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Cthulhu AllSpark is not a Good Baby Name

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How did you decide upon the perfect name for you son or daughter? Many parents choose names that have been handed down in their families from one generation to the next. Others pick names that are popular in the year the baby was born. One couple decided to break with tradition and ask “the internet” to select a name for their baby girl. Poor thing almost got named Cthulhu All-Spark! How did this very unique name get suggested? It didn’t come from either of her parents! Stephen McLaughlin, a software developer, decided to ask the Reddit community to suggest some … Continue reading →

How to Include Step Parents Into a Family Tree

September 16 is National Step Family Day. After celebrating the day with your step family, you might be wondering how to include your step parents into your family tree. There are plenty of free family tree templates that you can use to help you do that. National Step Family Day was founded by Christy Borgeld in 1997. From my perspective, this is a fairly new holiday. I graduated from college in 1997, so it is clear that National Step Family Day didn’t exist when I was a kid. I don’t actually have step parents. However, one of my siblings has, … Continue reading →

Blended Families and Your Family Tree

When we think of genealogy and the family tree, we may think of a neatly organized chart with lines connecting parents to children and so forth. Many modern families’ kinship relations do not fit neatly within a standard pedigree chart, though. With divorces, remarriages, adoptions, and many other things, the definition of “family” depends largely upon who you ask. What, then, is a genealogist to do? Most genealogy software wants us to enter our data into the traditional categories and display them in the traditional ways. How do we adjust the concept of the family tree to include people to … Continue reading →

A Few Tips for Writing Your Family History

If you are interested in genealogy, the idea of writing a family history has probably crossed your mind. It probably crossed quickly and then went away if your next thought was that writing a family history is a huge ordeal that would take way too long. You may want to give the idea of writing a family history another chance because there are many ways to write a family history, and a lengthy, bound reference book is just one of them. You could write a memoir about yourself or about a specific ancestor whose life you find interesting or perhaps … Continue reading →

Holiday Fun with the Family

After surviving yet another snow day with a house full of kids (most not mine), I definitely see why some parents take advantage of all the outdoor holiday-related activities offered this time of year. Whether it’s a horse-drawn carriage ride down Main Street or a walking tour of Christmas lights at the zoo, tis the season to let your kids burn off steam while enjoying festive events. Here’s a look at some kid-friendly holiday activities going on around the country right now: MAINE In Portland, Maine, families can tour the inside and outside of the legendary Victoria Mansion, which has … Continue reading →

Finding Other Families

Some neighborhoods seem to be more family-friendly than others; as do streets, churches, schools, etc. Whether you have just moved into a new house or area, or are new to parenting, or you find that for some reason your family life seems to be lacking interactions with other families–what can you do to find other families with whom to interact? Some communities have built-in “systems” for connecting families. In our city, we have a “Birth to Three” program that connects many brand new parents. Of course, these are geared toward parents of biological newborns. If you become a parent through … Continue reading →