outsidevoice

Image by Renault Futterer Last weekend Leah went to her first Tae Kwon Do tournament. She had been looking forward to it for weeks and spent hours in class getting ready for it. Not knowing what to expect, she was a little nervous, but was comfortable in her skills and abilities – for months she [...]

For the first time in a year, Benjamin was sort of sick. I say sort of because even when he is actually sick he doesn’t really accept that and just marches on as if not much has really changed. He’s kind of tough that way. But at some point this week the body took over [...]

Today is Day One of Fifth Grade for Leah and Transitional Kindergarten for Benjamin. The first day of the last year of elementary school – and the first day of a “bridge year” for Benjamin. There’s a lot riding on this year. There is hard work and harder work, maturing and accepting, preparation and decisions [...]

Dear Benjamin, Yesterday you turned five. I think this was the first birthday where you really understood how special a birthday is and I’ve never seen you so excited. The moment the calendar read “July” it was all you could talk about. While the theme of the day may have changed 100 times (you went [...]

Usually by the time Leah heads to camp it is the end of the school year, recitals have just finished, projects are done and everyone is exhausted. All the getting up early, managing deadlines and homework, schlepping, hours of rehearsal and messy rooms uncovered have driven us both to short tempers and rolling eyes. By [...]

I have a confession to make. It’s not the easiest and I’m not sure how I feel about the way I feel, but the fact is the following statement is true at times: Sometimes I worry Leah’s name is a prophecy. Leah – or at least the “L” from her name – is for both [...]

Dear Benjamin, Well, look at you.  All “growed up” and being a boy.  I thought you should know that you have astounded me these past few months.  Not only are you growing like a weed (and a very tall weed at that), but you are showing me things about your personality faster than I can [...]

SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards. For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up [...]

Author’s Note: This is long, and sadly has no pictures, but stick with it.  It’s a good one. Because of my mom’s involvement at our synagogue when we were growing up, somehow our family always had a special relationship with the head Rabbi.  The Rabbi was called by his first name in our house, but [...]

Answer: Because we’re Jewish.  You would think that’s a pretty easy answer, wouldn’t you?   It’s easy, but it’s not enough these days. For as long as I’ve been a parent, I’ve had the same conversation with kids of a certain age in this house.  “Why don’t we celebrate Christmas?”  For the older girls (many years [...]