I have been in a lot of groups.Schools and churches. Newsrooms and classrooms.Volunteer brigades of various sorts. All of them inspire me and shape me in some way or another. But this weekend, I connected with another group--a tribe of wildly dissimilar people who all come together for just one shared interest:

In hon

I was late to the Pinterest party, so perhaps it's right and proper that it's taken me this long to achieve my  very own Pinterest fail.It started out so innocently. My little girl was home sick, for the second or third day in a row. Feeling well enoug

We don't give much thought to dinosaurs, around here.My girls have never shown a great deal of interest in them--not the science-y kids' books about different  dinosaur species, not the "Dinosaur Train" TV show--none of it. Other than an occasional read-throug

My three little girls on Friday went to school and came home safe. This weekend we dressed up in pretty dresses and went to see "The Nutcracker," then celebrated a family birthday. Our house was filled with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins; food and drink; lights and laughter.And right there amid al

Yesterday my daughter was walking across the kitchen floor when she suddenly tripped over nothing at all and tumbled down flat on her backside.I asked her if she was okay. She was. And so I gave her a hug and laughed at her thoroughly, because--I'm sorry--it was funny to watch. As a fellow klutz myself, one who

It's hard to tell if I'm doing this job right.Someone asked me recently whether I preferred newspaper writing or longer-term projects, and I said that one thing I like about newspapering is the immediacy of it. You write an article, it runs in the paper, and within days (or within hours, sometimes) you start get

Did you ever say that, when you were in high school/middle school...maybe even grade school?  That someone liked you back? As in, "Suzy likes Sammy, and guess what? Sammy likes her back!"Liking someone back is important. It provides validation that one's affection is not in vain.Well, guess what

I have a secret love.I don't often speak its name, because it is not a glamorous love. It is not hip, and neither is it urban, edgy, or cool.This love I have, is for a store. This store's name is Bi-Mart.I know that suburban mothers like me are supposed to be in love with Target. After al

Little by little, their worlds are getting wider.Used to be, I wouldn't let them play in the front yard alone. Now, in the mornings, I kiss the two big girls on top of their heads and ask them 10 times if they have their homework folders and their lunchboxes, and then they run out the door without me. Walking to

I don't care what people say. The new year does not begin in January. It begins in September. I personally may not be walking in stiff, shiny shoes, or writing with a freshly-sharpened Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil, but I feel the newness all the same.We finished out the summer well, with a backyard campfire and slee

I have a question for you fellow parents.Do you ever walk around your house and suddenly find yourself thinking, "Whoa. That is weird?" It's as if you're seeing your own home through someone else's eyes. Because you're normally just living with it, day by day, and you see this weirdness so ofte

I don't know about you (maybe the rest of you are more normal than I am). But for me, the longer I've had something, the more I treasure it. T-shirt I've had since I was 17? Instantly becomes the T-shirt I will never part with. Book someone gave me once when I was 11? Priceless possession! You get the picture.I

We did it. Survived our first real slumber party. Not just having one friend sleep over. No, an actual slumber party--the kind with a whole bunch of little girls. With multiple girls, here at my house, all night long. With sleeping bags and and movies and pizza and popcorn and staying up way, way too late.And yo

Her name was Katie. I think, maybe.And she had a son named Ty, and a cute blonde daughter who liked baby dolls just as much as my cute blonde daughter, and every day for two weeks we sat side by side. We talked about our kids, and our jobs, and how hard it was to balance multiple children, and whether or not we'

You how sometimes you hear about these families where they're loud and noisy and they yell and fight all the time and just love each other all over the place anyway? Like the stereotypical big Italian family in TV sit-coms? That is not my family. My family is polite, quiet, and thoughtful. We have very goo

If you're an internet-savvy mom, then perhaps you are way ahead of me and discovered Cute Girls Hairstyles long ago. Me, I think I saw a link or a Facebook post from a friend or something a long time ago, looked at the site and decided most of these amazing braids and fantas

A new thing happened to me yesterday.I was in the middle of making jam. Because in case you didn't know, the natural consequence of spending a glorious, sunny day out in the fragrant air picking strawberries, is that you spend the follo

Oregon can be a mean place to live.She's like a passive-aggressive girlfriend who punishes you for some crime you didn't even know you'd committed. And just when you think you've had enough and you're going to get out of it, (for real this time, you mean it) she turns around and rewards you, and

In the past 10 years or so, I've gotten really into baking bread. I love kneading the dough, smelling the warm, yeasty smell as it rises, and most of all eating the finished product. There's nothing better than a good loaf of home-made bread.

We are right in the thick of it now. My oldest daughter is almost 8. I am almost 32. Motherhood is, as always, a mind-bending role reversal. Because I remember--remember quite clearly--being and doing and thinking things at her age.I remember first really being aware of the concept of ages, and what ages differe

Yesterday Evie tripped and fell at the park. She banged her chin on the play structure, cut it open, and ended up having to get four stitches at our local urgent care clinic.It was a completely typical, no-big-deal childhood incident. Someday she might have a little scar on her chin and she can show it off to pe

So I'm at the gym, and I'm not feeling very good about myself. Although I went to Portland and participated in the Shamrock Run this weekend, any health benefits that may have accrued me were pretty much ruined by the delicious brunch, and artisan pizza, and gourmet ice crea

So we're out on a "run," my daughters and I, half-walking/half-jogging around the neighborhood one Saturday morning, and our loop past the high school athletic fields brings up a discussion of sports. We start talking about the various games and activities the girls have, so far in their short lives, participated in: soccer

Every winter, I forget.At first, I am pleased with the cold weather, happy for my cozy sweaters and hot teas and frozen mornings.But crisp fall turns to grey and soggy winter, and the refreshment of snow comes far too rarely, and then, just when all the color has been washed out of our days and we're

It's a bright and sunny day, and I'm in the office, doing something on the computer, when Evie runs in from outside, fist full of a big, bright, boldly yellow dandelion.(Dandelions and daisies, just like crayon art, are items that I find m

The other day my daughter jumped up on top of a stool in the middle of the living room, pulled her sister up there with her, and then began singing at the top of her lungs. "We are pop stars! Pop stars on Facebook! We are pop star siiiiiiisters!"And then flashed a giant, triumphant smile, certain that all the wo

I was very honored this week to learn that an essay of mine had been selected as a Gold Prize winner in a writing contest sponsored by the website Oregon Women's Report, which features my writing occasionally.The topic was love, and when I heard that I knew exactly which piece of writing I wanted to submit: an u

The title of this post? It's an allusion to a poem I read in college, a famous one by a poet named Andrew Marvell who is trying to convince his mistress to sleep with him sooner rather than later. It's kind of a trashy subject, actually, but the things he says about the fle

The girls have started pretending that they have a little brother. They blame things on him. “Oh, that naughty little brother dumped over my cup,” Evie says as they play tea party on the rug.“Oh, dear,” Lucy says sympathetically. “He always spills our things. And he’s such a boring little brother.”