The start of first grade this fall has been a struggle for me.  It has been hard to let go of educating my little bug all day long.  There have been so many frustrating moments from the difficult transition of my daughter back into her home environment after school to…

We're behind on leaves.  Voraciously behind.  The truth of the matter is that we'd rather play in the leaves than load them up and haul them away.  This is the ever helpful Banana raking the leaves back into a pile so her crazy siblings can run across the yard and…

This is actually the costume I wore for Halloween in second grade!  My mom sewed it for me out of one of her old leotards and some material her cousin gave her.  Last year at Halloween my mom mailed this costume along with the pioneer costume Sarah wore for Halloween…

Do you feel like I post a lot of running pictures on this blog?  That's because my kids are running ALL the time.  They are constantly in motion.  On Halloween morning by courageous knight and his companion, the dancing chicken princess were burning off some energy before leaving for music…

I believe I've mentioned before how The Banana has her own ideas about wardrobe choice.  In our house, we use our Halloween costumes year round for dressing up.  At the beginning of fall I was rummaging around in the attic and came across Mr. Sneaky Pants' old chicken costume.  Because…

I'm hoping to catch up on a lot of posts regarding Halloween today.  Last Thursday Mr. Sneaky Pants was very excited to wear his knight costume to preschool.  This excitement was heightened by the fact that the Thursday before that his preschool hosted a Boo Ball fundraiser.  There was a…

We have season tickets to the symphony this year.  This is a very, very big deal for me.  For at least five years of my adolescence, I diligently asked my parents for tickets to go see the symphony in Bismarck.  Every year, it was at the top of my list.…

A few years ago my neighbor was having a garage sale and selling a really nice trumpet.  Of course I could not LEAVE the trumpet there!  Garage sales . . . musical instruments . . . I could not resist that lovely combination.  The trumpet was in excellent condition, but…

We haven't QUITE figured out how to attach the helmet!  When she found her brother's favorite motorcycle toy, though, The Banana knew that she needed a helmet to drive it around, even if it was just a little motorcycle.  She searched out Mr. Sneaky Pants' bike helmet to complete the…

I forgot to mention that amid our other houseguests, my mom and sister-in-law came to visit several days ago.  While my husband, The Banana and Mr. Sneaky Pants were taking an extended Sunday afternoon nap, the rest of us went on a beautiful fall hike, a quick drive down Seven…