Lisa McElroy

I am the hopelessly harried but crazy-about-my-kids mother of two tween girls.

Do I even need to say more?

Yes, my girls are only 18 months apart in age, and right now they are 11 and 12 ½ years old. I've bragged for years that a huge advantage to popping...

As a newly certified scuba diver, I was looking for a getaway where I could try out my new skills -- then kick back on a rope hammock and watch the boats go by. Mexico? Hawaii? My choices seemed endless, but then a diver friend told me about Belize.

My...

As we headed home from the dinner party on Saturday night, our bellies were full, our spirits mellow after four small cups of wine. From my perspective, at least, it had been a perfect spring day, one full of signs of life and renewal , appropriate for the spirit and...

It was a gray and rainy weekend in Washington, D.C.

The nine Supreme Court Justices were warm and dry in their homes and chambers.

But scores of people sat on the cold and wet sidewalk outside the Supreme Court building for...

It's early on a Saturday morning, and three tween girls are practicing the piano. No, I haven't had to drag them out of bed and bug them to work on their scales; they've eagerly volunteered, and they're fighting each other for turns. OK, maybe that has something to do with...

The adults -- five of 'em -- were lounging in the hot tub. The kids -- count seven -- were having a "coolest jump" competition in the attached indoor pool. Just out the window? Snowboarders jumped, little kids snowplowed and tubers screamed their way down the hill. A guy in...

As a mom, I'm always thinking about my kids' safety.

But as a lawyer, I'm always thinking about people's rights.

Last week? A bizarre intersection of the two in the sleepy little town I call home.

I live in a Philadelphia suburb where pretty much nothing ever happens. We have...

I'm berping my way down the mountain, trying to stay on my feet. No, that isn't a typo. My fearless instructor, Lance (his lack of fear undoubtedly stemming from his 24 years of experience with beginning skiers like me) started off our lesson this morning by reminding me that skiing...

Justice Sotomayor is known for being outgoing and friendly, down-to-earth and approachable.

Even so, it's not so often that people just walk up to her on the street and ask her to resolve their disputes.

Unless she's on Sesame Street, that is.

Yes, a couple of weeks ago, preschoolers across...

Back when I was six, I could hardly wait for my ballet school's annual recital. I loved dancing, twirling across the floor in my pink leather slippers, leaping high in what my first-grade imagination divined to be the ultimate in grace. The recital, I knew, would be the opportunity I'd...

We are a family of dog lovers. We have (gasp!) three dogs at home, two of whom were rescued from unsavory circumstances. My husband and I met walking our dogs in the park. We don't buy new furniture, or cream-colored duvets, or cars with cloth seats.

At our house, it's...

I'm sitting in a warm, sweet-smelling bakery, ogling a fig danish in the glass case while slurping down homemade cream of tomato soup. My husband's arm is -- gasp! -- wrapped around me and my tween daughters are putting the last touches on the Christmas wreaths they've been constructing all...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, people are turning their attention to decorating and shopping, baking and wrapping. But I don't want Thanksgiving to be over -- and not just because the winter holidays are barreling down upon us with locomotive speed.

I don't want Thanksgiving to be over because...

Judges are human.

That simple fact seems to have escaped Protect Marriage, the group that sponsored the ballot initiative barring same sex marriage in California. Federal judge Vaughn Walker (now retired) struck down the initiative as unconstitutional. After his decision against it, Protect Marriage argued that Judge Walker had...

The day for giving thanks can sometimes leave us less than thankful, as all the things that are lovely about the holiday (good food, cornucopic meals, a house full of family) are also the ones that cause the most stress (days of cooking, hours of washing dishes, a house full...

Thanksgiving dinner 2015. The parents explain the feast. As per federal regulations, the menu includes low-fat unsalted turkey breast, low-sugar fruit drinks, and, of course, broccoli.

The Supreme Court will decide this term whether Congress can require us to have health insurance as part of health reform. If the answer...

More or less from the time he could say no, my younger son despised wearing a coat. In preschool I would weather (pun intended) the stares of the other Moms as he breezed (also intended) into circle time dressed in shorts despite snow on the ground. Yes, I let him...