Anna all-the-time

Anna all-the-time

Anna’s preschool ended in May, just a few weeks before the big kids got out of school. In that in-between time,  Anna and I spent a lot of quality time together. We are used to spending a lot of time together, but a few hours of preschool three days a week gave us the exact break we

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10-12 minutes, or just a touch past al dente

10-12 minutes, or just a touch past al dente

For the past year or so Anna has slowly been eliminating foods in hopes of settling into an all-pasta diet. Don’t get worried though! She works in plenty of variety. Sometimes she eats spaghetti noodles, sometimes penne, sometimes wheels, occasionally cellentani, but almost never elbows. Our girl has standards. This is the same child who,

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Valentine’s Day dinner

Valentine’s Day dinner

This year Valentine’s Day looked just like any other day, except that the kids went to school with bags full of weeks worth of handmade greetings. Oh! And Thomas wore a festive red polo shirt! I love the sweetness of kids on Valentine’s Day. I love the tradition of class parties and exchanging cheap plastic

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Fourth grade study habits

David’s study habits in fourth grade: he didn’t study. Mary’s study habits in fourth grade: creates a classroom in the dining room and forces her younger siblings to listen to her lecture. Here she is teaching Thomas and Anna about Stinky James. Want to know more about Stinky James? Sign up today! Class enrollment is

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Semantics

Semantics

I don’t know if all kids go through this phase, but all of MY kids go through a phase where they write random letters in a line and ask me what it says. It hits right at the moment where they realize that the letters and letter sounds they’ve been learning have magical powers. These

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Marathon training update

Marathon training update

It took me 16 weeks to come realize this, but marathon training is going well. For 16 full weeks, whenever anyone asked me about the marathon, I’d exhale deeply, dramatically say, “I don’t know!” and then mumble something about being tired. It’s hard to say that something is going well when you’re tired all the

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Deer Valley 2022

Deer Valley 2022

Every summer when we go to Deer Valley, people ask us what it is. Short answer: it’s a family camp! Or, as I like to say, “it’s like summer camp but your mom and dad are there.” Perhaps a better description is that it’s like the camp in Marvelous Mrs. Maisel except instead of a

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Semantics: Just in time for back-to-school

Semantics: Just in time for back-to-school

Right around the end of August, the laziness of summer starts to feel gluttonous instead of luxurious, and mom decides it’s time to whip our ship into shape. Mostly, this means taking the controls around screentime from Bluey. This doesn’t mean our family is never on screens, it just means Anna and I are working

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The great cousin visit of 2022

The great cousin visit of 2022

Eight awesome cousins, together for the first time since 2019. 2019!! We haven’t seen these guys in THREE years. For anyone that’s a long time, but for a kid it’s a loooooong time. It is, without exaggeration, 3/4 of Anna’s entire life. A looooooong time. When your cousins live in a different country, you do

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Mom’s first sleepaway camp

Mom’s first sleepaway camp

At the end of June my two big kids went to their very first sleepaway camp. Emphasis on very first because, unless I’m forgetting something, I don’t think my kids have ever done any sort of significant camp…not even the day-kind. Mary went to kindergarten camp and, for David? Does swim team count? We are SO LAME.

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On running, the pandemic, and therapy

On running, the pandemic, and therapy

As long as I’ve been a runner, I’ve always said that I don’t understand the concept of a runner’s high. I’ve never entered that sacred space where running is effortless and wonderful and I could just continue forever. And what are these endorphins people talk about? When I’m running, I’m working. Regardless of the pace

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A is for Anna! T is for Thomas! S is for Smug!

A is for Anna! T is for Thomas! S is for Smug!

MOD Pizza, Starbucks, Richmond Lager, Surge Adventure Park. Know what they all have in common? They all have Anna’s letter — the letter A. I know this because Anna shouts enthusiastically whenever she sees her letter. “MOM! GUESS WHAT I SEE!” she shouts from the back seat, straining against her straps to make her point.

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Snow kids

Snow kids

My oldest kid is 10, and recently I’ve found myself in a phase of constantly looking for things that will inspire him to play. He can get a bit bored at playgrounds these days, and I can’t remember the last time he dumped all the bins in our playroom, looking for just the right plastic

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Halloween 2021

Halloween 2021

Let this go down in history as the first year I’ve ever rallied everyone for a family costume. I’ve always loved family costumes, but I never fully respected them until I had kids. So many opinions to manage! Mercurial! Unpredictable! Plus, I was just so, so tired for so, so many years. Now I’m still

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Deer Valley YMCA — 2021

Deer Valley YMCA — 2021

We just got back from family vacation, and I honest-to-goodness barely have time to mine through the piles of laundry we brought home before school starts tomorrow. The vacation-to-school boomerang is a lot to take in. I can’t figure out if it’s better for me to be busy — that way I have less time

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It only happens once every four years

It only happens once every four years

Hello from my living room, the Krieger Olympic Training Center! That’s what it is for the next two weeks, anyway. The cushions are off our couch, blocking the only path from the living room to the kitchen for the sake of leaps and somersaults. Sure, I can’t walk through my house, BUT! Sacrifices must be

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Summer night lights

Summer night lights

Here’s a thing you may or may not know about our family. When it comes to our kids’ bedtime, we do not mess around. We are lenient about almost everything, but not bedtime. Our kids go to bed at 7:30 p.m. every night. Even the almost-10-year-old. It’s a hard line that we hold because, if

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(Virtual) School’s out forever!

(Virtual) School’s out forever!

We did it. We crossed the strangest finish line of the strangest race ever. Whether you did virtual, hybrid, in-person/masked, homeschool, or some combination of everything — WE DID IT! Good riddance to this school year and also I’M SO THANKFUL for what this school year was. There are a lot of complicated emotions that

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The sweetest, wildest boy

The sweetest, wildest boy

I can’t tell if it’s happening more, or if I’m just noticing it more, but recently Thomas has been crawling into my lap a lot. He turns six tomorrow. More than I do with my other kids, I spend the week before Thomas’s birthday remembering the final days of my pregnancy. I remember each day

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Doxology

Doxology

One of the beneficial side-effects of our new work-from-home lifestyle is that between Zoom meetings and phone calls, Tom carves out some time to put Anna down for her nap every afternoon. This is different than all of our other kids, who Tom almost never put down for naps because he has always been at

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