When we bought this house, I called it our forever home. This was six years ago, when Catie was 3 and the twins were 1. We said this house would hold all the kids’ childhood memories. Teen years and first boyfriends and girlfriends and hundreds of sleep-overs would happen between these walls. When we were empty-nesters, Mike...Continue Reading
Our family’s Ash Wednesday was a mess. We chose work commitments and homework over church. And when we told the kids we weren’t going, Elisabeth and Sam started to cry. This pricked my anxiety: were our kids so emotionally disturbed they couldn’t handle a little schedule change without falling apart? When had we become that...Continue Reading
The Short Version: buy shampoo without sulfates and see if it helps your hair. The Long Version: Shampoo without sulfates gave my hair volume and shine. Here’s my hairstory. Over the past decade, I’ve tried all the miracle shampoos, emulsifiers, and expensive blow dryers. They all delivered—at first. Right after blow-drying my hair, it was...Continue Reading
Sam and Elisabeth are back in the same class this year. This means they’re spending every minute of every day together. They are bonded together like super glue. With one glance across the dinner table, they can dissolve each other into giggles. They cry when the other gets in trouble. Like an old married couple,...Continue Reading
If you have kids, you probably eat a lot of pancakes. Our kids love pancakes in different shapes and sizes (silver dollar to big-as-your-head). They like guessing the mystery ingredient in a batch of pancakes (banana? Maple syrup in the batter?) Most of all, our kids like not eating eggs for breakfast every single morning....Continue Reading
Last year at this time we were buying a house at the beach, and I was scared to death. Even as we were signing the papers, I wasn’t completely sure a vacation home was such a good idea for us. While I was also excited and determined to make this longtime dream a success, the house...Continue Reading
Last week, Mike and I finally agreed it was time to replace the old couch in the beach house. Naturally, we turned to our favorite Swedish furniture store. IKEA’s Friheten Sleeper Sofa has clean lines, inventive storage, and a low price. Most of all, it was not the 30(+) year-old couch that thousands of soggy bathing suit bottoms...Continue Reading
As near as I can tell, women fit into two categories when it comes to our homes. The first group is those of us who have little kids and are still dedicating most of our time to physically nurturing them. Yes, we know the pictures on our walls are horribly outdated, we realize the fake...Continue Reading
For all the cooks who nourish their families, who make three meals a day, who buy all the groceries, who do the sinkfuls of dishes, who freeze and reserve the leftovers, who think about what to make for breakfast while drifting to sleep…this is for you. For the cooks who cook eggs benedict for their...Continue Reading
For just about the first decade of raising kids, I had a wonderful relationship with 100-calorie snack packs. Or, really, any portable food. Who wouldn’t adore pre-packaged energy for hypoglycemic, grumpy toddlers and kids? The right snack in those bright, little packages (Oreos come to mind), could bribe kids into their car seats, halt temper...Continue Reading
