Here's a testament to how well people learn when the material means something to them -- I can remember second grade better than, well, most of college. I had a teacher, Mrs. Keyes, who made you forget you were in school. Let me give you some examples. For the science fair, we made a giant, [...]

We had the first day of school this week, and Elfie was a little freaked out. After three years, she started a new class with a new teacher (they're clumped 1st through 3rd and 4th through 6th), so it was a big change. Anyway, I decided to write something on a Post-It and stick it [...]

The other night, we went to a baseball game. Reno has a Triple-A team called the "Aces" (original, right?), and my friend gave us some really good tickets. One of these days, my kids will go to a game where they have to sit where "normal" people sit. So far, every game they've attended has [...]

This is the follow-up post on how to throw a kick-but Harry Potter birthday party (we did this when my daughter, Elfie, turned nine). Part One describes all the prep work. It's really not as scary as it sounds... So this post is meant to walk you through the actual execution of the party. Basically [...]

Thanks to my lack of organizational skills, we left my daughter Elfie's 9th birthday party planning until the very last minute. Not a big deal if my husband and I weren't insane. Unfortunately, we've set a precedent of throwing wildly fantastical theme parties for her birthday, complete with treasure hunts that involve multiple adult actors [...]

Some days, I'm a good mom. I'm excellent, actually. Even though I feel like I'm walking through mud and the last thing I want to do is have a "teachable moment" with the children, I somehow rally and become this Gandhi-esque creature who I barely recognize. It's freaky, really. Like standing outside yourself and expecting [...]

So I'm home from camping. Yesterday, when my friend hadn't heard from me, she emailed to make sure I hadn't crawled into a hole or gotten trapped under a porta potty. Sadly, she wasn't too far off (from the hole part). I've been in full-on meltdown mode: exhausted, killer headaches, vertigo. Stuff that makes you [...]

Today, while everyone was writing sentimental posts and acrostic poems about dads, I was hoping to baby Jebus that my husband wouldn't remember it was Father's Day. Not that he really would've remembered. Tenzin and I are sort of famous for not making a big deal out of holidays anyway. Truth be told, I wasn't [...]

We did something so girly the other day -- we had a tea party. Even my son, Newt, who has very few issues with crossing traditional gender lines (he told me the other day that he thought dressing in drag like Bugs Bunny would be awesome) was having none of it. To be fair, it [...]