Posted in Comfort & Control, Thomas on Nov 11th, 2011 2 Comments »
I feel overwhelmed this week. Weighty things are on my heart, and a busy schedule intensifies the emotional stress. In addition, several friends are in the midst of weighty circumstances as well. My first reaction is to want to do something – about their circumstances and my own – but there is often nothing I [...]
Posted in Grieving, Thomas on Sep 11th, 2011 No Comments »
Me in New York, July 2000 This morning the kids and I watched videos of the planes hitting the two towers, and videos of the towers coming down. We talked about what happened on this day ten years ago, why it was so confusing and scary, and what Bryan and I were doing when we [...]
Posted in Thomas, Travel on Aug 10th, 2011 No Comments »
Doe Bay Fest 2010 from Decade ii on Vimeo. I’ve had a helluvatime explaining to my kids where we’re going this weekend. Every year for the last seven or eight years, we’ve attended a small music festival on Orcas Island. This year that music festival was canceled, but we’re going to another music festival. On [...]
Posted in Everyday, Ruthie, Thomas on Feb 6th, 2011 No Comments »
Posted in Living In Community, Thomas on Jan 23rd, 2011 2 Comments »
Every Thursday we host a small group of friends in our home. We eat dinner together and hash out the challenges of living a meaningful life. Our friend Bob usually brings dessert because he shows up a little late, after he gets off work. Bob is now Bob the Dessert Guy in the eyes of [...]
Posted in On Writing, Ruthie, Thomas on Jan 21st, 2011 No Comments »
I’m not really sure what I was thinking, signing up for this @postaday thing. While I like writing and feel compelled to do it, I don’t want it taking precedence over things like…I don’t know…sleep. I also don’t want to fill my blog with a bunch of content that’s not really even blogworthy. I often [...]
Posted in On Writing, Thomas on Jan 17th, 2011 4 Comments »
This is Thomas. I believe I had asked him to put the laundry basket back into his room, and he spent about 20 minutes crying about how that was so hard. Or something. After awhile I start tuning out his drama, but I guarantee you it was less about it being hard than it was [...]
Posted in Everyday, Ruthie, Thomas on Jan 3rd, 2011 1 Comment »
I honestly don’t know how I manage to parent these children sometimes. Between Thomas’ obsessive hoarding and Ruthie’s creative body art, there’s 101 different ways these kids could end up institutionalized. I’ve quit trying to prevent the madness. It’s more fun to embrace it and laugh.
Posted in Picture Book, Thomas, Travel on Nov 19th, 2010 1 Comment »
At LAX for our return flight to Seattle we were herded into a queue that took us to an escalator that led to the security screening on the second floor. As Thomas boarded the escalator, he didn’t make the turn wide enough for his wheely bag to clear the end, and it got stuck. As [...]
Posted in Everyday, Ruthie, Thomas, Travel on Oct 31st, 2010 No Comments »
The picture to the left is Thomas’ vision. He was very concerned that Bryan could pull it off, given that it turned out a bit small in relation to the size of his pumpkin, and he was very adamant that the pumpkin have a pucker. Bryan, of course, pulled it off with his eyes closed. [...]
Posted in Everyday, Ruthie, Thomas, Video on Oct 24th, 2010 2 Comments »
We probably shouldn’t have watched School of Rock right before bed. And maybe the marshmallows were a bad idea. But Ruthie’s fits of giggles over Jack Black’s silliness was worth every minute of delayed bedtime. And this encore presentation? Awesome. I recommend you turn the volume down or your speakers might blow. Also, stick with [...]
Posted in Everyday, Thomas on Oct 24th, 2010 No Comments »
I worried a little how Thomas would fare as one in a classroom of many. He is full of questions about how things work, how they’re put together, how they came to be, and when he’s on a mission to discover the answers he will not let go until he has them. With Thomas there [...]
Posted in Thomas on Sep 2nd, 2010 2 Comments »
I have to admit, I’ll miss my little guy. I love to follow the trail of his questions back to what he’s thinking about. He’s always thinking, surmising, turning it around in his head, trying to make sense of it… and expressing hypotheses. “Wook at that!” “How does…?” “What if…?” “Would anyone like a…?” “COME [...]
Posted in Everyday, Thomas on Jul 29th, 2010 No Comments »
Thomas treats any camera like it’s wielded by the paparazzi – any time you get one out he’s covering the lens, his face, or running for cover. The boy is so against being photographed, we’ve taken to calling him Sean Penn. But yesterday he was so proud of himself for spelling his name in sticks [...]
Posted in Everyday, Thomas on Jul 8th, 2010 4 Comments »
Me: “Thomas, be sure to tell your friends to stay out of the blueberry bushes.” Thomas: “What blueberry bushes?” “The three blueberry bushes we planted in the garden.” “We don’t have any blueberry bushes.” “Yes we do. They’re the bushes next to the big hole you’re digging to the center of the earth.” “The strawberry [...]
Be warned: what you see here is not my best work. It is what Anne Lamott describes in Bird By Bird as a series of “shitty first drafts.” Blogging dragged me kicking and screaming out of creative constipation by getting me to actually write. So I do that. A lot. Without worrying about every word choice or comma placement.
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