I sent my friend Jen my new free Play Break Bingo sheet (25 squares of silly play ideas) as soon as I'd finished it... and she sent me back a video of her acting out one of the "Make This Face" prompts which said "You just tooted and it sounded exactly like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'" Her interpretation was so hilarious and delightful I laughed out loud and immediately felt some of my stress from the day melt away. She challenged me to another bingo square that says "Make This Face: You...
7 days ago • 2 min read
I'm not going to lie to you. Things were pretty tense in my household over the weekend. Mostly due to me having some pent-up frustrations and stress and just unleashing it on everyone all at once. When those kind of moments/days/weekends happen in my home there's a weird thing that happens in my brain which sounds something like: "Wow, Mia. Who's playful now? If only your community could see the real you being an absolute tornado of grumpiness and seriousness right now! You're such a fraud!!"...
14 days ago • 2 min read
You'll never catch me running... unless a bee is chasing me. But the other night, as I was finishing up a sweaty walk, pushing my 4yo and 2yo in the double stroller... UPHILL... ...in 90 degree Tennessee humidity that felt like 200 degrees... My husband Steve pulled up next to us as he was getting home from work. "Run, Mommy, run!" my son squealed. "Let's race Daddy home!!!!" (we were at the bottom of the hill still and our house is at the top). I tossed my head back and laughed, thinking:...
21 days ago • 1 min read
My creative brain has been pretty ZAPPED.For the past couple weeks, I’ve been doing a LOT of solo parenting while my husband’s work schedule has been demanding — and I’ve been cramming my own work into all the nooks and crannies. Waking up at 5am. Working after bedtime. Answering messages between wiping butts and fetching snacks. 😂 Me and my giant mug of coffee, LOCKING IN So I’ve actually been relying on my own Silly Moments apps more than usual — because I want to be present and have fun...
28 days ago • 2 min read
My 10yo stepdaughter was feeling too nervous to eat breakfast before school. School-related anxiety is a thing we’ve been navigating for about two years now, and it ebbs and flows. Reasoning with her and telling her she had to eat was only making her cry and resist more. So I said how about we play a game to help your mind move through this? And if you can, eat some while we play? I was grateful she instantly agreed… we’ve done this before and she knows it helps. She chose “word ball” - a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Did your teachers in school ever do the classic “If you can hear my voice, clap once…” thing? As a theatre educator, I did similar calls for students to pay attention but tried to mix things up to keep it more fun and less robotic… Like, “If you can hear my voice… put your finger on your nose stand on one foot Stick out your tongue Do the Macarena Say, “Well butter my biscuits!” Then my students would be like ☝️ Now at home with my son, I use the exact same strategy when it seems like he's...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
First off, I think we can all agree there’s no better sound than a little kid belly laugh, right? Right. I sometimes forget just how easily and freely kids are ready to belly laugh, but the other day I got a reminder. I was sitting on the couch and my cranky 2-year-old (who’d skipped her nap) pushed against me. On a whim, I pretended she’d been strong enough to push me all the way off the couch and dramatically rolled onto the floor with a silly, “Whoaaaa!” She laughed SO hard. I climbed back...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
My nervous system was shot the other day and I was really on edge and agitated. I felt stuck in “serious mode.” Part of me knew that if I could “activate play mode” even just a little bit, we could all feel a little better. But another part of me was like: “NO. I don’t WANT to lighten up right now. I deserve to feel this way!” It’s true, I did deserve to feel that way. AND yet there was also this tiny voice asking: What if you let go of clinging to serious mode… just for a minute? That...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Steve and I were overdue for a date night, and luckily, the stars aligned for that to happen last Friday night. When we finished dinner, we realized we had a whole hour before we needed to head home... Steve said, "So, what do you wanna do now?" "Honestly?" I said, "I want to find a bench to sit on with you and play games." "Okay," he said. He knew it would make me so happy. But little did he know HE was the one who was going to end up like THIS: Yep. That's my husband who was laughing so...
2 months ago • 2 min read
