Pretty dresses, a toddler-sized sport coat, Tom in a tie, and our last Easter as a family of four. As if I needed another excuse to take a family photo. Before we left for church, our kids were more than happy to sit with my parents’ dog for photos. They sat there and smiled perfectly. We had plenty
As of the past month or so, David has suddenly become very, very interested in crafts. He loves it all — cutting, coloring, gluing, stickers, painting. This is a new development, I used to have to work really hard to get him interested in crafts. I don’t know if it’s because he’s older, or because of crafts
To make this video even more adorable, imagine Mary Virginia wearing a soft pink smocked dress with embroidered bunnies instead of the oversized Salty Dog Cafe shirt she asks to wear every day. While you’re at it, imagine that, instead of screaming “Why’s he not in a cage?” from the other room, David is singing along.
In thinking about making goals for the coming year, and deciding I didn’t want to make goals, it didn’t occur to me even once to look back on my goals for 2014 until I sat down to write this. So I did. I re-read what I wrote at the beginning of 2014 and then I
Our family had a grand total of three Christmas celebrations this year. This was our first year spending Christmas morning at our house with just our family. We spent the next day with Tom’s family, and then visited my family. Each celebration was full of wonder, wide eyes, shredded wrapping paper, and inevitably ended with David whining, “Mommy, where’s
I love beautifully-wrapped gifts. I really enjoy taking time to wrap gifts well and make generous bows. The presentation, I think, is part of the gift. I love neutral wrapping paper and prominent bows. That’s what I do for baby showers and birthday gifts and especially Christmas. Never in my life have I ever used
Yesterday (November 30) was the first day of Advent, which means today (December 1) is the second day of Advent, which means it’s not too late to start an Advent devotional Advent is the season of waiting. And OHMIGOSH we are waiting in this house. We have a little bag of treats we got for
As Thanksgiving approaches, lots of my friends do “thankful” activities with their kids. The idea is simple, ask the kids what they’re thankful for and display their answers — and yours. This is our take on it. I decided to trace our hands and hang them like a garland in our dining room. Initially I
Back in August, I started doing a monthly memory verse with our kids. I downloaded the printables here, and hung them in my dining room. My approach was casual; my kids are young so I didn’t think it made sense to push too much structure. I was just going to say the verse at the beginning
It’s 8:57 p.m. on Saturday night and Tom is trying to rock Mary Virginia to sleep. My best efforts weren’t working, so he’s taking a turn. “I’m done,” I said when I walked out of her room. When I’m tired and I’m frustrated, he takes over, and that’s when I’m most thankful that I’m part