For her past five birthdays, I’ve been writing her birthday posts for her. But she’s seven today. And after keeping a diary for over a year, Ali is now a prolific writer (and, as the year went on, became a creative illustrator) in her own right. (After all, she did tell the bat story better […]
Bad Answers to Good Questions: Christmas Edition.
Sometimes my kid asks me a question for which I have no answer. I vaguely speak a bunch of hogwash and then change the subject, hoping she’ll move on. But my mind cannot. It is a continuity issue that must be addressed. And so it spins in the background, using up my RAM memory and […]
Top Ten Moments of Christmas.
It was a good Christmas. Many of our past Christmases have contained moments (or longer) of frustration and unmet expectations, which became exponentially blown out of proportion because of the fact that it’s CHRISTMAS DAY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD and ALL IS SUPPOSED TO BE COMPLETELY IDYLLIC. You know, like a kid busting her head […]
DETERMINATION.
That’s what it takes to achieve the mailing out of Christmas Cards. I am convinced that the twenty-nine step process of Christmas Card Creation is the single most trying test of adulthood. (At least this week.) And, being that I have a severe aversion to being late to any function, the fact that I cannot […]
iPhone 5s Slo-Mo: Changing Kid Vid Forever.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Before reading this post, please ensure that you are in a place where you can and will watch short videos with your volume on. I understand that watching someone’s kid videos is a huge virtual commitment nearly to the level of seriousness of friending someone on Facebook, and I promise to make […]
Nativity McQueen.
There are two hobbies that my husband is possibly more passionate about than football (a subject we won’t be mentioning this week): Legos and Christmas Decorations. In fact, I often wonder if the reason we had children was so that he felt justified in playing with Legos again. Anyway, for the last three years, he’s […]
Dinner Placemats of the Thankful Variety.
I have a confession to make: I am a cynical Thankgivingist. Not about the family or the food or internal giving of thanks, but mainly about public thanksgiving. I shy away from posting what I’m thankful for or doing Thanksgiving crafts with my kids because I fear it will be contrived rather than genuine. Not […]
Birmingham Bucket List: Autumn Walks.
Despite the fact that I would prefer for it to stay out of my house, I do love nature – especially in the fall. And although it seemed to start later than usual, Autumn has been lovely here. The weather has been mild and sunny, and the extraordinarily bright leaf colors seem to have come […]
Writing Prompts for Children.
One of the most entertaining school tasks that Ali and I attempt is what we call writing prompts. The idea is to encourage her to think outside of hard facts, which can be challenging. This exercise isn’t about correct spelling, proper penmanship, writing paragraphs or even proper sentences – its purpose is to practice creativity […]
On The Torture of Pumpkins.
Disclosure: The crafts contained herein are not Martha Stewart Approved, nor are they stolen ideas from said Martha. We must remember: I am not the expert. So our Pumpkin Saga left off with us having three nearly microscopic pumpkins, an aversion to all future field trips, and cotton nightmares for life. The children wanted to […]