Even when your children are grown and gone, there are certain memories that are either bad or funny enough that they stick with you forever. Here are one grandmother’s favorite war stories:

Runaways. When my oldest daughter was about six years old she loved to “test” babysitters. One time while being babysat, she snuck down to her room with her sisters and removed the screen from the basement bedroom window (her and her sisters’ room). She climbed out and then helped her sisters out so they could run away. The babysitter called in a panic! We found the girls sitting in their playhouse in the backyard.

In Living Color. Another time, my daughter got into the baking cupboards while a babysitter was putting her younger siblings to bed. She got a hold of the squirt bottles of liquid food coloring, and the sitter came back upstairs to a “tie dye” kitchen. She did her best to clean it up, but HONESTLY I was finding blue, red and yellow for months thereafter.

All Washed Up. Probably worst of all was when my oldest daughter turned on the garden hose and stuck it in the the dining room window. The babysitter got it turned off, cleaned up all the water and put my oldest in time out. A short time later, our sitter went to put the baby down for a nap. When she came back downstairs, the hose had been dragged in through the sliding glass door into the family room. There was about 1-1/2 inches of water all over the carpet and rising!! Poor Sarah! She cleaned it up again, and this time, she made the three older girls stay right with her at all times. The funny thing is, when we got home I had no idea what had happened, and was so impressed — my house was absolutely spotless, the family room was SO clean, and the girls were sitting like perfect angels quietly playing in the living room (with the carpet still damp). When I drove Sarah home, I thanked her profusely and was telling what a great babysitter she was. She burst into tears and told me all about the hose! I was not happy with my daughter, but we sure laugh about it now.

Someone gave me some great advice once. She was a mother of eight, and I asked her, “How do you keep sane when they are doing crazy things and you want to explode?” She told me to keep a small camera handy. Before “exploding” take a few pictures and find the humor in the situation. I have to say, it helped a lot being able to laugh instead of cry. Plus, now I have all those blackmail photos to share with my grandchildren. — Provo, UT

There is a certain kind of embarrassment that only a Mom can truly understand. Our MomMoments column is filled with these war stories of motherhood. We’d love to hear your stories so please share with us!

I grew up with six siblings so naturally we shared rooms. My husband (also from a big family) and I have often wondered whether our children should share. We’re lucky that our house could accommodate them each having their own room, but we both felt like room sharing as a child was a valuable learning experience.

When my second daughter arrived, I was set on having my toddler in her own room. The idea of midnight feedings and different nap schedules made room sharing seem like a very bad idea. Now that baby is two, and my husband and I have been considering the idea of combining their rooms to create a separate toy room.

Ultimately it was my two year old that made the decision. read more

I can think of few things more indulgent than a body mask, but I can think of a whole lot of things that I should be saving or spending money on rather than a trip to the spa. Times may be rough, but you can still enjoy super-soft skin with this recipe for a homemade body mask.

Papaya contains papain, an enzyme that helps to soften skin and aid digestion. It is also a natural source of alpha hydroxy acids, which help exfoliate skin leaving you supple and smooth. read more

Right! Like you’d ever have a kid begging you for vitamins. Yet this morning I was taking a quick look at my emails and semi-ignoring my daughter, when it finally occurred to me what she was nagging me for: her vitamins. I couldn’t help but smile and say, “Of course dear! Here you go.”

It’s kind of like your kid begging you for green beans, one of those moments when you feel so proud of your mothering abilities. But then you realize it’s only because the new Voots vitamins taste like candy, not that you’ve instilled responsible nutrition habits in your child at a surprisingly young age. Darn.

We’ve just completed a fabulous makeover of The Mommy Times, and we’re so excited for you to check it out! The main goal of the redesign was to make our content more personal.

We’re planning to post updates weekly. As moms, things can get crazy, (we’re sure you can relate!) so if we are a little behind, please forgive us! We’ve also made our article archive more accessible with a comprehensive SEARCH function, and we’re super excited to hear from you with the new COMMENTS feature.

You’ll also be noticing a bit of a change in our content as well. In the name of getting personal, our editor, Bettijo B. Hirschi will be sharing her musings about motherhood in first person — in the same manner that you’ve enjoyed in her monthly newsletters, only daily! We will still have in-depth articles periodically on important mothering topics with unstuffy advice, tips and ideas, but now you can join in on the conversation.

As always, we invite you to visit often and please invite your friends to enjoy motherhood with us!

If you look up “trendy” in the dictionary, a picture of leg warmers, bell bottoms or tie-dyed shirts is exactly what you should see. Yet, as with all trends, they somehow repeat and reinvent themselves.

These days tie dye is looking incredibly fresh, and it isn’t just for Hippies. The funky patterns are popping up on dresses for mom, onesies for baby, shoes, even bedding, and I just can’t get enough.

Feeling more hands on? With this cool kit you can try tie dye yourself without the mess.

If everyone has seemed extra “green” lately, that’s because today is Earth Day. We just heard through the grapevine that PeaceLoveMom is giving away their cute “Happy Mom” tee in honor of Mother Earth. So if you’ve been wanting to sport Cindy Crawford’s mom look, here’s your chance.

How it works: Before April 30th, do something with your kids to help make Earth a better place, take a picture, then send it to celebration@peacelovemom.com with an explanation of what you did. Tell them the Mommy Times sent you, and they’ll send you a coupon for your free shirt. Everybody wins!