Tree Farm Cheaters
It was around the time when kid #2 came along that I gave up the idea of going to a farm every year to chop down our own tree. That was what I had grown up doing and I have fond memories of candy canes and coco and that freshly cut tree smell. When the twins came along, any inkling of tree farm hope I had held disappeared. Love my kids and their busy-ness… don’t love the idea of going out in the freezing cold to a super muddy farm to try... Read More
Distractions: The good and the ugly.
Day Four of Clint’s Unemployment: It’s just a normal Saturday. It struck me this morning how today seemed totally normal. Clint was home, but he was supposed to be home, since it’s Saturday. Our family dynamic was the same as it usually is on Saturday. It all seemed comfortingly normal. It helped that we had distractions all day long. Mine started first thing. Jenny, Renee, and I had planned to run 9.5 miles on a route that I did... Read More
My ladies.
Day Two of Clint’s Unemployment: The day of le sigh. This was my fortune at dinner. I'm not sure I want *everything* to come my way. Sounds overwhelming. It didn’t occur to me until much of the day had passed, that I had been sighing a lot more often than I normally do. These were big sighs, too, and at random times. It was almost as if I had been trying to work things out in my head so thoroughly that I had forgotten to take adequate... Read More
Thank goodness for Renee.
Every November for the past few years, I have made it a point to post one thing I’m thankful for every (okay, almost every) day. First, it was Facebook posts, then last year I turned it into blog posts. It has been good for me, particularly in the month that begins the holiday season, to make it a point to find one thing I’m thankful for each day. Today, I really needed an opportunity to look for something to be thankful for. You see,... Read More
Wyatt is going as “Dead Meat” for Halloween.
Here’s the back story: Wyatt and Zander have decided that they’d rather play than nap at naptime. They’ve been crazy. There have been more poop stories. They’ve been jumping around the room and falling off of the bed. It has been stressful, especially since two two-year-olds minus naps equals craaanky toddlers in the evening. Since today is Halloween and automatically a crazy day, I needed them to take good naps. After 20 minutes... Read More
Adiós, Septiembre (That’s “Goodbye, September” in the English): A month of birthdays, education and guitars.
What a month! First, the twinkies turned the big two, but we missed it because we were away on the Weekend of Bliss. They were in good hands with Clint’s mom, though, and got presents and cupcakes to round out a proper two-year-old birthday celebration. Exactly a week after that, I turned 29. The next day, Colby started his first day of Kindergarten! Read More Read More
Overestimating my abilities?
Occasionally, I get a wild impulse to take on some do-it-yourself project, as was the case in my bathroom facelift last year. It’s funny, this concept of impulse. Truly, the way it works is that something has been bugging me for too long and finally, one day, I can’t take it anymore, so I decide to fix it. So really, it has been stewing in my mind forever, but the actual act of taking on the project is impulsive. Ever since we moved into... Read More
Why I love 9-11.
I haven’t watched TV all week. I have flipped the channel every single time any 9-11 coverage has come on. It isn’t to shield my kids from the terror. It isn’t because I’m not patriotic. It isn’t because I don’t want to remember. (Well, okay, maybe it’s a little that I don’t want to remember.) Read More Read More
My Newest Obsession
I have what I think could be considered an “obsessive personality.” I know it, I recognize it and yanno what? I love it. It’s what brings out spontaneity in me, what drives me to push myself beyond the norm, it’s what gets me out of the rut that we all fall into. It’s why I started and have continued running. It’s why I write and blog. It’s why I started doing web design. (P.S. Huge plug here, but I am working... Read More
A Weekend of Bliss
Oh my gosh, you guys. I have to tell you about the weekend I just had. Here’s how it started: Received invitation to one of my best friend’s weddings and saw that was a whole weekend family-friendly ordeal in May Got excited about the whole idea, RSVP’d immediately A month before the wedding, realized that taking 4 small kids to a place for the weekend that would likely involve late nights, partying, and fun, did not, in fact sound... Read More
190 Miles of Running Awesomeness {Photoblog}
‘Scuze me a sec, but can I get a pause button? I don’t know where life has gone, but I know that I have a backlog of blogs that I want to write SO badly. I still have so much to tell you about BlogHer, I have stories from my crazy spontaneous road trip to Arizona, and I have more reviews and giveaways coming up, too. Aaah! Today, though, I have to tell you about a relay that I did at the end of July. This thing was by FAR the craziest,... Read More
Auntie Anne’s Pretzels at Home?! Srsly.
When I was asked by The Balancing Act to try out Auntie Anne’s at-home pretzel making kit, my mouth automatically watered. I immediately thought of the delicious aroma that surrounds my favorite snack spot in the mall and was excited to have the same delicious, buttery scent wafting through my own house. For fun (and because I am totally insane), I decided to bring my four kids in on this culinary adventure. Here’s how it went: Step One: Pose... Read More
“I like your booty, Mommy!”
A conversation with Lily just now: Lily: Mommy, see what I drawing? It’s your booty. Me: Lily, why in the world are you drawing a picture of my booty? Lily: Ummm.. a ‘cuz I like it, Mommy! I like your booty. Long pause… Read More Read More
We have decided to let him choose his gender.
This picture will be even more entertaining if you know the story of the whack-a-doodle Canadians who are not divulging the gender of their child so s/he can choose his/her own gender. Insert *eyeroll* here. Since we want to be free-thinkers, too and not have our children bogged down by those pesky gender roles, we decided to take a page from the Stockers’ book and let Zander choose his-erm- I mean its own gender: Read More Read More
He doesn’t hate art! (Whew!)
This past year, Colby has vehemently asserted that he hates art. He didn’t want to draw, he didn’t want to paint, he didn’t want anything to do with anything artsy. His preschool teachers noticed this, too, and admitted that he likely was only opposed to art because at school, art time came at the same time as “fun room” time, and they took turns for who did art and who did fun room time. Colby, being the superboy he... Read More
