Over the next few days, I'll be sharing bits and pieces of our epic road trip to the east coast. It was 13 days filled with joy, sibling fights, a bazillion rest stops, one major meltdown on the side of I-10, great memories and lots of hugs with awesome people. Oh, and we saw a ton of cool stuff, too. You can read all about it by city: New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Washington, D.C. and Knoxville, TN. ...

As the kids get older, the focus is starting to shift from games and favors, to food. Always the food. Clare waited ever so patiently for her mama to get her act together. Her actual birthday was in June and we celebrated in August. After lots of talking and scouring Pinterest, she finally decided on a Beauty and the Beast theme. I squealed, just a tiny bit. We had a small crew of five girls over at the house. They ...

I know, I know. You looked at yourself in the mirror this morning and asked, "How, how do I have a senior in high school?" Then you either a) started hyperventilating, b) teared up, c) swelled with pride or d) all of the above. I'm sure moms who have gone before us are already smiling, reaching out their arms to embrace our conflicted hearts. But, I suspect while this letting go thing may get easier, it will never get easy. ...

The older my boys get, the more I realize just how much their lives revolve around sports, food and sleep. Repeat. They're also asking me to dial it back a bit in the birthday celebrating department. Eeek. But, I get it. I also realize that dialing it back for me is not the same as it is for other people. Hazard of the love language of birthday party host. When Will turned 17 earlier this year, we really did dial ...

With our oldest daughter's thirteenth birthday on the horizon this spring, I was stumped with how to properly celebrate it. I wanted her to know how special she was, involve the moms of her friends in some way and do something memorable. A providential evening at a Catholic schools event with the First Lady of Texas, Cecilia Abbott, got me thinking. Why not tour the Governor's Mansion? Bingo. A thoughtful and kind friend, who knows the First Lady personally, set ...

Texas and barbecue go hand-in-hand, kinda like chips and queso or beer and Mexican food or, my personal favorite, vanilla and Dr Pepper. When Texas Monthly came out with its top 50 BBQ joints in the state, our family was all in. Every four years, the BBQ editor (yes, that's a real thing) Daniel Vaughn and his staff scour the state for the best in 'cue. But, this go around, they upped the ante by partnering with YETI to provide incentive ...