This week was so busy. We leave for Vancouver (TOMORROW!) and so we spent all week on appointments, errands, cleaning out the fridge and doing all the other things we needed to do before we could actually pack. Preparing for a big trip does not highlight my strengths. You should have seen me try to
Last weekend Tom’s grandmother’s neighborhood had a little carnival with a petting zoo, face painting, balloons, and vendors passing out plastic trinkets. Actually, “carnival” might be overstating the event. But since my kids haven’t really been to a true carnival, we’re sticking with it. Carnival or not, this sort of thing is a kid paradise,
If you follow me on this blog or Facebook or Instagram or have ever happened to drive past my house you probably know this: Thomas doesn’t love clothes. I dress him every day, sometimes more than once, and he always just takes them off. We have requirements about clothes that Thomas begrudgingly complies with. For
I have so many things on my to-do* list. There are “summer organization” projects and fun activities to do with the kids. But all of it remains, untouched, on my to-do list, along with piles of mess on every surface of my house. *The to-do list, of course, is metaphorical. If you know me at
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019: The week before the first week of summer. David and Mary / My kids took the bag of balloons I was using for Mary’s birthday decorations and started filling them with water, which led to a full-on water balloon obsession. All week it was
As I sit down to write this, Anna is babbling in her crib. I put her to bed five minutes ago, and I’m wondering what will happen. Will toddler Anna babble and play and put herself to sleep? Or will baby Anna babble, and fuss, and cry, and eventually need Mama to come in and
A few months before Mary’s birthday, she started planning her party. I generally don’t start making actual plans for her birthday until after Thomas’s birthday, but this year I made an exception. Mary is the youngest in her class, and she has been positively hungry to turn six for a long time. (She’s actually the third youngest.
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. When people ask my advice about whether to redshirt kids for kindergarten (Actually, scratch that. Literally not one person has asked me for advice. When I offer unsolicited advice…) I always say — the best thing to do is don’t have a summer baby. Then
When Anna had a broken wrist, every time we went anywhere, I’d notice people noticing her cast. A mom would casually walk over, say hello, and then ask, “What happened to her arm?” I tell the story and to their utter horror, it’s completely unsatisfying. Anna fell off a child-size chair onto a carpeted floor.
Anna is 18 months old and she is as independent in the pool as an 18-month old can be. She can jump in, she goes down the slide, and she kicks herself where ever she needs to go. When David was a baby, he was happiest in the water. It was so much fun to
I feel like I’m in a weird in-between stage of parenting. I’ve got two big kids who are in full-day elementary school, and I’ve got two little ones at home with me. This one-foot-in-each-world is not unique to me, I know. But it’s tough on the sentimental side of me that wants to mark
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / Back in his natural habitat, swimming and splashing. I love this picture because he’s playing with a toy boat, just like he did the first summer we moved here and he was still four. Mary / Everyone who knows Mary is amazed
This is Thomas’s birthday week. He turns four on Sunday, and we’ve been building up to his birthday in small, special ways — a happy birthday banner on the mantel, a special “T” balloon on his chair. Almost every day we gently explain to Thomas’s siblings that the reason we have different expectations for him
One day after I put Anna down for her nap, she did that absolutely unacceptable thing that babies do sometimes — instead of laying her head down and taking a nap, she started fussing. I, rhetorically, wondered what was happening, “UGH. WHY is Anna fussing?” Thomas answered, “Well, Mommy, you did put her in hot
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David and Mary / This week was Teacher Appreciation Week. I sent these two off to school with irises, roses and one peony each, paltry gestures of my overwhelming gratitude for the teachers that care for my kids every day. I read once that
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / Last week I promised myself that I wouldn’t post another picture of him with his head down reading or doing a workbook. But besides sleeping, reading is the only thing he does. And the lighting’s not nearly this great when he’s sleeping.
