a big (little) family

Trying to maintain my sanity and live to blog about it.

Inexplicable hunger pangs…

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Yesterday, we went to the zoo. We had a great time. Henry the hippo put on a show for us, the warthog and zebras and cougar came right up to the fence, and the giraffes ran across their pen – all so fun to see. The lions were up and active, the mountain lions looked […]

Think the animals will mind?

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We’re in the thick of colds around here, starting the uphill climb – I think. Then Sterling lost his water yesterday. (In the kitchen, in the moments following Ruby losing something else entirely, also in the kitchen, but that, my friends, is a story best stopped there.) So we’re skipping co-op today. Something about that […]

Shoot the messenger.

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Pierce has been increasingly fussy for weeks now. The swing is his happy place, if he isn’t eating. I cut out onions. No improvement. Garlic. Nothing. Then, my sister suggested it was the coffee I’m drinking that’s been bothering him. Please, oh please, don’t mess with my coffee. For three days now, I’ve left the […]

Dude!

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I took 20 shots of the kids together like this yesterday. In 9 of them, Sterling did this: Dude! If I hadn’t gotten this one, without the shrug he’d have been in trouble. Or I’d have kept it for that so-fun wedding slide show he’ll have 20 or so years from now. I think I […]

I’m going to miss this.

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I decided to can the tomatoes littering my kitchen yesterday. Before they froze, buckets and bowls were filled with green and half ripe tomatoes. Making green tomato salsa with the green ones, we were left with those that were ripening. I’d never made spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes before, but in the end, we have […]

Family Photos: Outtakes

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Pierce did not appreciate his introduction to grass. Charlotte: she’ll cry if she wants to. If Ruby can almost pull off sultry at the age of three, what’s next? Sterling’s fake frowny face. As opposed to his real frowny face. It’s much, much crabbier. The worst one I could find of Eden. She’s getting pretty […]

Ramblings of a tired mind.

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In the last eight years since I became a mother, I’ve learned just a few hopefully a lot of things. I’ve relaxed about a few things, come to conclusions about a few things, and ran into lots of brick walls in my venture towards what really is (and isn’t) important. In no particular order, a […]

Well, then. The timing of that could definitely have been worse.

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Monday, I got my van inspected and relicensed for another year. Friday, I went to take the kids to the zoo and my van won’t start. Bummer. Who knows what that means. (Hopefully dear husband Blaine does… and it’s not expensive.) But really, the timing of this is interesting at best. We weren’t headed anywhere […]

We’ve fallen apart.

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After a new baby is born around here, for a little while, everyone is enamored with the baby and jealousy waits. And then, it all falls apart for a little while. We’ve fallen apart. Charlotte doesn’t want Momma to hold the baby, Ruby’s the most obstinate three year old I’ve met, and tears abound from […]