I recently took my children to one of the local botanical gardens. They were having a dinosaur exhibit throughout the park. I handed the map to my children, who were more than happy to navigate our way through the park, keeping track of where we should see various dinosaurs. The first few were easy to... Continue Reading →

Wendy Henrichs has elegantly captured one of the possible origins of Maneki Neko, the Japanese waving cat, in I Am Tama, Lucky Cat: A Japanese Legend. This poignant tale, told with a light lyrical prose and combined with Yoshiko Jaeggi's beautiful watercolors, creates a lovely picture book to enjoy with children. While I've often seen... Continue Reading →

Please join us for a monthly blog carnival focusing on families and creativity. Families, Create! is a blog carnival with a purpose: we want your family to get creative and have fun! Read below for details on the July carnival, and check out the main carnival page for upcoming themes in 2011. (Check out January,... Continue Reading →

Popping in for the Families Create! June Wrap up. I hope you enjoy this month's participants and invite you to join us for July's theme -  swashbucklers! Details will be posted soon. I hope you will consider participating and telling everyone you know about it. June's theme for the Families Create! challenge was adventure, and... Continue Reading →

I'm taking a break....a break from people who think that sharing how our family does something is a reflection on how they do something. It's not. At the end of the day, I have to face my ideals, my values, my thoughts, and my actions. I'm hard on myself. I'm extremely hard on myself and... Continue Reading →

Illustration by USLDAWhen we moved to this area of the country seven years ago, it was never our plan to stay.  At the time, though we had always planned to homeschool, we didn't even think to check the homeschool laws in this state. Our oldest was only 18 months old at the time, and it... Continue Reading →

Phot by Karen BryanThe first time I went to my future in-laws' house, my (future) husband told me they had a huge backyard. It drove home a point of the differences in how we grew up. To him, his parents had a huge back yard. To me, having grown up on a farm, it was... Continue Reading →

Photo by Bailey WeaverIt's been one of those days. It's only two o'clock. So, I suppose it's been one of those mornings...the ones where everything seems to go wrong. It technically began last night. After sanding all of the trim in the living roon and hallway, I ran out of painter's tape, preventing me from... Continue Reading →