May might be the busiest month of the year. That used to be December, but everyone seems to know December is insane and doesn’t schedule anything superfluous. May has sneaky busy-ness. It’s the end of spring sports, the start of summer sports, end-of-the-year competitions, final recitals, and SO MANY school projects. Jen Hatmaker describes the...Continue Reading
When other shoppers see our huge Target cart of blonde kids coming down the aisle, about half of them grin and tell me how wonderful big families are. The other half just kind of stare. And count. And check me out to see if I might be pregnant again. Or wearing an Amish hair...Continue Reading
During Spring Break, the kids and I spent the day at a friend’s house. And by house I mean farm with horses, zebras, peacocks, longhorns, and chickens. Like the roles farm-visitors have played for centuries, our family fit the city kids stereotype perfectly. Our hosts (the farm kids) were patient when my kids complained their...Continue Reading
Seventeen days of vacation together gives you family stories. Family stories are those memorable little tales that happen when you least expect it. They are the delight and surprise of life not going according to plan. They are the stories your family will tell the next generation. Hergenrader Family Stories from 2013 Christmas Break 1....Continue Reading
Traveling through the Southwest for Thanksgiving Break has confirmed we have two kinds of kids: those who believe a cactus is sharp and those who have to touch it themselves. Kids who touch the cactus are also the ones who feel my hot curling iron, who pick up the hotel phone hundreds of times to...Continue Reading
Two summers ago, right before Elisabeth and Sam were to start Kindergarten the first time, another mom snuck me a list of 100 Sizzling Sight Words. “This is the list!” she said, like she had stolen an advance copy of the Bar Exam. “They’ve got to learn this list of words to go on to...Continue Reading
Sam and Elisabeth are afraid of the dark, which has mostly just been a problem at night. Sam shares a room with Nate and Elisabeth sleeps with Catie. You would think this roommate situation would be enough to combat their fears. Nope. Even with a sibling sleeping inches away, both Sam and Elisabeth need the lights...Continue Reading
Today’s Fraudulently Asked Questions is with Sam and Elisabeth. As six-year-olds, they are in that delightful stage of both hating and loving hobbies. They hate stopping their play to attend ballet and Tae Kwon Do lessons. But they love every other sport they aren’t a part of. They’re old enough to have opinions, but still...Continue Reading
Yesterday, while driving home from school, Elisabeth announced, “I think I have a boyfriend.” Which…what? How does she even know the word boyfriend? We are not a “Hey, Elisabeth! Who’s your boyyyyfriend?! type of house. No one is talking about dates or boyfriends or girlfriends. How would she even come up with the ideas there...Continue Reading
When I was growing up in Galveston during the ’70s and ’80s, we had one shopping mall. Galvez Mall was the perfect size for our small-ish city. There were the usual ’80s staples (Limited, Corn Dog Factory, arcade, movie theater), but also a couple fancy, locally-owned department stores and more than one t-shirt shack. Really,...Continue Reading
