Yesterday was the day. The day we wait for all winter long. The day when we all know that spring is not far off! It was the kind of day that is chilly in the shade but too hot for a coat in the sun. The kind of day when the birds can’t help but […]

Holidays like St. Patrick’s Day are so great because they are low low low stress. No gifts to shop for or extravagant meals to cook. Just a nice excuse to have a little fun! In the spirit of the season, we invited my grandparents over for dinner last weekend. I cooked a simple Irish meal of […]

Sweet Benjamin recently turned 4 years old. He was supposed to be the baby (until the twins surprised us!), so I still think of him as my little guy. I told him that he wasn’t allowed to turn 4 because he had to turn 1 again. Le sigh. Ben is the prince of hand-me-downs. He […]

We’re cruising through winter. Well, limping through winter. Although my family has avoided the nasty flu going around, we’ve had more than our fair share of stomach bugs and runny noses. I’ve always said that I wished Christmas came later in winter just to give us something to think about and look forward to during […]

So I meant to write this post months ago, but then school and holidays and sick kids and life distracted me…so here goes: We took a great trip to Europe in August. As I’ve written about before, my favorite souvenirs to bring home from a vacation are pictures so I brought our nice Nikon D90 […]

It was an oppressingly hot September day when we visited the cemetery. The brittle grass pricked our feet, the blinding sun torched the inside of the car, the air dried the backs of our throats. We were there to visit the graves of two women we never met, but who will forever be a part […]

I’m feeling a little anxious about Christmas. With six kids in a Chicago townhouse, we just don’t have any more room for any more stuff. I really do try to keep the gifts thoughtful and at a minimum, but even minimum x 6 = a lot. I hate that so much of this time of […]

Ok so I know there is a lot of terrible, awful, no-good stuff going on in the world, but something about the Christmas season reminds me that all hope isn’t lost (yet). Sure, we have awful politicians improperly managing natural disasters and man-made threats, but most of the everyday people I know are good and […]

The Christmas season is upon us. I’m so grateful for this time every year. It is nice to wind down after a busy year with the people we love most. Chris and I make gentle efforts to really enjoy all the hustle and bustle our city has to offer – there certainly is no shortage of […]

Winter is here. All summer and fall we play in the courtyard with our neighbors well into the evening, but now that the cold and dark have settled in we’re all stuck inside more than we’d like. While I miss the familiar summer charms of cicadas and chirping birds and rosy dusks, the charm of tucking […]