Best of 2016 on Rocket City Mom

Connecting local parents to local resources, activities, organizations, and small businesses. It’s our mission and it’s what we love doing almost as much as we love parenting. As has become a tradition, we like to look back at the end of the year and point out those articles that we feel best represent what we strive to do and highlight those that you might have missed the first go around.

We encourage you to take a few minutes and rediscover some of our best work this year. Our staff and amazing contributing writers had fun working on these, and we hope you enjoy reading them.

9 Tips for Taking Better Pictures of Your Kids

By Kelli Pavlovec | Published Jan. 13, 2016

What parent couldn’t use some advice (from a professional) on how to take better pictures of their family? If you’ve got kids who hate to pose, always make funny faces, or are just sourpusses the minute a camera comes out, then you need to read this article.

Where My Hummingbirds At?

By Taralyn Caudle | Published January 11, 2016

If you missed this insightful post about identifying passions (in yourself and your child) the first time around, take a few minutes to discover it now.

Navigating IEP Meetings

By Jennifer Kelly | Published February 22, 2016 

Started in 2015, our Special Needs Parenting Series “A New Normal” continued to provide relevant, useful information to parents who were especially grateful to read posts by a fellow parent traveling this unique path. Jennifer’s articles are always some of my favorites and while writing about IEPs probably isn’t the most exciting assignment, she covered all the bases and helped numerous local families in the process.

Dolce Pan Review

By Bo Williams | Published March 28, 2016 

When our resident restaurant critic Bo headed to this new Puerto Rican bakery he likely had little idea that his review would be one of the most popular posts on the site in 2016. Filled with his requisite wit and all the details you might need to know about a new restaurant, it’s easy to see why these Parent Reviews have become such a popular part of our site.

Where to Kayak and Canoe with Kids in Huntsville

By Rocket City Mom | Published on June 30, 2016

I’m not sure who is more pleased with our Huntsville Hidden Gems series, our readers or our writers. This series presents lots of fun opportunities to explore our hometown and discover new (and possibly unexplored) sides to this fair city.

Kid Report: Harmony Park Safari

By Hannah B. | Published on June 26, 2016

The best way to find out what activities local kids want to do? Ask them! That’s the idea behind this new series : RCM Kid Reports and we kicked it off with a great one about a local attraction that puts the “oo” in zoo.

Refinancing Your Home: Ask the Expert

By Progress Bank/RCM Readers | Published on July 25, 2016

Parenting doesn’t come with a guidebook and it is CRAZY expensive.  So when our Learning Expo sponsor, Progress Bank, offered up some of their financial experts to answer our readers questions we said “Yes” with no hesitation.

How the PTA Can Engage Working Parents

By ShaVonne Cammack | Published on August 1, 2016

We talk all the time about how much we love our writers and we really do LOVE our regular contributors who make up our RCM family. We also love it when readers approach us with a novel idea for a post. Something new, something innovative, something we haven’t covered in the more than 5 YEARS we’ve been around (when did that happen?). When ShaVonne approached us with the idea for this article we were actually surprised no one had thought to do it already but we were thrilled she spoke up and created one of our most engaging posts of 2016!

There But for the Grace of God Go We

By Stephenie Walker | Published on September 22, 2016

We had a terrible tragedy in our town this summer. A parent’s worst nightmare come to life. All of us at RCM were reeling, like most of our readers, at how close to home the unimaginable had happened. We were also concerned that in this day and age of faceless, often nameless, online interactions too many might feel comfortable pointing a finger and criticizing parents who made a terrible mistake. In a show of solidarity we shared our close calls and asked our readers to do the same.

Amazing Rocket City Moms: The Jill of All Trades

By Katie Demirjian | Published on September 21, 2016

If you live in the Rocket City then you know this town is filled with awesome moms. So, obviously, we didn’t have any problem finding lots of ladies to interview for this new series highlighting some pretty amazing women doing cool things in our area. Roller Derby Coach, Actor, Baker & Innovator…what’s next?

Holiday Haikus by Dad

By Benjamin Shapiro | Published on December 13, 2016

I fully admit my English Major heart has no doubt influenced my decision to include these lovely gems in our best of list. I mean, not every parenting blog can boast original poetry as part of its content and I’m super proud! Often funny, sometimes poignant, these short bursts of words say a lot in a wonderfully succinct way. To read even more of Benjamin’s work, check out his book of verse, Dance of the Entwined Branches.