When Auntie Dot came for Thanksgiving, she delivered a bag of craft supplies that Grandma Kathy had found at the thrift store (I assure you, Valley City North Dakota has the BEST thrift shopping in the entire midwest region).  In the treasure trove of fun supplies was a little zip…

Last Friday Sarah sang "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" along with the rest of the first grade classes at her school who performed three times during the day  as part of the holiday concert.  In the middle of the piece, there was an interlude for kazoos, so the 90 first graders…

He asked especially nicely if I would get Greg's old rocking horse out last week so he could do a little jousting before nap/Quietly-Play-by-Yourself-Time.

I came down the staircase from cleaning up in the bathroom to find sweet tinkling sounds on the piano keys, and a Banana who was singing her heart out (no words, but some amazing vocalaises).  Although she couldn't tell me with her still-limited vocabulary, it was pretty evident that she…

Today is the day I am finishing my Christmas card.  I am bound and determined.  All day long I've been on the quest to get some particular images I would like to include on the card.  For example, on the front of the card, I had envisioned three happy smiling…

Here it is, in it's decorous glory!  I am so excited about it.  We even splurged and bought special round colored lights for it.  Mr. Sneaky Pants loves colored lights, and he was most excited of all the kidlets to put up the tree.  Everyone helped make a little bit…

The year that my husband and I were engaged, I lived in an apartment with my friend, Siri.  On my birthday that year, we celebrated with my family on the farm and then drove back to college.  I was so excited to have a place where I could put up…

Sarah has had an explosion in reading development during the last few weeks, and is feeling comfortable and fluent enough to do some heavy duty reading to her little brother and sister, a scenario that is extremely heartwarming.  The Banana, who has been struggling for the last few days with…

My sister-in-law Dorothy and her husband, Don, live in an apartment building.  The apartment building is visited by squirrels.  Frequently.  And the squirrels have actually been observed doing some structural damage to the building.  My new brother-in-law Don saw fit to take matters into his own hands and hunt the…

First of all, much like has been the pattern for the last two weeks, Thanksgiving was a dark and dreary day with low, thick clouds blocking out most of the natural light sources in my home.  Therefore, the following photographs are not of stellar quality by any means.  My camera…