Tag Archives: sports

Halloween Monster Donuts DIY

This amazingly adorable Halloween treat is incredibly easy if, IF, you heed one crucial step. Follow along and you’ll be well on your way to delighting children of all ages. Seriously, being the “best mother ever,” (that was a direct quote) is just a trip to the donut shop away.

So I can hear what you’re thinking: “What directions could there possible be to follow? Get some donuts, candy eyes, icing, and vampire teeth and throw them all together.” Oh, simple one, I thought the same things, too. I saw the pictures floating around the internet and thought “I can do that.”

So I hit the shops to gather my ingredients, only when I got to Dunkin’ Donuts, they were a little low on donuts. Probably because it was 2:00 PM, but whatever. I had planned on getting three dozen chocolate glazed cake donuts because that was what my daughter requested, but alas, I had to make do with what the breakfast crowd left behind. I ended up with a dozen glazed and two other dozen cobbled together with chocolate glazed, pumpkin, and chocolate iced. I’ve learned as a mother to go with the flow because sometimes it’s the flow that keeps you afloat. You’ll see what I mean in a minute.

I had a speedier time in Michaels Craft Store. It being the first day of fall and all, the slime green icing, candy eyes, and vampire fangs were right up front. Yeah, nevermind they had been up front since August. I guess I should be glad they weren’t sold out.

In no time I was home and on my way to creating my cyclops monsters . The first box of donuts I opened happened to be the complete dozen of glazed.

I soon figured out it was helpful to pinch the fangs like so to insert them into the center.

For attaching the eye, I put a big glob of icing on the back because I wanted it to ooze out the sides.

Voilà!

So onto the next dozen! I went through the same procedure, except I stopped halfway through the box because I needed to switch the laundry over. Couldn’t just be making treats for the field hockey team, I needed to wash my girl’s uniform, too. Minutes later, I came back to a horror show! The fangs had sprung open to break the donuts.

Are you kidding me? I “glued” the donuts back together with some slime icing and ended up just laying the fangs on top of the other ones. Not quite as cute, but not bad either.

KEY TO SUCCESS: The type of donut matters! Use classic glazed donuts because they have enough spring and give to hold the teeth. Cake-like donuts crack and break apart!

I am so glad I was forced to buy so many glazed ones because they turned out the best. At least I had a bunch of those!

May your treats not play any tricks on you!

-Ellen

Adorable and Easy Halloween Monster Donuts DIY. There’s a crucial key to success!

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Most Dangerous Time of the Year in a Pool: Tips to Swim Safe

-Erin

It’s the most dangerous time of the year in a pool. Stay #swim #safe this #summer Some tips!

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There’s More to High School Sports Than Scholarships

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5 Reasons Why There's More to High School Sports Than Scholarships. Sure sports can be about the big college pay-off, but there's much more to universally value about high school sports than just scholarships. | Parenting Advice | Teens | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Both of our high school freshman did something so crazy, so borderline nutty, so outrageous in today’s youth sports culture that we feel like revolutionaries admitting it: they tried out AS NEWBIES for high school teams!

That’s right. With no resume filled with travel teams, regional championships, or even skills beyond rudimentary, Ellen’s daughter tried out for field hockey and Erin’s son tried out for lacrosse. What’s more, they MADE their respective teams. Say what?!

Now we harbor no dreams of Tokyo 2016 for these two, but we’ve both found the experience of being new to a game more beneficial for our kids—and us—than we could have imagined. In fact, we dare say their experiences actually highlight what sports is at its best and most profound. You know we’re both big fans of sports and what they can do for kids. Now, we’re also big fans of stepping out on that ledge and trying brand new ones because there’s much more to them than superstars and scholarships. Here are five great reasons to let your kids try something new.

1. Taking Measured Risks is Good for Kids

Teens love that rush of adrenaline, breaking the mold, and trying out new identities. Learning a new sport provides this without detrimental consequences.

Erin: My son decided two weeks before Christmas that he was going to try out for lacrosse. He took a quick 6 week crash course in lacrosse at the local rec center before try-outs. I think he appreciates lacrosse as much for its newness to him as for the game itself. I appreciate that it gives my hard-playing son a proper outlet for his energy. It doesn’t just keep him off the street, it keeps him off his brothers’ backs, and for that we are all grateful.

Ellen: I have always loved sports because it’s a place to learn the difference between failure and taking the chance to succeed. The most successful athletes often “fail” the most. Michael Jordan revealed, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” I saw my own daughter growing out of her need for perfection—one of the biggest success killers out there—when she jumped into field hockey.

