We apparently have a tradition in this family that takes place at the ripe old age of 3. And it involves getting yourself stuck in a chair and having to be extracted from said chair by either dismantling of the chair (top picture) or contorting your body into complicated yoga [...]
Have you seen the previews for Fantastic Mr. Fox? If you haven’t you need to check them out! My kids have been talking about this movie for a couple weeks and I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those movies that we’ll take [...]
I wish we’d seen this video last week before we semi-butchered two lovely turkeys at our Thanksgiving Warm-up. Still, I thought I’d share this video of Alton Brown showing how to carve the perfect turkey just in time for the real Turkey Day!
[...]Every year we do Thanksgiving Warm-up I love it more than the year before. I love hanging out with good friends. I love trying everyone else’s favorite recipes. I love getting everything ready and seeing our ideas come to life.
It is such fun for Thomas & me.
This year Thanksgiving Practice [...]
Okay, so he’s actually the only husband I’ve ever had, but I don’t think that is any less monumental. In fact, if you know what it takes to put up with me on a daily basis you’d know that makes him a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Anyways, today is [...]
Is this a boy thing? To be up and cruising the house on two little legs at the tender age of 7-months-old? Because  neither of my girls were quite this accomplished in the mobility department so early and I wasn’t prepared to be chasing this little guy so soon!
Even still, [...]
We had the chance to practice Thanksgiving last weekend and I’m saving the recap for my Wordless/Wordful Wednesday post, but in the meantime I thought I’d share my Top Ten Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving. (I forgot to mention that if you click on the names it will take you to [...]
We had an awesome Thanksgiving Warm-up party this weekend. It was so fun to hang out with good friends & family and practice all the great Thanksgiving recipes we’ll be making next week.
After all the drama of the last couple weeks/months it did my soul good to [...]
On the day we found out we’d lost the baby, this cat showed up in our carport. She snuck into our house as we were shuffling kids into the car and curled up on the sofa and went to sleep like she’d lived here her whole [...]
Our Thanksgiving Warm-up preparations are still very much underway. And with 40 guests descending on our house this weekend, I have so much to do to get ready. Especially since we always try to entertain as well as we can without breaking the bank. Which means [...]
Whether you’re hosting a Thanksgiving Warm-up of your own or your hosting the “real” Turkey day at your house, here are a few cool Etsy finds for things to make your party special.
Eco-Friendly Tree Branch Holders & Place Cards by A Remark You Made.
Before I was married Thanksgiving was hands-down my least favorite holiday. I called it an “old people holiday.” I thought it was boring, depressing, & dull. But something happened after I got my very first casserole dish at a wedding shower. I fell in love with [...]
First, the stomach flu and now this. I’m putting these in the vault until he’s in high school. At which point I will threaten to publish them to all of his friends the first time he breaks curfew. I think it’s a stellar plan.
One thing I failed to mention about yesterday’s grand adventure to the children’s ER was that it taught me a few important lessons.
First and foremost: If you’re going to bum around in your PJs all day at least make a point to put on a bra. ‘Cause I have [...]
I knew the moment the words came out of my mouth that I had tempted fate. I know better than to say something like, “Yeah, luckily we’ve never had to take any of our kids to the Emergency Room for anything.”
Smart, huh? Less than 24 hours later guess where I [...]
Bear with me while I shamelessly share pictures of my kids. Sometimes I have to be one of those moms. I can’t help myself. It’s just that Halloween is one of my all-time favorite days of the year. I mean, who doesn’t love dressing your kids up so you they [...]
My kids have lots of toys. Lots and lots. But, the one thing they love to play with? Cardboard boxes. Big boxes. Little boxes. All boxes.They currently have two they’re playing with. A super big shipping box and a much smaller diaper box. So, knowing this, I wasn’t surprised the [...]
I hate the word Miscarry. I hate that it sounds like something I’ve done. Like this baby was there, was inside, was growing and I miscarried it. As if there was some other way I should have been carrying this baby all along and I just messed it up somehow.
I [...]
For the record, I didn’t even remotely come up with these on my own. Do a Google search for Montessori play and you’ll find these and hundreds more. But, we did just recently add a lot of these to our homeschool room and since they’ve been such a huge hit [...]
