Keeper of the Fruit Loops

I am The Keeper of The Fruit Loops, Manager of the Fecal Roster and the Driver of the People Mover. In other words, I'm a mom.

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It Takes A Village To Raise Teens and I’m Grateful For Mine

August 5, 2020 By Christine Leave a Comment

It takes a village

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to wade through this motherhood thing with some pretty amazing friends in my parenting village. In the early years, the moms who commiserated with me over potty training battles and nap time dramas were my life line. As my kids hit the halls of elementary school, I was grateful […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough Tagged With: friendships, parenting

Don’t Hate Me: My Teens Are Best Friends (Yes, Really)

July 22, 2020 By Christine 1 Comment

best friends

I hear the slider door of our beach house squeak and the sound of footsteps as they amble down the wooden deck stairs. I can hear them before I see them: my teens are headed out on their summer evening ritual. Every night, shortly after dinner, they grab an ice cream from our beach house […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way, Uncategorized Tagged With: parenting, parenting teens

My Son’s Senior Year Feels Like Time Is Running Out

July 19, 2020 By Christine 3 Comments

Senior year is coming

I hear the mudroom door slam and the sound of my son yelling, “I’m home, Mah. What’s for dinner?” floats up the stairs to my office. I find him, rummaging in the refrigerator, ravenous after a full day of working on a house renovation for a local realtor. His job this summer has kept him […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough Tagged With: parenting, parenting teens, teens

Musings on a Pandemic and Where The Hell I’ve Been for 6 Months

July 19, 2020 By Christine 2 Comments

Pandemic musings

Welp, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve graced this site with new content. Six whole months, in fact. <throws side eye to the global pandemic> Back in December 2019, I had big plans to hit the ground running in 2020. I was going to write all the blogs! I was going to say all […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: pandemic life, parenting

The “Golden Girls” Taught Me What I Need To Know About Raising Teens

August 14, 2019 By Christine 1 Comment

Golden Girls

In my house, Saturday night prime time television shows were sacred in our house. My brothers and I would put on our pajamas, make popcorn in the air popper and crowd around on the floor while my parents settled in on the couch. I can still feel my teenaged brothers elbowing me to make room […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting, teenagers

My Teen Daughter Has Found Her Passion And It Takes My Breath Away

March 17, 2019 By Christine 1 Comment

Teens passion

I came to the sport of running late in life. Though I ran on my high school track team, I hung my running shoes up for many years until the strain of sleepless nights and baby weight became too much for me. In my early thirties, I dusted off on my running shoes and I […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough Tagged With: high school, parenting, teens

News Flash: Our Teens Are Over Scheduled And Parents Are To Blame

November 18, 2018 By Christine 1 Comment

Teens are over scheduled and parents are to blame.

When my son announced last week that he wanted to apply for his first summer job, I was dubious. Though he’s fifteen years old and quite responsible, I wasn’t sure I was ready for him to take on the commitment of a part time job over the summer. Frankly, the thought of having to drive […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough Tagged With: parenting, what the hell

Teens Can’t Limit Screen Time And It’s Your Fault, Parents (Yes, Really)

October 10, 2018 By Christine Leave a Comment

Teens won't limit screen time if parents don't do it, too.

It starts before the sun has even broken on the horizon. The sleep barely gone from my eyes, I reach for my phone to see what time it is, I tell myself, even though I have a clock on my nightstand. Emails. Texts. Facebook. Instagram. It’s been a mere 8 hours since I last visited my […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting

Sorry, Not Sorry, Kids: I’m Not Paying For You To “Find Yourself” In College

September 9, 2018 By Christine 3 Comments

I'm not paying for you to find yourself.

Hubby and I started saving for the Fruit Loops’ college educations within months of their births. We researched the best ways to invest college funds, started 529accounts for both children and we crunched numbers. We realized pretty early on that it was going to cost some serious cash for our kids to attend a state school, […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting

I Hope My Teenagers Realize How Important Siblings Really Are

September 2, 2018 By Christine 1 Comment

I hope my teenager will always be close.

One of my favorite photos of my kids was taken when my son was four and my daughter was two. They are sitting side by side, with their backs to the camera, playing in the sand on the beach. She’s wearing a pink sun hat and he’s wearing an orange fisherman’s hat. While you can’t […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting

If I’m Being Totally Honest, I’m Jealous AF of My Teenagers

August 21, 2018 By Christine 2 Comments

I am jealous of my teens.

As I entered the family room, I marveled at just how much space my teenage son now takes up on the couch. His legs sprawled towards the carpet and his shock of curly, unwashed hair brushed his forehead as his face scowled at the phone in his hands. He’d been there for hours, too: due […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting

Fruit Loop #1’s Five Stages of Mom Fury

February 15, 2016 By Christine 16 Comments

“Mom, I have something I want to discuss with you.  And I don’t want you to say no.  And I want you to hear me out.  And I want you to keep an open mind, okay?”. With these words, Fruit Loop #1 looked at me from the passenger seat of the car with his hazel […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough, Parenting My Way, The Fruit Loops Speak Tagged With: mom fury, opinionated fruit loops, parenting

Our Parents Had It Easy. And I’m Jealous.

January 5, 2016 By Christine Leave a Comment

The other day, I got the dreaded “Your phone storage is almost full” message and realized it was time to clean up my phone. Read: it was time to play “Press Your Luck” over which apps I could keep, how many photos to delete and just exactly how many text messages were necessary. No whammies, […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough, Parenting My Way Tagged With: back in the day, parenting, what the hell

What I Don’t Remember….

March 10, 2015 By Christine 34 Comments

Is anyone else feeling the stress of being the World’s Most Perfect Mom EVUUUR? Is anyone else looking at The Pinterest wondering who the heck has the time to make crafts, perfect crockpot meals and put outfits together that would make Polyvore swoon? Does anyone else look around them and see moms who spend more […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough, Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting, what the hell

Say Cheese!

August 25, 2014 By Christine 20 Comments

Today, as I was taking photos of the Fruit Loops at the bus stop for their first day of school, I started to sweat. I wasn’t sweating because I was experiencing the vapors over having a quiet house for seven consecutive hours. I wasn’t sweating because I was going to miss the cherubs (pfft….see above). […]

Filed Under: Parenting Is Hard Enough Tagged With: cameras, memories, parenting, scrapbooking

The Volunteer Pledge

August 18, 2014 By Christine 11 Comments

It’s that time again. The time of year when parents start humming “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”, when Staples sells pencils for $0.06 and you can hear the collective groan of suntanned, sleep deprived children across the country.  The time of year when parents practically skip to the mailbox to find teacher […]

Filed Under: Parenting My Way Tagged With: parenting, volunteering

The Keeper And Real Life Parenting

August 5, 2014 By Christine 25 Comments

Sometimes, you meet a blogger and you think to yourself, “Man, she says EXACTLY what’s in my head.  Loud and proud”. You think, “Wow.  I have ALWAYS felt that way but sort of didn’t know it until RIGHT NOW as I’m reading this blog and nodding my head the entire way through”. And then, you […]

Filed Under: Tribe Tuesday Tagged With: Life, parenting, Real

Mom Bullies Suck

June 13, 2014 By Christine 3 Comments

We talk a lot about bullying these days. A lot.< Mostly, in relation to kids and teenagers.  We hear stories everyday about kids who are tormented by their peers for everything from their shoes to their sexual orientation to the type of house their parents own.  Bullying itself is not new.  Not by a long […]

Filed Under: People Who Suck Tagged With: bullies, moms, parenting

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