My family

I strive to be the best mother, wife, daughter, sister I can.

Connor quotes

December 3, 2011
Connor quotes

Connor is always saying things that crack me up. Many of them go unrecorded but here are some that made it to Twitter or Facebook this year. Some of them seemed funnier at the time but I’ll include them anyway. Mark and I and his grandparents were talking about how unusually funny he is but today I read through all my old kid talk posts and saw that Grace said some pretty hilarious stuff at his age too. “I think those are all the rememberies I have, Mom. My brain just goes dark after that.” 10/13/11 “We’re pretending our...

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A 4-year-old’s smoothie recipe

November 8, 2011
A 4-year-old’s smoothie recipe

  Welcome to the November Carnival of Natural Parenting: Kids in the Kitchen This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how kids get involved in cooking and feeding. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants. ***   When Connor came home from school the other day, he was set on having a smoothie. We had very little yogurt, no ice, no fresh fruit. But he was determined. I decided to...

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An average rainy day at our house

July 15, 2011
rain

I wanted to experiment with a tool called Storify, which creates a visual story out of various things on the web. I documented a rainy day at our house — what we did, what the kids said, etc. — to test it out. View “Rainy day in Minnesota” on Storify

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Picturing my life as a (sort of) stay at home mom

May 19, 2011
Picturing my life as a (sort of) stay at home mom

Went to pick up drops for Grace’s pink eye. I was alone because my father-in-law is here doing work on our bathroom so I got to stop for a coffee on the way. Tried to get Connor to stop antagonizing the neighbors and vice versa because Connor was cranky and unwilling to go out and play. Washed diapers and then hung them out to dry. Climbed the stairs 1000 times to answer the call of “Mooooooooom” from kids on different floors. Why do we teach them that word? Folded a giant pile of laundry. Yes, I did get all...

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Catching up on my life

May 10, 2011
DSCN2817small

A lot of things have been going on in our household that took my attention away from blogging but I’m hoping to be back to regular posting now. So here’s what’s new: 1. I was pregnant. Then I wasn’t. A day after we announced the pregnancy via the blog and facebook, we found out the heart had stopped beating. I was nearly 12 weeks along but the baby died at 10.5 weeks. We never found out whether “Sonic” was going to be a boy or a girl. A couple of times since then, someone has mentioned going to a...

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Learning about the world around us

December 22, 2010

Connor and I recently watched a billboard ad being changed. He spotted the crane pulling the old one off as we left the chiropractor. I asked him if he wanted to stay and watch how they put the new one on. We stood in the entryway for 20 minutes watching. After the crane pulls the old sign off the billboard, it lifts up the new one, rolled around a tube, like a giant roll of wrapping paper. Two workers unroll the sign along the billboard. They insert metal rods in the edges, like inserting a curtain rod in a...

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Attachment parenting … and nanny makes 3?

November 9, 2010
Attachment parenting … and nanny makes 3?

Welcome to the November Carnival of Natural Parenting: What is natural parenting? This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our Carnival coincides with the launch of Natural Parents Network, a community of parents and parents-to-be who practice or are interested in attachment parenting and natural family living. Join us at Natural Parents Network to be informed, empowered, and inspired! Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants. *** When I went to work full time...

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Little breaks bring a little balance

October 12, 2010
Little breaks bring a little balance

Welcome to the October Carnival of Natural Parenting: Staying Centered, Finding Balance This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how they stay centered and find balance. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants. *** This month’s Carnival of Natural Parenting asks how we stay centered and find balance rather than focusing our entire lives on our children. Seeing as how this is my first blog post in more than three...

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On Kindergarten, late buses and knowing what class you’re in

September 15, 2010
On Kindergarten, late buses and knowing what class you’re in

On Grace’s first day of school, I waited in our driveway for the bus to arrive. I went out there about 15 minutes after school let out. The midday bus is only for her half-day kindergarten class so I thought it wouldn’t take as long as the normal bus, which takes nearly a half-hour to arrive. (I didn’t know for sure because the school gives us no information whatsoever about the logistics of school.) After about a half-hour, I started to worry. I called the school, which confirmed that she got on the bus. The secretary called the person...

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Tranformation in six words

September 3, 2010
Tranformation in six words

September 7. Day after Labor Day. Our lives transform in an instant. I work — first time in year. A nanny will watch the kids. Grace starts kindergarten. She is scared. Please pray we all survive unscathed.

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