Checkout this interview with Eleanor Alspaugh, Get to Know the CrAzY author of “The Mommy-Go-Round” http://seriousreading.com/author-interviews/2869-interview-with-eleanor-d-alspaugh-author-of-the-mommy-go-round.html

Schools Out for Summer!! JUST SAY NO TO: "MOM... I have a Test Tomorrow."

But Definitely check out the 2016 Pacific Book Award Winner for Best Parenting-Family Book!! The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD!


Excerpt from Chapter 7: 8:00 p.m. "Mom, I have a test tomorrow."


Who knew that this would someday be a phrase that would strike terror in my heart? What's even more incredible is how making that statement somehow brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the child's heart....It’s like a transference of the responsibility for passing the test. Despite my many pleas over the years that we spread test preparation over at least two nights, my children seem to delight in an incredible sense of freedom (and forgetfulness) that first night and the prospect of jamming the studying of 25 pages of history, science, whatever into one teeny tiny evening....More interestingly is that somehow my children have gotten the crazy idea that if MOM memorizes the materials, they are guarantied an A+! No problem!! They must have this vision of me sitting in the desk beside them filling out the test and passing it over to them to put their name on. We’re a team, we’re family, she’s my Mom…Let me assure you, we’re close but NOT that close.

Did I torture my parents in this same way? I shudder to think. Of course, I can’t take full responsibility for this behavior. Having had the pleasure of reading my husband’s report cards when we first married (at which point his family must have believed it safe to bring them out of hiding….), my years of report cards reflecting the comment “too talkative” seem mild in comparison. As one teacher summed him up….if Steve required an effort to breathe, he would cease. Sounds to me like he enjoyed that same incredible sense of freedom which our kids now love, throughout the entire school year.

Now admittedly by having school age children, I have had the opportunity to re-learn all the things I blew off the first time around. And enjoy it too! Trust me, there is nothing more annoying to a child cramming for a test then to say things like….”Isn’t this interesting” or “I love history, don’t you?” All’s fair in love and tests. They come to me with open books and blank expressions on their faces. My feelings are that if they’re going to act like they never heard the test material before and put the burden on me to re-teach two weeks worth of lessons in one hour, then I reserve the right to be annoyingly cheerful and completely absorbed in the subject matter!

Tribute to The Memorial Day Parade...and my Dad...

I wrote this essay a long time ago. Not sure if it will ever find its home in my books. The Mommy-Go-Round was meant to be less serious. I always thought maybe it could be an add on at the end of A Heart of a Soldier, but we'll see. Anyway, the Memorial Day Parade has always had special meaning to me. As I thought about what kind of photo I'd post for Memorial Day, this essay came to mind so I thought I'd share it this Memorial Day. The photo is of my Dad in July, 1943, still in training in California. By the way, yes, I'll still be at the parade...<3

Schools Almost Out -- Here Comes “that” Parade… by Eleanor D. Alspaugh

I believe I love a parade as much now as I did when I was a kid. The costumes, the band’s cadence, the floats and the atmosphere… Let’s face it, parades have it all! You name the holiday, and there’s probably a parade for the occasion. Halloween, Christmas, and let’s not forget, the excitement of the Disney Parades! Like other parents, I was one happy and proud parent as I watched my daughter join the “Be Our Guest” and “Lion King” helpers on good old Main Street, U.S.A. Needless to say, my camera got a workout at that parade! So despite the pleas to sleep in I’ve heard so many times over so many years, I continue to drag my family to parade after parade, year after year, regardless of the occasion.

Parades to me are a lot like life, and like life, the theme of a parade is not always a “picnic.” The parades I’ve mentioned represent the fun and joyful side of life. But there’s another parade that represents another side of life….The Memorial Day Parade. Over the years, my children have asked why there was no candy thrown, why there are no crazy costumes or floats, where was Mickey Mouse, and so on. Just what kind of parade was I dragging them to anyway????

For years, like many other parents, I’ve tried to instill in my children the importance behind Memorial Day and attendance at the parade. My father was one of the luckier veterans of World War 2. He got to come home. During what can only be described by me or anyone else as a heroic and successful effort to reach tanks to rescue his unit under fire, he was hit. After receiving 3 bullets and an unforgettable and forever painful memory watching some of his closest friends die in an ambush, he eventually got to come home and live a relatively normal everyday life as a husband and a father. Exactly the kind of life our American soldiers have fought for and continue to fight to protect. He rarely spoke much about the battles he was in to me, but I’ll never forget that probably more than 30 years after that battle, tears still came when he did speak of the events and relived the pain of friends, our veterans, lost that day.

Maybe it’s those memories that live on through me and that tell me that we mustn’t forget them or their sacrifice. We must honor those who have served or serve now. They need to know that it was not in vain, and that there are many who also remember and appreciate the sacrifices they and others made to ensure freedom. So No…Neither I, nor my husband, nor my children, will remain seated as our flag and our veterans pass by. And if the “curbside whining” arises, my children will be reminded that these soldiers served even when they were tired or thirsty. There was no candy or soda passed out on that battlefield. For my Dad, there was only a farmer’s crop of cabbage which he dove behind to avoid enemy fire, their foiled attempt to end his life and prevent him from reaching our tanks for much needed backup. Each time these soldiers pass by, it is all I can do to hold back my tears of gratitude and respect… which admittedly makes it difficult at times to do the preaching I need to do when the lack of flying candy makes my little natives restless.

