Sam is thirteen and has a mind that goes a million miles an hour. Watch the video to see his three tips about how to get to sleep. In our family, three of us are night owls and three of us are early birds. We’ve all been like this from birth. The night owls can’t...Continue Reading
Dear Elisabeth… My dear El, you are a devourer of books. You are a voracious teller and reader of all the stories. For most people, this year—Seventh Grade—is an epic chapter of dramatic proportions in their life stories. It’s the awkwardness of sudden growth spurts (or the lack of those spurts). It’s the hormones and the crushing peer...Continue Reading
Dear El… Thank you for making me laugh every single day. I don’t know where you got this sarcasm from (ha—that’s total sarcasm) but it’s just the best. You may only be 12, but you’re sly wit is way beyond that. Here’s another delight that you might not even know is happening: you’re learning to...Continue Reading
This school has become our family and our home. And not it’s time to say goodbye. For the last decade, Westlake Prep has been the seventh member of our family. To our kids—who started here just a few days after potty-training and who are leaving as tweens and teens—this place has been where they learned just...Continue Reading
Dear Elisabeth… Fifth Grade will be like none of your other school years. You, my dear Elisabeth, have changed. Your self-confidence has grown and you are shining. This inner sparkle comes from your security that Jesus loves you. It also comes from your love to imagine and create. God’s love for you will never change;...Continue Reading
Dear Sam…. Yesterday, when I was worrying about some detail about your school year, a friend said to me, “I think this will be Sam’s best year yet.” Just like that, I knew what she said could be true for you, Sam. So, what do you say we just claim this as a promise for this year? Let’s...Continue Reading
Dear Sam…. It’s crazy I’m writing your first-day-of-school letter at almost the end of September. This has been such a chaotic start to this school year. Hurricane Harvey has made everything later and backwards and awkward and different. Actually, this might be the perfect way for you to start Fourth Grade. Because, Sam, you love the crazy and...Continue Reading
We were ten minutes into the twins’ first basketball game when the mom next to me told me Elisabeth’s shoes were on the wrong feet. This woman was sitting with her toddler daughter, whose shoes were not only on the right feet, but the exact shade of pink as her Ralph Lauren dress. Her daughter could have been an actual Ralph Lauren model....Continue Reading
1. Seven-year-old twins are just starting to assign identities. “You’re the tall one.” “He’s the older twin.” “She’s good at reading and I’m good at math.” They only see themselves as a twosome so they have to even it out. They can’t both be the funny one. 2. They’re still proud of their twinniness. They make...Continue Reading
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
