Stars, Stripes, and Self-Regulation: Strategies for the 4th of July

The Fourth of July is one of my familyโ€™s favorite holidays. Itโ€™s an all-day event full of festivities, fireworks, and our favorite people. But donโ€™t get it twisted, it can be the ultimate endurance test for kids and that all has to do with their sensory threshold.

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Summer To-Do List: 2025

Happy Last Day of School (for us, at least)!

Since I loved our Summer To-Do List lessons from last year, weโ€™re doing it again. Each summer as our kids get older, they become more and more capable. I also feel more and more determined as a parent to stretch their comfort zones. Both Mary and I have something new up our sleeves for our kids this summer.

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Our Panda Fest Playdate Review

For this play date review, weโ€™re tweaking it yet again. Weโ€™re sharing our first ever girl date!

Once Mary and I settled our spring break plans, we got tickets for the brood to go to Atlantaโ€™s first-ever Panda Fest, an Asian food festival with dates in multiple cities across the country. Panda Fest vendors are mostly local and they specialize in Asian street food and snacks.

Attending were BOTH sets of twin girls, so no boys this round. My husband Troy also came for the food and to be an extra set of hands. H&K are two years younger than A&Z, so now weโ€™re factoring in age gap for this play date.

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Our Rage Room Mom date

Yay! New blog feature.

Weโ€™ve written extensively on PPD and how important it is for moms to take time for themselves. This recharges our social battery and keeps us balanced, so our entire lives arenโ€™t completely ruled by our kids.

Looking forward, I came across a teen parenting account that said that one of the reasons teens stop looking to their parents for advice and quality time is because their parents arenโ€™t fun. During high school, my parents never really had friends. They would work, make dinner, and watch something on the couchโ€ฆeveryโ€ฆdamn…night. I love an introverted bed rot, but seriously no other people anywhere in the radar? Not even a best friend that Iโ€™ve ever heard of?

I feel like most of the parents I appreciated growing up were those that had their own social lives; they played more roles than just being a parent or an employee. They had interests and hobbies and would go out for girls nights. Their personal schedules were just as involved as their kidsโ€™. Overall, I feel like their homes were just lighter; and consequently, their villages were bigger.

So, Mary and I would like to propose a trade. We will exchange two playdate reviews, for two Mom date reviews. We love doing fun stuff with our kids, but weโ€™d also like to try out some fun, new things that are a little more age-appropriate for us.

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