2. New Friends

For our kids and for us. Stepping out of the comfort zone of friends they have been hanging out with for years is great. We get some fringe benefits too: a fresh crop of sideline sitters. Sure, their earnest talk of the best sports camps, trainers, travel teams, and coaches might needle us, but we can just move our seat at the next game.

Erin: My son was convinced before he went to his new high school that he would play tennis, a game he enjoys and actually plays. But he also plays in the band and, in our school, there is a huge overlap between kids in band and tennis. A factor in his decision to try lacrosse wasn’t just the newness of the game, but the fresh faces he would meet there. If high school is largely about trying on the different hats to see which will fit, this is not such a bad strategy, especially at a new school.

Ellen: Girls have cliques. My daughter has been in the same school system for her entire education. Trying a new sport put her with some new girls, and let her see some old faces in a new light. It was a great way to add some freshness to her freshman year.

3. Sports, at its heart, is supposed to be about challenging yourself mentally and physically.

Nothing pushes both of these limits like learning a new sport. The truth is, in our small pond here, we’re not overrun with college scouts. This means the competition level is such that kids have opportunities to try on a new jersey if they want. They can actually reshape their idea of who they are as athletes and people as they give their peers and family a new lens to view them with.

Erin: Lacrosse is hard. My son’s soccer skill set doesn’t really help a whole lot, so there is quite the learning curve. My son is literally falling and failing a little every single day. However, he is also getting better every day. He’s seeing the benefits of following directions. He’s learning from teammates and asking questions about the sport in ways that he just doesn’t have to about soccer with his decade of experience.

Ellen: When, my daughter decided in July to try out for field hockey in August, we went out and got her a stick . . . that she swung like a golf club. I suggested she might want to check out a YouTube video or twenty. And she did. She also spent hours in the backyard putting those YouTube pearls into practice. She knew the game so well by the fall that she became JV co-captain.

4. If you are at the fundamental stage of learning, then you can still have fun.

Sometimes high school sports can be so focused on the “what comes next” stage of things that they lose the joy of the game itself. This is just not true if you are a true beginner. Everything is still shiny and new as you are falling in love with a game.

Erin: My son said, “It’s just like when I was a little kid and someone kicked me a soccer ball. I don’t know exactly what to do with this stick and ball yet, but figuring it out is just fun.”

Ellen: There’s a lot of space for fun when you don’t have the weight of being the veteran leader resting on your shoulders. It allows every pass, dribble, and blocked shot to feel like a victory.

5. New coaches means new potential mentors

Teens benefit greatly from adults who challenge, correct, and compliment them. Sure, parents are great cheerleaders, but we want to fill our kids’ lives with as many fans as we can find. It is so good for the fragile teen ego to hear from a fresh new voice that they “like what they see.”

Erin: My son loves to talk about lacrosse, but his favorite story so far centers around when they were discussing positions to play. The coach asked all the boys where they liked to play. Having barely played, and with no real experience anywhere, my son said, “Wherever you need me to, Coach.” Well, his coach LOVED that, and they started to develop a solid coach and player rapport after that.

Ellen: We’ve had some less than stellar experiences with coaches through the years. I try to take the bad with a grain of salt and craft positive lessons out of them. Sometimes I even succeed. I didn’t know much about the field hockey coaches at the high school, but boy was I pleasantly surprised. My daughter landed in one of the most supportive and positive sports environments in the school. Hooray for good role models! It makes my job that much easier.

There you have it, our reasons why scholarships shouldn’t be parents’ only focus for high school sports. It is fantastic to be that one in 7.4 million superstar to compete in NCAA athletics beyond high school, we’re just gratified there’s so much benefit for mere mortals, too.

-Erin and Ellen

5 great reasons there’s more to value about high school sports than just scholarships.

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Need even more convincing? Read 5 Reasons Youth Sports Are Worth the Time, Sweat and Price Tag.

New sport, no friends to depend on? Read How to Create a Carpool.

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10 Books For the Sidelines

1. The Lake House by Kate Morton

Spring loves a mystery and this one does not disappoint. After a lovely party at the lake house, the Edevane family’s 11 month old son Theo goes missing. Morton’s page turner takes this pivotal moment in a family’s history and creates something special and utterly unputdownable. Told from two vantage points–2003 London and 1930s Cornwall–this book will have you ignoring kids just to figure out what is happening and where this story will go. As always, Morton’s gift for managing complicated story lines while simultaneously creating well-developed characters will make you grateful for all that extra time you have to read.

