(photo from June 2002) Thirteen years ago I married my best friend. We had dated long enough to know what we were getting into. He knew I was a little bit on the roller-coaster-emotional side; I knew he was a...

It was a hot day here at the Family Farm, so we do what we do when it's hot: head down to the creek. While the creek has long been a favorite for the kiddos (and also for the parents...

The #1 rule with curly hair is no brushing. Absolutely no brushing. Curly hair gets washed/wet in the morning, a good dose of conditioner (shampoo only once a week), and then picked out with a wide-toothed comb. The girls are...

A few weeks ago, our local newspaper did a feature on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Orlando. You may recall that last year, on our trip to Universal, we got a peak at...

When we were eating breakfast yesterday morning, Sydney asked me, "Do we need to get ready to go somewhere?" Nope, I said. Nothing to do today. "Good! I just want to sit here and eat my oatmeal." I agreed that...

: 1 : When we moved into our house a year ago (well, actually, we moved stuff in here almost two years ago), nearly all wall surfaces were covered in wallpaper. The wallpaper was fine for when my grandparents lived...

I was adding a few books that I've finished to my sidebar, when I realized that there are two new (new-ish) widgets that I'm kinda loving and never mentioned. The first one is a widget for my Flickr photostream so...

Yesterday, in recognition of being officially two months from my due date, I sorted through seven boxes of baby clothes and washed all the ones that we'll need for the first three months. I sorted and re-labeled and matched up...

A trampoline, a sprinkler, a sunny day. And, of course, a jumper. That's all you need.

I may or may not have mentioned that one of my big projects for the summer is to get all our digital photos printed in photobooks. It sounds very nesty of me to do this, and it's true that one...

Alternate Title: Summer has FINALLY arrived. Alternate Title 2: My Ankles are Swollen and My Pregnancy Weight Goal is Totally Not Going to Hold, but it's all worth it for some sunshine. Alternate Title 3: The Office (aka Computer Room)...

(Because I'm feeling patriotic...and because I was just looking at photos from my 2008 trip to the East Coast...and because the day isn't over until Lee Greenwood sings "God Bless the U.S.A.") * And I'm proud to be an American...

I wasn't sure that summer was actually going to arrive, but this week we had two days above 80 degrees. TWO WHOLE DAYS. The arrival of summer feels like a blessed miracle, and we're all just so smiley about finally...

I didn't work the five months before Sydney was born. I'm not entirely sure what I did to keep myself busy since I didn't have any children or a job, but I think the house was probably really clean, the...

It was almost exactly a year ago that Jason came back from a trip to the east coast with his 8th graders and officially didn't have a job lined up for the fall. No lessons to plan. No teams to...

...phone call at 5:00. Jason has a teaching job for next year. JASON HAS A TEACHING JOB FOR NEXT YEAR. JASON! HAS! A! TEACHING! JOB! FOR! NEXT! YEAR! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah, thank you Jesus, and Amen.

Some days more than others.

Even though I am something of a girly-girl, I grew up outside doing outside things like catching frogs and snakes and making mudpies. Since part of the Family Farm property is swamp, then frogs abound, and for a variety of...

Even though I am something of a girly-girl, I grew up outside doing outside things like catching frogs and snakes and making mudpies. Since part of the Family Farm property is swamp, then frogs abound, and for a variety of...

Generally speaking, writing about rain is a bit of a non-story here in the Pacific Northwest. If I had a weather blog devoted to the drama of the local skies, it would be rather boring. Day 1: Rain. Never saw...

Generally speaking, writing about rain is a bit of a non-story here in the Pacific Northwest. If I had a weather blog devoted to the drama of the local skies, it would be rather boring. Day 1: Rain. Never saw...

Those who have endured six months of rain know that a day of sunshine is no small thing.

Those who have endured six months of rain know that a day of sunshine is no small thing.

Even though I'm not an ambitious baker, for the past few years I've enjoyed doing creative cakes for the girls' birthdays. I admit, I'm a little more creative with Syd's cakes than Jules'. Sydney has had two horsey cakes and...

Even though I'm not an ambitious baker, for the past few years I've enjoyed doing creative cakes for the girls' birthdays. I admit, I'm a little more creative with Syd's cakes than Jules'. Sydney has had two horsey cakes and...

It's always been one of those things to do, and yet it never quite gets done. Today, however, in a burst of positive energy, I was determined to do it. Organize all my digital photos. From the past eight years....

It's always been one of those things to do, and yet it never quite gets done. Today, however, in a burst of positive energy, I was determined to do it. Organize all my digital photos. From the past eight years....

We have had the most spectacularly awful weather this year. Sopping wet, grey clouded, soul damaging rain that persists day after day. When it started raining at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, I stood at the kitchen sink and cried. Even...

We have had the most spectacularly awful weather this year. Sopping wet, grey clouded, soul damaging rain that persists day after day. When it started raining at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, I stood at the kitchen sink and cried. Even...