“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and – SNAP – the job’s a game!” – Mary Poppins Chris takes Mack to a couple classes on Friday mornings, so while Vivian naps I have a two blissful and quiet hours to myself.  In my fantasy […]

As a Homemade Mother, I pride myself on my spirit of self-reliance.  I like doing things on my own, and I take great pleasure in working out simple solutions to everyday problems. But, tonight I was faced with the most daunting of challenges: The car battery died. And I was miles from home. With all […]

Chris was out of town on Friday and Saturday, and I was surprised by how much I missed him.  Not only do I appreciate his help with the kids on the weekends, but he’s my favorite person to hang out with.  When he’s gone I miss his handsome face and strong arms and cheerful personality.  […]

Evie started her second year of pre-school last week.  A year ago I was very anxious about sending Evie to school for the first time.  Would she miss me? Who would she turn to if she got hurt? How would her view of the world change without me there to guide her?  She had been […]

As I’ve written about many times before, we don’t buy many beverages.  No pop, no juice, a little milk, that’s it.  For the most part, we’re all quite content with the delicious water that comes from Lake Michigan via our kitchen sink.  Not only is tap water easy on the budget, but there’s no sugar […]

I feel so lucky to be a part of a very large extended family.  My mom has seven siblings and my dad has six, and so I have lots of cousins near and far.  The other night we got together with my grandparents for dinner, and on their way to the restaurant they bumped into […]

Chris and I celebrated our anniversary this weekend. I use the word “celebrated” loosely because we really didn’t do anything overly special to celebrate.  I had to work all day yesterday on a photo shoot for my new cloth diaper line, and Chris had to work all day today on his businesses. Chris brought Mack […]

The text message from my sister Caitie came through innocently enough: Do you have any desire for a massive zucchini? Not quite sure where my trickster sister was headed with this, I replied: What kind of a question is that?! Turns out, a friend of her mother-in-law gave her mother-in-law a big zucchini.  The mother-in-law […]

I really love our new neighborhood.  When we moved a month ago I had no idea that so many families with young children called our block home, and now that we are here I feel so grateful.  I’ve always said that the hardest part of every day is the dreaded 4-6 pm stretch, but now […]

As I’ve written about before, our favorite breakfast seems to be some sort of smoothie.  I can load the blender up with a creative array of fruits and vegetables, and we all very happily enjoy a very healthy start to our day.  Unfortunately, the glass jar to our blender broke, and while I try to […]