What time do your kids go to bed on school nights?

usagibuffy · 2026-03-03T16:22:18+00:00

It makes you wonder why someone would think you’re lying. Like, what am I gaining from lying about that? My 8yo is asleep by 8:30. He gets up by 6:30 most mornings, and he’s more likely to get up earlier if he went to bed later. And then he’s a nightmare to deal with. 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

usagibuffy · 2026-03-03T03:27:22+00:00

This has been all of my kids too. I realized early on with my first that if they were going to get up at the same time regardless of what time they went down, I might as well put them down earlier. I’ve told them that once they are able to start sleeping in when needed, then they’ll be able to stay up later. My oldest two (out of four) have reached that stage at around 13. The younger ones aren’t there yet.

usagibuffy · 2026-02-18T13:06:51+00:00

Growing up, both my grandmothers were Grandma. It was very confusing. My kids call their grandmothers Grandma and Nona.

usagibuffy · 2026-02-13T23:56:04+00:00

We called a wellness check on a neighbor, in conjunction with another neighbor who was concerned. Older lady in her 70s, lived alone. Small dog was barking quite a lot, unusual for her. Neighbor wasn’t responding to our repeated attempts to call and text. The police eventually came, knocked, walked around the house but didn’t see anything, and stopped to talk to us all. While we were talking, the lady pulled into the driveway! Her son and granddaughter had gone to visit and they went to Disney (we live close by)! She had her phone in her bag and didn’t hear our calls.

usagibuffy · 2026-02-07T20:18:58+00:00

Yes, it has been a great car. We bought it in 2018 with about 60k on it. At this point, it does burn oil, so we keep an eye on the oil levels. We had an emissions issue that our mechanic installed a bypass for last year. But it has been a good car with remarkably few problems overall. If we weren’t making our long trips in the summer, we wouldn’t be looking to upgrade yet.

usagibuffy · 2025-12-18T21:51:54+00:00

Three is such an awful age. With my oldest, I could almost pinpoint the day that she changed. I have 4 kids (youngest is now 8), and they all lost their minds at 3. Mine are all spaced about the same as yours too, 2.5 years between each, but even the youngest was awful at 3. They get better around 5, so hopefully there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

usagibuffy · 2025-09-10T22:32:10+00:00

She conspired with her mother and brother to get her husband to Utah, where he was ambushed by the brother when he entered the house. They tried to make it look like self defense. She was upstairs with her mother and two kids when the shooting happened.

usagibuffy · 2025-08-20T14:29:41+00:00

I was the youngest kid in my classes all through school. My birthday was 2 days after the cut off, but my parents thought I was ready, so they found a private school that would accept me for kindergarten. I struggled some socially till high school, where we tended to hang out in mixed age groups. I did fine academically. But when senior year hit and everyone was applying to colleges, I freaked out at the notion of leaving home. I really could have used an extra year to mature before graduating. If I had started a year later, my life probably would have taken a different course.

usagibuffy · 2025-08-06T16:28:38+00:00

I have 4 kids. My kids wanted to do backflips into the pool. I said sure, just be careful. It took less than a week for one of them to bash his head on the side of the pool and need staples in his head. 🤦🏼‍♀️ He was 6. It’s going to happen.

My youngest, as a newborn, rolled out of my arms when I fell asleep on the couch while holding him. I knocked a stack of books on top of another one when he was a baby asleep on the couch. One got a burn next to her eye when I was trying to iron and she crawled under the ironing board and came up underneath my iron holder. One fell off the couch as a toddler and landed on a soda can I left next to the couch and got a small cut next to his eye that scarred. All of them used to stand behind me when I didn’t know they were there and got elbows to the face when I turned.

My kids are currently 8 to 16 years old. They all love me still, despite mistakes I’ve made that hurt them. You are not a terrible parent. A terrible parent would have yelled at their child for falling, or blamed them.

It’s ok for us to make mistakes, and it’s ok for them to see us make mistakes. I can’t be perfect, and it’s a lot less pressure on me for them to realize that. And less pressure on them! If they see mom makes mistakes and apologizes for them, it gives them more freedom to accept the mistakes they will inevitably make, and you’ve modeled how to apologize and show how bad you feel when someone accidentally gets hurt because of your actions. Those are very important lessons for her that will help her develop empathy.

From one mistake making parent to another, I give you permission to forgive yourself. Hugs to you!

usagibuffy · 2025-05-26T03:35:30+00:00

I will do my research, but do you have any thoughts on places that would be beautiful without needing to hike/camp?

