Have you ever played “Would you rather?” with your kids? It’s a great time. I can be fun and funny, or you can come up with things to really make them think. I remember once I asked the kids if you’d rather be hurt by a hit or a scratch, or have your feelings hurt.
On the first day of summer break we shared a big bowl of watermelon on the porch, then kids made a mud pit in the back yard while Anna and I sat on a blanket at a safe distance. When we got too hot and dirty, we all jumped in the pool. Before nap time,
No more pencils, no more books, no more WAKING UP THE BABY FROM HER NAP TO GET TO THE BUS STOP ON TIME!!! On the last day of school David had a big smile, a wiggly tooth, just like he did on the first day of kindergarten. The only difference is that now David
Thomas walks up to me, gives me a big hug and says, “This is the best mommy ever!” I lean down, hugging him back, “Thomas! You think I’m the best mommy ever? Thank you!” Thomas pulls away, confused, “No, Mommy, my TIGER is the best mommy ever.”
Today is Mary Virginia’s fifth birthday. She was born on her due date, June 7, 2013, with a scowl on her face. Mary took her first breath at 10:53 a.m., and since then she has not stopped talking long enough to take another breath. Now she’s five. Happy birthday to my curly girly, my Mary
If I could describe myself for the past few months, I’d say that I feel like I’ve been walking around like that kid Pig Pen in Charlie Brown. Except that, instead of a cloud of filth (or maybe, in addition to a cloud of filth), I have a haze of all the things I need
This is Mary’s new iPhone. My niece made it, and it’s easily the most coveted item in our house. Everyone wants it but no one can touch it. After all, Mary has a data plan to consider. Mary uses it like a fully functional phone — she takes pictures, she texts, she FaceTimes my mom.
At seven months old Anna is in a rigid schedule of eating when she’s hungry, sleeping when she’s tired, and being held as much as possible. You might be shaking your head because I’m probably missing out on some serious sleep by not pressing her into a more defined schedule. You might be right, but
Me at David’s preschool graduation: “Whoa!? People dress up for this?” Me on the way to Mary Virginia’s preschool graduation: “I have an inappropriately fancy dress, and three dress shoe options.” (She decided on her Crocs.) \ We also brought along an eye-rolling kindergartener who kept accusing me of not going to his preschool graduation.
In the middle of a spontaneous walk that ended up being admittedly too ambitious, foolishly close to lunch time, and with a stroller that was much too small to be of any help, Thomas decided he was done. He stopped, laid down in someone’s yard and yelled, “I can’t walk, Inna go ni-night!” I did
Anna is six months old, and she is all chub and drool and baby smiles. She is delightful, cuddly, ticklish, and almost always happy. People stop me all the time to tell me she looks like the Gerber baby, a Cabbage Patch doll (I actually agree with that one), or to comment on her rolls
Mary Virginia, talking to herself while playing with a mound of freshly-picked Azalea blossoms: “Flowers are so wonderful! They tell us, ‘God is good! God is great! God loves us! … They’re also nice for weddings!”
