To move beyond a brief Thanksgiving Day conversation when it comes to focusing on gratitude, I’m trying out two different things with the boys this year. The first is gratitude postcards. The second is a gratitude wall. Now let me start out by saying I’m aware there are way prettier, more-Instagram-worthy gratitude activities out there….
Every Thanksgiving Day, we ask the kids to name things they’re thankful for. While doing so is a nice practice, it’s usually limited to a one-minute conversation before the big feast. And though they always say “my family,” it’s spoken in a perfunctory, I-know-this-is-what-my-parents-want-to-hear type of way. In short, I’m doubtful that this thankfulness exercise…
In March of 2020, I checked out this drawing book from the library, and it changed my life. Dramatic opening line? Yes. True statement? Also yes! By using just simple shapes and lines, I made a sailboat, then a giraffe, then a bunch more stuff. The kids got into it, too, and we found other…
It is not easy to love Minnesota in the month of November. Outside it’s empty trees, biting wind, gray days with flurries of snow. Late sunrises and early sunsets. We have months of snow and ice in front of us, and it will probably be April before I again feel the sun on my bare…
Let me start by saying I have never been good at drawing. I know everyone says that, but I mean it. I once played a Pictionary-type game at a baby shower. My friend looked at my drawing, brows furrowed, and started laughing. I wasn’t offended; I cracked up, too, because what I’d sketched was objectively…
Picture books are one of our favorite ways to mark the transition to a new season and build up anticipation for upcoming holidays. There’s something irresistible about having stories we read only at certain times of year. You know that scarcity part of our brain that lights up when we see a product labeled “limited…
Earlier this week I told you how our annual leaf walk was a bust. That the boys weren’t into it and that not even the jauntiest of my rhymes was able to save the day. Not a big deal, right? Just a short neighborhood stroll where we’d gathered a few leaves and then stopped. Who…
This post was originally published October 21, 2021. It was updated August 23, 2022. I love many fall traditions — visiting an apple orchard, carving pumpkins, the start of a new school year. But my very favorite is going on a leaf hunt with the kids. We find leaves in as many hues from as…
This is the original Mr. Bones.* Perched on top of a storage cabinet in the dining room, he’s enjoying what we’d later look back at as his last carefree moments. The photo was taken October 1st, the very first day of posing Bones in all kinds of fun and wacky ways around the house. Shortly…
