family

I had always wanted to try a cooking class at Sur La Table. Then we took one to make croissants. Here's my review.

If I asked you whether your relationship is your top priority, what would you say? If you said yes, did you mean it? When was the last time you and your spouse had some alone time and talked about your feelings? Really connected. Discussed your hopes or your dreams. Or even just had more than [...]

When you got married, did you and your spouse spend much time talking about what your blended family foundation would look like? How about what each of your expectations was? Or what kind of stepmom you would be, or how the kids would be expected to relate to you? My guess is no. We sure [...]

If you have a friend or family member who married a man with kids, it may not have occurred to you that there are things you should never say to stepmoms. It certainly hadn't occurred to me until I became a stepmom. There are, of course, all kinds of supportive things that you can do [...]

Every stepmom needs her spouse to be her partner in order to succeed. That partnership looks different for every couple, but there are some common threads that should weave together every blended family relationship. I've written before about how hard it was to transition into stepmotherhood. And how alone it can feel. And how so [...]

While Mother's Day can be complicated for stepmoms, celebrating Father's Day in a blended family is usually a little easier. And it can be an opportunity for you to bond with your stepchildren. You can help the kids celebrate their dad by planning a fun day and letting them help you find some fun gifts. [...]

There are many things I was not prepared for when I became a stepmom. But one topic that's glaringly at the front of my mind these days is how to talk to and teach my white kids about race and social injustice. Talking About Race Is Hard. And I'll Probably Say The Wrong Thing. [...]

Well, life sure does have a way of changing quickly, doesn't it? This time last week, we knew the Coronavirus threat was emerging, but who could have thought that things would be so different in the span of a few short days? And that it would continue to change by the hour.  I'm guessing you [...]

One of the things they teach you in Stepmom School is how to bond with your stepkids. Wait, there's a school for this? No, I'm kidding - there is absolutely not a school for stepparents. Which I found out the hard way when I was looking for resources as a new stepmom. Although I'm not [...]

I've written before about how much I love a good handwritten card or letter. So much so that my husband and I now run a handwritten note business. It's easy to fire off an email or text. But it's less easy to convey pure emotion that way. So I wrote a piece recently for Medium [...]

We all know a stepmom's role is unusual. And whether you're called "stepmonster" or "bonus mom", the role is much more complicated than any name you've got. It can be a constant struggle to let go of the anger caused by tough family dynamics. So we decided we would lighten things up and have some fun. [...]

Have you set your New Year's resolutions? If you're like me, you've been thinking about them but haven't put pen to paper just yet. Well, let's change that. I've been thinking a lot lately about how the role of stepparent shapes every aspect of my life. So it occurred to me that maybe we need [...]