those 16 scales over and over again until you could perform them all in three minutes with no […]
11 fabulous wordless picture books
Have a little one in your house who wants to read independently, despite the fact that he/she can’t actually read words yet? You are not alone. A Facebook friend has a child in that situation and asked for recommendations of books without words. It reminded me of when my daughter also wanted wordless picture books […]
Laurence Steinberg on parenting: It’s about thriving, not just surviving
Today I went to a talk by Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., the man who literally wrote the book on adolescence. Really, he did, it’s called Adolescence and is the foremost text book on the subject. For those not taking an actual class but who are enrolled in the University of Real Life Parenting, his latest book […]