Super Rachel Zana's Spot

One of the big advantages of begin the youngest child in the family (although HE insists there are absolutely no advantages of being the youngest child . . . he passionately hates being the youngest in the family) is that I have not needed to bring my little guy to…

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell.  It just won the Calcedott, but can I just say that we loved it first? Little i by Michael Hall.  It’s adorable.  The letter “I” is Mr. TOF’s favorite letter in the alphabet, so of course he loved it. Priscilla Gorilla by Barbara…

Kumquats are back in season!  These little bite sized citrus treats add zest and zing to any cold and icy February day.

  It seemed completely out of the blue.  Mr. TOF looked over at me with a sad, sad face and said, “Mom, I really, really wish I had a unibrow.  One of those eyebrows that goes all the way across above your eyes.” Let me first interject, that the genetics…

His sisters would probably appreciate these eyelashes more than he does.  (“Why do we even have hair on our eyelids, Mom?”)

He was doing his usual shenanigans in front of my camera: making faces, twisting back and forth, doing anything he could to disrupt a successful picture taking attempt.  She looked over from across the yard, ran toward him and jumped in the frame, copying his every move.  He didn’t know…

Having a place for everyone’s outerwear, shoes and backpacks in our new mudroom makes leaving the house so, so much easier.  I can’t even believe the difference.  Also, carrying in the groceries is so much less the ordeal it used to be.  Also, not having all of the coats, hats,…

On Wednesdays I do not have students.  My after school hours are reserved for driving kidlets to their oboe and violin lessons and making sure people get to their Wednesday night church activities.  During the first semester of the school year I had cello lessons on Wednesday mornings, but in…

It’s January.  In this “middle of the winter” month there is a lot of reading in our house, a lot of practicing, and a lot of homework. There’s a bit of ice skating on the weekends, because now all of these kidlets can WALK to the neighborhood ice rink by…