P&K Insider

I have to give kudos to my friend and colleague Meredith O’Brien for posting this ingenious Thanksgiving activity on her blog. It’s got all the right elements for a somewhat tasteful, innocent way of dealing with the dysfunction in your family unit.

Visit her post and find out what awaits…here’s a hint. Dysfunctional Family Bingo is like a regular Bingo game, except that the squares are filled with crazy things that could happen during a holiday dinner (there’s an ugly argument over politics, your kid breaks a family heirloom that was put in the middle of the coffee table, someone gets food poisoning, etc.).

Tonight is the big night. We get some one-on-one time with my son’s kindergarten teacher. I can hardly wait. although his teacher is very good about sending home work and regular correspondence, most of my son’s day is a complete mystery to me. A few years ago, one of my very talented contributors, Debbie Swanson, wrote a great article on making the most of your conference time.

Here are some quicks for my fellow parents.

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My twin sister Lisa and I are sitting in the Miami airport on our way home from the Manic Mommies ‘08 Escape. More than 100 moms from around the country (scratch, that) the globe united under the sunny southern skies to celebrate womanhood and take a break from motherhood. For three whole days, we ate full meals without interruption, slept in single beds sans midnight disturbances and planned our own days without having to consider nap times, meal times or the moods of other family members. It was an escape in the truest sense of the word.

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Some days, you’re desperate to get out of the house and find a way to entertain your little ones. That was me yesterday. My 3-year-old daughter her sidekick (my 3-year-old nephew) had more energy that could be contained in my home so we headed to the Children’s Museum in Easton.

It had been a few years since I had made the 40-minute drive to this establishment but from what I remembered it had three floors of potential fun.  And when I (re)disover something fun, I want to pass it on….

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Fifty percent of our Halloween candy is gone and I’m thrilled. We filled two grocery bags with candy and headed to Norfolk to give some candy back for a good cause. All collected candy will be sent in care packages for troops away from home for the holidays.

My kids were all for the idea and on the 30-minute drive to the give-back station decided to add another 10 pieces of candy to the bag.

Dozens of pounds of M&Ms, Skittles and lollipops were collected.

Find out more about how the candy will be used to support our troops.