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Channel: General Blog | Rachel Toalson
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School Shopping with Kids is Just as Hellish as it Sounds

Every year in Texas there’s this wonderful weekend where shoppers get to take advantage of tax-free shopping on school supplies and clothes. Hundreds of thousands of people head out in droves, hitting...

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Do I Ever Feel Like Giving Up? Every Other Minute.

Parenting is not for the weak. This is the hardest responsibility we will ever have in our lives. Raising another human being to be a decent person is anything but easy.

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Don’t Judge Me By My Front Yard. I’m a Parent.

The thing is, when you’re a parent, some things have to slide until you can get your head above water (which is probably never. We’re all just lying to ourselves.).

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Parenting 3-year-olds Is a Most Delightful Challenge. Said No Parent Ever.

We’ve been working on manners in our house. This might seem like a losing battle with a bunch of boys who think it’s hilarious to arm-fart while they’re covering their mouth coughing, but nobody ever...

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What We Don’t Consider When We Decide We Want a Baby

These would be things like higher utility bills, the gross and grosser, and torturous road trips. Having kids changes EVERYTHING.

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I Used to Want to Be a Rockstar. This is All I Got.

Husband and I used to be in a band. Well, we technically still are. We just don’t ever play the songs we’re still writing, because we have six kids. But before those six kids, we played all over Texas...

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When the Environmentalist is On Trash Duty

We have this fancy chalkboard hanging in our kitchen with “This Night” written in wannabe hand lettering, because I’m nothing more than a wannabe artist. Beneath those words, we have each of the boys’...

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What an Anniversary Looks Like When You Have Kids

When you can't find a sitter, you just have to celebrate your anniversary the best way you can manage. Which is exactly what we did.

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Parenting Feels Hard Because We’re Doing it Right

(I’m going to get a little serious in today’s post, so feel free to pass on if what you came here for was humor. I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled program once I get this off my chest.) There’s...

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On How Kids Destroy Every Toy They Own

Six boys produce a lot of destruction around my house. Everywhere I look, there are nicks in bookshelves and unintended holes in the walls from errant hands or fingers or just curiosity, and there are...

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How My Boys Try and Fail to Use ‘The Force’

Husband and my older boys have lately been trying to cram in some viewings of old Star Wars movies before the new one comes out. It’s important, Husband says, to introduce them to Luke and Yoda and...

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Cinder-Mama is a Real Person. She is Me.

You know that scene in Cinderella where she’s in the kitchen trying to get things ready for the day, and on the wall there’s this collection of bells ringing incessantly, signaling that people who are...

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Things Kids Will Never Understand

The other day I was trying to put my 3-year-old in the car, and we were in a hurry, because I wanted to get to the grocery store and back before it was time for their lunch, since you definitely DO NOT...

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Dear Concerned Reader: Yes, These Are All My Kids.

“The hardest part of being a Mother is when they become adults and cut your heart to pieces.” “Wait until they’re teenagers. Then you’ll have something to complain about.” “Oh, please. Mothering isn’t...

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I Know What You Want for Christmas. My Humble-Bragging Newsletter!

Photo by Helen Montoya Henrichs. Merry Christmas! I know that you all are secretly wanting to hear from me about my truly exceptional kids, so I decided that this year, instead of a card, I would just...

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10 Parenting Goals I Will Accomplish This Year

Every year Husband and I sit down to make some goals for the New Year. And, of course, this year was no different, although six boys make it a little hard to have any stretch of uninterrupted time to...

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If the Dreams of Children Came True

We all make wishes and we all have dreams. It’s the most hopeful part of the human condition, to wish and dream. But when those wishes and dreams land in the hands of children, well, we have a...

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Lies We Believe As Parents (That Kids Will Annihilate)

Every now and then, I reach this mysterious place where parenting feels really easy. The boys are behaving perfectly (as if that’s the measure of easy parenting), and everyone is loving each other well...

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Inventions that Would Help Parents Make it Through the Day

There are some great inventions out on the market today that have made my life easier. We don’t always have the funds to invest in something new and wonderful, but when we do, watch out. A crockpot?...

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5 Things I Didn’t Know Before I Became a Parent

Before I became a parent, I was an uptight woman who tried to achieve perfection in every single thing I did. If I made a 97 on a test, I would cry because it wasn’t a 98 (I was dramatic in every sense...

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