Last week my mom asked me if there were any pictures of the week. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You know, on the blog,” she explained. “Are you done with that?” Come on! I’d only missed ONE week, I thought. But then I checked and actually I’d missed two weeks. And now that I
We opened our pool about two weeks ago. It is entirely too cold to be swimming, but that hasn’t stopped any of our kids. And so, even though pool season is over a month away if you ask me, I’m spending my afternoons out by the pool. Having a pool in your backyard is really, really fun.
I never really talk to my kids in a formal way about the environment. I didn’t even realize it until I sat down to write this. I don’t talk to them about it, even though it’s very important to me to raise kids who respect and enjoy plants, animals, and the great outdoors. Enjoying God’s
My kids had a day off school for Good Friday and we planned to spend the day, among other things, dyeing Easter eggs, and using Sweet Frog coupons they got from school. Thursday night I looked at the weather and realized we were supposed to get rain, which was frustrating because I was planning to
Last week my parents were visiting and we were all outside doing some yard work. Scratch that. I THOUGHT we were all outside. My dad went inside and he found Thomas in the kitchen, holding a worm in his hand, looking in the refrigerator. My dad backed Thomas out of the refrigerator and before he
I hardly took any photos over spring break. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. Maybe it’s just a busy sign? We had a good spring break, but it was more hectic than I thought it would be, and colder and more rain, too. But it was still good, a
We started spring break at the passport office and ended it at the orthopedist’s office. No new injuries this time, we were there to get Anna’s cast taken off.(Or as Tom’s dad said, “They peeled Anna Banana!”) Thankfully, her fracture has completely healed and we’ve moved on to the “remember when Anna had a cast?”
If you’re looking for an extreme adventure to kickstart your spring break, might I suggest the passport office? Like most adventures, this one requires a lot of prep work, document-gathering, and planning. For weeks leading up to our trip to the passport office, Tom would tell me he needed to “do passport stuff,” and he’d
I’m writing this on the eve of the first official day of my kids’ spring break from school. The break hasn’t even started and we’ve already more spilled drinks and danced nude in the sprinklers more than any MTV trip to Cancun. We don’t have any huge plans for the week. We’re going to eat
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / Once a week, David and his cousin get to play Mario Kart for about an hour. It is the highlight of their week, every week. I hope a situation never arises that forces him to choose between Mario Kart and a
Last Saturday our family laced up our racing shoes and participated in Thomas’s preschool 5k. We’ve participated in this race every year since David started preschool. Annual events always cause me to reflect on how my family has changed through the years. We’ve done this race with different combinations of toddlers, babies, and big kids.
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. March is my least-favorite month. If you were reading this with Mary Virginia, this is when she would pipe up, “Mommy said she wishes she had a baby in March because then she would have something to celebrate.” It’s true. It’s an off-hand
We’ve officially reached the phase of life when team loyalty means taking pictures of your kids wearing gear and posting it on the Internet. Actually, I guess I’ve been doing that for a while. For some reason getting everyone dressed before they head off to school feels like a new level of devotion. (Especially because
Almost everyone calls her Anna Banana, but Anna Blueberry might be more accurate. Anna’s undecided about bananas. She’ll eat them, but it has to be the right banana (ripe, but not too ripe), and the circumstances have to be just so (she has to be hungry, I have to be holding her, and the banana has to
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / This kid, bringing me dande-wion bouquets since 2015. (Except that he pronounces “dandelion” correctly now. Besides that, and that mouth full of adult teeth, nothing much has changed.) Mary / She’s so excited about the flowers that are blooming. She can’t wait
My little Anna-bird with a broken wing. Ok, that was a little dramatic. Sorry. A more accurate description would be: my 16-month old (who has a penchant for climbing) with a buckle fracture. But that doesn’t have quite the same ring. When I posted a photo of Anna with a cast, several people said they hoped
I’ve heard that great jokes are more about timing and delivery than the punchline. I don’t know if that’s completely true, but I do know that Thomas is really leaning into a nailing a good delivery. This is his favorite joke. We do this every day, several times a day. Every time he scream-laughs because he got
