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  • Parenting Guru: Fishing the Days Away

    This year, my big guy is big enough to do it "ALL BY HIMSELF, mom." This picture I've included sums up the best of his summer - in between the long weeks of work and preschool, there was just a boy and his fishing pole. At every possible opportunity, my 3 year old drags someone - daddy, grandpa, unc

  • Parenting Guru: Get your hot dogs!

    My husband and I have been a baseball couple from the beginning. The first time I saw him he was a 13 year old Babe Ruth player. He played Legion ball and went on to play in college. Our honeymoon, taken in October, included nightly viewings of the World Series games (2003, Marlins took down the Yan

  • Parenting Guru: Camping for the kids

    Growing up in Montana, we camped. From the time I was little and going with my parents, then through high school when my friends and I would load up coolers and nothing more (we slept wherever we landed), to now with kids of my own - camping is a great weekend adventure. Unfortunately, I can no long

  • Parenting Guru: Riding in Cars with Boys

    We drive a lot. Nearly every weekend, especially in the spring and summer, we're on the road. Although we make many trips to see many people, Big Guy makes many requests to go to "On-tanya" and we have, you know, nothing better to do on the weekends, unless you count cleaning, home improvements, sho

  • Parenting Guru: To Work or Not to Work? That is my question

    The day is approaching that maybe, just MAYBE, my oldest child will be legally mine. It's got me very emotional. It's got me to thinking that now, it's very real. Not that raising two little boys for over a year now has been anything but real - I realize that. I've carried a dread in my heart this l

  • Parenting Guru: 10 Things I Love About Little Boys

    1. There are no ribbons, bows or hairbrushes to speak of. We havea pair of clippers that get put to use and BAM - hair done for thenext two months, I mean, COMPELTELY done. Nobody gives it a secondthought.2. Their obsession with daddy's hunting trips has resulted in myability to get them to eat anyt

  • Parenting Guru: My dreams for these two little boys

    1. I hope they both follow their dreams. The big guy is showing the potential to be a chef at the moment. A chef who kills his own meat, thanks to his toy rifle and play kitchen. The little guy is showing great potential as a WWF wrestler. I want them to choose their own possibilities, and not got b

  • Parenting Guru: This holiday, I will just say no!

    I had a complete post written. I was close to submitting it when I was thrown a big ole' curveball that would rival Nolan Ryan's. Now my writing doesn't seem to apply, so I'll start again.I have two new family members as of last week. In addition to my big and lil' guys, ages 3 and 1, we have anothe

  • Parenting Guru: Just like anyone else's family--the good, the bad, the ugly

    [Editor's note: This month, Shine Parenting Gurus were asked to write about a moment over the last year that they are genuinely thankful for, whether that was a good time with their family, or a more difficult experience that made reflect upon their lives in a new way.]

  • Parenting guru: Keeping tradition in a transitional family

    Our family is forever changing, and so do our child related traditions. My hubby and I are foster parents with no biological children of our own, so it's a transitional family that I raise. Our first kids were a 9 (Missy) and 10 (Mister) year old pair of siblings that came from a typical "man of