Posts

Annie came over a few weeks, ago, and we had fun experimenting with sugar cookie flavor variations.

She started by making a basic sugar cookie recipe. (Click here for a recipe from Martha Stewart. Don’t forget to leave time to chill the dough.)

Then we divided the dough and mixed and matched flavors. (more…)

In the aftermath of the Christmas chaos, I found my oldest boy sitting on a chair, cheeks wet with tears.

“I wanted Daddy to build something with me,” he moaned.

This kid has been mechanically inclined ever since he was a baby at nap time, when he removed most of the screws from his crib. Like a high-energy dog who eats shoes (more…)

I’m writing this on the fly this morning, breaking my own rule to let a post sit at least a day before launching it into the blogisphere.

Happy New Year to you! The holidays are over, and a month of nothingness lies before us. There is no soil to be planted, no (more…)

I’m so excited to share these pictures of my nephew!

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Our family has borrowed traditions from both sides of the extended family. Each year in my family, my parents have a Christmas tree decorating party, just for the family. There’s spiced fruit tea, popcorn, music, and lots of boxes of ornaments.

This borrowed tradition works really well for our little family because we can plan the party any time – no worries about any specific date.

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Have you ever taken the 5 Love Languages test? Which one was your top language? Do you find these things helpful?

My husband and I learned about the five love languages early in our marriage, and we figured we knew each other pretty well.

Recently, I ran across the assessment online, and we both took it. Although there wasn’t anything totally unexpected, we were a little surprised at how our results had shifted from what we remembered! It was a good check-in with each other.

At first, the test seems light-hearted, reminiscent of teen magazine quizzes… You know, the ones like:

Would you rather your future husband would be:
A. a reckless rock star,
B. an earthy herpetologist,
C. a philanthropic photojournalist,
D. a wealthy CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or
E. all of the above?

The 5 Love Languages assessment deals with deeper issues, though. (more…)

My son is not a morning person. I wonder where he gets that…

“Seriously, Mom…” (more…)

My daughter finally got her long-awaited kittens:

I mentioned almost a year ago that I’m not a cat person. But a couple months ago, our very nice neighbor walked over to our house and said, “These poor kittens will be given away at a fair tomorrow unless you take some of them tonight… and by the way, this kitten is my favorite ever…” And I couldn’t say no. Sneaky neighbors. 🙂

Actually, we like them a lot – the neighbors and the kittens.

This picture cracks me up: (more…)

This past Friday, my in-laws arrived from Colorado. They planned to close on their new house in Kansas at noon. Unfortunately, the bank didn’t have all the paperwork processed, and the closing was delayed until Monday… and then until Tuesday.

I started to head to town for food for our weekend guests, when my husband went to the freezer and pulled out that vat of chili from this post. Oh… my. (more…)