Sophie and I were chatting the other night as she was winding down for the night. She looked out the window and said "There's that cat. I see him every single night." It was a bob-tailed cat, and she said it crossed the parking lot across from her bedroom around the time she went to sleep every night.Since she has been intrigued by all the first grade work she's been doing on patterns, I thought it was a great time to play into that thought process. My reply: "That's a ... View Post
Everybody’s Living for the Weekend…
>There's a fun thing that happens on a Friday night (when you're lame like me)...Assuming I haven't been out and about on said Friday night (which is increasingly rare of late), nightfall finds me righting the kitchen. I don't use the term "righting" lightly... I actually feel like I discovered a little early what my mom knew for years: it feels good and comforting to shut the house down at night and prepare for the coming day.I may clean as I go while making dinner or just wipe things up a ... View Post
From Ainsley Belle to Chez Stephens
As I think I've mentioned, my intent was to transition this Ainsley blog to our family blog, which I'll do right after the first of the year. It's hard to believe she is already three months old - it seems as though she just arrived.She's proven to be an exceptionally animated, happy baby - no great surprise if you know her family. I always assumed that Sophie was the kid most like me as a firstborn, headstrong little gal. It seems as though in the months leading up to ... View Post
Our Family Nature Alphabet
>So, I confess that this is completely a project in progress, but I'm posting about it anyway. We recently started working on a family nature alphabet. We intended to complete it while on vacation in Waupaca, Wisconsin in August, but it proved far more time consuming than we expected! I think that is mainly because we really wanted to get it right rather than just settle... more on that in a bit. At the Ozark Natural Science Center, we have a poster showing the alphabet as found ... View Post
Kids, Collecting & Journals
> One of my new favorite websites and blog collections is Simple Living Media. Their five sites/blogs are fantastic - see them at the bottom of their homepage: Simple Kids, Simple Bites, Simple Organic, Simple Home School (full of great tips whether you do or not) and Simple Mom. I loved this article on kids & collections posted today on Facebook, and had to recommend it as well as repost my response below, because Lee Valley is such a fantastic, undiscovered gem. Regarding kids and ... View Post
Confessions from Suburbia
>Ok, suburbia might be a bit melodramatic. However, I've come to a realization in this, our seventh year of parenting: Mom definitely had it all figured out. Don't worry, I've confessed and given her ample opportunity to laugh at me. I've just spent an hour in the kitchen on a Sunday evening, and dinner did not come as a result of it. I have: - Used my laminated grocery list to shop for the week and plan meals in advance. - Washed grapes and put them in a colander in the fridge. - Sliced ... View Post
