About two weeks ago Anna turned six, but we were all too exhausted to even sing a proper rendition of “Happy Birthday.” Tom was busy running a 2:55 marathon, and I was exhausted because I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to get him to the start line. TWO HOURS AND FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES! You
This fall David joined his middle school’s cross country team. The second he joined the team, before he even brought home his school-issued singlet, I fell head-first into the murky waters of living vicariously through my kid’s sport. Until now I’ve been completely immune to this. As a person who can barely throw — and
I like to think that I’m the kind of person who’s always in a mode of decluttering and donating, but last year I started a new push to move things out of the house. Generally speaking, I consider myself a very, very messy minimalist. My mom just read that and is quietly wondering how she
Here we are, the day before the day before the marathon. Christmas Eve Eve, if you will. Almost 800 miles of running over 24 weeks in the early mornings, heat, and humidity. Nearly six months of what I lovingly call “No Fun Fridays” — kicking off the weekend with no good food, no alcohol, and
Are you planting a Quarantine Garden? Or, to use the more hopeful name, a Victory Garden. A few weeks ago I packed up my face mask, hand sanitizer, and my best “don’t you dare come within six feet of me” glare, and went to a local garden center. At that point, I hadn’t been out
The goal: For our family of six to produce less than one garbage bag of trash a week. I started this goal (in earnest) in February. Back then I decided to use the first month of the challenge to really pay attention to what we were throwing away, then start the slow, intentional process of reducing
One of the things I love about having a blog for this long is that on any holiday or season, I can easily look back and see how my family has grown and changed through the years. Easter egg dyeing is a great example. This is a tradition that dramatically changes as your kids get
Week three, the week I realized I can’t make the entire quarantine special for them. I can’t make it special for me, either. Three weeks ago when this whole thing started, we were still operating under a bit of naivety. School had been closed for two weeks, and I, ever the realist, told friends, “I’m
It’s mid-February, which means it’s high time to talk about New Year’s resolutions! If research is correct, most people have already abandoned their resolutions. If that’s you, consider this a timely reminder to get back to it! The year is young! This year I’m making it my personal goal to reduce our family’s trash. I’ve
Last summer when we were in Pennsylvania, we visited Tom’s cousin. In addition to an actual roller coaster, they also had an amazing swing set in their backyard. We really liked the size and design of this particular swing set, so Tom made a mental note to get back in touch with his cousin after
We have a rule in our family about Halloween. If it involves any help or purchasing from me, you must decide on your Halloween costume by October 1. (Or, in Anna’s case, her Halloween costume was decided for her six years before she was born when my mom bought David this toddler-sized dragon costume.) Komodo
A few weeks before the end of school I started packing little treats in the kids’ lunches. Nothing too over-the-top — just things I don’t normally pack, like fruit snacks or cookies. I also started a very lazy alphabet countdown. In the morning I’d announce, “Today is O day! What should we do?” Then the
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 portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. We have had a good week but a busy week. I cannot wait for the end of school. These last few weeks are like the last trimester of pregnancy — that final rush of weight gain and heart burn finally makes you genuinely
The 52 Project — A photo of my children once a week, every week, in 2019. David / He built this inconspicuous tower in the middle of our living room and doesn’t understand why no one will leave him alone. The sign says, “Do not talk to David while he’s reading.” Mary / One morning just before
This afternoon the kids jumped in the pool as soon as they got home from school, and I made frozen pizza and served it on a giant tray instead of taking the time to put it on individual plates. They ate, then jumped back into the water. Summer. They were playing so well together that
Suburban gardening is almost exactly like urban gardening. The only differences are that we don’t keep up with new music and we pay lower taxes. After nearly two years of barely doing anything to take care of our yard, Tom and I devoted several weekends to mulching, weeding, and getting our garden started. We removed
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.
