A Marathon Field Trip

I had a another post planned for today, but I’m out of steam. There seem to be plenty of people I know who are out of steam lately. Can we just take a break today? Want to leave the house and worries behind and come with us on a field trip?! This is a virtual field trip, so we can visit the zoo, the gardens, and the aquarium all in one day! We can also skip the blowouts, the... Read More

A Post-Weekend List

Below is a collection of very random thoughts. Bear with me. And thanks, as always, for stopping by to visit. 1. I am tired of having candy in the house. We started using it for rewards, and it has taken over like an uncontrollable monster. I think it was the cake pops that finally did me in this past week. From now on, I plan to use frozen berries as an alternative to candy rewards.... Read More

Teaching Young Children Not to Lie

If I could have a superpower, it might be omnipresence. I would love to be at all places at all times, especially where it concerns my kids. I’d love to keep them from falling down, to make sure they didn’t eat crayons, to stop them from throwing sand at each other. And I would love to be able to witness all infractions of the house rules, so I’d never have to... Read More

I Heart Faces: Pet Week Photo Challenge

I hope everyone celebrated a happy Easter this morning! He is risen! I have been looking for a friendly photography community to join for inspiration. This past week I joined the weekly photo challenges at iheartfaces. Anyone of any level can join. To enter, photos can be posted to a flickr account, a blog, or the iheartfaces community web site. Usually a human face must be visible... Read More

Another Blogging Break

A few months back, I took a blogging break when all six of my immediate family members got sick with a stomach virus. My sisters rose to the occasion and filled in for me. Wonderful things happened as a result, and now I’m ecstatic to be sharing this blog with three other family members! So I’ve decided to take another break, just to see what wonderful things might happen... Read More

Cake Pops! Or, Why I Am "Calamitous Cook"

A couple months back, I saw a friend’s gorgeous pictures of cake balls on her facebook page. Then I started seeing cake balls and cake pops everywhere. Finally I tracked down the source to Bakerella’s site. The cake pop pictures are amazing, and they look so easy! So I picked up some popsicle sticks at Wal-Mart in hopes of giving this a try. Ever since then, my oldest... Read More

Covering Compost: Types of Mulch

This week has been a huge learning curve for me. Through a call to my local county extension office, short discussion with my agronomy specialist husband, flipping through lots of indexes for “mulch,” and, of course, trial… and error, I have learned a thing or two about different mulches. Actually, as nerdy as this may sound, mulching isn’t for the amateur. This year’s... Read More

Of Felines and Phonics: Teaching Preschoolers to Read

My older daughter is enamored with cats lately. Here she is, below, with Aunt Annie’s remarkably patient cat: This is more than just a brief, passing phase. In the house, she crawls around looking for bowls of milk. When she takes a bath, she’s a catfish. When she gets hurt, she cries, “MeOW!” This is serious. I wasn’t worried until one day when she... Read More

Hey There, You with the Light in Your Eyes

I’ve taken a break from the photography section of the blog. I knew that was a mistake when I hit a long lull… I’ve decided to tuck the photography section into its own little corner (link in the lower right hand corner of the blog). Anyone interested can come peek in, and others who aren’t quite so obsessed with buttons and dials can feel free to pass it... Read More

Bucket Lists and Checklists: Our Vacation

As promised, I have vacation pictures for you! I blew it on the book review, though. I’m slowly learning never to promise anything to anyone in April and May; they’re by far the busiest months of the year for my family. This vacation could be called “Checklists and Bucket Lists.” My husband’s parents have had, “Take the Family on a Cruise”... Read More