I’m in the middle of recapping our family vacation (and David’s birthday, and the end of summer, and, and, and, and, and…) but I’m taking a break from all that to post some photos from this week. This week was normal, boring. We didn’t go anywhere or do anything. I even put off post-vacation grocery
The last time David was featured in a Semantics post was August 2017. TWO YEARS AGO! This wasn’t intentional. I suppose I didn’t even notice because I was getting so much great material from toddlers, not to mention a little girl who has been trolling me since she turned two. (That’s a direct quote from
This week I didn’t pick up my DSLR one time. That’s abnormal for me, an overly-sentimental person who’s surrounded by memories that are, let’s be honest, getting bigger every day. I declared this week a rest week. We’re in-between summer adventures and will spend this coming week preparing for our next trip. But this week
On the banks of Beaver Lake at Stanley Park, watching ducks with Mary… Mary: There are so many ducks here. It shouldn’t be called Beaver Lake, it should be called Duck Lake! Me: Seriously, who named this lake? Probably a beaver! Me: pause…waiting for Mary to laugh… Mary: Mommy. No one would ask a beaver
Steveston Village is a small harbor town close to my sister’s house. It’s so close that we technically visited it on a “home day.” (We actually went the day Thomas was sick with a fever, during Anna’s nap.) I thought about lumping Steveston in with my home day post, but ultimately decided it deserved its
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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