Super Rachel Zana's Spot

The entire St. Olaf choir concert was breathtakingly beautiful, but there were a group of three pieces by the barely-older-than-me composer Eric Whitacre that have stayed with me for the past few days.  It would be safe to say that I am seriously hooked on music by Eric Whitacre now.…

On Saturday evening Greg and I zipped down the hill to attend the live broadcast of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.  To say we were excited about this would be a major understatement.  We had been wanting to get tickets to A Prairie Home Companion since before we were even…

Inspired by the new windows in my office, Dr. Peds and I decided to do a little rearranging with the writing/art space for the kidlets.  We moved out our old kitchen table that served as the writing table, and Dr. Peds found a more narrow table that fit against the…

Last week during our cold snap, my cozy indoor life was interupted by a phone call from a desperate mom whose son attends preschool with Mr. Sneaky Pants. Her little boy was having a birthday party on Saturday, and was convinced that Noah would be attending.  Could he come?  I…

I'm copycatting my friend Sara who made a list of numbers on her blog a few weeks ago. 6 . . . The number of days I stayed inside my house without even setting one toe out of the door last week during our cold snap into the deep freeze.  I seriously…

Here is my husband.  He's online shopping for long surfboards.  Again.  He's been rather obsessed about getting a surfboard for the last several months.  I keep trying to hold him off, but it's not working.  I never envisioned contemplating owning a surfboard, especially while living in Minnesota.   He wants…

A design by the Little Ones.  I'm actually not sure which little one it was. A design by me, last night, checking to make sure we haven't lost any pieces during the day.   I love, love, love these puzzles.  We have a couple different varieties, and this octagon made of…

The Recipe for Yummy Evening Soup from the kitchen of THE BANANA: 1 Pot half full of water 1 Tiny splash of milk 1 round clementine with the peel on a dash of salt a few shakes of pepper Stir over a cold burner and serve to your family members…

The Banana was so happy that Daddy was back from Iowa, and that he was around home all day long.  She read books with Dad.  She helped Dad put away the groceries.  She wanted Daddy to exclusively help her with the potty and to administer potty treats (potty treats are…

The boys in the family have taken a brief trip to Iowa to visit Great Grandparents and our energetic and lovely trio of cousins.  They left Saturday around noon. The girls in the family decided that it would be a good day to try out Sarah's new ice skates.  I…