Tag: writing
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Thirty-Nine and Thriving (Mostly):
Reflections on My Birthday Today’s my birthday. The big 3-9. The last year of my thirties — which feels both impossible and completely believable at the same time. As I sit here, coffee in hand, trying to soak in a quiet moment before the chaos of mom life and teacher life collides again, I can’t…
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Back To School…
We Survived the First Week: Mom + Teacher Edition The first week of school always feels like stepping onto a speeding treadmill—you know you have to run, but you’re not quite sure your legs are ready. As both a teacher and a mom, I’ve learned that surviving these first five days is basically an Olympic…
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When Lightning Strikes and So Does the Chaos: Mom Life in a Nighttime Thunderstorm
The house is dark. The clock reads 12:13 a.m. Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbles low like the opening notes of a horror movie soundtrack. I know exactly what’s about to happen. Did I wake up to this rumbling of what I knew was about to be an all-nighter of reassuring my children that the…
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Back to School Already?
Inside a Middle Schooler’s Mind During Supply Season Cue the dramatic sighs and the sudden need to look away: the moment a middle schooler sees a back-to-school display in July, the panic sets in. One second they’re living their best life in swim trunks and popsicle mode—and the next, a neon yellow sign is screaming…
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🧠 The Twilight Zone: A Peek Inside a Mom’s Brain After Dinner, Before Bed
Dinner is done. Sort of. Plates are still scattered, someone has mysteriously disappeared mid-bite, and there’s a noodle stuck to the wall—but technically, the meal has concluded. And now begins the strangest stretch of the day: after dinner, before bedtime. This is the hour where moms do their best Olympic-level multitasking… fueled only by crusty…
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🎒Backpacks, Lesson Plans, and a Quiet Car Seat
A Teacher Mom’s Back-to-School Story Back-to-school season has always been a whirlwind. But this year? It feels like a new chapter—and a big one. I’m heading back to my classroom, but this time, I’m bringing two of my kids with me. My daughter is going into 2nd grade—confident, chatty, and fully embracing the role of…
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“The Mom Circle: Finding My People at the End of the Cul-de-Sac”
Where the scooters fly, the sidewalk chalk flows, and the moms become family. When we moved into our cul-de-sac, I was mostly thinking about safety. Fewer cars zooming by, a quiet street for the kids to ride bikes, and a little more peace and quiet after the chaos of the day. I wasn’t thinking about…
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Middle School…Then vs. Now
A Walk Down the Hallway of Time Middle School Then vs. Now: A Walk Down the Hallway of Time If you survived middle school in the late 90s, you probably remember a lot of awkwardness, chunky highlights, and the pain of getting kicked off AIM because your mom needed the phone. And if you’re teaching…
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VHS, AOL, TGIF…A Love Letter to the 90s
If you were born in 1986 like me, then you were raised in what might be the weirdest, most wonderful, delightfully awkward time in history: the 90s.Before WiFi, before smartphones, and definitely before “aesthetic” was a thing, we had jelly shoes, cassette tapes, and a whole lot of neon. We were the last generation to…
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Teaching Middle Schoolers to Write Essays (a Journey in Caffeine and Patience)
Yes, the letter “I” is capitalized when it stands alone… If you’ve ever tried to teach a middle schooler how to write an essay, you know it’s not just about thesis statements and topic sentences—it’s about survival. It’s guiding students who think “because I said so” is valid evidence and believe their five-paragraph paper should…
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Coffee ☕️ Crayons 🖍️ and Curriculum 📝 