Halloween falls at a time of year that is known for wild, unpredictable weather for many parts of the country, and we need to be prepared for anything. Last year…
One of my favorite things about living in Connecticut is watching the leaves change color in the fall. The phenomenon is gorgeous, and an entire industry is built here in…
If you’ve noticed that I’ve gained some weight recently, thank you for keeping it to yourself, and no, I’m not pregnant. I’d just taken a break from worrying about the…
I have always loved to read and write. As a child, I devoured as many books as I could get my hands on, and I wrote my first opinion piece…
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. It was on a Saturday, and friends had agreed to watch our kids for the evening, so yeah, I…
Last week my kids went back to school. My son entered second grade, ready to learn “multiplication, division, and pretty much lots of math stuff.” He was hopeful that there…
I started exercising again today. I’m bragging right now, because exercise, and also because I planned on recommitting to working out after the kids went back to school, and they don’t…
Are you weary of the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS? I was. No one close to me has suffered from ALS, and how many times can I watch my Facebook…
I have a friend. No really, I do! Tara and I became close in middle school, and our friendship remained strong through high school. We drifted apart in college, heading…
Last week, we descended upon a cabin in the woods with my husband’s family. Our group of 30 took over the main cabin and guest house, and we spent six…
Raise your hand if you’re spending more time outside now that it’s summer! Raise your hand if you want to make sure your family’s skin is protected from the sun!…
Not to brag, but I have (so far) been successful in growing two kids without major incident. I have protected them from the elements, fed and watered them, and resisted…
I have a blog crush. Okay, I have like fifteen of them, but one of them is Stephanie Jankowski from When Crazy Meets Exhaustion. If you read blogs at work,…
My kids love camping. I mean, find me a five and seven-year-old who don’t live for playing outside, getting dirty, and staying up late to roast marshmallows over a fire…
Fifty four. If I would have counted the number of people in line, I may not have readily become its caboose. It was long, but we were hungry, and it…
I exhaled a breathy sigh of relief, and flung myself into my chair, pulling my shoulder length, puffy brown hair into a ponytail with the scrunchie that perfectly matched my…
My mom is visiting for a week. Overnight house guests are rare for us, what with all of our family living across the country, and since I like to save…
A few weeks ago, my youngest child turned five. She had requested a butterfly birthday cake, and with the help of our local library’s cake pan program, I was able…
For a woman in her mid-thirties, I think about college far too frequently. One of my most popular posts is about my collegiate days, I’ve reminisced about my roommates and…
My daughter will be entering kindergarten in the fall, a fact that boggles my mind every other minute. I don’t know what it is about watching my offspring grow. I…
The older my kids get, the more I enjoy doing crafts and projects with them. I no longer have to do the lion’s share of the work, they appreciate the…
In 1991, my happy place was my grandparents’ swimming pool. That summer, when I was no longer a middle schooler, but not yet a high schooler, I spent most of…
“Why don’t you ever give me things like this?” I ask my seven-year-old son as I hold up a drawing from his sister. It is a flower, colorless except for…
My kids are playing soccer this year, and while my seven-year-old is playing actual games, with passing, and plays, and scores and stuff, my almost five-year-old is learning skills in…
My boy is seven, a fact that seems as crazy as when they let us bring him home from the hospital a mere six years and 363 days ago. I…
“I don’t like my skates,” my four-year-old mentioned quietly, as we sat on the bleachers outside of our local ice skating rink. It was our family’s first time ice skating together,…
When I was a zitty, hormonal 14-year-old, I began praying for my future husband. Someone, either my mother or a church youth leader, gave me this idea, and I thought…
When I make new friends, I like to freak them out by either sharing an embarrassing story about myself, or asking them so many questions they think I work for the government. Since…
When I was 14, my parents bought a house across the street from our town’s high school. Ours had always been a home that had a few extra kids hanging…
It’s still winter. Have you noticed? We certainly have, and are pining for spring days that bring trips to the park and the ability to go outside without the task…