2. The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

A good friend recommended this book calling it a “sexy beast of a read”. If you are anything like me, that alone might make you want to read this book, but if it doesn’t, try this: this is a novel that won’t be compartmentalized. A virtual smorgasbourd of all good things literary, this book has action, suspense, courtroom drama, some literary allusions, and even a tiny sprinkling of horror toward the end. There are no small bites here; you will devour this book. Without a dull moment in sight, this book grips you from the first sentence and keeps you entertained and hungry for more until it delivers one sad reader at the very end. You will miss these characters and this story when it’s gone. Lucky for all of us, this is book one in a five book series. Read on, book warriors!

3. The Widow by Fiona Barton

Don’t read the dust jacket: this book is neither Gone Girl nor The Girl on the Train, both books we really, really liked even with their creepy, psychological suspense. It IS a great read though. In fact, it reminded us more of Leanne Moriarty’s The Husband’s Secret with the marital secrets and the mystery at the heart of it. Sometimes, multiple points of view can be distracting, but in this case, the structure of the novel contributes to some of the magic. Be forewarned: you could easily lose an afternoon falling down this delightful rabbit hole, but the pay-off is worth it!

4. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafazi

Our book club just read this one, and we universally loved and were inspired by it. So much so that those of us who had borrowed it from the library purchased copies to share with our kids. We were mesmerized by Malala’s chilling account of her hometown being taken over and then living under extremist terrorists, moved by her descriptions of the Swat Valley where she grew up, and emboldened by her courage. The book held up for us as a read, not just a recounting. 2016 is The Year for Global Girls. Lose yourself in Malala’ s incredible story and find yourself fired up about getting girls all over the world access to educational opportunities.

5. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

We share a huge author crush on Rainbow Rowell. We both LOVED Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, so we had huge expectations for this book, especially because favorite characters from Fangirl show up again in this story. Well, the inimitable Rowell never fails to surprise, entertain, and stun us with her craft and cleverness. She can also give you that rare stomach flip. Even in a book about magic, she is the real deal. Before you start to call this book Harry Potter for big kids, you have to know that this book is its own brand of special. How do we know? Over 500 pages disappear in a flash before your very eyes. This is Rowell at her best. The results? Magical.

6. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

In one sense, you can think of this book as bread crumbs in the forest because essentially that is how this smart novel is written. Bee, the daughter, assembles emails, documents, letters et al after her mother Bernadette disappears in an effort to assemble the clues to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. The structure of the novel is just one intimation that this book is something special. After you read each document in its entirety, the full force and power of this novel is brought to light. Bitterly funny, satirical, and off-kilter in the best sense of the word, this send-up about all the things we mock and fear and revere in our modern society is the equivalent of a literary carnival. Dork Alert: Fans of Arrested Development won’t be a bit surprised to learn that the author Maria Semple was also a writer for the series .

7. Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline

Erin gobbled this one right up. She even took it backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. Nothing says “must read” like a willingness to cart those extra ounces up and down a mountain. In any case, the novel opens as stay-at-home mom Allison’s life is about to go off the rails. She goes to her childhood best friend’s book signing one night and has a little too much to drink. Mere hours later, she is involved in a fatal accident in which a child dies. The air you take into your lungs in the big gasp in the beginning takes this whole well-paced novel to be released. This may not be high literature, but it is a captivating read that makes you think. Like we said, you are gonna want to take big bites of this one.

8. Big Lit tle Lies by Liane Moriarty

Erin laughed, cried, and ignored her kids for three days to finish this piece of book crack in the big, sloppy gulps it demands. You know from the beginning that there has been a terrible tragedy at the local school’s Trivia Night, because Moriarty leaves little crumbs at the end of each chapter. But that’s not the story here. This is NOT another legal thriller. A big, sprawling character study of modern moms, it may be. An ironic, funny take on modern parenting, it definitely is! It’s also a rollicking good time. You’ll laugh and cringe at just how right Moriarty gets all the characters hanging out in the school parking lot. A great read for fall while still reminiscent of that last joyful moment of summer indulgence.

9. Unbecoming: A Novel by Rebecca Sherm

A book lover’s dream, this first novel has the trifecta for a satisfying read: great well-developed characters, a dynamic and well-paced plot, and some nice curve balls to keep you guessing. Our protagonist Grace looks like a simple girl from Tennessee, but she can’t hide her complex and slippery character for long. You’ll root for her and want to wring her neck in equal measure. There’s a question that hangs over the novel from the beginning that’s begging to be answered and when Scherm finally gets around to it, you are grateful for the care she took in the build-up as well as the payoff itself. This is a debut that leaves you wanting more.

10. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Moms of daughters, beware: this read will make you want to lock your girls up and throw away the key. But despite the dark cloud that hangs over this novel as a teen girl goes missing, there is so much to enjoy as well. Ng is a writer’s writer and she doesn’t so much document this family’s unraveling as their personal hell unfolds as invite you to pull at the fraying threads with her. At once, a novel about family, the mother/daughter dynamic, and cultural divides, this book is also achingly real and familiar. The truth hurts so bad in this one, but the reader is so grateful for every perfect note Ng hits. If the ship is going down, we might as well learn something from the trip. Ng makes sure she plumbs the depths so well that this is one dark corner now revealed.

We hope these page turners will brighten your spring!

Happy Reading!

Erin and Ellen

Need a #book for the sidelines? We have 10 great reads to get you through this #spring! #booklist

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How to Create a Carpool

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If you’ve got school-age kids, chances are extremely good they’re involved in sports. If you have more than one child, yeah, those practice schedules and games are NEVER going to weave together in copacetic harmony. Unless you have a chauffeur, a nanny, or a flux capacitor to split yourself in two, you’re going to need a carpool. And if you do have the luxury of a staff or a futuristic gizmo, what the hell are you doing here reading this advice? Go get yourself a nap, a merlot, and a pedicure.

In the land of youth sports, it’s the luck of the draw who you get to hang with for the season. Chances are they won’t be your dear friends, but you need to swim in the pool you paid for, so to speak. The kicker? You’re floating in a sea of strangers when you’ve never needed help more. When older brother has to get to fencing, your Pele-in-the-making needs to get to the play-offs two towns over, dad is trapped at work . . . in Dhubai, and the cat is puking out its pancreas, you need someone to have your back. A carpool takes this situation from doomed to doable by at least taking Pele to soccer. You’re on your own with the hurling feline.

The secret to the carpool is to choose wisely and develop it early.

How to Create a Carpool | Got kids in sports? You need to create a carpool! Tips to put together your own sanity saver because friends don't let friends drive both ways to practice two days in a row! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

1. Preparation starts at home. The first practice is not the time to be rocking your best boots, manicure, and perfect blow-out. It makes you look like you don’t really need the help. If you’re self-sufficient, then rock it out, Sister, but if you do need help, you might want to dial down the mom glam for now.

But don’t let the pendulum swing too far the other way. Holey pajama pants and grungy slippers gives off the impression you feed your kids PopTarts for dinner, your entire family is sharing one towel, and most importantly, you don’t have your shizz together enough to transport someone else’s precious babies. Remember, the carpool is all about reciprocity. Aim for approachable–best yoga pants, snazzy top, and neat ponytail. We’re not suggesting being Ms. Fakety-Fake, just don’t let it all hang out until, let’s say, practice six.

2. Get to the first practice early. With carpooling, safety comes first. Watch the other parents roll up in the parking lot. If a driver doesn’t at least slow down to 5 mph before opening those minivan sliding doors to eject her spawn, then you might want to mark her off the potential chauffeur list.

3. Follow the herd. When everyone is sitting together like ducks in a row, line your chair up too. If the group decides that selling blood is the best way to pay for the team’s new warm-ups, roll up a sleeve and offer a vein. On second thought, you may want to run, but in most cases now is not the time to be the Lone Ranger. Your kid’s not the only one who joined the team. Every time you make an effort, you’re upping your carpool potential.

4. Start chatting parents up to see where they live. Carpooling only makes your life easier if it doesn’t take you a tank of gas to take the extra darlings home. Try not to be creepy scoping out addresses, though. If you feel like you can’t ask where someone lives without being awkward enough to trigger a background check, work that smartphone. Take a picture of the team and show it to your potential carpool comrade, “Look how cute they are!” If she just grunts, consider the screening process successful and move on from that dud. If she coos, say, “Hey, are you on Facebook? I could tag you in it.” If you become friends on Facebook, you are golden! You not only have access to location, you can make sure they don’t participate in demonic goat square dancing . . . or at least they’re discreet enough not to post about it.

WARNING: Do not scroll through and “Like” every one of her pictures once she friends you because you’ll be taking a hard left into Creepytown. Remember, you were trying to avoid that?

5. Work your kid. Carpooling will go a whole lot smoother if you correlate your connections with your kid’s buddies. Don’t fall into the trap of setting up a carpool with the second baseman who wipes his boogers on your son’s bat. Building friendships is not just good for crafting carpools, it’s good for your child, too. You may not want to hear it, but nothing builds friendships faster than sleepovers: buck up and send out an invite. Just make sure your bathrooms are clean and you remember to feed the kids. Passing out bananas for dinner doesn’t put you at the top of any carpool lists.

