A week or so ago the humidity broke in Richmond. The change is massive. And I’m not just talking about how the air feels, but everyone is acting differently. We’re all just happier. It’s still hot, but the sharp edge of summer has retreated. It’s like the music is still loud but someone finally turned the subwoofer
Every summer when we go to Deer Valley, people ask us what it is. Short answer: it’s a family camp! Or, as I like to say, “it’s like summer camp but your mom and dad are there.” Perhaps a better description is that it’s like the camp in Marvelous Mrs. Maisel except instead of a
Right around the end of August, the laziness of summer starts to feel gluttonous instead of luxurious, and mom decides it’s time to whip our ship into shape. Mostly, this means taking the controls around screentime from Bluey. This doesn’t mean our family is never on screens, it just means Anna and I are working
Back to school! Fifth grade, fourth grade, and first grade. School started for my kids exactly two days after we got back from our week in Deer Valley. On their first day of school they still had mosquito bites and camp songs stuck in their heads. They went directly from their sleeping bags and bunk
I’m writing this very important, breaking-news blog post from my couch where I have my feet propped up, and I’m from a mixing bowl full of salty carbohydrates. I’m on week 10 of training for a marathon, so this is sort of my m. o. these days. That’s right, Mom’s training for a marathon. Before
This summer has been a super busy one in which we have had almost zero free time, but we’ve barely left our neighborhood. Three of our kids have been on swim team, which absorbed nearly all of our time and energy. We have had no time to do any of the normal summer things I
Eight awesome cousins, together for the first time since 2019. 2019!! We haven’t seen these guys in THREE years. For anyone that’s a long time, but for a kid it’s a loooooong time. It is, without exaggeration, 3/4 of Anna’s entire life. A looooooong time. When your cousins live in a different country, you do
At the end of June my two big kids went to their very first sleepaway camp. Emphasis on very first because, unless I’m forgetting something, I don’t think my kids have ever done any sort of significant camp…not even the day-kind. Mary went to kindergarten camp and, for David? Does swim team count? We are SO LAME.
In the past few months, our family has had the great honor of dog sitting for some of our friends’ dogs. This all started when we offered to help a friend who was traveling internationally and needed a longterm dog sitter. We had six weeks of sheer fun and chaos with Boaz, an energetic yellow
A few weeks ago a few of Mary’s friends from her class came over for a pool party to celebrate her ninth birthday. Every time I think about whipping up a quick blog post about the party, the headline I write in my head is for her sixth birthday party. Six fits more neatly in my motherhood