People seem to believe that cell phone use is this new, unprecedented behavior about which there are no established customs that could govern our conduct. George Washington and I beg to differ. The technology might be different, but human desires remain pretty...
So much to update you all on! But that's not what's happening today. TODAY, I'm just popping in with this post that has been in my drafts folder for three years, because I just happened to reference our family rules in today's Blessed is She devotion and awoke to a...
Here we go on the second installment of . . . Them's the Rules! Wherein I share with you our family rules and things I say one hundred times a day, with images I made in a weird fit of graphic design-themed nesti-ness the day before Mary Jane was born. Here's Part I,...
Mailbag time! Today, you get two for the price of one, on a really challenging topic: how to handle family members who undermine our parenting. - first question - Hey, Kendra! I was at the funeral for one of my relatives, and after at the cemetery, we went to visit...
Remember way back when I wrote that post on Living the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in the Home (with Frankie)? Well, it just happens to mention one of our Family Rules: Don't take your pants off without a plan. In the comments of that post, Annie asked if I...
Ember Days Shrimp Tempura In the original Latin, “Ember Days” are called “Quatuor Tempora,” or “four times” of the year. In the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries from Portugal settled in Nagasaki. As a meatless meal, they introduced what we now call “tempura”:...
Yesterday, I shared my friend Emily's personal story of her mom's crisis pregnancy. See that post here: What’s to Gain by Saying No to Abortion: A Story of Teen Pregnancy, Grandparents’ Prayers, and . . . Me. I received the following comment over on Facebook. I...
It's summertime . . . . and the livin' is liturgical. As I say in The Catholic All Year Compendium, "Maybe we’ve got some extra downtime, and some time with all the kids at home, and we were going to eat dinner anyway, right? I try to find saints’ days to attach to...
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I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are on a family vacation in a cabin at Lake Arrowhead, CA and it's been so fun. Also very cold and windy, but you can't beat a hot drink and a cozy fire after a chilly adventure! Note: Jack made it in time for...
Hey, it's been a while since we took a peek in the mailbag around here . . . let's see what we've got. QUESTION Hi Kendra, Thank you for all that you do. I enjoy reading your blog. The articles are thoughtfully written and also very helpful. If you are able, I would...
I was hoping to get a conversation started with my previous post. That definitely happened. I Like to Think That I Would Die for Jesus I was impressed with the general tone of the dialog. I did have to delete some comments for breaking my long-standing rules against...
Easter candles, you guys. EASTER CANDLES. We must have them. And really, my family can't imagine missing out completely on the stirringly beautiful beginning of the Easter Vigil Mass, with the fire and the candles and the Exsultet. The whole Easter Vigil is great of...
Happy October! In honor of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th, and the whole month of October, which is dedicated to the Rosary, this month's Catholic All Year Liturgical Living video is about . . . saying a family Rosary. We know we should be doing...
The husband and I were invited to give a parenting talk at our older kids' school last week. We LOVE this school, and just had to say yes. It was a good time, although I will say that it was a different experience than my usual public speaking, as we were giving a...
It's been an AGE since we dug something out of the old mailbag. Let's take a peek, shall we? The Question: Hello Kendra, I know you are very busy but I have a few questions from something on your blog. You said the kids can’t get out of bed during nap, how do you...
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi Kendra, I was wondering if you were going to write a post about how Valentine’s Day is on Ash Wednesday & how you guys will address that at your house. My thought was to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day the day before like the vigil....
Today is January 6th, which is the traditional date of Epiphany, the day that the three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem, having followed the star to meet the baby Jesus. But for Western Catholics, we celebrate it tomorrow, on the Sunday after January 1st. Liturgical...
I tend to get mailbag questions in bunches. All of a sudden, I'll get a flurry of questions on similar topics. Maybe it's Facebook? Maybe it's some sort of hive-mind phenomenon? But there you have it. It's a thing. The most recent wave was on kids and modesty. And the...
It's the Year of Mercy! But hopefully you already knew that, as I've been meaning to write this post since, um, November. We've been making an effort to be mindful of the Year of Mercy in our home, and we came up with a Year of Mercy Family Challenge to go with it....
Last month we had the unfortunate anniversary of Roe v Wade. Many cities, including my own Los Angeles, hosted Walks for Life, but our family wasn't there. We weren't there because we were at a funeral, for a baby named Emily Rose Marie. We are fortunate enough to...
Mailbag time: What to do when it all seems like too much . . . (and if you make it to the bottom there's news and shopping, yay!) The Question: Hi Kendra, I found you blog a new months ago and have so enjoyed going through your old posts and soaking up all the...
It's supposed to be a big deal. 😉 It's kind of all the small people in my house can talk about. Overshadowing even THE BIG MOVE . . . on team kid, at least. They have watched the trailer only four hundred and sixty seven times. Gus and Bobby have November and...
Mailbag questions sometimes come in waves around here, and recently I've gotten a slew of them on the same topic: How to get your kid to stop a certain entrenched behavior. Hitting, fighting, throwing tantrums, refusing to go to school in the morning, and screaming ....
It's October! Which means I want to wear sweaters and drink hot chai lattes . . . but it's still 90 degrees in LA. Oh, AND I need to figure out what we're doing for costumes. Since my kids like to dress up for Halloween and our homeschool group also hosts an All...
The secret part is step number four, which involves understanding that not all kids start reading as early as you've been led to believe. But since there are five steps that I've followed to get my kids reading, I figure we should probably start with number one. 1....
I'm terrible at taking blog breaks, or relaxing in general. But just in case I do happen to feel like relaxing with this new baby when the time comes, I've asked some of my favorite bloggers to guest post for me. But not in the usual way. Blogging is a great way to...
Last time, I answered a different mailbag question about this same topic: babies in a house full of their sibling's toys. That post was about babyproofing (or, more specifically, about NOT babyproofing). Today, I'm going to approach that same topic from a slightly...
Maybe you don't need this post. Hopefully, you don't. It's pretty obvious. But it didn't come easily for me. So, I'm going to put it here on the blog. Juuuuuuust in case. We are all very fortunate around here. We've got a fun, loving, involved dad. But, especially...
Look out world, 'cause Answer Me This is back . . . for a limited time. It's the McRib sandwich of blog linkups, so get it while you can. Here's how it works . . . today, I will give you six questions. NEXT Sunday, I'll answer those questions here on this blog. If...
