He said to me, “Mom, sometimes when I wake up, my room smells like a dead animal.”

It’s true that I demanded that these three kidlets join me for a hike at Hartley last Saturday.  They complained and some of them stomped their feet getting to the car, but in the end they had a really great time tromping through the forest.  They were full of zest…

Halloween was super crazy around here, sandwiched in between oboe, violin, viola, youth group for some kidlets in the house, and other such matters.  Who decided to put Halloween on a Wednesday anyway?!?  On our way home from violin/viola, we picked up The Banana’s friend to go trick or treating.…

You can order replacement lids for your Pyrex glass storage bowls!  (I got mine from Amazon). Those bowls get a workout in our house, and we had managed to loose almost all the lids.  I’m so happy to have new lids.  In fact, now I even have spare lids.  I’m…

He’s my kidlet who loves to play outside best, and he’s great about helping out in the yard.  In the winter he shovels snow.  In the fall he rakes.  He’s against leaf blowers.  “I like to do it with my hands and a rake.”  

  My favorite autumn leaves are the ones that turn red.  Sadly, there haven’t been as many red leaves this season because our weather has been weird.  It was wet and soggy for weeks on end, and then just as the trees were really getting going in their color change,…

They somewhat protested about going, but in the end they had a wonderful time.  Whenever we hike on this particular trail, they play a made up game of motorcycles racing and chasing and jumping over the mountain bike ramps.  A version of hide and seek is somehow also involved.  Needless…

He came home from school with a set of vampire teeth that he purchased from “store” with his earned “thank you slips.” Vampire teeth are pretty perfect for second grade boys.

Mr. Trouble on Feet has been asking about playing a stringed instrument for a couple of years.  He tags along to all The Banana’s orchestra concerts and violin recitals and has long been aware that kids who play string instruments get to have their instruments in hand at a much…

Mr. Trouble on Feet saw his big siblings run the Dirt Yard Dash, a mud run put on by a local church that our neighbors are involved in, a few years ago when he was too young to fully participate.  He was so excited when he found out that this…