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
Can you tell what Mary Virginia is chewing on? It’s an onion. A raw onion. It’s the raw onion I stashed under her crib to try to heal her ear infection. She found it and walked around the house gnawing on it. Mary Virginia loves raw onions. Every time I slice an onion, she cries
I don’t know why I used to think that, as the kids got older, it’d be easier to take pictures of them. “Older” translates to “more cooperative”…right? That’s the sort of thing a mom of toddlers says. Like, “Oh, I can’t wait till my kids are teenagers and I can stop worrying about them!” Go
I already mentioned that our vacation was mostly rainy and overcast. In fact, it was SO rainy and overcast, that I can only remember putting sunscreen on my fair-haired, fair-skinned babies a grand total of one time. I know, I know, you can still get burned when it’s cloudy. But when it’s cloudy, raining, and you’re huddled
This silly boy started school last week. My goodness he’s grown so much since last year. He wouldn’t stand still for photos, but I like this next one anyway because you can see his shoes. Just before we walked out the door, David ran to his room and grabbed these shoes. He hasn’t worn them
There are almost 700 frame-worthy photos from David and Abby’s wedding, but these posed shots are some of my favorites. Jason, Kristie, Amanda, Tom The Southall grandkids The girls in matching dresses The Southall girls This is a candid picture of my mom and sister between poses. I think I was maybe white-balancing? It doesn’t
This is at least the fifth year we’ve spent a week at Smith Mountain Lake with Tom’s family. It’s a summer tradition now — we’ve done this every year since Tom and I got married. Except I can’t really remember the first years, the years before we had kids. Now there isn’t much relaxing, recharging,
Last weekend was both my birthday and Labor Day weekend. Wait. No, that’s wrong. It was two weekends ago. Slow down, September. Traditionally, Labor Day marks the end of the summer; pools close, we put away our white pants, and I can commence rolling my eyes at people who actually look forward to fall. But summer can’t
Five years ago when I got married, Pinterest was still just a glimmer in the Internet’s eye. Brides like me — those of us who planned weddings before Pinterest — like to say that we’re glad we didn’t have that extra…um…Pin-spiration. But, I dunno, it was still pretty overwhelming. Way back then I used theknot.com
Tom’s parents have a lake house on the same street as the lake house my parents have owned since the 70s. Tom and I were actually dating when his parents bought the property, and when they did we just decided to get married because otherwise it’d be too awkward. When I was a kid, my dad would throw