6. Be the carpool member you want to attract. Offer to help a mom you see in distress, carry that über fantastic first aid kit so you can save the day, create the hang-out spot for the kids on your snazzy waterproof picnic blanket, hand puppies out from the back of a van . . . wait, scratch that last one. Heading into Creepytown again. Just be a team player.

7. Send up a flare. If subtle action fails, don’t be afraid to beg. In fact, lay out your situation in an email or just work it into a conversation during that 3 hours on the sidelines. It’s time to tamp down that pride, put on your big girl panties, and ask for exactly what you need. The people who respond when they know your chips are down are just the type of people you want in your life anyway.

Bottom line: Carpools are the secret of experienced moms for making all these extracurriculars possible. So hitch up your britches, get out there and make a carpool buddy today! You may not only save your sanity, but you may make some forever friends. Remember: Friends don’t let friends drive both ways to practice two days in a row!

-Ellen and Erin

How to create a carpool, the greatest sanity-saver a parent can have!

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5 Reasons Youth Sports Are Worth the Time, Sweat and Price Tag

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First, you must know that we, Ellen and Erin, are all in when it comes to kids and sports . . .

Erin: But as I look at the open tabs on my computer right now, my heart clenches. They are all related to youth sports. My clan of five has two track and field runners, two soccer players, and a swimmer this season. My wallet and my calendar cringe.

Ellen: You know what’s cringeworthy? I saw a billboard advertising for Little League starting at age four! Age four? If you have to struggle to get him on the potty, why would you sacrifice your Saturday mornings to see him run the wrong direction around the bases? Why are we starting so young?

5 Reasons Youth Sports Are Worth the Time, Sweat, and Price Tag | Parenting | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

I’m pretty sure we’re facing the right way.

Erin: Seriously. You need to pace yourselves for when this mess gets real with travel teams . . .

Ellen: Once again—why, oh why? What is wrong with just playing in your backyard? In your own county? In your own time zone?

Erin: Because this merry bandwagon is a bundle of fun. . . at first.

In the beginning, you’re a little heady about the deep ores of awesome they are mining on these special teams. But that’s before the toxic vapors hit you, and you realize what a gas-guzzling, time-sucking, money-grabbing endeavor the travel team can be.

Wait! Didn’t you just pole vault onto this bandwagon by signing Coco (14) up for a travel volleyball team? If you’ve avoided them this long, why start now?

Ellen: It sure as heck isn’t because we think she’s going to the Olympics. We don’t even own those rose-colored goggles.

Nothing says “vacation” like a three day tournament 75 miles from your house.

Erin: In your defense, your girl entered high school, and she was a swimmer without a swim team. She wasn’t going to leave high school without a varsity letter, so she kicked off her flippers and picked up that volleyball. Too bad she didn’t think of that before ninth grade, but the travel team is providing a great crash course.

Ellen: I guess if we had started her at age four, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. My bad.

But let’s get back to those rose-colored glasses. Can we all just calm the heck down and stop thinking we have the next Michael Phelps/Mia Hamm/Peyton Manning eating their Cheerios at our tables?

Erin: Now, to be fair, SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE has the next superstar throwing his dirty socks on her floor, but sitting on the sidelines, you would think they’re all headed to the big leagues.

Ellen: Or a Division I college.

Erin: Well, let’s talk about college. Many parents jump on this travel team hamster wheel dreaming of the big payout when college rolls around.

Ellen: But college athletics is not the pot o’ gold it’s made out to be. The odds of a high school athlete getting a sports scholarship is only 2%. But this is just talking about getting SOME money. The odds of getting a full-ride are far worse.

So if sports is not the get-into-college-free card of our dreams, why do it at all? The crazy schedules, the extra laundry, and the endless loops to soccer fields and swimming pools don’t make a compelling argument. But here are five reasons sports are more than worthwhile.

Sports gives them . . .

1. A place to fail.

You have to fail to succeed.

Who wants to raise losers? We do!

Michael Jordan said it best: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Erin: I want my kids to be like Mike. Resilient adults bounce back from this thing we call life with humor and grace. We want our Bumbles to bounce when life knocks them to the ground. So we want them to have plenty of practice with how it feels to fall and fail and get back up again.

Ellen: And speaking of practice, sports provides the proof positive that failure is not the worst thing that can happen. In sports, the more you fail, the better you get. Just ask Michael Jordan or any kid who has tried to get a volleyball over the net.

2. A place to shine.

Shine, Baby, Shine.

Erin: Every kid deserves a moment to feel how good it feels to be good at something. As moms, we love to see our kids show the world just how special they are. But sports helps them feel good even if they are not THAT good at it. Even as the world’s worst baseball player on a team that makes the Bad News Bears look like a hotbed of talent, a kid can still have his moment. I know. I was that Bad News Bear. I still remember that moment.

