Reality after 5 kids… Yesterday I stumbled upon a post on Babble, written by my friend Casey Mullins (aka Moosh in Indy) on what postpartum bellies REALLY look like. The photos of other mothers inspired me, and although I am 6 1/2 YEARS postpartum my stomach still does, and always will, bear the scars of [...]

Twizzler celebrated his 11th birthday on Monday. It’s unbelievable to me that he is so old. I’m guessing that the fact that my third child – and oldest BOY – is so close to middle school and (gasp!) puberty is a sure sign that I am indeed old, too. Since he wanted to be with [...]

I recently wrote about Abbott Snack Packs – a project that I am involved in this month with Champions for Kids. Before I set about doing a SIMPLE service project with my kids, I shared these statistics: Fighting Childhood Hunger: More than 16 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States are [...]

I go through waves. Sometimes I love to cook nice dinners (I really am a good cook, I promise). But other times (the last few months, especially) I don’t want to be bothered to spend two hours in the kitchen getting dinner ready. My biggest problem lately is my lack of planning. I hardly even [...]

The most exciting thing that happened since my last Project 365 update was the birth of my newest nephew on the 26th, so I had to include a picture of my brother with his two boys in my 365 weekly round-up. I am so thrilled for their family! Also…I’m pretty proud of my Valentine’s inspired [...]

With five kids and two adults in the house, I could spend most of my day, every day, doing laundry. The saddest part of that statement is that it is not an exaggeration. It’s hard to comprehend the shear amount of clothes, towels, sheets, socks (etc, etc) that we go through, but I figure it’s [...]

A year ago, I discovered an exercise program that I actually enjoyed doing and I found it in an unexpected place….In my basement My husband has been anti-video game for as long as I can remember (and we’ve been married for almost 17 years…). We’ve never had video games or video game platforms, and although [...]

I’m sure it won’t come as a big surprise that we go through a lot of snack foods at our house. And let’s just say that not all snack foods were created equal. Have you ever heard a child rummage through the fridge and come back, whining “There’s nothing to eat in here!” Heck, have [...]

This Winter, thank goodness, has been mild, but I haven’t forgotten the Winters of the recent past that forced the seven of us to stay indoors (cooped up and in close quarters) for days on end. Snow Days are inevitable during January and February in Washington DC, and as a mother of 5 living in [...]

The kids had the pool to themselves for an hour….there’s nothing better than doing tandem cannonballs in the deep end with your siblings! This phone shot was taken at the pool in Florida on our last day, just hours before we headed home to Maryland. For more inspiring photos, check: 5 Minutes for Mom, High [...]