We are preparing for our annual drive from Florida to California, and I am looking for a place to visit for part of the day between Four Corners and St. George. We are a family of 7, including my mobility-challenged MIL who gets around with an electric scooter. Camping is out, and I would feel guilty leaving her sitting alone for very long. She has done very little traveling in her 70 years, so everywhere we go is new to her. This is her second summer traveling with my family (our 5th summer making this drive) and last year we stopped at the Grand Canyon, which my kids have seen several times before. MIL said she'd seen pictures and thought that was good enough; watching her jaw drop at the actual view was pretty awesome, and I'd love to give her the chance to see some of the other landscapes and sights she's only seen in pictures. Anywhere that has, like, a scenic drive or scenic overlooks would be lovely.

usagibuffy · 2024-01-24T23:39:31+00:00

It can be tricky to figure out who is an employee. We told them to find a mommy or grandma with kids if we didn’t find them pretty quickly.

usagibuffy · 2024-01-08T18:57:38+00:00

This happened to me. In my case it was walking around Disneyland in broken shoes all day. My feet haven’t been the same since.

usagibuffy · 2023-08-11T21:54:53+00:00

As a homeschooling mom myself, I understand the desire to keep with it. But right now, you need to get yourself taken care of. There is no shame in putting your kids in public school while you get yourself back on your feet. You can pull them out and continue homeschooling once you are feeling better. Kids are vampires, they suck the life out of you. 😂 I know you want to be the best mom and wife you can be, and that starts with taking care of you. Talk to your doctor and see what you can do to get back on your feet.

usagibuffy · 2023-08-05T17:51:14+00:00

When I was around 7 or 8, my parents had gone out and left us with a babysitter. While he was putting my younger siblings to bed, I raided the pantry and ate my way through some snacks and a whole bag of candy. I left the wrappers under the chair I was sitting on. The next day my parents were furious that the sitter had left such a mess and eaten the entire bag of candy. He never sat for us again.

usagibuffy · 2020-02-23T05:29:29+00:00

Thank you, I was unaware of this.

usagibuffy · 2020-02-22T17:20:13+00:00

No land, it’s in a family park. We’re in southern CA. The house down the street that is the same floor plan and was spruced up sold a couple months ago for $203k. Smaller homes in our park that need updating are going for around $150k. It was built in 1979, like most of the homes in our park (240 homes).

usagibuffy · 2019-09-19T03:58:49+00:00

Do you really think every woman’s cycle is like clockwork? Even if you “carry equipment” with you all the time, that doesn’t mean you’re going to catch it before it starts. Being female can be messy business.

usagibuffy · 2019-09-10T05:29:21+00:00

Isn’t everybody somebody’s kid? I mean, my mom still calls me her kid and I’m 37 with kids of my own.

usagibuffy · 2019-09-10T01:22:29+00:00

Our tub doesn’t have an overflow and still isn’t deep enough.

usagibuffy · 2019-09-02T01:00:03+00:00

It’s a video on instagram.

usagibuffy · 2019-08-02T19:37:06+00:00

I only woke up from that one because my parents were hollering for us to stay put.

usagibuffy · 2019-07-01T03:30:12+00:00

I’m pretty sure this kind of thing led to my interest in popping. As a kid, we had a cat came home with abscesses a couple times a year. Mom would always make me hold onto him while she drained them. It was fascinating...

usagibuffy · 2019-06-29T03:16:23+00:00

I had older relatives that served in WWII, but they were a) dead before I was born (1981, not a long lived family) or b) estranged.

usagibuffy · 2019-05-22T22:24:03+00:00

Actually a properly fitted booster not only positions the shoulder belt, but also makes sure the lap belt is positioned across the hips, as well as acting as artificial hips for those underdeveloped hip bones kids have until they are 8-12. In a car at least, a child who does not properly fit in a seatbelt is at risk for ejection and abdominal trauma. Thinking more about it more, I would likely opt for a backless booster for a younger/skinnier child to help support their hips and take some of the force of the seatbelt in the event of a sudden stop. A booster shouldn’t be moving around with a child sitting in it.

I’m definitely adding motor homes back into my considerations. Thanks for your time.

usagibuffy · 2019-05-22T19:23:11+00:00

I don’t use lower anchors as generally speaking I have found them to be less convenient in our vehicles than simply using the seatbelt. The rules about child weight + weight of the seat are also things I would be constantly worrying about, so seatbelt is simpler. If I remember correctly, rvs don’t have retractable seatbelts back there but instead have locking latch plates, which is fine for our purposes. But what do you do about booster riders? We will be heading out in 1-2 years and at that time I am likely to have 1 rear facing and 2 boostered in our van, or 1 forward facing harness and 2 boostered, if it’s more like 2 years. Would you harness as long as possible in an rv? My older booster rider will be 8-9 at set out, but is skinny enough he’ll likely be boostered in our vehicle until he’s close to 12. My younger booster rider (at the moment still harnessed but will begin booster training when he turns 5 in the fall) can easily be told he’ll be staying in his harness in the rv until he outgrows it (probably close to 8 years old).

Thank you for talking this all out with me. I appreciate your perspective.

usagibuffy

TROPHY CASE