Ellen: It comes down to this: if you could spoon-feed your child high self-esteem, we would all be serving it, but that’s not quite how this parenting thing works.

Sports gives them a steady diet of opportunities instead. Each skill mastered, each hour logged, each competency checked off is feeding the image they have of themselves until they emerge on the other side of childhood with a healthy self-worth in place.

3. A place to feel the pressure.

Pressure: making diamonds for million of years.

Erin: Is this off-limits to say? We’re not Tiger Moms here, but we love that sports forces our kids to bring their A-game every once in a while. My husband says all the time that he loves nothing more than watching his kids out there, seeing them stretch themselves to their limits.

Ellen: Whether you are stepping up to that line, climbing up on the blocks or winding up on the mound, when you have all eyes on you, you’ve got to bring it. Sports teaches you to get out of your head, focus on the essentials, and, to borrow from swimming, “swim in your own lane.”

Erin: Good Lord, sports clichés exist, because they are spot on!

4. A place to feel the glory.

Reaping the rewards.

Ellen: And speaking of cliches, can we talk about the thrill of victory?? Everyone should get to feel that euphoria that comes from pushing yourself and succeeding.

Erin: We know there is a movement against participation trophies and we are standing here with nodding heads and fistbumps, but a real trophy? Earned with hard work and practice? Well, nothing feels better than that.

5. A place to belong.

Where everybody knows your name.

Erin: Yeah, we know there are technically “team sports” and “individual sports”, but in our experience, you do them all with a buddy. Or 50. We are strong advocates for not having “all of your friends in one basket.”

Ellen: Nothing gives your child another group of friends to turn to quite like a sports team. Hanging around a pool deck for three or seventy hours waiting for your event gives you plenty of time to socialize. Nothing bonds friends like sharing a bag of soggy Doritos in between races.

Erin: For my oldest, because he was entering a high school where he didn’t really know anyone, the soccer team was the key to his feeling comfortable. The team gave him an easy entry into the social scene.

Ellen: Get ready because I’m about to lay down another cliché—There is no “I” in team. The world really would be a better place if people could learn to cooperate better.

It Really Is All Worthwhile

5 Reasons Youth Sports are Worth the Time, Sweat, and Price Tag. A scholarship isn’t one of them.

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How Motherhood Wins the Olympics

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We love the Olympics. The athleticism, the pageantry, the speculation! Who is going to take home the most gold? Will it be the USA? Maybe the Cayman Islands? (Seriously, this British Territory has a slalom skier.)

But let’s think outside of the box because quite frankly, it will take our minds off of Bob Costas’ oozing pink eye. What if Motherhood was its own country?

We have our own currency: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Our own conflicts: Mommy Wars.

Even our own traditional costume: Yoga Pants.

We challenge that Motherhood would sweep the gold and hog the podium. And YOU would be the decorated athletes.

“But Ellen and Erin, how would we find the time to train since we can’t even find the time to shower?” you ask? O ye Olympians of little faith, YOU TRAIN EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Winning ALL of the Olympic Gold at Sochi: Motherhood

Curling

Sweeping frantically to try to get a stone in a circle.

Seriously? Sweeping. Um yeah, we got this. Next!

Skiathlon

Cross-country skiing in a loop for 15 km.

Monotonously traveling the same path over and over again until we collapse from shear exhaustion and boredom? Motherhood defined!

Figure Skating

The competitive sport of ice skating in prescribed patterns and incorporating jumps.

Okay, we’ve got the jumps and spins down. Wrangling toddlers and avoiding Lego pieces keeps us on our toes. And just look at our friend Frugie from Frugalista Blog vacuum. She is indistinguishable from Ashley Wagner. This woman deserves a 10.o for pageantry . . . or at least for comedic genius.

There is so much more where this came from. Click here to see them because you DESERVE to see Frugie conquer her Nepresso machine. DESERVE!

Ice Dancing

A form of ice skating incorporating choreographed dance moves.

What says Motherhood more than tight asses, perfect hair, and adorable outfits. Wait . . . BWAHAHAHAHA!

Luge

Sliding at high speeds on ridiculously small sleds on a special track of artificially frozen ice.

We’ve got this. It’s actually the perfect metaphor for Motherhood. Nothing reflects the stomach-turning, heart-pounding aspects of parenting like hurling yourself down a track at 80 mph. Retrieving toddlers from chandeliers and open grates or teaching a teen to drive is Olympic quality training right there.

Speed Skating

Form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other on skates.

