• Happy Clementines Day

    We’ve been eating a lot of clementines.  Then Mr. Trouble on Feet got a bit obsessed with Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine books.  We downloaded a number of the Clementine audio books from our library for him to listen to during afternoon rest while I’m teaching.  All that talk of clementines somehow got mixed…

  • Crazy Hair Night

    It was Crazy Hair Night at AWANA.  These two were pretty creative.  The Banana actually had three pony tails:  one on the top of her head, one in the back of her head, and one that formed a beard.  Mr. TOF asked me to put as many pony tails as…

  • If Gathering

    Last weekend I gathered with more than a hundred other women in my city, and literally probably a million women all over the world from all kinds of different Christian churches to worship together and learn together and fellowship together as part of If Gathering.  This is the third If…

  • One Year of Cello

    I’ve been playing my cello for one year!  Honestly, sometimes it feels like my progress is disgustingly slow, but when I frame what I now can play in light of the fact that a year ago I didn’t even know how to hold the cello, I really have learned a…

  • Sunday Afternoon Snow Forts

    The weather was remarkably warm on Sunday, which turned the snow into the perfect sculpting medium.  In the early afternoon our neighbors halfway down the street popped over and snow construction commenced.  Many hands make for light work, and they had the assembly line down pat.   Mr. SP elected…

  • What I Learned in January

    I learned the Russian words for please, thank you, car, store, yes, no, sister, brother, hello, tea, penguin, bus, airplane, shower, and some others too. I learned how DIFFICULT it is to pronounce things in Russian. It turns out I like borscht, even though I hate most of the ingredients that…

  • In the Driveway

    He was trying to avoid my camera while chopping ice in the driveway, but hiding behind the pickup truck didn’t work because I got him anyway.  Bwah ha ha ha!  

  • Eclipsed

    The firstborn has been surpassed in height by the second kidlet.  Of course, I always knew that was going to happen, but for some reason I didn’t realize it was happening NOW!  It’s a bit of a weird feeling.  Strangers will no longer be able to intuitively gauge their birth order…