This past Friday marked the first day of autumn.  And I have to be honest, I have usually hated the fall.  To me, fall is when everything is dying.  We start to see bare trees all around us, it gets cold, flowers wilt and we lose daylight.  What fun is that? Since starting a family though, I can now say that fall doesn’t bother me as much.  Granted all of those things I mentioned still happen, there are so many activities that we can do as a family that do make up for it and I very much look forward to it. One big fall activity for lots of people is apple picking.  Find a great farm or …

Today marks the 10th anniversary for the September 11, 2001 attacks on our country.  I was debating to make this article about September 11th as I’m sure that’s going to be the majority of the news we’ll hear today but I felt compelled to write about it as well. So, where were you on the beautiful morning of September 11, 2001?  I’m sure it is a memory that is engraved in your mind forever.  I know I’ll never forget. September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday.  I was a sophomore in college located in New Hampshire and was sleeping in because I didn’t have classes on Tuesdays.  What woke me up early was…

I love to dance. I started dancing when I was 2½ years old and danced straight through to my senior year in high school. I studied every type of dance from tap to jazz, ballet to hip hop, lyrical to musical theater, etc.  You could find me at the dance studio 3 to 4 days a week for many hours per day. It was my life. It was my outlet from the world. Upon entering college, there wasn’t a dance team or any dance studios around that I knew of.  So I took a little break. But that didn’t last too long as some girls at my school were planning to start a dance team.  I was very excited to be a part …

While watching Chronicle last Tuesday night, the segment, “What Kind of Parent Are You?” really sparked my interest.  So I decided to write this column on what I learned, observed and took notes on from this segment. They started this piece off by asking, “What’s the best way to raise a child?  How you raise your kid says a lot about you, but first you have to pick your label.” There used to be 3 parenting strategy categories:  Authoritarian, which is too hard; Permissive, which is too soft and Authoritative, which is just right.  But nowadays, there are many different parenting categories. …

This year was not off to a good start for me. It has probably been one of the worst "New Year" beginnings for me in my life.  It was seriously one thing after another.  So sometime in March, I approached my husband and told him that I needed a break; I needed to get away.  I needed something to pick me up. After working out finances, we decided we were able to go away for a few days.  Our destination: Myrtle Beach, SC.  A friend of mine has a place down there and we’ve never been so it was perfect timing for us to check it out. Picking the dates we would travel was the hardest part, as we had…

Spring is my favorite season.  It’s when everything outside is coming to life, the warmer weather is coming after cold Wintery days and we can finally head outside for walks and playtime.  The idea of this article actually popped into my head while I was taking my kids for a walk a couple of weeks ago. Along our walk, we came to the crosswalk at East Street and North Street.  There is no crossing signal at this intersection, so we had to wait for cars to stop to let us cross the street.  To my shocking disappointment, over 15 cars kept driving by not letting us cross.  Finally, two cars …

To all my fellow Mothers out there, especially my Mom, Happy Mother’s Day!  Whether you are a Stay-at-home Mom, a full time working Mom, an adoptive Mom, etc. this day is for you! A Mom is such an amazing role in a child’s life.  We are the nurturer’s, the playmates, the caretakers; we are basically a woman with many different hats.  It’s not all peaches and cream, there are many stressful situations but it’s something that I wouldn’t trade in for the world. Being an only child from my Mother and Father, I always knew that I wanted to have at least two children (I do have one step sister and …

I absolutely love celebrating birthdays. Whether it’s my own birthday, my husband’s, my children’s, family, friends, I just love them.  I know some people don’t really care about their birthdays and honestly, that’s sad.  Birthdays are a celebration of life!  And we should all enjoy every birthday that we are blessed with. Not only do I love birthdays, but I love planning birthday parties.  From kid’s parties to a surprise 80th, I’m all over it from beginning to end.  For today though, I’m going to share some tips on planning a kid’s birthday party. Like I mentioned in my previous article, I’…

I’m a planner. I can seriously plan things several months ahead of time and am very happy doing that, especially knowing there is something to look forward to. Don’t get me wrong, I can also be very spontaneous and love doing that, but for my day to day life, I like to have a schedule.  And that didn’t change when I was pregnant with my children. When I was pregnant with my daughter (my first child), I knew exactly how I wanted her birth to be.  I wanted everything natural.  I didn’t want any drugs, I didn’t want a cesarean section (c-section), I just wanted everything to be natural.  Well, …

I really like to cook. I love experimenting with new recipes and new tastes.  And I especially love when I get positive feedback from my family. Sometimes all that means is seeing an empty plate in front of them.  A lot of my cooking “training” came from my Gramma. I grew up in a Ranch house in a great neighborhood in Stoneham with my Mom and Gramma.  I absolutely loved it and I was also very lucky to have a relationship with my Gramma that most kids don’t have.  She was more of a second Mother to me.  My Mom had to work full time, and my Gramma worked “Mother’s hours” at Bradlees for most of…

I have never been one to “worry” about what is in the vaccinations our children get.  I pretty much have them get whatever the Doctor recommends without even thinking twice about it.  Well, after my experience last month with my son, my perspective has definitely changed. My son went for his 18-month check up on Feb. 1 and received a couple of shots, one of them being the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) shot.  He was completely fine for days and then on Friday, Feb. 11, he woke up with his horrid rash.  I called the Doctor immediately and brought him in.  After looking him over and reading …

I love having company over our house.  It brings such joy to me to entertain and be surrounded by family and friends. However, to do some of the preparation to get the house ready for guests to arrive can be so stressful! Being a Stay-at-Home Mom of two children may sound like it is a walk in the park, but spend a day in my shoes and you will leave with a very different opinion.  On top of cleaning and cooking for our company to arrive, I am also still being a teacher, a friend, a playmate, a chef, a maid and a mother to my children. It is funny because if you have a friend coming over who is…