Ep 21: Another Broken Arm

We talk about why Sarah is the worst parent this week, and we interview the delightful Ashleigh Evans about life with 4 kids.

In addition to being a mom and blogger, Ashleigh is a champion bargain shoppers, so she has great tips about how to feed a lot of people on a budget.

Check Ashleigh out on her blog Dash of Evans, on BabyCenter— here’s an awesome freezer meals post–on Facebook Live (talking about my new favorite place ALDI), on Instagram, and on Snap Chat sharing food tips as CheapAsh.

ProTip:  Take a family picture BEFORE your kids breaks his arm.  Just saying.

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Ep 21: Whine Club

We talk about drinking less, complain about doing all of the things, and review some tips about what NOT to do at the doctor.

We read Sarah Hosseini’s excellent piece for Ravishly “Why I’m Done Making Mommy Wine Jokes,” and were immediately struck by her takedown of mommy wine culture.  We posted the article on Facebook, and our friends had brilliant insights– things about the rhetoric of drinking being more destructive than the drinking itself, about wine being the kind of “self-care” decoy that at least you can do in front of your kids, etc.  We realized that we drink a lot and probably shouldn’t, and we’d love to hear what you have to say about parenting and alcohol consumption.  Email us at potypodcast@gmail.com.

We also discuss these things you should NOT do at the pediatrician, review some good books, and complain about how hard it is to be us.  BECAUSE WE HAVE TOO MANY CHILDREN.

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Ep 20: The Mornings Might Kill Us

Back to school mornings! Are the pits! We give you some tips for making them not lethal.

Here we are at our very POTY-iest in 2011 when Harry started kindergarten and I was upstagingly pregnant with Cooper, and we forgot to take a back-to-school picture with Jack until he reminded us.  At school.

 

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Ep 19: Back to Schoooooooooooool!

We talk about getting the sneauxflakes ready for a new school year and get advice from second-grade teacher extraordinaire Dana LoVecchio. Email us at potypodcast@gmail.com and tell us how your family handles their Halloween candy.

No really– we want to talk about the politics of Halloween candy, and we’d like to hear from as many people as possible. DO you let the kids eat it?  Ration it out? Steal it for yourself?  We are dying to know, so email us, please!

Ben’s office view:

Ben as The Dude:

Check out my Madison Moms Blog post about school shopping with tweens here.

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Ep 18: Vacationing with Eleventy Billion Kids

We tell you more than you maybe even want to know abut our Hilton Head trip, share our road trip tips, and talk about staying sane with 24/7 family time.

If you want to pack up your family and cover them in so much sand they look like human sugared donuts, we recommend:

The Sea Pines Resort:  Seriously, this section of the island is AMAZING and the beach club is completely perfect.

The Frosty Frog:  Pizza!  Takeout! Daiquiris!  TAKE OUT DAIQUIRIS!

The Salty Dog: An adorable complex on the South Beach marina with several different shops and great souvenirs.  Also, the Wreck of the Salty Dog is a restaurant with excellent feng shui in our experience.

Also!  We listened to The Martian and Ready Player One in the car, and they made our trip fly by.

Want to hear EVEN MORE about our vacay?  Check out these posts —all of these posts— on our Harry Times blog.

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Ep 17: The 12-Year Itch

We talk about our anniversary and get some excellent marriage advice from someone who’s been doing it longer than we have, Dr. Ali Metz.

Plus we review How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn, and Ben continues to read Ready Player One.

Also!  We are trying a new format that’s SHORTER so you can listen to us cuss without your kids in the car.  Because we are PARENTS OF THE YEAR.

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Ep 16: A Dad-to-Dad Discussion.

Ben talks to new dad James Butler about balancing the needs of an infant with his job and life. We also discuss the science of baby cuddling, the horrors of online school registration, and going to pro-baseball games with a pack of wild kids. Plus we review The Emoji Movie.

We talked about this Parent’s magazine article.

You can read more about Sarah’s best books of July here.

Don’t forget to follow Ben on Twitter and Sarah on Instagram.

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Ep 15: So You Want to Solo-Parent Some Small Children in the Woods

Ben talks about his multi-kid camping adventure, and we discuss swearing and the Boy Scouts and swearing at the Boy Scouts.

Ben and the kids went to Devil’s Lake State Park, which is awesome!

Here is the zucchini cake recipe I raved about– make it– you won’t be sorry.

Here’s the swearing article we discussed.

And, of course, here’s a link to a primer on the Boy Scout controversy.

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