FFYF: Frozen Bananas Edition
Last week we had a power outage here at Earnest Parenting, and Hubby bought some dry ice to help protect our freezer items. This prompted the boys to research all sorts of dry ice experiments, but when we opened the freezer to get a chunk out for play study, it was...
Helping Your Kids Value Manners
(editor's note: please enjoy this lovely post written by Laura Pulido, CEO of The Protocol Institute) "Without good manners, human society becomes intolerable." George Bernard Shaw As parents, we may find ourselves questioning the need to consistently teach our...
September School Update: We’re Surviving
In typical September tradition, I'm here to tell you how we're doing with homeschooling so far. The older boys are now in 7th grade, while the younger ones are in 3rd. We got delayed by my knee injury last winter so they didn't finish 2nd and 6th grade work until well...
FFYF: Cheeseball Edition
So I'm standing at the bulk-food store with the children when TechnoBoy spots a gigantic container of puffed cheese balls. And by gigantic, I mean GIGANTIC. I don't usually buy the puffed cheese balls for the boys because a) they're junk food and b) they tend to stick...
FFYF: Flexible Nostrils Edition
Hullooooo, Internets! We're returning to the weekly Fun For Your Friday plan after taking a short break. This week the younger boys and I had to take the puppy to the vet for a checkup. While we were waiting I commented on how fast her nose was sniffing everything in...
Review: Eco Store Cleaning Supplies
Earlier this summer Maggie from EcoStoreUSA contacted me about the plant based cleaning and personal care products offered by her company. She was kind enough to send me the All Purpose Cleaner as well as the Dishwash Liquid, which I've been trying out around the...
Adolescent vs Parent: I Don’t Like the Win/Lose Thing
The Mercenary is well on his way to perfecting the adolescent sigh of irritation whenever I breathe. Yesterday I said to him "Hey, please take the sheets off your bed and bring them down to my room so I can wash them for you." His response was to roll his eyes, droop...
FFYF: Recovery Edition
So yesterday was a fun day for us here at Earnest Parenting. We spent our first day as a family at an amusement park. After a slow start, a good time was had by all. Certain individuals came home with mild sunburn, and after an extremely late night I'm letting...
Limiting Choice Can Improve Sanity
I'm going to come right out and admit that I had a meltdown on Saturday. I had just picked up the older boys from a friend's birthday party and was relating to them how their father and I had taken apart the trailer in their absence. We were expecting to just replace...
FFYF: Lawnmower Repair Edition
We're going with better late than never publishing this week's edition of Fun For Your Friday. I've been working along trying to get the lawnmower back into shape. With TechnoBoy and (a lot of) Hubby's help, we got the oil changed, replaced the air filter and...