This Easter I decided to make a scavenger hunt for the kids’ Easter baskets. It was really fun, really easy (thanks to millions of pre-written scavenger hunts on Pinterest), and will likely become a tradition. David read the clues aloud and then he and Mary ran to find the next one. It took Thomas a
We spent so much of spring break doing yard work that I barely recognize myself. Or my yard. The last time we did any significant yard work was the same week I cut my thumb, nearly two years ago. Since then our yard is making our house look increasingly abandoned. We got a giant load
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. The four of them / Here’s a quick photography tip: a well-composed photograph should be free of clutter. Remove items in the foreground and background that are busy and distracting. Unless your four children are playing (sort of) together. In that instance, run into
To celebrate Anna’s birthday, I got one of those mylar number balloons that I see all over Instagram and blogs. They are completely unoriginal and #basic, but what the heck? They make for an excellent photo, everyone knows it. It was cloudy and rainy on Anna’s birthday, so I set up the balloon near a
This summer, in the strip of yard where we grew pumpkins last year, we planted watermelons. We decided on a watermelon because when I left to go pick up a few seedlings, Thomas shouted, “I want watermelon!” Certain that what he meant wasn’t “I want watermelon NOW,” but instead, “I want to plant a watermelon
This post is sponsored by The Libman Company but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. [CLICK HERE] to learn more about The Libman Company and get a $3-off coupon when you sign up for their newsletter. As proof that literally everything can be divisive among moms, here’s an example of a seemingly
Occasionally Mary says things that raise my eyebrow. Things like, “I can’t play soccer because girls don’t play soccer.” Or. “I wish I could be a scientist, but I’m a GIRL.” I try to be redirect these comments and encourage her, and I try to not feel too bad. After all, I AM her main
Now that David is in school all day, Mary Virginia and Thomas have no choice but to play together. They play really well, but they also fight. A lot. I’ve never actually kept track, but I feel pretty safe saying that the time they spend fighting outweighs the time that they play by at least
Learn more about Nokia’s family of products here. At the beginning of the month I talked about taking baby steps toward fitness and exercise. Around the same time I started paying more attention to my diet. Nothing drastic, partially because I’m nursing and mama’s gotta eat, partially because I’m not one for elimination of food
In the past year or so David has become increasingly interested in creating. He loves to draw, color, paint, cut, glue, and everything else. I love watching him, in part because a few years ago he didn’t like any of it — coloring, using stickers, or even playing with Play-Doh at all. Anytime I brought out
Last year after the chaos of moving into our new house, we immediately shifted gears and started the chaos of selling our old house. The house didn’t need any major renovations, but we painted, cleaned, and replaced the roof. As usual, I let Tom take the reins for all the time-consuming, labor-intensive stuff while I focused on
For Christmas we got the kids this great seed starter kit. The kids have really liked it, especially David. He was able to do most of the prep and sowing himself. The manufacturers apparently knew what they were doing because I warned David over and over and over that it would take at least seven days. David: But
Here’s a story. Camellias aren’t super common where I grew up, so when I moved to Richmond I became sort of entranced by them. A bush with flowers that look like roses!? That blooms in the winter!? When Tom and I were buying a house for the first time, I put heavy preference on houses
I don’t often given parenting advice here. But. If you insist. My top two parenting tips are: 1. Hold off on introducing the song “First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest” as long as possible. You might have a sleep-deprived, frustration-fueled moment when it SEEMS like
I’m going to be vulnerable for a moment and tell you that I totally fumbled Tom’s recent birthday. Not COMPLETELY — we had friends over for football, and dinner with his family. I also made him a blackberry pie. It’s not like we didn’t celebrate. It’s just that aside from the kids making him cards, I didn’t really get him anything. I didn’t
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and I wanted to do a little something for my kids’ preschool teachers. I sort of struggle to tell my kids’ teachers that I’m thankful for them because just saying it seems rote. I’m thankful for you, but do you have any idea how thankful? Seeing my little boy blossom as a student who loves
I take a lot of photos. Every time I upload photos from my DSLR, a computer pop-up says something like, “28 items were successfully imported” and I think, “That’s more than a whole roll of film. I just took a whole roll of film of my kid eating breakfast.” When I was a kid back in
We’ve been in our new house for five whole months. Doesn’t it feel like longer than that? Maybe it just feels that way to me because I have been counting down the days until my toddler grows out of that cute phase he’s in where he throws my shoes into the kitty litter, and BOY are the
The day before we closed on our old house, I told the kids (with a bit of drama and gravity) that we were going to the old house to have dinner for the last time. I wanted to gauge their emotions, did they seem reluctant to go to the old house? Excited? Apathetic? Mary Virginia
Before I start, I’d like to frame this post by telling you that I love wildlife. I’m not at all squeamish about bugs or lizards or even spiders. I love wildlife and the environment, and when I was a kid, my best friend and I started a club called “Who Says You Can’t Save The Earth?”
