Bummer Summer?

This summer was supposed to be golden. Golden and magical and dreamy and perfect, with loooong afternoons at the pool followed by (probably too many) trips to the Dairy Queen for twist cones and lazy mornings in our pajamas and most of all, most importantly, bonding with my kids.  I cherished last summer with the …

The Ministry of Oreo Cookies

Last week my baby boy somehow, miraculously, turned 6 years old.  He is big and strong and tender and generous and asks curious, philosophical questions about life.   To celebrate we invited some family and school friends over and I sent my husband to the store to get some chips and cookies.  He came back with …

The Great Pumpkin Thief

Yesterday my daughter's 1st Grade class took a field trip to a Pumpkin Patch.  She had been looking forward to this for weeks, literally counting down the days.  Being 7 is amazing!!!  There are such simple pleasures, like getting a day away from the classroom to take a school bus across town with all her …

Perfect Systems

About once a year I come up with a new and improved brilliant plan to become more organized (and as a result be an overall better human, obviously).  A lot of them involve bins and folders and color coding and sometimes a trip to the craft store.  My most recent scheme was to have a …

Dear Santa, I’m just not that into you

I don't think it phases my children AT ALL when I tenderly tell them Santa Claus isn't real.  I can't imagine why they ignore me on this (sarcasm font in case you're missing it).  Hmmm...perhaps it is because he is actually at the mall, sitting on an actual over sized green velvet armchair welcoming small …

What it’s worth

These are my kids. I'm hoping you'll be so very overcome by how cute they that you'll completely overlook our less than stellar landscaping. I'd like to draw your attention to the AT AT walker in our backyard (pretend your 4, and you'll see it...maybe...)  In case you are not a Star Wars Geek, married …

Christmas Childrens Book Review

Can I just say I am SUPER proud of myself for having stuck with my Lean In reviews for FIVE CHAPTERS so far!  I played teacher with myself and self-assigned this writing project and it has been hard and good.  Buuuuuut....Christmas Break is just about here so I might just take a hiatus with that …

Lean In, Chapter One: The Leadership Ambition Gap

I am pretty sure I have the best husband around.  I could go on and on about what a catch he is, his outstanding character, and how well he treats me.  One of the little things is that he tells me that I am beautiful a lot.  (We could go down a rabbit's trail about …

Deserved

My family and I are leaving for a Florida vacation in a few short days.  The Magic Kingdom, airplanes, Mickey Mouse, the ocean - the whole enchilada. It's a pretty big deal and my excitement over escaping the hot Tucson dirt for some ocean breezes might even surpass my daughter's excitement over getting to have dinner …

Thorn of Crowns

This is about as crafty as I get, friends.  A foam ring and some tooth picks. I saw this idea on another site and thought we would try it.  Beginning at Lent, every night at dinner, Evangeline would remind us to get out our "Thorn of Crowns" and then we would proceed to go around …