This is supposed to be difficult? Skates would only make our scrambling from place to place easier. Peshaw.

Ice Hockey

Team sport in which skaters use sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent’s net to score.

Oh, we understand intensity, blood, and brawls: Every PTO meeting has honed our skills. If we can convince Peggy Pinterest that chocolate cupcakes made from a box are just fine for the bake sale, getting a puck past a goalie is no big deal. We also know how to throw a few elbows if the need arises.

Motherhood has prepared us well for life beyond sleep deprivation marathons, toilet training, and lunch packing. Dare we say it has prepared us to be champions? YES, WE DARE! So kick Canada off the podium because Motherhood not only has the skills to sweep the gold medals, we can Swiffer that podium, too.

Anyone know how we can get Multi-Tasking named an official sport for the Summer Olympics?

-Ellen and Erin

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Adolescents, Autism, and the Amazing Power of Teamwork

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Almost sixteen years into this parenting gig, kids still shock me. What they see. What they know. What they instinctively feel. On any given day, anything can be, and yet they surprise me in new and astonishing ways. Even still, I wasn’t ready for what I witnessed one day on the track.

About three weeks ago, I got this text:

I don’t care what people say about not reading tone into text. This text was an alarm bell, a siren, a scream. This text sent to me from Lisa, my neighbor who carpools with me to high school track practice, said to me in no uncertain terms to pick up the phone pronto. So I did.

And the story unravelled. Apparently, Lisa was at Defcon 5 with her son Dylon who has autism. Anyone with a teenager knows that hormones alone can rain down the hurt and pain on even the happiest of families. Autism ratchets up that hormonal hot mess and takes it to levels even Dante couldn’t imagine. Lisa was in hell, her kid was hurting, and she needed answers. . . like thirty minutes ago.

Ace filled in the blanks. Apparently, none of the coaches had remembered to get Dylon to his races at the meet and he missed them. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Hence, the monumental meltdown.

Now let’s put aside that this was not Dylon’s first track meet. We have been carpooling with him for over a year. Let’s acknowledge that these coaches are not uncaring. They have recognized Dylon’s efforts on the team with support and tangible rewards. They even gave him a most improved runner award last spring. So this is not the time for our litigious, self-righteous, holier-than-thou selves. This is where we stand back and recognize that this is what autism brings to the table. Confusion, miscommunication, and dropped balls all come part and parcel with kids bearing this diagnosis. That’s why we talk of hidden capes with absolutely no hint of hyperbole when speaking about the people who love them.

When we started our carpool last spring, we were grateful for the opportunity to help our neighbor, support Dylon, and also, let’s be frank, split the drive time. We weren’t really expecting anything other than some savings at the gas pump and warm neighborly feelings, but that turned out to be just the beginning.

Good things happened. Ace and Dylon developed a real bond. Dylon started talking to me more. The boys were able to transition to hanging out in front of the school with all of the other athletes instead of being picked up at the track. After many years outside of my classroom, I had a chance to reimagine what the future could hold for the preschoolers with autism I had taught way back when. We were in a good place. It was a good fit. And carpooling gave me back valuable hours in my day.

But autism is an unforgiving highway with treacherous curves that you don’t see coming. Getting closer to Dylon meant that we were now navigating some of those blind turns with him. Like when this winter on a training run through a neighborhood, Dylon was spooked by a dog and took off running scared. Ace ran an extra 3 miles trying to get him back to calm him down. I then spent the rest of the evening talking to my kid who was still worried about it long after he had unlaced his shoes.

And then there was the day that we thought we lost Dyln. We couldn’t find him at school and Lisa couldn’t get in touch with him and his teachers didn’t know where he was. Ace tried to break into their house to see if Dylon had somehow made it home early on the bus. We found Dylon safe on the football field watching his sister’s band practice, but our hearts were still pounding with the What-Ifs. We don’t begin to presume what life is like day in and day out with autism, but our peek into that world was sometimes scary.

And frustrating. Nobody was more irritated than Ace to hear that Dylon had missed his events. All athletes deserve their moment to see what all that practice is for. Dylon had put in the work. He earned the chance to prove himself against a clock and the other runners. It was JUST. SO. WRONG. in that black and white way that belongs to the world of teenagers and toddlers.

The next track meet was only two days later at a local rival high school. When we arrived at the meet, we immediately saw all of the kids on the field in the center of the track, including Dylon and Ace. Now I may have been distracted buying granola bars, chasing kids out from under bleachers, and teaching the kindergartener how to take pictures. Taking four siblings to a track meet ensures that you have brought the traveling sideshow.