I suspect the events of September 11th also brought about the long overdue respect due our police force and our firefighters for their respective “battlegrounds.” I will not join those who see the fire trucks coming, consider the parade over and with so little respect, head to their cars to get a jump on the “traffic” of our relatively small town. I’ve often thought that those same individuals would be cheering to see those same rescue vehicles if it were their house on fire. It’s not that I wish it so….I just wish they could anticipate some of the gratitude they would feel, enough to motivate them to remain to the true end of the parade, giving those dedicated public servants the respect they deserve.

Tonight as I tucked my children in to bed, talk of tomorrow’s parade buzzed. I know there won’t be flying candy and instead of crazy costumes or floats, there will be servicemen in uniform, flags flying and senior veterans passing by. But this parade will give the children and parents a chance to pay our respects to those who so willingly have served or currently serve to defend our country. So as a proud daughter of an American Veteran, I will continue to remind my family that we really aren’t off on Memorial Day to save at “Memorial Day Sales,” or to get a head start studying for finals or even to get a few extra hours sleep which admittedly we parents could use. Instead I’ll try to pass down the gratitude, respect, and true pride for America and its Veterans that lives on in many hearts and that will always be in the heart of one Veteran’s daughter.

Note: I’m proud to add that my father, 1st Sergeant George Donald (December 20, 1914 – October 7, 1995) was awarded the Bronze Star and the Silver Star for Valor in saving 15 to 20 men’s lives and received the Purple Heart for the three bullet wounds through his nose and shoulder in 1944. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge and served in General Patton’s Sixth Armored Division.

LET THE CELEBRATING BEGIN!!!

Honored and Sooo Excited to have The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD WIN The PACIFIC BOOK AWARD for BEST PARENTING - FAMILY Category!!! Hope you'll check it out!! http://www.pacificbookreview.com/2016-winners-finalists/

WooHoo-- Back to Back 5 Star Reviews for The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD from Readers' Favorites today!! Second one follows!

Reviewed By Ray Simmons for Readers’ Favorite   

Completed on 4/25/2016

Review Rating: 5 stars!

I honestly loved The Mommy-Go-Round by Eleanor D. Alspaugh. I have already been through the child raising years, and it confirmed for me that it’s not easy to raise kids, and that the most important things you can bring to the process are love, patience, and perspective. Eleanor D. Alspaugh does a great job of drawing on the lessons and experiences of her own childhood, and those of her time as a mother, to create a wonderful picture of the American family as it should be. This is not a “How to” book or an instruction manual on raising kids, but I think it would make a great gift for young mothers. I think there are a lot of things a young mother or father can learn from this book and it is very entertaining.

The Mommy-Go-Round is well written, well organized, and very humorous. It covers almost every situation a parent will encounter on the long journey called parenthood. I enjoyed the essays on Christmas and other special days the most. These are the times that stick out in my mind when I think about my own childhood or my time as a young parent. I wish The Mommy-Go-Round had been available when my son was born. I would have had a little bit of a heads up on some of the joys and trials that would come, and I could have been a little better and more understanding helper to his mother. I applaud Eleanor D. Alspaugh for writing The Mommy-Go-Round and, looking at all the beautiful pictures of her happy family taken through the years, I can understand why she had to.

Thrilled to see TWO 5 Star Reviews from Readers' Favorites today!! First up...

 

Reviewed By Sarah Stuart for Readers’ Favorite   

 

Completed on 4/25/2016

Review Rating: 5 stars!

 

The Mommy-Go-Round by Eleanor D. Alspaugh opens with her bumpy road to conception and goes on to record the traumatic birth of her first baby, she and her husband taking their daughter home, and Holly’s early years. The tragedy of miscarriage, and the doubts tests suggested for a second developing new life caused an unplanned gap in the couple’s family and Julianne was born when Holly was four years old. A son, Nathan, pre-natal tests jettisoned with the doubts, completed the threesome. The Mommy-Go-Round follows Mrs Alspaugh’s joys and trials of being a mother until, unexpectedly, she finds herself preparing to be a grandmother. Throughout this beautifully illustrated book, she tells readers all the things nobody else will about the tumultuous journey of life when a woman, particularly if she is a Christian with high expectations of herself, embarks on motherhood.

Half-close your eyes and The Mommy-Go-Round reads as The Merry-Go-Round and I suspect that this is Eleanor D. Alspaugh’s intention. Full of facts, the reassurance that any reader who is a mother is not alone, and amazingly revealing honesty, this book can best be described as a carousel. If I needed a title for an Amazon reader’s review, it would be “Mommy’s Crazy Carousel, grab your copy NOW.” I laughed, I cried, and recognized familiar feelings of inadequacy. My favorite quote is in the title of chapter two, when Holly’s birth is imminent. “BTW, does this come with ANY instructions?” The Mommy-Go-Round is written in a style that lets you hear Mrs Alspaugh’s voice as if you were a friend drinking coffee at her kitchen table, assuming there is even time for a Mommy TO sit!

Excited to have SeriousReading.com give The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD a 5 star review and a 97% rating! There is also an interview with me sooo if you are open to understanding this CrAzY Mom and Author a little better, please click on links below to check out the review and the interview too! 

http://seriousreading.com/…/2989-the-mommy-go-round-book-re…

http://seriousreading.com/…/2869-interview-with-eleanor-d-a…

Copies of The MoMmY-Go-RoUnD can be ordered from independent bookstores and are available at our hometown store Whistlestop Bookshop and the shop near where I grew up, The Doylestown Bookshop! These are both charming stores that carry all kinds of wonderful books and gift items! Support your independents! Thanks again for your interest!!