Maryville Moms

Sometimes parenting is akin to taming wild horses.  When one kid is being obedient, the other is running crazy.  Many moments they are simultaneously running me to the point of emotional exhaustion by fighting with each other or rebelling. I can’t count how many times I’ve been on the receiving end of a sorry spoken [...]

I have an almost-5-year old and an almost-3-year-old.  During the course of a day, it’s not unusual to hear “Hey mama?!” at least 4,000 times.  But why am I telling this to you?  If you’re reading this, you’re probably a mom; since you’re probably a mom, you know what I’m dealing with. The morning “hey mama” [...]

Bunnies don’t lay eggs.  If you follow a bunny, you’ll find a trail but I can promise you won’t want to eat what he leaves behind.  How did the Easter bunny become associated with eggs? The first practice of mass egg distribution can be traced back to 15th century Germany.  The German settlers who arrived [...]

We’ve all been to baby showers, however it seems like a shower with Maryville Moms is often a bit different. We gathered to celebrate the just-around-the-corner arrival of a new baby girl for the Carlyle family.  Adam and Becky moved to town in February (or was it January?!) with boys Caedmon and Liam. I knew [...]

I just stumbled across a funny editorial in The Washington Post, of all places. “OK, so only my husband voluntarily CHOSE to live with me…the other three, and the dog, I either made or bought, so I try to give them a break. After all, with me as a mom, sometimes it’s like being given [...]

by Elise Klepatz “Let us therefore strive (labor) to enter that rest…” Hebrews 4:11 Sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? If you’re laboring you’re not at rest, right? Well, the kind of laboring I’m talking about here certainly isn’t childbirth! This kind of labor involves renewing your mind to the truth of the gospel. It involves taking [...]

I’m in the process of writing a snarky post about the trials of motherhood.  I just can’t get the wording right.  Sometimes words just spew out like vomit (TMI?  I know).  Sometimes the words flow like a river.  And sometimes the words get dumped out like a 10,000 piece lego set, and know it’s my [...]

Using this calendar will allow you to pray thirty-one different biblical virtues into your children.  Use it as a guide each month, combining some of the traits for months which do not have 31 days.  Claim and believe that God is working each one of these virtues into your children’s lives. 1.  Salvation: Lord I [...]

I can’t control myself.  You know who’s fault it is?  Netflix.  Apple.  Oh!  And especially Al Gore’s for inventing the internet.  We can download a movie before it’s even made.  The latest phone has only been out 4 hours and we are already wondering what the next model will do.  Maybe the next model will [...]

I remember a time when I would have described myself as a private person.  I also remember a time when I could go to the restroom without announcing “I have to go pee pee”… and then have a little person (who, by the way, only speaks at a level right below a police siren) give [...]

Accidents are inevitable.  If only kids came with instruction manuals, or at least trouble-shooting guides.  This is the next-best-thing.  Save it.  No – print it.  No – tattoo it onto your forearm because we all know that it will just get lost in the abyss of your purse if you don’t. Worst Case Scenario:  I [...]

Baby number one was made in Jamaica.  I know this to be true.  I thought that it’d like to live in Jamaica, drink fresh frozen-fruit-concoctions and rest on the beach all day becoming an expert on every parenting book ever written while incubating a baby elephant.  My husband would be super involved and read every [...]