I’ve always loved learning how things work. So when we bought our first home, I was both frustrated at how hard the mortgage industry works to confuse buyers and determined to figure the system out. I learned a lot when we signed that first mortgage, and even more when I did three no-cost refinances on
Styling by the Pacific Ocean, pigtails by Mary, photo by Grammy, Tom’s sunscreen-face by himself, entire week of adventures (including three meals a day for 14 people) planned and executed by my sister and her generous family. A few years ago, Tom mentioned that we should take a big trip to celebrate our tenth anniversary.
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 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
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.