Recently, I was driving my son and daughter to an appointment. It was taking much longer than we had anticipated to get to the doctor’s office, due to all of the construction. Then, all of a sudden, while stopped at a red light, we were hit from behind. Startled and shocked, I made sure the kids were OK, then tried to get my bearings of what had happened. Before I knew what was occurring, the driver that hit me drove away.  Really? Who does that? Why drive away? With really no place to stop due to the construction, I decided to go past the construction, and then stop. As I drove, I begin to …

Every family has one. At least everyone that I speak to has at least one Black Sheep in their family. One family member who has just always been regarded as the outcast or is so different from the rest, the Black Sheep label has always stuck. My family has one of those. My uncle. I guess the difference for me is that my family’s Black Sheep has always been one of my absolute favorite people in the world. My uncle has always marched to the beat of his own drummer. He is one of the kindest, gentlest, warmest, most loving people I have ever known.  As he does not live in the Chicago area, I have…

Reality TV shows that air over the summer are just absolute train wrecks. They are terrible, offensive and completely ridiculous but I can't turn them off. I know I don’t have to watch. But I can't do it. I continue to tune in and obsess about the people who are in them.  “The Bachelor Pad” is an absolute train wreck. The first episode of these singles living in a house competing as couples to win money was three hours long. Three hours! The portrayal of each of these individuals makes one look crazier than the next. I am becoming convinced this show is rotting my brain. Why would I want to …

Open House for both the elementary schools and junior highs in Deerfield occurs during the first few weeks of school. It's an annual event for those of us with school age kids and something I look forward to each and every year. At the Junior High Open House, we go through our child’s entire ten period schedule, spend time in each classroom and get a flavor of the teachers, my child’s day and their workload. The first challenge as a Junior High parent is figuring out where each classroom is within the three minutes allotted to you during Open House. Maybe by 8th grade, or by the time my third…

My kids have been fortunate. Most of their friends have been their friends for a good portion of their life. Some friends are not as close as they once were, but most of their relationships have remained solid and intact. As a parent, it makes me happy to know they have a core group of friends around them as they navigate through their lives. Learning to have good friends and being a good friend is a huge part of each of our lives. As an adult, fighting with a friend is horrible. This happened to me recently where a friend and I got in a huge fight. I’m not completely sure what we were …

There is one week I look forward to every year-Family Camp. This is a week where I don’t: cook, clean, do dishes, laundry, straighten up, drive, or plan anything. ANYTHING. This is a vacation in and of itself. For the past five years, our summer vacation has been to Family Camp in Northern Wisconsin. We sleep as a family in a cabin (with a sink and toilet), eat meals in the mess hall, play games in the field, go swimming in the lake, and look at the millions of stars each night as we roast marshmallows over an open fire. It is, by far, my favorite week of the entire year-every year. As a …

It is truly the beginning of the end. It usually starts with the class lists. Which teacher is your child getting and who is in her class. Those typically arrive via e-mail the last day of camp. And then it is craziness from that point forward. It is starting early this year. Fun lunch forms, enrichment class schedules, special dessert days-and it hasn’t even really started! Now, I have tried very hard this year to spread out all the “to-do” items on my list for the four weeks my girls are away at overnight camp. How totally insane is it that in early July, I can head to Target or Wal-Mart …

Having worked full-time for most of my life, I have been fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom for five full years now. I have had some “side-gigs” through the years, but for the most part, the main portion of my life has been taking care of my family. It was a huge transition five years ago, when I left my job. I had worked there for almost ten years. Next to my family, that job was my life and while I had tried to mix in other things, I had a difficult time balancing it all. My husband agreed to take a leap of faith with me and try out being a single income family so I could be home with my …

I had never heard of McDain’s Restaurant in Monroeville, Pennsylvania until last week. As a small, “upscale casual” restaurant, according to its owner Mike Vuick, McDain’s has decided to ban children under the age of six from eating in. As a parent of three kids, I think that is a great idea. But a horrible one too. On one hand, banning children under the age of six is brilliant. If I am embarking on a girls night out, date with my husband or an evening with friends, I go out of my way to go to a place I would not anticipate being near children. Not because I don’t like kids, clearly with …

I like movies. I am not a movie buff, but I enjoy watching a great movie anytime. There are those movies that I have seen, oh, fifty or sixty times, like “Dirty Dancing”, “Sixteen Candles” or “Footloose”. And others, that I am sucker for every time I’m flipping the channel. Maybe it’s me, or maybe a generational thing, but there just aren’t as many great movies anymore for kids and teens to watch. Now, don’t misunderstand. We take the kids to see movies fairly often. We see most kids movies and some PG movies and have even tried some PG-13 which was not a good idea at all. But, we do still go…

