The moment Ya Ya stepped into the Art Institute for art camp her eyes started sparkling.  When I dropped her off Monday morning, her enthusiastic teacher handed her a large clump of clay.  Each day when I picked her up all week long she was filled with stories about what…

Mr. Sneaky Pants spent nearly an hour transplanting these wildflowers (some people call them noxious weeds, but they happen to be my very favorite summertime wildflower) from our lawn into this patch of dirt underneath the monkey bars on “Treasure Island.”  Treasure Island is one of the kidlets’ favorite places…

Father’s Day was a calm, warm day.  We ate brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, came home for a rest, and then decided to bring a kayak down to the rocky beach.  The kidlets, especially Mr. Sneaky Pants, had been asking about going kayaking the whole week that Dr.…

This is our Texas Longhorn kayak, enjoying beautiful summer Minnesota weather.

Mr. Sneaky Pants and The Banana have the hardest time differentiating between seagulls and eagles.  The words really do sound a lot alike, and even though I explain and explain the difference, they just get them mixed up. It wouldn’t be summer without seagulls.  I know a lot of people…

In addition to giving wonderful hugs and telling me 237 times throughout the day that she loves me and the new baby in my tummy, she actually happily gives squeezy shoulder rubs and foot rubs.  What more could a pregnant Mama want?

I read about this activity in a magazine last year, and then on another mom’s blog, and knew that it would be a great summer project for everyone, but especially for Ya Ya.  A great deal of the credit needs to go to Dr. Peds, because when I explained about…

Swimming lessons continue to be a huge event around here, highly anticipated all day long, by everyone except maybe me:  I feel like I’m in a sauna the whole time I am sitting there watching them swim.  Yesterday Mr. Sneaky Pants jumped in the pool, put on his goggles, and…

This is the first real week of summer here, the first real week of no school.  It’s gone remarkably well, much better than anticipated, but the dynamics have certainly been interesting.  Oh the squabbles!  From sun up to sun down there are squabbles.  The combination of three children together doing…

The Banana is not a fan of vegetables.  She never really has been.  Typically, she’ll eat all of her food except for the vegetables (she’ll even pick around the vegetables if they are hiding in the rest of her food) and proclaim that she’s simply too full to finish her…