Our family is in a great phase, the phase where Christmas morning changes and is more and more delightful every year. We spent Christmas day with Tom’s family. David played while we waited for everyone to arrive. He isn’t old enough to understand the anticipation part of Christmas. We didn’t really talk much about
We didn’t send out Christmas cards this year. As soon as I decided to skip it, I started justifying myself. Not sending them will save money. And it’s better for the environment. But honestly, I love Christmas cards. I love getting mail this time of year, and I appreciate every card we receive. The truth
Tom and I agree that our Christmas tree is…fine. It’s small, droopy, a little wonky, and full of mismatched ornaments. But it’s definitely better than last year when we didn’t have a tree at all. We started with good intentions. Tom brought the tree home on a Tuesday night and started stringing the lights. He
Last year my mom and dad made the switch to an artificial tree. I ridiculed them for the anti-tradition, Grinch-like move. To drive the point home, I bought them a Balsam Fir scented candle to overcome the artificial tree smell. Then I had a bizarre, scratchy-throat allergic reaction to the candle. I guess we all know
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great, one for the books, even. It was maybe even the best trip we’ve taken since adding kids to our family. There was coffee with whipped cream, and chocolate for breakfast, and Mary Virginia got to gnaw on her first ever turkey bone. But there was
Anytime I post photos that are this cute, I feel compelled to start by saying: these photos weren’t staged. Caleb has been obsessed with Mary Virginia since before she was even born. What’s the baby doing in your belly, Aunt Manda? I wanna see her. When’s she coming out? How’s she going to come out,
Last year, while we were on vacation, Tom caught a catfish. Since Kriegers are really good at data management and cleaning up after dinner, but don’t know much about fishing, we considered this a serendipitous event. Even crazier was that he caught it with a piece of macaroni and a homemade fishing rod. Maybe catfish are
Every day at the lake revolved around the sweetheart of summer: water. Like the name suggests, Smith Mountain Lake is in the mountains, and it’s considerably cooler and less humid than it is in Richmond. Plus, the week we were there happened to be an unusually cool week. But that didn’t keep us from being
Last week Tom and I spent a week at Smith Mountain Lake with his family. We also got to hang out with my family, since they happen to live in the area. Our vacation included four children under age three. Even though the adults outnumber the kids (6:4) every day still felt like a series
A long time ago, before David (my little brother David) was even old enough to drive, he started dating a pretty girl who lived across town. They went to prom together, and kept dating even after high school graduation. They went to Virginia Tech together, and then after college graduation they both moved back to Franklin