Maren’s kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Heart, began calling the children (the five-year-olds) writers the very first week of school.  Some, like Maren, could write their own name, but others were still practicing.  Yet, Mrs. Heart called them writers: she called out their identity, and the twenty-four little people in the class are rising to the challenge and...

Today Greta wore her light up shoes.  She struts around like she owns the town.  Since the shoes light up her path, it does seem like she owns the town. She came with me to a follow-up appointment with Dr. Razzle: we pushed elevator buttons, the nurses gave her cookies, we saw the “shiss” (fish) tank, and she melted hearts.  Mine included.  Dr. Razzle...

I’ve had several friends start asking: what are you doing for the holidays this year?  We, as with most young families, are finding our footing on how we are going to celebrate our past traditions while making meaningful holiday memories for our own young families. Last year, I wrote up a small article about how Brad and I do our gift-giving within our...

My girls are four years and two weeks apart. When I was pregnant with Greta, I wondered what kind of a relationship they would have with each other during their childhood years.  There is so much that plays into it: age, personality, birth order. I have two little sisters; I love my sisters.  When we were little, I was the dictator; treating Chief Sister with my...

7:00  Wake up.  Shower.  Remember the shower in our bathroom has been turned off because of an annoying leak and just get dressed and ready for the day.  Gingerly apply castor oil to radiation site without dislodging the tape and Sharpie marks that are super important to the radiation techs. 7:30  Marvel that girls are still sleeping.  Put away laundry, make lists,...

In these last moments of precious nap time, I am crossing off my to-do list.  One item on the list is “Get Greta’s bunny face on film.” Greta, like many seventeen-month-olds, does animal sounds.  She has an impressive array and it is one of our best distraction techniques when we need her to cooperate.  She’ll chirp along and tell us the...