Our new yard is full of beautiful blooms — hydrangeas, calla lilies, butterfly bushes, and Hibiscus. You can tell the previous owners cared about their home. They were thoughtful about things like irises and hydrangeas, and I imagine they looked forward to seeing them bloom every year. So when I noticed hydrangea blooms bigger than
If it wasn’t for Mary Virginia’s extensive duck collection, we probably could have stayed in our old house for a few more years. Immediately after I took this photo, I found four more rubber ducks. (And this doesn’t even include her plush ducks.) I got so much awesome moving advice, and now that we’re on
A few weeks ago as I was getting ready for bed, Tom rushed into the bedroom holding his laptop open to what looked very much like our dream house. Look at this room! And that one! A fireplace! A sun room! The next day we went to see it. I only had about fifteen minutes to look around, but
A few days ago a good friend asked me for tips on how to baby proof a house. I told her, you have to prioritize. Stop what you’re doing right now and put your Cheetos out of reach. After that it all sort of falls into place. For us, baby proofing has happened naturally. They sort
Groundhog Day was last week, and Punxsutawny Phil predicted an early spring. Not that I care. Not that I’m counting down the days until it’s so warm that I no longer have to sing winter’s Getting Ready With Toddlers song, which goes like this, “Go get your coat. Where is your coat? Go find your
[Psst: If you’re planning to shop ThredUp, use my referral link and we’ll both get a $20 credit: http://www.thredup.com/r/PBHKWD] ————- After I wrote THIS post about cleaning out my closet and sending a bunch of stuff off to ThredUp, a few people asked me to write about my experience. Since I don’t get too many post requests,
In the past few weeks I’ve started to feel more like myself. Slowly, slowly my energy and motivation is returning. The change is subtle (I am, after all, still waking up with a baby 2-3 times a night) but this is the best way I can describe it: A few days ago I noticed a thick
We planted blackberries four years ago, and every year we watch the plant bloom, grow berries, and then every year birds, squirrels, chipmunks, or some other form of evil gets to them before we can. This year, just like every year before it, we watched the plant bloom, grow glossy red berries, and then, we watched in amazement as
As of the past month or so, David has suddenly become very, very interested in crafts. He loves it all — cutting, coloring, gluing, stickers, painting. This is a new development, I used to have to work really hard to get him interested in crafts. I don’t know if it’s because he’s older, or because of crafts
My clothesline is full of tiny little clothes. Before you get sentimental looking at these ruffle-bottomed sleepers, onesies with doggies and teeny-tiny swaddles, let me tell you: if the Internet could somehow transmit smell, you’d be frantically covering that vent on your computer right now. These clothes look sweet, but my goodness they smell. After two washes and over
I love beautifully-wrapped gifts. I really enjoy taking time to wrap gifts well and make generous bows. The presentation, I think, is part of the gift. I love neutral wrapping paper and prominent bows. That’s what I do for baby showers and birthday gifts and especially Christmas. Never in my life have I ever used
Sometimes I joke that the best way to describe my house is “looks like we just got robbed.” In my living room there are toys everywhere, books strewn off the shelf, a chair over-turned — it’s the normal scene in my house. It’s always been just a joke until last week. I went to pick