I want to tell you a story about perhaps the most frightening parenting moment of my life and the bravest kid I know. We went to a horse farm for a field trip last week. The farm was tidy and organized and smelled of hay and dirt and horse manure and sky and life and [...]
Isn’t it funny how all of a family’s history can meet right in the face of a three-year-old? On our long drive recently Kevin and I looked at Piper’s face in the rearview mirror and verbally dissected her petite features. A Norton nose. My mom’s jawline. It’s all right there. Aunt Vonnie. Uncle Tommy. In [...]
I have long chronicled this relationship. Emma and I joke that we want these kids to get married (in the far far far far far distant future) just so we can have the world’s best photo montage/slide show/blue-ray extravaganza at their wedding. It could be like a feature length film. They’ve been friends. They’ve been [...]
Piper likes to say, “You’re the best, Mom.” And then she adds, “You’re the best mom in the whole world!” Then I say, “No” and she says, “Yes, you are!” It’s an adorable game. Except she’s wrong, of course. I am not the best mom. Not in the whole world. Not in the United Sates. [...]
At the end of this school year it seems that London’s reading skills have finally taken off. She reads everything. All the time. Beckett wore a shirt that had an arrow and said “He did it”. London cracked up and whispered to me, “Mom, I think Beck’s shirt is perfect because it says he did [...]
I’ve been telling you my Little Willow is smart – right? Well. Now she is an accomplished songwriter as well. She wrote this little piece just this evening and repeated it endlessly as she ran circles around our kitchen’s center island. Here goes . . . I love my mommy. I love her more than [...]
Yesterday was a normal day. I have a lot of those. I’ll just go ahead and highlight three examples of events or conversations that contributed to the normalness of the day. Just three, mind you. Three examples of normal. (Except maybe I am not entirely sure what normal means anymore. That’s possible. Indeed – probable.) [...]
One kid. Two stories. Because I can. The First. Yes. We are still bribing Finn to use the bathroom somewhere other than her own pull up. After one such attempt (and success!) Finn requested her reward. “I want sad-you-seize.” she informed me. “Sadducees? Like in the Bible?” I asked her. (Hey, she’s like a genius [...]
After some substantial debate as to how spend last Saturday, our family ended up attending a festival held at our daughter’s school. It was nice. We ate BBQ, listened to story telling, looked at a few crafts, petted a goat or three and bounced in inflatable squares of craziness. But one thing we did not [...]
Piper Finnian is finally being allowed to climb into the loft bed in her bedroom. Do you know what this means? It means this little baby girl of mine is less of a baby girl today than she was yesterday.
The relationship between Piper Finn and Beckett has been turbulent since their first meeting. Their two years together have been filled with highs and lows. The highs – sweet photos, short hugs, occasional sharing. The lows – pushing, smacking, hitting, general lack of kindness. This weekend, a new level of understanding was reached between these [...]
Recently Mosely asked if she could dress Piper Finn for our day’s outing. I said yes. Not only because I like to encourage sisterly love and older sibling helping, but because it was a busy morning. Kevin was out of town. Breakfast had not been served. (Or, more accurately, breakfast had not been passed out [...]