One of my fondest memories in high school was a fact I learned in Health class.  No it had nothing to do with body hair (eek!) or the delicate issue of how our bodies store gas—it was far more important.  In between learning the benefit of eating the food pyramid and the importance of using deodorant once we reached the pungent age of 16, we learned how many muscles it required to frown versus smile. (Only in America) As I recalled, it took more muscles to frown than to smile, but several years after I graduated from college, I learned I was sadly mistaken.  According to Dr. David Song of the…

Here in Rhode Island, we are coming off a very long, icy, snowy winter.  I can’t remember when I wanted spring to arrive more than this year.  With the warmer, fresher days of spring right around the corner I’m preparing to transition seasons by performing my annual spring cleaning. (Sadly, yes, I actually look forward to this each year!) By the time I’m done, every corner (well, nearly every) of our home will be scrubbed and freshened so that my family and I can enjoy as much time outdoors as possible. Spring is not only the perfect time to clear away the dust and dirt in your home, but as a…

When you have kids, you learn quickly that although parenting is amazing, it’s also very expensive.  The older they get, the more things they want, and many parents struggle to balance not only the cost of all these items but also how to teach their kids about financial responsibility. Today we’re going to get some expert advice from my MacMillan Publishing QDT colleague, Money Girl, Laura Adams, who has some fun and easy ways that parents can work together with our children to create a solid financial future.  Laura is the author of the award-winning book Money Girl’s Smart Moves to Grow …

Child Outreach is a free service offered to all children 3 to 5 years old. Child Outreach provides a brief assessment in five areas of development: vision, hearing, speech and language skills, social and emotional development, and general development, such as gross and fine motor skills and memory. Much like bringing your child to the pediatrician, children should be screened annually, at 3, 4 and 5 years old. Because the activities are based upon what is appropriate for your child's age and experiences at the time of screening, each screening provides families with an up-to-date check on …

As I scurried through the store and rounded the corner I literally lost my breath when I saw it!   There it was—the most exquisite, perfectly designed 8 X 10 area rug I had ever laid eyes on. If ever an item screamed my name this lush, tropical masterpiece was it (well, excluding certain edibles like whoopee pies and pressed grape beverages). For those of you who have followed my yearlong quest to transform our home into a private Caribbean resort (Just because I have 8 kids doesn’t mean I can’t live an exotic life) I knew after brushing up against that plush, vibrant-woven hibiscus piece of …

With Christmas nearly two months behind us, I have absolutely no qualms about bitc- I mean, complaining, about this year’s biggest holiday regrets —or should I say biggest waste of money spent on the worst gifts and gadgets ever! Though I’m the first one in our humble family to tout that Christmas is by no means about frivolous purchases and shiny red bows, I’m also the first one to walk through the heavenly gates of such prestigious shopping venues like Wal-Mart and Benny’s with a list a mile long of “must have” items from my eight precious children. Actually, now that we have six teens in …

Once that mesmerizing bejeweled ball dropped in Times Square two weeks ago, New Year’s hugs, kisses, and unwavering resolutions were exchanged from one end of the country to the other.  Champagne toasts were giddily declared as well intending folks across the world embarked on what they hope will be their best year yet. Can I just say I’m not going there this year? – Absolutely not! Instead of banging out a list of my usual culprits that could use a little improvement:  Eat healthier, weigh less, find my true purpose, sell custom-made wonder girdles to help pay for eight college funds, learn …

Are you one of those steadfast types that love the tradition of making a list of motivating New Year’s resolutions each year?  Or, have you “been there – done that” one too many times and have decided that the only resolution you care to make is not setting yourself up for disappointment by breaking the list you made less than one week into it?  Go ahead, be honest! Most people are not going to keep their resolutions all year long. They’ll start out with the best of intentions but the worst of strategies, expecting that they’ll somehow find the willpower to resist temptation after temptation…

Writing this piece in the aftermath of the unthinkable tragedy in Newtown on Friday, Dec. 14 is eerily surreal.  To learn that 26 innocent lives, 20 of them precious young children, were killed in a shooting massacre in their very own elementary school is just incomprehensible. As a mom of eight kids, the youngest who is 7 and in the first grade, I was stricken with immense grief and disbelief that sweet, trusting young elementary school aged children as well as their devoted and loving teachers and staff that cared and taught them were so brutally murdered. A tragedy of this magnitude is …

I consider myself a reasonably creative person. Just last week, for instance, I created a winter wonderland in our living room with branches I found in the woods behind our house.  After dragging them several miles, I managed to spray paint them with shiny white paint, sprinkle them with snow glitter and then strung lots of white lights on them all without batting an eye.  It’s a shame no one in my family has noticed this festive venue yet, but the dogs and I certainly are enjoying it. Sure I can bring a dead tree to life, but ask me to assemble something like those UNICEF boxes the kids come…