Thomas was filling a cup of water one day, when some water splashed on his sleeve. (A quick aside: Thomas enjoys the privilege of getting his own cup of water ONLY because he is in the unique position of having a six-year old brother and a 6-month old sister. He sees his brother doing six-year
A few weeks ago I bought this little patio set for our back deck. I love the design, and as it’s (finally) warming up, I’m looking forward to spending more time outside. In the summer I eat breakfast on the porch almost every morning, and the deck is home base for so much of the kids’
I told myself I’d never straighten her hair, but today she needed some Mama time. I did her hair and listened as she talked about Pound Puppies, and I told her about my girlfriends in college who used to straighten and curl my hair. When I lifted her onto the counter, I didn’t notice that my compact
Two weeks ago we found a turtle. Or, rather, it found us. Judging by the way it swam right up to where we were standing on the bank, and by the way it fit perfectly in the palm of my hand, we immediately knew we were destined to keep this turtle. When my kids ask
David has a habit of picking dandelions for me. He finds them everywhere, on the walk home from the bus stop, in our yard, poking through cracks in sidewalks. He’s done it for years, at least since he was three, right around the time I told him yellow was my favorite color. I never keep
A few days before Easter, as soon as we had nice enough weather to be outside, we dyed Easter eggs. I marched all the kids outside and told them to sit at the table and wait while I made several trips inside to get everything. Asking kids to WAIT and NOT TOUCH is a big
Sometimes when I’m in a conversation, I can’t find the word I’m thinking of, so I say, “Sorry, I forget words, but you know what I mean?” And sometimes they offer the very obvious word that I have not been able to fish from my brain of mush, “Were you going to say you took
So thankful we finally had a few warm days before Easter, so I could keep up with my six-year tradition of dressing my kids like rabbits and taking pictures in front of our neighbor’s landscaping. I actually had four pairs of bunny ears, even though I am completely realistic about this sort of thing —
David is learning about solids and liquids at school, so on a recent snow day I decided to mix up some cornstarch and water. I remember loving this as a kid, and as I mixed it up for my kids, it was equally fascinating. Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO
In Anna’s 4-month update I compared a baby sleep regression to spring weather. Since I am living through both barbaric phases right now, I keep revisiting the comparison. February was mild, warm, and felt like spring. In February I ordered my girls Easter outfits — both sleeveless and light. But March has been windy, cold,
At the first sign of snow my kids start begging for hot chocolate and popcorn. I welcomed them inside from snow once, and that’s exactly how long it took for the tradition to stick. It’s funny how every single morning I tell them, “It’s time to go to the bus! Put on your shoes, get
We spend most mornings doing dignified things like practicing our table manners, reciting the larger catechism, and discussing foreign films. But on this particular morning it was unseasonably warm. Thomas went outside in his normal uniform — no pants, no shoes, and his favorite hand-me-down orange shirt. He ran around pretending to be a bird,
After Anna was born, Tom took about two weeks off to help me at home. On his very first full day back to work, my first day alone with four kids, he had a meeting in Raleigh, which meant he had an unusually long day. I also had a long day. It was my first
Both of my boys were born with slick bald heads, and eventually grew shaggy blonde hair. Both of my girls were born with the slightest bit of brunette fuzz. We’ll have to wait a while to see if Anna’s hair grows into spiral curls like her sister’s, but I think it’s already safe to say
Recently Thomas hit some sort of verbal milestone. He’s been talking in sentences for a while, but now he’s putting together real sentences, not baby sentences. For example, instead of saying “I go OUSSIDE!” Now he says, “Mommy! I want to go outside!” Since he’s our third child, phrases like, “She did it on PURPOSE”
Early this fall I put flu shots at the tip top of our “things to do before baby” list. Not every member of our family was as motivated to cross off that particular task. I tried to explain the modern medical miracle of inoculation against a terrifying virus, but ultimately it was the promise of a
I’m slowly coming out of the general malaise of pregnancy and newborn exhaustion. With that, I’m doing everything I can to run a tighter ship at home, and reverse some bad (lazy) habits we’ve fallen into. No, my kids are not wearing matching clothes. Yes, the pumpkins I put on the porch back in October
We don’t normally follow pro football very closely, and this year if you had told me the NFL took the whole year off I might have believed you because, well, let’s just say I’ve been a little distracted. (Except for this. I did hear about this.) This year we watched the Super Bowl with some
One day over lunch Mary Virginia and I were talking about how things were when I was a kid. I explained that we only had one phone and it was attached to the wall so we couldn’t take it into the yard or in the car. And the only thing it did was make phone calls. It
