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
Oh, hey there, month 11, where’d you come from? I spent this month reminiscing about this time last year when I was very, vey pregnant. I was so huge and exhausted. Making lunch and folding laundry, and just getting out of bed felt like walking up a mountain through three feet of water. I was
I was a chaperone for Mary’s class trip to the pumpkin patch this year. It was my first time chaperoning an elementary school field trip — in my kids’ school you have to express interest in chaperoning, and the teacher picks volunteers out of a hat. I was not selected to go to the zoo,
The calendar says it’s fall but it was 90 degrees outside today and my kids swam in the pool. It’s hot, humid, the leaves are all on the trees, but it does feel like fall in one very key way: we’ve been sick for the past five weeks. This is Thomas doing jumping jacks to
This post is sponsored by MobilityWare but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. I have four young kids, so to say I’m busy is an understatement. I have almost no free time, and if you don’t believe me, I’d like to call to the witness stand: my laundry pile, my junk drawer,
Thomas tripped, and when he put his hand out to catch himself his palm hit a rock. He walked to me, holding out his hand, crying, and I did what all moms do. I said, “Thomas, come here. Let Mommy kiss it.” I took his hand in mine and as I drew it to my
This morning one of my kids went to school wearing clothes that were mismatched, a tad too big and, frankly, tacky. But the clothes were in good condition and seasonally appropriate, so I’ll allow it. Several years ago I stopped apologizing for my kids’ clothes. “He dressed himself!” I’d explain, embarrassed by clothes that don’t
One side effect of having two kids in school is that we look forward to the weekend more than ever. “Is today the weekend?” Mary asked me one Tuesday morning. By Friday we are all tired and ready for a break from the bus stop, packed lunches, and wrestling all that hair into a school-appropriate
How’s you’re vegetable garden doing these days? It’s late September, hot, muggy, and how my garden’s doing can be summed up by, “I forgot about my garden.” Every year, every single year, in the springtime I am positively giddy about planting a garden. Then after three crippling months of heat and humidity and weeds and vine borers,
Almost every year I write a blog post about my birthday. I didn’t do it this year because I had a really, really bad birthday. In the week before my birthday, I went to the grocery store and bought a few things to celebrate. Cinnamon rolls, bacon, and a watermelon. “I’d like to have some