Our neighbors invited us over to make gingerbread houses from scratch.  It ended up being a two day process!  The first night the walls and yards went up, and the next night the roofs were added.  Sugar, sugar, everywhere!  Everyone had so much fun creating, and no two houses were…

Just in time for Christmas, our clothes dryer is on the fritz, which means that our family is becoming well acquainted with the dryers at the laundromat.  On the upside, the laundromat is a great place to read chapter books (except for the blaring television and music, which is a…

Almost two weeks ago now, The DSSO and the symphony chorus performed Handel’s Messiah for the first time since I have lived here.  A friend suggested we go together.  What a treat! Strangely, I’ve never actually been to a performance of the entire masterwork before.  I’ve sung parts of the…

He said to me, “Mom!  I can’t wait for someone I know to get married, because I really, really want to go to a wedding.  I really do.  Except it is very disturbing when they kiss.”

After watching a Muppet movie a few weeks ago, Mr. Trouble on Feet has become a bit fixated on the Muppets.  Not only does Animal do some awesome drumming, but he particularly loves Fozzie’s comedic antics.  He walks around blurting out “Wocka! Wocka!” at unusual times, and he’s been inspired…

Every year on the first Saturday in December we go to the forest near Boulder Lake to cut down our Christmas trees.  We stumbled on the Christmas Tree cut day the first year we moved here, and it’s become a terrific family tradition.  The day for cutting is always the…

We were walking out of preschool, and I squeezed my boy’s hand.  I love the feel of little fingers.   “I love holding your hand!  When you go to school will you still hold my hand?” He said to me, “Mama, I’ll hold your hand even when I’m 100.”  …

It turns out I love listening to poetry being read aloud even in languages I don’t understand, like Norwegian, Finnish, and Danish.  There’s just that beautiful lilt to the words as they rush and slow, and I love the vowel sounds in Scandinavian languages. My kids can make an enormous…