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
This morning at preschool drop off, a friend of mine commented that Thomas looks a lot like his dad. I agreed, and I actually hear that a lot. In fact, I hear that about all our kids. They look SO MUCH LIKE TOM. I said, “Yeah, he does. But let me show you something.” And then
The kids had their costumes planned for weeks, maybe even months before Halloween. An octopus for David, a butterfly fairy for Mary Virginia (heavy on the butterfly, light on the fairy), and a hand-me-down dragon for Thomas. Then the day before Halloween, Mary Virginia called an audible and switched to the most terrifying costume of
A few weeks ago we went on our annual summer vacation with Tom’s family. This year we went to Lake Anna for the first time. We had an awesome trip, our house was perfect for little ones — a sandy beach area, shallow water, lots of grass for playing, and even a screened-in eating area so
Last year at preschool, David’s class sang a song that he called the Octopus Song, even though it’s actually called the Butterfly Song. He specifically loved the line, “If I were an octopus, I’d thank you Lord for my good looks.” And because he loved the song so much, and because he related so much to
The day before we closed on our old house, I told the kids (with a bit of drama and gravity) that we were going to the old house to have dinner for the last time. I wanted to gauge their emotions, did they seem reluctant to go to the old house? Excited? Apathetic? Mary Virginia
Tom’s paternal grandparents visited from Pittsburgh last weekend. The trip from Pennsylvania to Virginia is a long one and they aren’t able to visit often, so when they do it’s particularly special. To mark the occasion, I balanced my camera on an up-turned bench and a bunch of encyclopedias and dusted off the self-timer. And also,
My niece Psalm turned one a few weeks ago, and I made this countdown calendar for her. I got the pattern from The Sugar House Shop — it works like an Advent calendar, but you countdown to a birthday. I wanted to share it here because I am oh-so-very happy with how it turned out. I at all wasn’t confident when I
Last Thursday I dressed my kids in their Easter clothes, took them out in the front yard, and made them take re-do Easter photos. I did this because Easter was rainy, hectic, and we didn’t get photos. I also did this because, apparently, I’m insane. My kids are going to grow up with stories of
As holiday celebrations go, we had a very low-key Easter this year. Easter baskets on table, hard-boiled eggs and jelly beans for breakfast. Simple, and still, we were positively scrambling out the door to get to church on time. At some point in the chaos of getting seven people dressed and out the door my