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Taking Stock of 2012
December 27th is a special anniversary at our house. One year ago today we still lived in Montana, but we signed the closing papers on our home where we now live in Minnesota. Coincidentally, it’s...
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Turkey Soup Days and Ibuprofen Nights…How I Spent my Christmas Vacation
The must-have item on the Christmas list this year? Children’s ibuprofen. It’s not exactly what I thought would be the most requested item, but I’m awfully thankful I had an ample supply ready for...
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Round Beads in the Nose: A Full Circle Moment
It seems that I’ve passed on a genetic predisposition to shove beads in one’s nose. Don’t ask why. I can’t explain it. A few weeks ago, I had one of those full circle moments as a parent. At bedtime, I...
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Say it with me: “At this time last year…”
You certainly heard someone say it this past week. Maybe you even said it yourself. Looking out at our sea of snowy white, below zero wind chills, seemingly endless Monday snowfalls, you probably took...
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Sunburns, Easter Eggs, and Amazing Grace
What in the world?! There’s an antelope standing out there on the street! If I can say that and it sounds believable on the morning of April Fool’s Day, I’m either A) in Montana or B) surrounded by...
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Chariots of Fool’s Five
While I usually run alone, on Sunday I ran the Fool’s Five with my favorite running partner: my daughter. Starting my count at 7th grade cross country, I’ve been a runner for 23 years. After high...
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To My Kids on Mother’s Day
To My Kids on Mother’s Day, On Mother’s Day, I want to tell you thank you for making me a mom. Some mornings when I come down the stairs I don’t look very excited to be awake and making breakfast, and...
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Seven Lessons Learned in Seven Days
Children possess uncanny permanent marker detection…just one of the life lessons I learned this week. Life’s been especially busy around here lately. My husband spent a week in Montana working on a...
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A Series of Fortunate Events
Normally, milking a goat for the first time would be a pretty memorable event for me. But this past week, I almost forgot I even did that. It’s really spring and life is running at full speed at our...
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Giving my Kids Nothing This Summer
I love my kids and I try to do my best. The trouble is, it’s easy to think “best” and “more” are one and the same. They are not. My original plan this week was to write about our summer list of...
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Neglect: The Latest Innovation in Gardening
Written June 3, 2013. My kids are highly innovative horticulturists, despite a lack of any formal training. Last week I wrote about a few of my researched plans for the garden this year, but who needs...
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Kids Still Say the Darndest Things
Even though I’m with my children 24/7, they still have a way of taking me by surprise. Just the other day, my three-year-old proposed. He first asked me about the plan for the day. I said it was just...
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A Popsicle Week
Written July 22, 2013. With colored tongues to prove it, our kids slurped down most of a brand new box of 100 freeze-and-eat popsicles in the past week. Four kids, a few popsicles a day, times a...
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35: The Chicken Birthday
Written July 29, 2013. This Friday is a momentous day at our house. It’s my 35th birthday and Chicken Day. Eight weeks ago, 110 peeping balls of fluff arrived at our place, 60 meat bird chicks and 50...
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Your Friendly Local Wicked Stepsister
Written August 8, 2013. Feather boa, fake mole, lace gloves, crazy hat, mismatched socks, blue eye shadow…all just part of my Tuesday morning this past week. Oh yes, and did I mention that I’m going to...
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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Written September 3, 2013. Have you seen those containers of parched, bedraggled flowers baking on the sidewalks outside of stores? Sometimes I feel a little like that. At the beginning of summer, the...
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Beware the Purple Footprints
I knew it wasn’t good when the first thing I saw was a purple footprint on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I followed the purple footprint trail to the bathroom, where I could hear running...
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Pie and Two-Year-Olds: Yes, You Can
Today, I made pie with my two-year-old. Martha Stewart would probably not approve of the non-exact nature of our baking. We stopped mixing crust because my daughter needed to set a cricket trap by the...
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Happiness Is…
Written October 14, 2013. Some days, my cup is half empty. All I see are messes, everything grates on my nerves, and I just wish it was bedtime. It’s those times when I wistfully remember the...
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Westward the Chickens: The Great Roundup, A (Mid)Western
Folks, turn on your deep, gravelly Sam Elliot cowboy voice as you read this today. Go ahead and put in your dip o’ chew. Things are gettin’ a little mid-western ’round these parts. This here ain’t no...
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