Here I am, just slightly older than Peanut Maximus, calling my grandma on the phone. My grandma lived across the driveway on the same farm, and after I ate lunch, when my brother and cousin went down for their nap, I would use the rotary phone with its lovely long…

Let’s just say that sending two kids off to college (one back for his third year, and one for the very first time) in the time span of one week felt like being run through a cheese grater repeatedly. This guy was there for it all, giving me 59 big…

The waves were rolling and crashing, but Mr. TOF and Cousin Elizabeth found so many beach treasures: super rare dark blue seaglass, enormous chunks of white seaglass, agates, and other wonderful things. Peanut Maximus was bouncing all around on boulders and throwing sticks and stones into the water as usual.…

Cousin Elizabeth only had a few days to spend at Camp Aunt Rachel before she had to be back for the start of her school, but we packed in as many things as we could in a very short bit of time. We made sure to get to the “roller…

He’s been loving the mud kitchen both at home in the backyard and at Hartley. There is no shortage of soup, stew, cake, and pasta.

Peanut Maximus highly anticipated his birthday, and I don’t think he was disappointed. When different people asked him what he was excited about in the days leading up to his birthday he always mentioned the decorations that were going to be in the window in the morning and that we…

To be honest, it wasn’t the most relaxing trip to the beach. Peanut Maximus was slightly feverish and fussy, but he was actually happier at the beach than he would have been at home. Still, he oscillated between having fun and feeling miserable at the drop of a pin. Dr.…

He came down the stairs and announced, “The Banana needs a bandaid.” I looked for a bandaid in the kitchen cupboard, but we were out. “I don’t have any down here. I think there are some in the white drawer in the bathroom. Can you see if you can find…

It’s August, the month I used to abhor when I was growing up. I couldn’t wait for those hot dry weeks in August to be over and for school to start. Now that I live where I live, I am so happy school doesn’t start in August here! August days…