I believed in my heart. I waited with anticipation. I followed the forecast, minute by minute, keeping three radar apps, a weather blog, and a constantly updating Twitter feed up on my phone. This one – this is the one that would happen. The Winter Wonderland my kids deserved. The Winter Wonderland I deserved. Finally, […]
To Bake or Not To Bake.
In my B.K. era (Before Kids, or Before Kaos, or Before Konstant Losing Of My Mind, but that, I suppose, would be B.K.L.O.M.M.), I enjoyed taking on Extreme Holiday Baking. I reveled in making lists of the various homemade treats I would create, then keeping a tally of the number of each I created (often doing double […]
Ali Had a Little Lamb.
It’s been a while since we discussed my One Hit Wonder Modeling Career, but yes – when I was 10, I sat for a painting by William Hallmark. It was popular in Christian bookstores in the 90s, but now it can be found largely in antique shops (yes my Mom found me in an antique […]
The Discovery of Trick or Treating.
This is the first year we haven’t participated in our Church’s Trunk or Treat, pouring oodles of hours into creating a family theme (or, in the case of last year, throwing it together at the absolute last minute three days after what would be a half-a-year-changing wreck.) It’s not that we quit – our church […]
High Ponytails and Parental Grievances.
You know how we all have those random childhood memories where our parents let us down in some miniscule way, but for some reason we still remember it clearly 25 years later? I’m sure I’ve already given my kids libraries full of these, and their childhoods are only 1/2 and 1/3 complete. Obviously I hardly […]
The Day The Tide Turned Brown.
The history of Alabama Football is nuanced and deep in its tradition. Why, for instance, would our mascot be an elephant, yet we’re called The Crimson Tide? It came from a simple phrase used by a journalist. In 1907, there was a particularly momentous game – the Iron Bowl, in fact – that was played […]
A Meandering Tale of Aliens, Lizards, and Art Appreciation.
Ali drew a picture of an alien. It was a quite nice alien – friendly, geometric, and with wildly fascinating fingers. Yes, a perfectly fine alien. She showed it to me that morning. I praised her delightful drawing and we moved on. It became a long day, much in thanks to her little brother. Whining, […]
I Still Hate Dogs.
I love ALL of God’s endlessly imaginative creatures. In fact, I’ve been on an animal finding bender lately. (And not just dead ones.) I stalked a giant, pizza-pan-sized snapping turtle down a creek near my house, (He even had spikes on his tail! I now understand Super Mario. BOWSER WAS A SNAPPING TURTLE.) I’ve been […]
The Highs and Lows of Camp.
In June, I planned my first ever Week Off Since Becoming a Mom. Or at least, five days straight of 9am-4pm Vacation. Noah is finally old enough to go to our church’s fantabulous multiple award-winning summer day camp (where every week has a different theme and it’s complete kid wonderland and I’m a little jealous […]
Short Stories From A Busy Week.
On Saturday, we went on the newish-annual Road Rally. This isn’t new for my family, as my Dad has driven in epic road rallies (like, China-to-Paris epic) and has created many slightly-less-epic road rallies for different groups pretty much our entire life. But last year was the first year he revived the practice to share […]