I almost didn't let Ya Ya make these a few weeks ago.  I wanted to keep my large collection of wooden people turnings pure and unadorned, ready for extensive imaginative play.  But she begged and begged, and how could I say no to creativity?  Then The Banana wanted to make…

They were supposed to be having quiet time while I worked for a bit in my office this afternoon, but it turned out that while I was teaching a piano lesson earlier, they had sneaked into my office and stashed away both the packing tape and the scotch tape in…

I was busy tending to some other things in the kitchen this morning, and when The Banana asked for a few more raisins in her oatmeal, I handed her the canister  and told her to go ahead and put a few more in herself.  I rounded the corner and found…

After hiking through the gorgeous trees in Lester Park on Friday, I splurged.  I picked up a babysitter (one of my students, actually, who is GREAT with the kidlets . . . they were so excited about her coming) and drove just a bit down the road to UMD.  Richard…

Before the really chilly weather hit, and the ground was covered by an inch or so of fluffy white snow (which has thankfully melted, although it sounds like more is on its way) the kidlets and I embarked on a hike in Lester Park.  Two kidlets were very happy about…

The Banana once again exhibits her love for well chosen accessories:

After agonizing all afternoon about the logistics of the potluck dinner at church and what in the world I might actually bring, since I had very little ingredients around the kitchen to work with and my heart was absolutely NOT captivated by the idea of cooking in the first place,…

The Banana and I were outside playing, making red maple leaf sandwiches and running around in circles, when she took a little break and pulled out her plastic toy cell phone to make a call to Sophie, our former babysitter who departed to Indiana several months ago now.  The Banana…

We were in the car on our way to pick up Mr. Sneaky Pants from preschool.   The Banana:  What color is Noah's preschool? Me:  Do you mean the outside? The Banana:  Yes. Me:  (Envisioning the brick exterior of the church that houses the preschool)  We'll it's brown.  Dark brown.…

It's fall, and the mice are on the move.  More specifically, the mice are on the move into our house.  We have an old house, and this is just to be expected.  I don't really get very alarmed about the notion because there isn't anything I can do about it.…