But when I looked up for the first race, my breath caught. There was Dylon being led to his first event by his teammates with nary an adult in sight. And it went on that way for the rest of the meet. They had this. Adults, step aside. Dylon was not going to miss an event on their watch. To see the cloud of orange and black surround him and then deliver him to the starting line before EVERY race was a sight to see. And that’s what melted my heart, I think. The way they owned the situation and the way they acted. They were a team. Dylon was their teammate. End of story.

Ace verified after the fact that there was no edict that had been handed down from the coaches. It was just a group of kids trying to do the right thing by their teammate.

Blame it on the beautiful weather that day after an abysmal spring. Blame it on a group on kids who fixed what was broken on their own. Whatever it was, I lifted my face to feel the warm sun and smiled like it was going it out of style.

If a tiny tear was in my eye, you can never prove it. Anything can happen. Anything can be.

-Erin

Adolescents, Autism, and the Amazing Power of Teamwork.

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Ten Things About Our Mom Cars

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Oh Mom Taxis! How you are ridiculed, but are oh so needed. We like to joke that if a tsunami hit our vehicles and swept them to the top of the Andes, we could survive out of them for weeks. For mothers, our car/minivan/SUV is not just a people mover, it is so much more. But don’t get us wrong, we move a lot of people.

10 Things About Our Mom Cars

1.Whhhhiiiiirrrsssht! Taxi!

Wish it doubled as a time machine since scouts AND soccer both start at 4pm.

2. Command Central

This pretty much captures it. Go ahead, click on it to really appreciate the accuracy.

3. Roadie Van

There is no time to go home between activities! You must move from swimming to band to volleyball. In between, you need to drop off the school project that is too big to go in on the bus and drop the cereal off at the food pantry (one box might be missing because you forgot it was your turn for team snacks). Food is in the cooler because there is no time to stop. The golf umbrella is there to keep you all dry when that rainstorm mercifully strikes and cuts practice short.

4. Happy Meal Toy Graveyard

Okay, sometimes there’s time to stop for food, but not without consequences.

5. Locker Room

Sometimes to make the schedule work, you gotta change in the car. With all of those cleats, it also smell like a locker room. Thanks for asking.

6. Hydration Station

This is typical, but not authentic. Ellen had to stage this photo because her husband recently cleaned the 19 water bottles out of her car. THAT is the truth.

7. Mobile First Aid Unit

All the supplies from that little compartment in the the floor. For real. Except for the boogie board. But while we’re on the subject, never go out on the beach without a flotation device. Riptides are scary people.

8. Lay-A-Way Department

Erin drove around for weeks with those Christmas gifts in the back of her minivan without her kids being the wiser. Until now. Mental note, must find new hiding spot this year.

9. Entertainment Center

We’ve heard stories about road trips before on-board entertainment centers. Shudder.

10. Brings Home The Bacon

For Ellen, this is quite literal because it’s the family business.

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KEY TO SUCCESS: The type of donut matters! Use classic glazed donuts because they have enough spring and give to hold the teeth. Cake-like donuts crack and break apart!

May your treats not play any tricks on you!

-Ellen

Apparently, we are all about the donuts here. Check out these posts, too.

-Erin

1. Taking Measured Risks is Good for Kids

2. New Friends

3. Sports, at its heart, is supposed to be about challenging yourself mentally and physically.

4. If you are at the fundamental stage of learning, then you can still have fun.

5. New coaches means new potential mentors

-Erin and Ellen

1. The Lake House by Kate Morton

2. The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

3. The Widow by Fiona Barton

4. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafazi

5. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

6. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

7. Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline

8. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

9. Unbecoming: A Novel by Rebecca Sherm

10. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

We hope these page turners will brighten your spring!

Happy Reading!

Erin and Ellen

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, so we get a little compensation for all of our book love.

We just reinvest in books, so don’t get too jealous.

-Ellen and Erin

Sports gives them . . .

1. A place to fail.

2. A place to shine.

3. A place to feel the pressure.

4. A place to feel the glory.

5. A place to belong.

It Really Is All Worthwhile

Winning ALL of the Olympic Gold at Sochi: Motherhood

Curling

Skiathlon

Figure Skating

Ice Dancing

Luge

Speed Skating

Ice Hockey

-Ellen and Erin

-Erin

10 Things About Our Mom Cars

1.Whhhhiiiiirrrsssht! Taxi!

2. Command Central

3. Roadie Van

4. Happy Meal Toy Graveyard

5. Locker Room

6. Hydration Station

7. Mobile First Aid Unit

8. Lay-A-Way Department

9. Entertainment Center

10. Brings Home The Bacon

8. Big Lit tle Lies by Liane Moriarty