This post was originally published October 3, 2008. It’s one of my favorites so I thought I’d share it again.
Did I mention that Ivy’s teacher asked me to bring in a chicken to show the class today as part of their unit on Farms and Farm Animals? She did. And [...]
I’ve mentioned I love Halloween, right? One reason why is that there is seemingly no end to the cool crafts you can make on Halloween. Here are a few of my favorite Fall/Halloween kids’ crafts from the internets…
Pumpkin Patch Creatures (above) from Martha Stewart are [...]
My little man is sick, sick, sick. I suspect an ear infection (102 fever but no cough, runny nose, etc.) so I’ve been spending the last two nights snuggling up with a miserable little guy. Which means I’m sleep deprived and there is no real chance of me writing anything [...]
Just trying to make sure he didn’t catch cold on his first trip to the county fair. I think it’s fair to say we were successful in keeping him warm!
(Thanks to our good friend, Halie, for capturing such a cute picture [...]
I don’t generally buy baby toys. I did with Kai and, honestly, they were all pretty much a waste. It’s not that I think all baby toys are a waste. It’s just that I never really know which ones to get and I pick them [...]
At the risk of outing myself as one not belonging to the group of intellectually elite who enjoy going to depressing art house movies that no one really “gets,” I’m going to tell you what I thought about the Where the Wild Things Are movie.
In a word? [...]
I missed Wordless Wednesday yesterday. One minute I was waking up and getting Kai out the door for school. The next thing I knew I was going to bed without posting anything all day. Which ordinarily wouldn’t bother me but I had some really cute pictures of the kids’ trip [...]
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Costumes, trick-or-treating, candy. What’s not to love?
And since Kai’s second Halloween I’ve always made the kids’ costumes myself. I’m not super talented, but I do love the challenge of making costumes and getting creative with how we put them together. So, for this [...]
Snow White Diamond Edition
My girls are big fans of the Disney Princesses. All of them. Buy them anything with a Disney Princess on it and they’re in. In fact, last Christmas Santa brought them the whole Disney Princess Barbie set. Mostly because “Santa” wanted to [...]
Did I ever tell y’all the story of how I knew Thomas was the man I was going to marry? It is a beautiful story of a girl, a romance, and a Waffle House dumpster filled with Chocolate Pie vomit. I get all misty eyed just thinking about it.
When Thomas [...]
Who am I kidding? Of course it is.
A mom’s got to do what a mom’s got to do. And sometimes a mom has got to carry the baby in the laundry basket with the clean sheets. Right?
For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes for [...]
Traveler took the car out cruising for hot chicks this weekend. This kid is so advanced.
Last week was a big week of firsts. So big I didn't have the chance to blog them. Luckily I did remember to capture them on film.
**These pictures of the event brought to you by my fantastic 5-year-old blogging assistant, Kai.**
It is amazing how thin young well-rested I looked before kids. Anyone know any tricks for getting a little of that back?
Traveler has the best goofy expressions of any of our babies. I can't wait to see what he's capable of when he actually tries to be silly!
Or, "Mom is this hat really necessary?"
this is the same girl who made him wear a plastic bowl on his head while he was trapped in the exersaucer yesterday. So, beware the cute older sister. They're never as sweet as they look. (Take it from someone who knows.)
I finally captured one of these on camera - the elusive baby smile! Doesn't he look like a charmer?
I wanted to share this picture for Wordless Wednesday but hated to do it without sharing the recipe. So, forgive me for not totally following the Wordless Wednesday rules.
Cookers are what the girls call everyone from chefs to the people who make their Happy Meals at McDonald's purely organic healthy take-out meals.
Our first Artful Friday was last week and even though it was just the girls and me it was really a fun day.
More pics from the pow-wow. I just couldn't resist.
There are certain places in my house that I am relieved guests never have cause to enter. One such place is my refrigerator.
My sweet faced baby
Enough of me being maudlin. Here's something a bit happier...
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I remember 8 years ago today. I will never forget.
We made an unexpected stop at Dinosaur World in Kentucky last week because we just couldn't resist. I think the pics speak for themselves...
Don't believe me? Take a look at the evidence...
Despite the fact that I was ready to have my mail forwarded and put my life on permanent vacation mode, we did come back to reality on Monday. Here are a few of the best moments from our trip...