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / David often comes home and recreates projects he did at school. He did it last year, too. Sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out what’s going on, “Hold on, why do you need aluminum foil again? You’re building a what?” But
For the past almost-eight years our cat has watched in horror as we have, on a nearly every-two-year cycle, added babies to our family. He was annoyed after David was born, incredulous when Mary was born, apoplectic after Thomas, and after Anna’s arrival he’s been trying to blend in with the furniture as he silently plots
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. We took a mid-week trip to Franklin County. Playing hooky on Tuesday and Wednesday throws your whole week off because Tuesday feels like Saturday and Wednesday feels like Sunday. Then Thursday feels like Monday, so I got to be disappointed that I don’t
The 52 Project – A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / Just prepare now for an entire year of pictures of David reading. And eating apples. And sitting symmetrically on the couch. (He’s reading Prince Caspian here. Since I took this photo he moved on to Voyage of the
At Anna’s 15-month well-visit last week, the nurse let me know that my happy, smiling, gurgling baby had a low grade fever. Um, excuse me, what? A few minutes later we had a diagnosis of two bulging ear infections, one emerging molar, and an otherwise growing, healthy bald baby girl. Happy 15 months, Anna! I
Last weekend we celebrated David’s half birthday. Seven AND A HALF years old, this one. Seven and a half years is also how long it took me to come up with the tradition of putting a few pieces of birthday cake in the freezer a la the first anniversary wedding cake tradition. The white chocolate
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / This weekend we celebrated David’s half birthday with cupcakes and a round of “happy half-birthday to you.” Mary / A few weeks ago Tom’s mom gave us the desk she used when she was a little girl. We took
What’s a little girl’s favorite part of a father-daughter dance? Gloating to her brothers that she’s going to a dance and they aren’t Fighting with Mommy about what makeup is appropriate for a 5-year old (Answer: no makeup. Be glad that you’re getting lip gloss. ) Having a special night with your daddy. We’ll never
All of my toddlers have gone through this phase — the “outside” phase. It’s the phase when they want to be outside more than they want to be anywhere else, when they bang on the door to go outside regardless of the weather or time of day. And when it’s time to go inside for
We were leaving the grocery store and Thomas didn’t have a coat on because, didn’t you know? Kids shouldn’t wear coats in their carseats. It’s true, and because it is nearly impossible to put a coat on a three-year old in any circumstance, imagine how hard it is to do in a grocery store parking
A photo of my children, once a week, every week in 2019. The older two / David is reading Amelia Bedelia aloud to Mary and I didn’t even ask him to. The younger two / “BE CAREFUL WITH ANNA!” is all I say, all day, every day. Thomas can’t wait until Anna is bigger. Anna
Last year, right around this time of year, David sat down at the table with construction paper, scissors, and glue, and independently handcrafted a valentine for his best friend. I was really, really impressed. I hadn’t given much thought to the valentines he was going to give out to his class, but right then and
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / He was too engrossed in his book to take off his backpack or look up at his afternoon snack. He just finished the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Tom tried to read along so they could about them, but Tom
Our Christmas tree is laying in our front yard. It sort of died after it fell down in mid-December and it started dropping a lot of needles, so getting it out of the house was a priority. We meant to deal with it immediately, but then I got mastitis and Tom got a bad cold, and we
The 52 Project: A photo of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019 David / He doesn’t want pointers and he doesn’t want to play one-on-one. He does want me to take pictures until I get one of the ball going in the hoop. Mary / We had a snow day at the beginning of
On Sunday we had a little snow and ice storm. It didn’t really amount to much, but the roads were covered enough that it wasn’t safe for the buses in the morning. Do you remember how you found out about school closings as a kid? The radio? The news? These days, the school superintendent texts,
The 52 Project: A photo of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / We got David a book light for Christmas so he can read in bed, and now he falls asleep reading every night. So my new bedtime routine is going into his room to turn off his light, slide