Here we are, a full two weeks into a teachers’ strike with no end in sight. At first, as I wrote last week, I was in denial. I didn’t feel like dealing with yet another disruption to the boys’ school year, so I tried out the anything-goes approach to our days. It didn’t work. At…
Last year, with the pandemic raging (as it still is a year later 😩) and me six months pregnant, it was clear we would not be going out for New Year’s Eve. Let’s be real — since having kids, the vast majority of our NYE festivities have taken place at home anyway. And we’ve had…
The stockings have been raided, presents opened, cinnamon rolls consumed. And it’s not quite 10 a.m. How will we spend the rest of Christmas Day? This is a question we face a lot of years. Since we celebrate with my family on Christmas Eve and Mike’s family doesn’t get together for Christmas (they’re Jewish and…
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…
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…
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…
Today is World Octopus Day! A few years ago, we checked out a book from the library called Octopuses One to Ten by Ellen Jackson. A rhymed counting book with factual sidebars, this text launched our fascination with the ocean’s eight-armed wonders. Did you know octopuses have nine brains, one for each arm and one…
