This year I didn't seem to decorate the house for Halloween quite as much as usual, and I had some little plastic spiders, bugs, bones and other doo-dads left in the Halloween bin. Every year I move things around and I just didn't find a good place for these guys yet. I realized today on Halloween that they were still looking for a place to be spooky. So after my son's muddy soccer game today, he needed a bath right away before we even thought about getting dressed into cos

My little girl left this week to go to outdoor education camp with her class. Okay, she’s not actually that little, I know, and she’s more than ready for a week away with her friends and teachers from school. But I was a bit teary and feeling tender as we pulled up to the school and schlepped her gear to the waiting bus. She saw my moist eyes and shot me a wide-eyed look of despair: please, please don’t gush and embarrass me with a million kisses and hugs, Mom! But that’s all

There's a lot of coming and going with little ones! HOME can become a sign that relieves your baby of stress (*ahem* screaming bloody murder) when they're not happy about being stuck in the car seat or stroller. "We're HOME, yay!" It's also a perfect companion sign if you've been working on our "FINISHED/ALL DONE sign: "We're ALL DONE here, time to go HOME, let's go!" at the playground or at a play date. *TIP: Remember, you're building layers of communication here, so first c