My girls are away at camp. The craziness of the last several months is quickly disappearing. I am getting to the items on my list. Clearing out the clutter. Having lunch with friends. Relaxing.   One of my favorite ways to relax is baking. I love to bake. Experimenting with new recipes, making old favorites, having a really good stash of goodies in the house for my husband and my kids makes me very happy. I’m not the best baker in the world, but I make a mean cookie and I really enjoy doing it. My mom is an incredible baker. She has always been a great cook but an amazing baker. I started …

My daughters leave this weekend for overnight camp for four weeks. I am equally excited for them to go and at the same time incredibly sad. The excited side of me is looking forward to so many things while they are away. In no particular order, a lot less driving and carpooling; a lot less, if any, fighting in my house; finding the time to get to many household chores that I have been putting off for months; spending quality time with my son doing things he really enjoys without complaints from the girls; quiet nights at home without running from place to place. The excited side of me is also…

A day. One day. One day with no obligations. No carpools, practices, tournaments, camps. Nothing. One free day. A full day to enjoy with my husband and my daughters. Quite an anniversary present in itself. But since it was our anniversary, and we did have a free day, I wanted to get away.  Get the heck out of Dodge (ok, just Deerfield). I really wanted to do something that we-meaning my husband & I-would really enjoy and hopefully my girls would not hate. I didn't have to worry about my son who was at his grandparents. We headed out to Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois.  Maybe your …

We love going to Ravinia. Having lived out here for close to 15 years, we have seen some amazing shows. We try to go at least 4-5 times a season. It is truly one of my favorite parts about Deerfield-being so close to Ravinia. But there is clearly an art to doing Ravinia "right". First, there is the art of parking. Having a friend who lives within a few blocks of Ravinia is key. Especially if they have a long driveway they are happy to share with you on a regular basis. Otherwise, finding a few other key spots to park is critical. Then, there is the food planning. We like to do theme nights. …

TUESDAY 8:30pm: On the phone with my mom.  Just got home from picking up my kids from swim practice and softball and have no idea a storm is heading our way.  Kids are getting ready for bed or are already asleep.  Finally done with the day, excited to catch up on Wimbledon, watch some bad tv and relax.  My mom is saying there are warnings on tv about tornados, terrible storms, scaring her.  I love watching storms, so I ask my husband to open the shade so I can watch the lightening show. 8:52pm:  Lights flicker off and on.  Reset clock. 8:54pm:  Lights flicker off.  No power.  Looks like it's …

I’m not even sure I had a cell phone ten years ago.  I learned to drive without the distraction of a cell phone.  I certainly functioned just fine without a cell phone for the majority of my life.  So, why are all these “handheld devices prohibited while driving” areas driving me crazy? Now, as much as I like to pretend I am very “tech” savvy, I tend to lag behind.  I do not have blue-tooth in my car.  I do not have the “alien” ear attachment that connects me to my cell phone without using the actual phone.  So, these new Cell Phone Bans are driving me insane.  Highland Park recently …

I am not a gambler.  The thought of betting a bunch of money on a game or a sporting event-and then losing it-seems completely insane to me.  I know a lot of people enjoy gambling for a number of reasons.  I do not and have not ever fallen into that category.  Let’s put it this way-when I go to Vegas, I play the penny slots.  And if I’m going crazy, I will play quarter roulette.  But, only if I’m really letting loose. In my daily life, I also am not a gambler. If me or my child is sick, I would prefer to get it checked out immediately instead of gambling that he or she will get better on …

I used to hate driving west from Deerfield. Now I struggle to get out of my own neighborhood heading anywhere.  I live in Deerfield, smack dab between Lake Cook Road on the South and Deerfield Road on the North.  Turning left from my neighborhood onto Lake Cook Road is tortuous.  You could wait a solid 10-15 minutes just to turn left.  Then wait in that little stretch of road until you hit Pfingsten for another 5-10 minutes.    In the mornings, if Deerfield Road is closed, making it across the tracks on Osterman takes about 18 times longer than it should. Now, I am all for any and all repairs…

Chloe remembers one good friend from preschool.  Olivia doesn't remember much from preschool either.  Seth finishes preschool this week and I think he's going to remember everything.  I know I will.  Right? I remember their teachers, their friends, the thousands of art projects that we hung on our basement walls.  My kids truly loved their preschool experience.  As did I.  For so many reasons.  But now that we are almost done with preschool forever, part of me is happy to be done. But the other part, just wants to cry. All together, my kids spent ten years in preschool programs.  Having …

Yes, yes, I know it is not Groundhog’s Day. But, did you ever see that movie starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell?  It is one of my husband’s favorite movies.  General gist of the story is this guy, played by Bill Murray, lives one day, Groundhog’s Day, over and over again.  He changes it up a little each day, and tries to improve the day, each day, to win over the girl, played by Andie McDowell. There are weeks, maybe even months, where I start feeling like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.  Where the days all feel the same, with some slight changes, but start to finish, the days meld …