I’ve had a bit of low-level anxiety this April about Easter. Growing up, the Easter Bunny used to always bring me a new outfit, suitable for wearing to church that day. It was a lovely tradition that I planned to continue with my own children. Early on, in fact, the girls did get cute little … [Read more…]
UPDATE: Forgot to mention that I’ll be on Newschannel 13‘s Live at Noon Wednesday talking about fun this February break. So far, the Valentine’s Day season has been pretty predictable. I should have remembered that J would want to get gifts for all of us (remember last year’s Love Dice?). We’d gone to Target to … [Read more…]
Over the weekend I was like some kind of insane Amazon Prime machine. But after ticking off my main list of gifts, I always have a second little shudder of panic as I remember all of my “tier 2” gifts, like things for teachers and neighbors and extra items that I want to recommend that … [Read more…]
I am not on top of this holiday season. Wait, do I say this every year? I don’t think I’m usually this far below my own expectations. And here’s the thing: I’ve lowered my expectations. Like, significantly. In years past, I’ve organized a neighborhood Christmas caroling party, I’ve hosted what I called Crafty Girl Parties, … [Read more…]
The fantastic thing about buying into the stupid, terrible Elf on a Shelf thing (or having your child buy into it for you) is that you can wake up and, first thing in the morning, realize that you have Failed As A Parent again. That was my morning. I woke up and headed downstairs and … [Read more…]
Parenting the girls this afternoon was a bit of roller coaster. We’d had a busy weekend traveling and visiting family, and we arrived home a little after midnight last night. The girls powered through the school day, but things got a bit delicate after that. But they were awfully cute, too. Shortly after both girls … [Read more…]
I’m one of six children, so I’m used to a crowd at meals. Growing up, our house was loud enough that it was overwhelming for some kids. I remember one time when my little brother’s friend, an only child, was invited to dinner, and we were having a perfectly normal meal with everyone acting naturally … [Read more…]
It’s almost Halloween again, which means another milestone to document for the History of Our Family. I love-love-love First Day of School photos. My children are dressed carefully, they’re alert and eager to please, they’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They’re not willing to admit it publicly, perhaps, but each year they’re proud of their new status, … [Read more…]
I can’t quite believe that Halloween is only days away. We’ve been both unduly casual and taken by surprise by the holiday this year. Usually, J is begging me to put out Halloween decorations in September, and I insist that we wait until after her birthday (October 1st). This time another week or so passed … [Read more…]
I don’t know about the rest of you, but one of my friends and I ran into a similar problem. He reported via Facebook: Hey Walgreens, how about if when someone searches your site for ‘Valentine’ you try to separate the cute puppy valentine cards from the condoms and love lotions. You know, for the … [Read more…]
