Jacquie Ellis

Are you ready for the teen years? The hormone changes, the peer pressure, the confusing environment constantly bombarding your teen? Learning how to connect with your teen creates a solid foundation to help them thrive through their teens and maintain their sanity. My husband and I are parents of three. Two of our children are now adults, living on their own and starting their own life. Our third is just entering her teen years. We are survivors of our teen years. We made it out of two seasons already and are entering our third. I used to think we got lucky with our kids. Then I read Tough Guys and…

To the mom that works long hours outside the home or running your own business in the home, all while juggling mom-life and a marriage. It’s hard, I know. The guilt of not being able to do it all and be everywhere is the worst. Maybe there’s a way for surviving working moms guilt? Can we redefine supermom? I’ve worked outside the home my entire career, and even now as I build my business I am working full-time outside the home. Life is pretty chaotic for us and the working mom guilt isn’t anything new for me. I’m pretty seasoned (with the grey hairs to match) when it comes to feeling overwhelmed with…

It’s been a busy Christmas season so far and I’m exhausted going into the final week of Christmas. Work has been more demanding than normal. When this happens life can get pretty chaotic around the house. Thankfully we’ve simplified Christmas again this year. These are my lessons from creating a simple Christmas. No matter what is happening, I always try to center myself and be mindful at how I’m feeling. It took years of practice for me to be able to do this and it is getting easier now. During this extra busy Christmas season, I’ve learned a few lessons about myself and my family that I thought I’d share…

Christmas is almost here and, as a busy mom, you will be feeling exhausted at the end of your day. It’s easy to use your exhaustion as an excuse to stay home. How about adding some hygge to the season? Break up the normal routine and take the family to see a Christmas light show. Simplify Christmas and plan a night out. Christmas light shows add hygge to your Christmas season. I’ve been working long hours lately and have developed a comfortable evening routine of self-care. I delve into a “fun” book and whisk away to another world (#1 stress-busting hack). This was perfectly comfortable for me but I had noticed…

In all the hustle and bustle of the holiday preparations, it can be hard to slow life down to actually enjoy Christmas. As busy moms, we get sucked into trying to create the perfect Christmas and we often lose sight at what matters most. Making time in the schedule to add winter fun for the family is one of the best ways to slow life down and simplify Christmas. This morning I found myself talking with my daughter about her stress levels. We often forget how overwhelming teens can feel during this time of year. It’s not just the back-to-school time that is overwhelming. Her mind had been whirling with “all…

Our simple Christmas Eve traditions are stress-free and fun for everyone. We focused our Christmas Eve traditions around spending time with the family. It is just us and the kids most years and everyone looks forward to this night more than any other night of the year. As busy parents, trucking kids around most nights and weekends too, we chose to make Christmas Eve very low key and simple. The last thing I wanted to do was hope in the car to go somewhere fancy. Both my husband and I were generally working that day so cooking a huge dinner (unless it was the Coca-Cola Roast Beef), a big fancy meal…