Pay no attention to the yards of yellow tape currently draped around our home, and don’t worry—it doesn’t indicate a crime scene—but possibly something just as ugly—a construction site.  Make that a “Holiday” construction site! Regardless of your religious affiliation, this is the time of year where most families are gathering their most festive ornamentation to decorate their front lawns, their mantels, their 7-foot pre-lit designer trees, their wardrobes, their pets, and some even the hoods of their cars.  Since we are Christians, we celebrate Christmas, which if I recall correctly, all …

As the mother of eight, if I’ve done the calculations correctly, I’ve attended more than 65 open houses to date at the beginning of each new school year. These events are certainly status quo but are also pivotal landmarks of how quickly time passes in our young children’s lives.  One moment we are “oohing” and “ahhing” at the self-portraits they’ve created in kindergarten, and in no time at all we’re listening to their high school teacher explain the importance of molecular geometry configurations predicted using VSEPR theory.  (I’ll take the kindergarten open houses any day of the week!) It…

As a writer, I have the extraordinary privilege of leading two separate lives.  My first full-time job is that of a mom.  I’m sure you don’t want me to bore you with the details about what it takes to keep a household with eight kids and two dogs cranking each day, so not to worry — I’ll be brief. Let me just say that as monotonous as much of motherhood can be, for me, no two days are ever alike. I can go months without having to unclog a toilet and the minute I realize my upper arms are in need of some toning, wham, I get to plunge one or two toilets a day for a week!  Or everything in the …

Well folks, we’re getting closer to the finish line — at the time of this writing, Election Day is only 18 days, 13 hours and 22 minutes away.  We all know the outcome — one of the candidates will be elected, and with that said, we’ll only have to put up with a couple more weeks of watching political ads, looking at signage all over town, and enjoying the spirited posts that our dear friends post on Facebook who are routing for the other party. You know the friends I’m referring to, right?  We all know someone who can’t help themselves but to rant and rave about their political stance and …

Sometimes I like to think parenting can be compared to eating a deliciously awesome hamburger — there’s nothing better when the burger is grilled to your exact liking, and the perfect combination of condiments just make your taste buds sing.   But even with that type of perfection, how many times do you bite into that juicy concoction only to have your teeth nosh down on one of those hard, grisly things, completely ruining the love affair you were having with your burger?  Ugh! If you’re like me, you just want to gag and throw the whole burger away. Not that I’m comparing the complex role of …

I was recently asked how my large family made ends meet, and did we get by on things like mac and cheese and accepting hand-me downs, and did we have to spend the majority of our free time doing affordable things like playing card games, renting movies from Redbox and every once in a while live it up and go on vacation outside of the state. I put down the stick I was whittling (homespun Christmas gifts you know!) and thought carefully before I replied. “It depends on what ends you’re talking about.”  I mean, “ends” can mean so many different things — financial, spiritual, emotional, material…

September 19, 1987 is somewhat of a blur.  I remember waking up to a very foggy, drizzly and dank morning, but nothing could stop this bride from running to the mailbox at 5 a.m. to hang paper mache wedding bells. My wedding day had finally arrived and there was no way a bit of damp weather was going to rain on my white, frilly parade. When you’re 23 years young, starry-eyed and in love with someone you’re crazy about (notice I didn’t say he was my best friend — no disrespect and hate me if you want, but this was not the role I wanted him to play), and are about to embark on one of the most …

Last week I had the surprise of a lifetime.  Sadly, I wasn’t visited by the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Prize Patrol, but something else unexpectedly caught my attention, and from what I understand it captured three million other American’s as well.  Stumped as to what roused many of us to be transfixed to our TVs for a few hours last week?  Nope, it wasn’t Billy Clinton sharing his values and morals with us during the Democratic Convention—it was something even far more outrageous from them thar parts down south—a 6-year old Georgia Peach by the name of Alana Thompson—affectionately known to …

Two of my eight children have their driver’s licenses, and two more are currently learning how to drive.  The entire process from permit to road test has provided me more excitement than one human being should ever be allowed to experience. Like the time I nearly flossed my teeth with a six-foot pine tree that my daughter decided to invite through the passenger window, or when my son didn’t know quite what to do at his first rotary (I believe he referred to it as a rodeo) and we circled it about six times before he bravely yielded the right of way to himself. There is a learning curve that …

It’s the second day of this new school year, and I’m sitting in my house, alone, with the eerie sound of silence.  It’s never this quiet here, even when the kids aren’t home probably because we have two boisterous dogs.  One of those dogs, our Pomeranian puppy, Gracie, is not home today.  As soon as the bus rolled out of our hood, I dropped her off at our veterinarian’s office to prevent Spike from jumping the fence — she’s getting spayed. The sound of silence is an odd thing to behold. All summer long I dream of those few quiet moments when I can hear things like my own stomach growling or …