Lately I’ve been struggling with writing about my boys. When I first started blogging they were young, a toddler and baby. The stories I told may have been about them but they also were mine. When they didn’t sleep through the night, it was also about my own sleep deprivation. When they fought, it included my frustration.

Now they are older, boys with opinions and experiences all their own and those stories no longer belong to me–they belong to them.

You're probably close to being done your Christmas shopping, right? 

Ya, me either.

But I've got some of the major stuff including an iPod for Son No. 2, and yes, I struggled with that one because I really don't believe kids need as much tech as they have access to, but I digress.

Last year when I dropped my phone I learned you want to purchase a cover for any techy hand-held devices, especially when tiny hands and expensive gifts are involved. 

Ta da!

One of the moms I sit with in the stands at speed skating every week pulled out her camera on Sunday and showed me a picture of a friend of hers wearing this.

Like many of you with kids, my boys have been getting Santa photos since they were babies. I love the pictures but they would be put on display at Christmas and when the holidays were over they'd would be packed up in a box or album never to be seen again. This year I decided to use them as part of our Christmas decor.

We were decorating our Christmas tree on Saturday when it happened.

I have these ornaments that are special to me. They're from my childhood and when my mom passed away my sister and I divided them between us. They always sit front and centre on our tree reminding me of my mom and memories from Christmases past. Unfortunately, the ornaments are also quite delicate and through the years some have broken—there are only four left that are whole.

In case you live in a cave, this is the newest internet video to go viral. It's a public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia and ever since my kids showed it to me I can't get the catchy little song out of my head so now I'm going to pass that favour on to you.

You're welcome.

We received an email update from my sons' school informing us that the teachers will be in position to participate in strike action on December 13th. As someone who works from home, I'm lucky in the sense that this will not affect me to the point it will be disruptive. While it's not ideal to try to work with two active boys racing around in my office space, I don't need to take time off work nor will I have to arrange for childcare. But I know it will affect many parents out there. So I'm wondering...

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I have fond memories of making magazine Christmas trees as a child using the Sears catalogue. In retrospect I realize how smart my mom was to give us such a big magazine to make these cute crafts. This is a fun project for kids of any age and I'm happy to report my two boys had an absolute blast making them.

The holidays are coming up which means kids are home from school and lots of time to create fun memories (or keep from going completely insane). While we do a lot of old-school stuff like sledding, skating, and gingerbread house making, here are a few ideas—some new, some tried, tested and true—to help you over the holiday hump.

Dear Drivers,

I get that you’re being polite and nice. And typically I love polite and nice. I’m the mom who leans over her kids nudging them with an elbow when they're given a treat, toy, or money, and gently remind them “What are you supposed to say?”

“Thank you,” they sing-song back in unison.

I make them write thank-you notes, hold doors open for the people behind us, keep the elevator door from closing when someone is running towards it, and apologize when they've wronged a friend.

It makes sense to me.

It happens all the time—PR agencies sending out bulk emails beginning with Dear Mommy Blogger. A few weeks ago an email was sent out to the masses that was clearly supposed to be a mail merge but someone forgot to actually do the merge part and the email was sent out addressed to: Dear [First Name] [Last Name]. Oh the tweets about that one!

I've read the rants time and time again—bloggers complaining about PR people being 'lazy' and 'I'm not just a mom blogger' and 'that term is so insulting.'

Every year I leave Blissdom feeling inspired but this year I left feeling lucky.

Lucky that I work with such a talented, diverse, fun group of people.

Lucky that so many of the women I admire are now also my friends.

Lucky that Twitter has allowed me to connect with people I would never have met otherwise.

Lucky that I've been offered amazing opportunites I will never take for granted.

Lucky that I know learning never ends and there are no stupid questions so we need to continue to ask.

The birds in my neck of the woods have been acting a bit cuckoo lately. There's been large flocks flying around in swarms and it's kind of ruffling my feathers because I don't know why. Thankfully, I was a lucky duck and able to catch a bit of it on video.  Can someone tell me....is it Armageddon? Or simply natural behaviour?

If you know me, you know I love doing my nails. I've had denim nails and used nail polish that changes colour with your mood. 

One of the hottest nail colours of Fall 2012 is grey (thank you Anastasia and Christian) so when I went grocery shopping this past weekend I couldn't help but scoop up four bottles to try out an ombre look. 

Spill it! What do you think - Yay or nay to Ombre Grey Nails?

A long time ago I wrote about how to pitch a story idea to a website/magazine. The most frequently asked questions I received after writing it were, "How do I build a relationship?" and "How do I get my foot in the door with an editor?"

Blissdom is coming up and there is much talk about relationships.

Forget about hell having no fury like a woman scorned, that fury has nothing, NOTHING, on me when I'm PMSing.

Tired of stuffed animals scattered about your kid's room? Here's a simple and inexpensive way to organize them using rope, a hook and binder clips.

Gone are the trick-or-treating days of our youth when parents would send kids out at 5:00 with instructions not to come home until the pillowcase was full. Kids wouldn't wait to have parents check the candy before they started to eat. They'd stuff their faces while roving the streets–but not the apples because of the hidden razors and pins. Also, because apples suck.

So in keeping with the Halloween theme, here are some tips to help keep your kids safe while trick or treating.