Blog Posts by Lisa Carey

Like many families our family goes on vacation during summer vacation. As we get seated on our Frontier Airlines flight, things are looking good. We actually have a whole row across, but I do feel a little sorry for the stranger at the window seat. However, within minutes our travel plans "flying through the air with the greatest of ease." I hear a grinding, roaring unusual sound and then silence. For those that travel frequently you know that no noise is not a good thing when on a plan. Our plan dips and curves, and I have traveled enough to know that this is a very bad thing.

The captain comes on, "Flight deck prepare for landing." This comes as a great surprise as we have only been in the air for maybe 5 minutes. We limp and bump back onto the ground at Hobby Airport in Houston and are instructed to remain seated. We soon learn that thanks to a bird, our engine blew out and our flight is now "delayed." As everyone leaves the plane we wonder what will happen next, especially since

It is difficult to find time to be alone with your teen. My ex-husband and I share-parent which means that sometimes she is with me, sometimes with him. When she isn't she is with friends, or working, school or at sports. Between her schedule, my schedule and younger siblings it is hard to find time to be alone with my teenage daughter, but it is important. There are things I want to talk about. There are things she wants to talk about. So how do we meet in the middle of so many schedules? Our answer is girl's night out.

Now when you think of "girl's night out" you may be thinking of a break in a busy mom's schedule where she can actually go out with some friends for a movie, coffee, shopping or simply have time that doesn't belong to everyone else. Sure, I do that too on occasion. But the girl's night out I really look forward to are the nights when my teen and out head out "on the town."
Dress to impress She likes to dress up, it gives her a chance to visit the grown up world of

The potty chair - Don't leave home without it. Quite some time ago, when I first had to start potty training my youngest I purchased a portable potty chair that could be in the car. This was at the sound advice of another mom, who while at the park was the only one prepared for that horror of all play date horrors -- a park without a bathroom. Realizing that yes, it probably is difficult to train two little girls at the same time to go potty when you don't always have one available I purchased one that is just for the car. I could use it in hotels when we were on vacation as well as for road trips (hey it's Houston driving to the Children's Museum is a road trip) when I may not be able to quickly find a clean bathroom for the girls to use.
Now, this may sound slightly gross, but for any parent who has tried to potty train you understand the need for instant gratification. So, for this on the go family having a potty chair in the minivan only makes sense.

Now that my children are trained, I recently considered getting rid of the

Super Green Girl and Guy to the Rescue While trying to live a "greener" lifestyle I also want to teach my daughters a few simple habits that will last them a lifetime, and hopefully last the environment a lifetime too. So we created a game called the "Super Green Girl to the Rescue!"

How do you turn two little girls into super green girls? It's simple, and a great deal more effective than constantly reminding them to turn off the lights, water, television or computer or many of the other instructions as parents we give each day. Whenver you have something that needs to be done that your children could help you do that is good for the environment call upon your super green girl (or guy).

Walking out the door and want to make sure all the lights are turned off while you let the dog out one last time? Super green girl or guy to the rescue. They move through the house making sure that lights are turned off.

Is the water running while they brush their teeth? Super green girl or guy to the rescue! What would

Easy Flag Day Craft June 14th is Flag Day. You may be wondering, why is there a "Flag Day" when we already have the 4th of July. Well, actually Flag Day provides us with a day to celebrate the history of our country's flag, the changes it has undergone as our country grew as well as the many important reasons for raising and honoring our flag. It reportedly began in 1889 when a New York City school teacher decided to make "Flag Day" a class project of sorts to teach the class important lessons in history. President Truman signed an act of Congress in 1949 that declared June 14th officially "Flag Day."

In honor of "Flag Day" our summer school day features the flag. We talked about the "stars and stripes" on the United States flag and why they are there. We talked about of Texas flag and it's symbol of one star. So in honor of Flag Day we celebrate the specialness of a flag by creating one at home.

To celebrate Flag Day with and easy craft your family you need a few simple items:
8 1/2 x 11 paper - we

Sweet dreams I admit, I'm not really a morning person. You of course adjust for work, especially when you are rising but not shining at say 5am in order to get to work on time. So, this summer I was as bad as a teenager with my hopes and dreams of sweet dreams past our normal 6:30/7:00 am wake up call during the school year. This would be the first year since I was a teen (many moons ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) that there was the chance that I would get to sleep late. Since I am a WAHM who works until late at night I was especially looking forward to catching some extra ZZZ's. But I was wrong.

I have a early bird. One of my children is an early to bed (if I am lucky) and early to rise child. While I love my "Good morning momma" greeting, a hug and a kiss from my daughter, it would be nice if it was just a little later in the morning.

I have a hard working man. I am very lucky that I do. It's just too bad that his boss doesn't understand that I would like to sleep in a little later and

The Princess and the P: Potty trainingIt doesn't matter what you call it; pee, poop, poo, or potty, it all means the same thing - stress while you hope that your child quickly and easily learns how to potty. But, whatever your reason for potty training use these four "P's" to get you through the day no matter what potty training method you are using:

Pride goeth before a fall.
I don't know which one feels prouder, the parent or the child when potty training finally occurs. Parents anticipate the day that they will no longer have to carry that heavy diaper bag, searching frantically for a clean spot to change their child's dirty diaper without exposing them to all kinds of germs. Children are just proud of their accomplishments! Remember to celebrate the potty training accomplishments, but also remember that sometimes there will still be accidents. After all Rome wasn't built in a day and neither does potty training. (Although for the rare lucky ones it does).

Pace yourself.
Children learn at their own pace and in their

Parenting crib to college Sometimes I don't know which is easier, parenting preschoolers or parenting a college aged "child." Just yesterday I had something (college tutition) I needed to discuss with my son, who will be 23 next month. I texted him, which is usually the best way to get his attention and then work my way into a phone call. No response. I text again, "I'm sorry r u studying for exams?" Again no response. Thinking he is at work I put it off until later in the day.

Our telephone call:
Hey honey, what are you doing? Studying for exams?
No, I'm on my way to OSU (Ohio State University)
How come? (Now don't get me wrong it's not that I don't want him to go he does need some downtime he is a college student and works two jobs but exam week is next week)
Going with some friends to meet some other friends we went to high school with that go to school there. After all I haven't visited any other colleges.

Mother's thought: Uh what about UK, UT, University of Dayton and University of Houston? But I