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the life jacket decision.
This summer we were swimming at a lake. Piper Finn has really advanced in her swimming abilities since last summer but the lake has murky water deeper than all of our heights combined and she still has limited experience in deep water swimming. I required her to wear a life jacket if she chose to venture past a specific spot in the water. I’m the mom. I made a mom decision. Piper did NOT agree with my decision. In fact, she pretty much thought it was the WORST. Her life jacket was cumbersome. It was heavy. Everyone who could swim well was not wearing a life jacket and she…
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Win TWO TICKETS to Asheville’s Tree Tops Adventure Park
If you could see me right now you would see me rubbing my hands back and forth together with glee and acting a little giddy. During this past year the blog has turned into both a therapy session and a review cool products landing spot. Those opposites have helped clear my brain and feed my heart and provide my family with neat opportunities and supplement my income. But today I am thrilled and excited because I get to talk about a fun place but YOU get to win tickets to go there! Last summer the kids and I trekked across our little mountain and spent a day doing super cool…
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The Out of Place, Incongruent (But Not At All Surprising) Discoveries Within My Own Home
A lone boot on the kitchen floor. 2. A clear plastic, glow in the dark, rat on the arm of my favorite chair. (WHO on earth gave one of my children this? No. Seriously. Tell me who bought that for my child because I want to buy THEM a little something something.) 3. The dishwasher door hanging wide open. 4. A water bottle on the living room floor. 5. A bath mat sopping wet in the middle of the day. 6. Two green peas floating in the toilet. 7. 600 tiny squares of cut up white paper on the school room floor. 8. A…
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20 Ways To Draw A Bike: A Timberdoodle Review
I love books like these when I am just judging a book by its cover. I find myself naturally drawn to them on book store shelves. Lots of times I hold them, consider them – and then leave them on the shelf. I think I just don’t know where to fit them in. Which is why it is an extra bonus to me to have an opportunity to receive and review this art book for Timberdoodle. Recently I tucked this charming little book into my bag on an adventure day with my three middle schoolers. (I’m still getting used to saying that.) The younger two kids were at camp…
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Five Finds Friday (two Bergen photos, potato salad and gigantic earrings)
Oh Friday, Friday. FUNNY This picture from our most recent mom-son outing. It’s become his go-to face for photos. (Which is why the last entry today is so special.) FASHIONABLE You know me and Noonday are buddies – right? (Remember Sean Penn?) They have a new fall line out and there are some lovely pieces. Are these earrings too big for me? FLAVORFUL I know I keep talking about my new kitchen buddy InstantPot. (And I promise a review post is coming soon all about why I heart this new pal. And – you know, what its name is.) But here’s a great…
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an opportunity to be what’s good & lovely & true
Over and over (and over) again when my ship has been sinking, God has used regular real-life human beings to rescue me and my family. Not angels nor magicians nor miracle workers. Just people. Not people with millions of dollars or loads of resources. Every day people with jobs and deadlines and mortgages and debt and stuff to get done in their own lives. Maybe you call it empathy. Maybe generosity. But when we stop looking at our own stack of problems for a few minutes, an afternoon, the length of time it takes to read a blog post, and we place ourselves inside the pain or the suffering…
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Making Our Trail: KOA Lookout Mountain/Chattanooga West
Our last night at a KOA was relatively close to home. (Compared to Colorado, of course.) We wrapped up our KOA lodging experience near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Or Georgia. The road to reach the KOA went back and forth between the states. A wooded campground, this felt a lot like campsites we have visited over the years of our family camping campaign. Our lodging here was a cabin – but one without a bathroom. (I’m telling you, deluxe cabins with a bathroom are my favorite, if you can afford that option.) This cabin was cute though and I loved that it faced the woods. Your front porch and porch swing…
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the silver lining we get to choose to be
I stubbed my toe on a wooden baseball bat. A baseball bat most decidedly NOT placed in its proper home. It hurt, but I wasn’t angry about it. The Stuff of Childhood isn’t so annoying. I am a Changed Human. My daughter says that the silver lining in all this mess is me. I’m her Silver Lining. I don’t know how long I get to be seen like that by my daughter. So today I celebrate that. Today my heart rejoices and I decide that Grateful is my choice. _______________________________
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The Revel Ride at Lost Valley: A Picture of My Own Story
One of the special rides offered to guests at Lost Valley Ranch this summer was entitled The Revel Ride. It was a new idea for Lost Valley and it was a ride offered to women one morning while the kids were all enjoying their camp rides. Of course I said yes and I happily met the other ladies and the wranglers at the corral to head out. (There was so much good stuff all hidden around the corners on this ride, but I kind of don’t want to share it all because – like a great novel with fantastic plot twists – I don’t want to ruin the experience…
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Five Finds Friday (Italian deliciousness & a classic novel that I missed)
Oh Friday, you keep sneaking up on me. FUNNY This conversation was funny: “Mom, can I google birds and bees?” WHAT? “Can you google what??” “Birds and bees. I am writing a story and I need to see some art images for both birds and bees. This story has both animals. Can I use Google to find pictures of birds and of bees?” “Oh. Yeah. Sure.” FASHIONABLE Piper is by far the easiest of my children to shop for. She likes most all clothing that you buy for her. Isn’t this dress from GAP adorable? FLAVORFUL London and I celebrated her thirteenth birthday (and…
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. . . sometimes
Sometimes you start school in July and it’s a really good day. Everyone gets their math done (because first week math lessons are all glorious confidence-building reviews) and your classic procrastinator takes pride in the fact that his list is actually entirely completed before lunch and you wonder if this is a new leaf or just a lucky first day break. Sometimes your dog’s hair gets cut too short and he looks like a big-headed fuzzy noodle somehow. You have trouble making direct eye contact with him because you feel his shame radiating. The groomer assures you that in less than a month all of that shaggy perfection will…
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How To Get Excited About Starting Back to Homeschool
Summer is a double edged sword for homeschoolers. (Maybe for all schoolers, I don’t know.) On the one hand — FREEDOM. No schedule. No routine. No lesson plans. No math homework. Sleeping late. Staying up late. Eat lunch at 3 pm. Eat breakfast at 11 am. Have watermelon and corn on the cob for dinner. Eat popsicles for dinner. On the other hand — FREEDOM. Grouchy kids from lack of sleep. Messed up schedules from sleeping late. Saying yes to too many fun things because (FREEDOM). Not sitting down to regular family at-the-table dinners. No routine. Staying up late. So sometimes you kind of want (and need) that structure of…
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Dr. Eureka: A BlueOrange Game Review
I’ve said for a long time that the blue orange company makes almost all of our family’s favorite games. We love the Spot It series of games. They seem to be a steady favorite. We like YamSlam an awful lot. We’ve enjoyed Thumbs Up. And recently we received the game Dr. Eureka from the kind folks at blue orange to play and review for you guys. (Reviewing games? No problem. Happy to do it!) Dr. Eureka is a four player game and I prefer six player games just because there’s six of us, but that’s alright. Otto and Bergen were pretty stoked to open this box and get started playing.…