This just in. Looks like Mary Virginia’s eyes are going to be blue. Oops, ANNA! I meant to say Anna. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that, I promise. This week Anna is 11 weeks old, which means next week she’ll be 12 weeks old, which means the end of the fourth trimester. Does
On our second snow day last week, the boys went outside. Since it was too cold for Anna, I stayed inside. Since I stayed inside, Mary Virginia stayed inside where she could maintain at least one point of contact with me. The boys were running around, criss-crossing the yard and going into our playhouse, so
Before Anna was born, I planned our Christmas card — a combo birth announcement/Christmas card with four kids in matching pajamas. Tom’s going to read that, wrinkle his forehead, and say, “You said you don’t have the brainpower to make a grocery list. But you’ve been strategizing our Christmas card for two months?” Yes, Tom,
If you’ve never heard of cord blood banking, click HERE for more information. When you’re expecting a new baby, it is remarkable how many decisions there are to make before the baby is even born. There are things like how to decorate the nursery, narrowing down a name, and figuring out if you’re the
UPS delivered my final package this morning. I did almost all of my shopping online this year, including stocking stuffers. I have only been in one store in the past month, and it doesn’t count because it was Target and it was mostly because I only had the baby with me and I wanted a
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have four kids ages six and under, this is exactly what it’s like: Don’t touch the baby. Leave the baby alone. Give her some space. Back up. Let her sleep. You can hold her in a minute. She’s eating right now. Don’t touch her eyes. Don’t touch her
At my 39-week check up I happened to casually mention that my husband was running the half marathon over the weekend. Immediately my doctor got very serious about developing a plan for what I would do if my labor started while the race was happening and there I was, on the sidelines of a race
Discerning readers will notice that I already posted about Halloween night, so a post about all of our Halloween prep is out of order. But I cannot move on with my life without showing you the REST of our Halloween fun. I’m super pregnant. Tying on my shoes is a huge accomplishment, so imagine how
Way back in May when I found out I was going to have a baby in mid-November, I immediately thought through the calendar. It will affect Tom’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. And then there’s Halloween. At 38 weeks, I wasn’t expecting to have a newborn, but I was expecting to be very big, very exhausted, and
I lose Thomas a lot. Like, in my house. It’s not because we live inside of a TJ Maxx, it’s because Thomas is a lot faster, quieter, and more creative than me. This has been happening since he was very young, but now that he’s older and can work our doors I get more worried if
Just two weeks after school stared all five of us have had an awful cold, and two of my kids have had fevers. I can tolerate a lot but ever since The Great Krieger Sick House of 2014 that extended into 2015, my right eye sort starts twitching anytime one of my kids sneezes. Then David
Last weekend our family took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and went to the James River. The only word I can think of to describe Tom and I as we got out of the van is “laden.” We had three kids, plus water bottles and a picnic lunch for five people, two blankets, and
Love Goldfish? Vote for your favorite color Goldfish to have it’s very own limited edition bag — CLICK HERE to vote. (And keep it up, you can vote once a day from now until October 31.) I’m going to be very honest for a second and write something I’ve never read on a blog before
Click here for more information about Welch’s 100% Juice with Coconut water. One thing my kids and I have in common: we both love treats. I love celebrating, making ordinary days special. I love baking half cakes for half birthdays, and surprising the kids with a dollop of homemade whipped cream on their pancakes for absolutely no
There is a pile of baby clothes on a desk in my bedroom, and I’ve started knitting a pink baby blanket. Other than that, we haven’t done anything to prepare for our fourth baby. But, whether we’re ready or not (we’re not), a baby is coming in November. Recently I commented on a friend’s Instagram
It’s fall. Usually this is the time of year that I begin my campaign of reminding people that fall is awful. Guess what? I’m not going to do that! Even more evidence that I’ve matured a lot. There’s a lot of excitement in our family surrounding fall this year; David started school, we’re welcoming a new baby. And
Whether it’s dolls or stuffed animals, Mary Virginia is always very, very busy arranging and preparing things. Her hands are always full, she is always rushing to pack her purse and runs out the door with it swinging against her shoulder. One day as she was struggling to multitask, she handed me a doll and
When I try a new snack with my kids, I’ve learned to expect anything. They have rejected all things sweet, savory, salty, crispy, and crunchy. Recently Mary Virginia stuck a dagger directly into my heart when she told me that she doesn’t like Cheetos anymore because they’re “too juicy.” Recently I made these, hoping they’d
Never leave a drink unattended around Thomas. If Thomas sees an unattended drink, he will steal a sip. The first time he tried my Diet Coke, he exclaimed, “It’s ok for me to drink it because I LIKE IT! I DO LIKE IT!” As if the reason I didn’t share with him was bc I was