• limeapple athletic clothing
    active family travel - family - parenting - Travel

    Tween Clothing Brands For Sports and #Travel

    May 10, 2015 - By 

    I am a Mom who loves children’s clothing that is versatile. Limeapple Asana pants and the first place zip up jacket go from the playground to the airport to the basketball court to horseback riding and gym class making changes effortless for athletic girls. Limeapple has a fabulous range of girl’s athletic clothing that is perfect for kids like mine. I have really active girls who participate in half a dozen sports. Swimming, martial arts, horseback riding and basketball are just a few of the sports they take part in. There was a point when they were little that I…

  • best affordable nail products
    family - Giveaways - parenting

    Kiss Best Affordable Nail Products and a Giveaway

    May 5, 2015 - By 

    Every so often my kids and I like to just call a girl’s day or girl’s night and do something fun together. This past week we had a great girl’s day planned. I booked it months ago. We planned to take a day and drive to Stratford, Ontario to see The Diary of Anne Frank. It was the first ever Schuck girl’s day at Stratford. So we dressed up a bit, took the day off school, and the afternoon off work, and we were almost ready to hit the road. The kids decided fancy nails were in order. So we…

  • teen_mood_swings
    family - parenting

    Face Time and Weird Conversations You Never Dreamed You’d Have #Teens #tweens

    April 16, 2015 - By 

    This is another entry in the ongoing teen/tween mama diaries. Life is never dull with teens and cell phones. Raising digital kids is a special kind of universe. I heart my beautiful kids. But they also drive me around the bend regularly and sometimes on purpose, I think. I strive to not be mental from it, and yet there are days when I look in the mirror and think who is that frizzy-haired, wild eyed maniac mom looking back at me. Then I realize it’s me and start thinking up ways that I can get back at them when they…

  • What-does-ten-years-old-look-like
    active family travel - adoption and tweens - family - Parenting - parenting

    What Does Ten-Years-Old Look Like?

    April 12, 2015 - By 

    This past month my youngest girl turned 11 and we celebrated with a Minecraft cake and a sleepover and a family dinner at Lone Star Texas Grill. We all learned to ski together as a family in Tremblant the weekend before her birthday party. In many ways, that was the perfect start to sporty spice’s birthday week. This is the daughter I still joke never met a sport she didn’t like. The one who wandered off at Disney when she was four and nearly gave me a heart attack on the spot. The one who sported my eye shadow the…

  • tween_girl_birthday_word_search
    adoption and tweens

    Ainsley’s Tween Girl Birthday Word Search

    March 10, 2015 - By 

    It’s my daughter’s eleventh birthday. My youngest daughter. My mini ninja. The girl we used to dub a two foot tornado. Now a four foot tornado. No idea how she can possibly be eleven! Then again, I can’t believe I have a teenager either. Ainsley keeps us on our toes, but in a good way mostly. From the moment she arrived in our home she was almost always on the go. I remember her first ever attempt at rolling as a baby. She rolled clear across the living room floor to grab her sister’s Barbie. That’s just her way. At…

  • St Patrick's Day crafts
    family - parenting

    Eight Fun and Easy St. Patrick’s Day Crafts

    February 23, 2015 - By 

    Still searching for some fun and easy St Patrick’s Day crafts to do with your kids? Well, you are in luck. Whether you go all out, or have a simple family observation of the Luck of the Irish, there’s a little something for everyone here. These 8 Fun and Easy St. Patrick’s Day crafts will make you smile. Are you always seeking ideas for more guided crafts for kids? Yes, me too. I think I may have mentioned this to some of you but my girls are crafters. My youngest loves to draw and clip and glue and cut and paste…

  • Martial arts for girls
    family - Health - parenting

    Why We Believe in Martial Arts for Girls #WordlessWednesday

    February 3, 2015 - By 

    Ainsley graded on the weekend again. Now she is a fifth level junior black belt. She started martial arts at the age of four. Two years ago she became a junior black belt. I am always impressed at how athletic this kid is. Martial arts gives her such a great outlet for her energy. She excels at sports and martial arts and swimming and everything sporty that she has ever tried, with a small exception of soccer league play which never worked because, hello wide open field and she has always just wanted to run. Some of you know both…

  • childhood_anxiety
    adoption and tweens - Health

    Five Things I Know About Childhood Anxiety – Part 1 of a New Series

    January 26, 2015 - By 

    In 2014 we spent a huge amount of time investing in educating our family about childhood anxiety. We took part in a weekly youth group therapy session to help parents and children understand and manage anxiety. It was gruelling and exhausting and, I hope, worth it. Every single Tuesday for several months my daughter and I drove to the children’s hospital in town and we learned how to successfully manage her childhood anxiety. We split into two groups every session. There was a parents group and a youth group. Eventually we all came together to discuss things together but the…

  • family

    Limeapple Girls Clothing: Twelve Days of Christmas Sale

    December 5, 2014 - By 

    Limeapple makes the cutest athletic clothing and girl’s fashions Today my daughter’s school held a cabaret concert. My youngest joined the choir this year which is a big deal because she’s never been interested in singing or music. She’s the girl who runs and swims, rides horses and dives, and kicks and does martial arts. She’s my sporty girl, always on the move, so forgive me if we were shocked, but pleasantly so when we she signed up for choir. Choir? Yes, choir. And when she managed to stick with it, we were quietly supportive. Last year music was a…

  • parenting

    My Library of Top Five Posts About Tween Girls

    September 9, 2014 - By 

    Raising Tween girls is a special kind of madness. Er.. I mean, fun. Just kidding, every stage of my children’s growth and development has been enjoyable and memorable. But tweenhood is slightly different than anything else you will encounter. Let’s just start with the hormones for instance. As soon as they kick into gear and puberty is on board then you better buckle up and get ready. It’s my personal observation that personality plays into puberty a lot but girls generally seem to hit the landmark changes a bit earlier and that means more explosive potential for conflict and moodiness…