Mary Virginia likes to play house, and whenever she does, she assigns everyone a character. For example, last weekend she was playing house at the beach. She was the mommy, David was the daddy, Tom was the grandpa, and I was the mermaid statue. One morning before playing house we were ironing out the details: Mary
Any serious baker or pastry chef knows — the secret to amazing results is precision. Serious bakers weigh the ingredients because measuring cups are approximate at best. They use temperature-controlled cookware, and regularly-calibrated ovens. ‘ You can’t just dump all the ingredients in the bowl, you have to follow the instructions. You must not over-beat, you must not over-knead. You have to
It’s kind of nice living in a place that completely shuts down when it snows. We only get snow a few times each year, so even the mildest dusting sends everyone screaming indoors, arms full of all the bread and milk they could stuff into their grocery carts. Schools close. Events are cancelled. It’s awesome.
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
We eat a lot of granola bars in our house. They’re portable, usually mess-free, and they’re good at sneaking in healthy ingredients. Plus, they’re almost always delicious. Most granola bars have nuts, though, (or they’re made in a factory with…) and not only can the kids not take foods with peanuts to their school, but we also
Last week I officially wrapped up a year of portraits of my children. A whole year and I didn’t miss even one week. I know, I’m even more shocked than you. An explanation of the 52 project. I really enjoyed the project for a lot of reasons. There were reasons I expected — I love having 52 photos
On Christmas morning, before opening presents, Tom sat with the kids and read the Christmas story from the Bible. It’s something he started last year, and when he told me the idea I told him it was horrible. It would make the kids resent the Bible, I said. It would be a wrestling match, I
Our family is still in the midst of Christmas celebrations, but I’m pausing to catch my breathto post these photos. And, who knows, maybe after a few minutes on the couch I’ll have room for another slice of cinnamon bread. Instead of Christmas morning photos (which would be so much more relevant), these photos are from
Last week I was home alone with Thomas, and he was chasing Brigham around the house. Then I saw Brigham walk casually into the living room without Thomas behind him. I looked around the corner and didn’t see Thomas. I kept walking and Thomas was no where. This happens all the time. I lose Thomas
David’s preschool class has a stuffed narwhal as a mascot, and in just a few short months David has turned into quite the narwhal aficionado. As we were thinking about Christmas, David wanted to get a narwhal for his teachers. While I thought that was a great idea, there were just so many licenses and permits