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the traditions and the heavy lifting of holidays and the sliver of light I hope you find
This is a season of tradition. And tradition matters in the culture of a family. It’s the fabric and the face of a family. It’s what we do. It’s the stuff we do that makes us who we are. It’s the story we tell. “Every year we make monster cookies.” “Every year we see the lights and eat donuts.”…
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happy birthday mosely. today you turn twelve.
Mosely Elliot Claiborne. She’s turning twelve and we all know that sounds like a big age when your previous decade has been full of littles and single digits and learning how to ride bikes and read books and bake cookies. Twelve is a big deal. She gets to sit up front (and now London has competition for that privilege) and…
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The Bag System: Packing For a Road Trip With Many Children
We are mostly staying put for the holiday season this year, but that’s not true for everyone. I’ve shared a post before about all of my ideas for taking The Kid Carnival on the road. This is a post about how to pack for that special kind of chaos that is traveling with children that requires packing everything you…
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Five Finds Friday (seven)
One thing this Five Fridays is doing for me is reminding me that Friday comes fast. Really fast. Kind of. FUNNY How about we talk about what’s not funny instead? (You see my redirection there? It’s a parenting staple, is it not?) Ryder came in from his bathroom break tonight with a sloppy grin…
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the long and tired list (waiting for the rejoicing)
The list and the stack is high today. The list and the stack of need and sad truths and hard decisions. Today alone I received three texts from three different friends in three wildly different phases of life with Gigantic Broken on their plates. That’s three friends today. The medical diagnosis. The seemingly never-changing situation with internal brokenness of loved…
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The Dollar Store Gift Idea That I Am Borrowing (and think you should borrow it too)
Hannah sent me a text. (How many decisions in my life do I make based on texts that I receive? I don’t want to know.) She had this link and said, “You should do this.” The website she sent me to was written by a mom of many who explained how her family created a tradition years earlier when her…
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monday mayhem. or – life.
I decided today I didn’t have time to think of a blog post with a beginning, a middle and an end. And sometimes I think about skipping writing on days like this. (And sometimes I do.) But then I remembered that I’m the writer of this blog and I make the rules on this tiny square footage of blogosphere. (I…
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i think you’d like sara groves too.
Jo told me to listen to Sara Groves. “I think you’ll like her,” she told me. She was right. I do like her. And now I’ve been texting her lyrics to friends because I think they are so good – so solid and so true. How many hours have I spent Watching this shining TV? Living adventure in proxy In…
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Five Finds Friday (six)
I finally finished that article. Take that, procrastination. Piper keeps announcing how many days are left until Christmas and that’s making me feel a little antsy or unprepared or something because, maybe it’s the weather, but it doesn’t feel all that Christmas-y to me yet. Although we did tour some Christmas trees downtown this week and that helped us all…
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How To Make Your Children Love You More With One Easy Meal
I thought I left procrastination behind in college. But I was wrong. I have an article for another website due on a deadline and I just can’t seem to make myself put my brain in gear and get it done. I’ve checked Facebook and e-mail and Instagram. I’m sharing this picture of Bergen thinking math thoughts. The kitchen is clean.…
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one big old list of everything.
Today I am giving you a list. A holiday list so you can find all the goods from this blog in one handy dandy place. I’m so convenient like that. (And a few cute pictures tossed in as a bonus.) Games You May Want To Buy For Christmas Yam Slam Apples to Apples Timeline Perplexus Books You May Want To…
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why I smile for pictures now. (and why you should too.)
When I look back over pictures of our family life, I find that my face does not show up in photographs nearly as often as the kids. And while that’s okay at some level, it’s not okay on another level. Obviously there will be more pictures of kids growing up than of mom growing old. But I should appear…
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Yam Slam: A Game Review
It seems that lots of my favorite games are created by a company called Blue Orange. I don’t know who those guys are but I guess I like what they do. I should tell them I guess. But – first – I’ll just tell you. Yam Slam. This little game has been on the shelf for a while. On a…
