What’s That Sound, Volume Five

Preschool has been a treasure trove of puzzling stories and observations from Noah. Since his godmother is his teacher, it’s been an unspoken agreement that I will text her Noah’s version of the events of the day, and then she texts me back with what actually happened. Disclaimer: Names have been changed to protect the […]

The Brush of Death.

I’ve made many humiliating parental admissions on this blog. You guys know that I only bathe my children twice a week. You are aware that I never make their beds. You have been apprised of my issues with Sippy Cups and Mold. So you probably won’t be shocked that I’m not the best teeth-brushing mother, […]

Tales from the Porch Swing.

The kids were playing outside while I was lounging flat on my back on the porch swing. (That happens more than it should. But Motherhood as an introvert is exhausting.) (And I’m exceptionally good at lazy when I want to be.) Noah needed to go to the bathroom, so he headed over for me to […]

When Death Is Stranger than Fiction.

It was bath night. We had been to the playground, we had eaten popsicles and let them drip down our entire being, we had handled with our bare hands an opossum jawbone found in the wild (another story for another time), and, most compellingly, it was technically our twice a week appointed bath night. There […]

A Brief History of Football and Offspring.

My husband has had the same Alabama football season tickets since he was a wee lad of 13, making this his 25th anniversary to sit his butt in that same spot on that same bench every fall. It became a necessary relational hurdle for me to learn to enjoy/tolerate (depending on the day) the sport […]

The Profit of a Yard.

The best thing we did in 2013 was get sod in our front yard. Previously, our slightly sloped yard was nothing but dirt – with a few weeds, a bunch of gumballs (or pricklies, as we call them at our house), and plenty of tree roots. It was a shame, as most yards in our […]

The Grasshopper Incident.

There’s a lovely walking trail somewhat near our house – one that I often run on when I can get away by myself. When I am accompanied by my entourage, I bribe the children to walk (without whining) in exchange for a stop at a candy store halfway through our route. Occasionally, we also have […]

Signs of Vacation.

A flock of Emus in a Wastewater treatment plant… The Church of Holy Water/Wrestling Federation… A Labelmakered all-caps toilet instruction – “DO NOT FLUSH ANYTHING BUT TISSUE” – to which we almost left a post-it note underneath it saying, “But where do we put the poo?”… These are the things I didn’t manage to get […]

The Ticket to Preschool.

As I mentioned a few months ago, Noah is attending Preschool this fall – three days a week, and his teacher is his precious Godmother, Miss Janey. …whom he calls “Miss Jamie”, because I make him eat lunch with Jamie of Jamie’s Rabbits way too often and once one has encountered Jamie and her Rabbits […]

What’s That Sound, Volume Four.

We read the bible almost every night to our kids, they go to Sunday School, and we have conversations about God. But you never know what they’re really picking up and what they’re not. And what they’re pondering in their heart of hearts. A few months ago, I had this conversation with Noah. Noah: “They […]