We loaded up some neighbors and headed to the sandy beach on what I think was the hottest Memorial Day weekend since we’ve moved here.  It was crazy hot on the hill, but a good 35 degrees colder down at the beach, which meant we were actually shivering, partly because…

There’s a reason I send Mr. TOF to the shower every single day in the summer.  He’s a sweaty monster!  He plays so hard in the front yard, and on Saturday he was glad to have some siblings and a neighbor join in.  For a bit Mr. SP was in…

One teenage kidlet tells me that my blog is getting more boring by the day because there aren’t fun little people around the house anymore, and well, my life (while sometimes slightly more peaceful in the middle of the day) is just pretty boring.  Another teenage kidlet tells me that…

Yes!  We are so happy to start the season of Sunday Nights at the Beach!  The kidlets requested the Secret Beach for our first Sunday night trip.  It was calm and lovely, and so fun to see how many rocks were piled up on the shore from the big storms…

Flowering bushes!  Hooray!  While our winter wasn’t particularly terrible or particularly cold or particularly snowy this last season, it WAS particularly long!  Our first long lasting snow came in the middle of October, and we still had snow far, far into April, which made for a long time with trees…

I love this bush so much.  We planted it on the corner of the front of our house a few years ago, and it is growing and thriving, and completely gorgeous right now.  I love that it is one of the first things to bloom in the spring (just after…

Children’s Picture Books Seven ways to Trick a Troll by Lise Lunge- Larsen.  This is a delightful book of stories about trolls written and illustrated by a local author, and an illustrator that lives up the North Shore.  The stories draw on Scandinavian myths and legends, and the illustrations are beautiful.…

When Grandma Kathy was visiting last week she spent special time with each kidlet.  She took Mr. TOF out to share a reuben sandwich at the bakery.  Grandma and YaYa headed out to eat supper and discuss a book they’ve been reading together.  It’s a longstanding tradition that whenever Grandma visits,…

The mud kitchen is getting a workout these days.  It’s one of my favorite things that my husband has built for them.  I love that they spend so much time playing with dirt, leaves, sticks, flowers and things they find in the yard.  They make beautiful things out of mud.…