Another downside to the very late sunset is all the raucous noise made by little kids playing outside long past the time that they should be in bed. Right now it’s after ten p.m. and there’s at least one rowdy band of boys about Lydia’s age running around the neighborhood yelling and jumping their bikes… Read More Friday

Tage is very much into make-believe lately, which makes for plenty of laughs around here. The past few minutes he’s been putting a blanket over his head then running in to where I sit at the computer and roaring. Playing along, I gasp and exclaim, “Oh no, it’s a monster,” at which point he pulls… Read More Playtime

Though summer is my favorite time of year, I have to admit that I’m no big fan of the Midnight Sun. There’s not much outside to indicate that spring, let alone summer, is on the way (it SNOWED yesterday, for crying out loud), but even in the absence of anything green on the trees, the… Read More Too much of a good thing

My daughter’s vanity knows no bounds. Just now she’s over at her cousin’s house for a birthday party, and the invitation specified that the party is a “painting party” so guests should wear unfancy clothes that their mothers weren’t concerned about. When Lydia saw the sweatpants and sweatshirt I had set out for her–neither garment… Read More So Vain

I sure hope so, because by the looks of things outside we’re a long way from seeing anything bloom this month.

I’m an irritable person, I admit it, and I’ve been known on occasion to get all het up about trivial things that don’t affect me in the slightest. The way that some women calculate the advancement of pregnancy is one of those things. Consider yourselves warned. Okay, so a term pregnancy is supposed to be… Read More Math lesson

Five years ago today I sent the instant message that would change my life forever. I was relatively new to the internet and completely new to ICQ and the like, and I had set a rather frenetic pace chatting with strangers far and wide. I also used the program to keep in touch with “real-life”… Read More Another “American Girl Meets Swedish Boy on the Internet” story …

Moments like these are why I keep having kids, even though some days they drive me crazy: It’s a bit reminiscent of a five-year-old Lydia: