My life, it feels a bit like IKEA on a Saturday. Once I made the near fatal mistake of suggesting a trip to the all-consuming royal blue box. At noon. On a Saturday. For a single picture frame. The mother ship had me in such a trance that I barely noticed the 2 mile parking …

My son announced today that it was “bamy outside.” Sunny, warm, humid, it felt like March. It felt delicious. “Bamy,” he said. “Honey, did you mean balmy outside?” “Yeah mom, that word. It’s super warm.” It was only 40 degrees when he said this but given the fact that us hearty midwestern types were hovering …

My son, a big time First Grader has come home every day this past week with a pile of patriotic papers. An American Flag sheet, a map of the US, a poem on loving his country to be memorized by Friday, an invitation to join the Boy Scouts. And in general, I’ve no problem with …

I’m not great with transitions. I like to act all proud and adventuresome as if nothing rattles me, as if shifting friendships, locations, jobs, schools is nothing to fret over. But really, I noticed our mail carrier is different this week and I am sort of sad. Pick your cliche, phrase it however you want, …

My father-in-law served in Vietnam. He has three purple hearts and a wild streak of patriotism to prove it. He is awesome (and no, I am not just kissing up to gain favor at the dinner table). Three purple hearts, scars all over his legs and some hard stories. One that includes leaving a fiancee …

A few weeks ago my son finished up a t-ball game complete with an outfield hit and a red Gatorade mustache. We folded up lawn chairs as clay colored dust whirled around in little tornados kicked up by cleats. Most of the other players had already dashed off to their mini-vans. We dawdled. A little …

Memorial Day Weekend. The official start of summer. Parades, John Phillips Sousa music marching past. The time of year when fashionistas allow those who care, to wear white pants once again. For our family this holiday weekend launches us into time spent at the lake home my parents own in Wisconsin. It is the three …

I was digging through closets last week to find all the sunscreen bottles from last summer. Time to start lathering up the kids as the summer sunshine is poking through with those nasty UVA/UVB rays. I am always overly nostalgic when I find sunscreen bottles or the pool bag from last year abandoned on the …

My six year old son is obsessed with allowance these days. Last week we tipped over the old piggy bank and counted out all his cash. Crumpled dollar bills and mounds of change all over the bedroom floor. We stacked it all up, discussed once again the difference between nickels and quarters, and then came …

Sigh. We are now two days into our second week of school. Our oldest started Kindergarten last Monday. A milestone indeed. And in perfectly predictable fashion, there were tears involved on my part. Not as many as I had anticipated that day, but a few before and a few after. This I had planned on. …