Today she drove away. Not for good, thankfully. She was off to soccer practice, followed by an 8-hour shift at work. She’s a busy kid, between sports, babysitting, her job at Subway, and hanging out at the horse barn. Throw in a knee surgery and weekly physical therapy appointments, and let’s just say this girl’s shiny new driver’s license brings as much freedom for her … Continue reading Sweet Sixteen
Ahhhh, holidays. The time of year we happily trade the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a different kind of crazy. It’s magical madness: a season where the refrigerator is always full and the mailbox is never empty. We silence our alarm clocks and turn on the Christmas music. We shop, wrap, decorate, bake, host, visit. Santa makes his naughty and nice list, while … Continue reading Holiday Highlights
Sad day for our flock. Imagine Maggie’s shock when she found an additional bird in the chicken coop this morning: Clark and Maggie designed the coop to protect her hens from predators, and so far it’s held up well. We haven’t lost a single bird to a bear, and last year it protected the ladies from a hungry lynx family. Nothing has been able to … Continue reading Ruffled Feathers
‘Tis the season for travel once again, so we hopped down to Nebraska for Thanksgiving this year. It was a whirlwind weekend filled three family dinners, two birthday cakes, and one painful football game. There’s not a lot of photo documentation, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Except for the painful football game. We did manage to capture that! This is the … Continue reading Thanksgiving 2021
Craft pumpkins. Carving pumpkins. Sugar pumpkins. Pumpkin pies and pumpkin seeds… this has been the pumpkiniest October ever! I’m glad the kids agree that you’re never too old to carve a jack-o-lantern, and that tradition continued for another year. Sam and Lucy went for traditional jack-o-lanterns. Maggie picked a ghost template, and Clark and collaborated on the “Boo” ghost. He gutted it, and I carved. … Continue reading Pumpkin Mania
Earlier this month, my parents celebrated 50 years of marriage. They’ve never been ones to make a big hoopla about their anniversary, but this one warranted something special. There was no way my siblings and I were going to let fifty years go by without a celebration. A party was out of the question. Our folks would never go for it, there’s still this whole … Continue reading Silver & Gold
For me, Mexico was a brief intermission to a bigger show: after 18 long months, I once again had a ticket to Nebraska. Clark and the kids wouldn’t join until the following week, after the state soccer tournament. I was headed home. Alone. So much had changed, yet everything felt the same. If that makes sense? First up: a new family member to meet. My … Continue reading Home Again
A few years ago we got passports for the kids, but our first international family vacation was cancelled due to Covid. We had grand plans to visit a friend in Switzerland, followed by a few weeks in Spain and France. Instead, we stayed home… just like everyone else on the planet. It turned into a long Alaskan winter, especially with no escape for a year … Continue reading Nuestras Vacaciones Familiares
This girl. Due to Covid, she finished 8th grade online and spent the first three quarters of her freshman year on Zoom. When students were given the option to return to in-person school during 4th quarter, there was never a doubt that she’d go back. The kid is busy. Every day she packs three bags and a lunch: one for schoolwork, a second for soccer, … Continue reading Maggie 15.0
I still remember the last “real” staff meeting we had at school. It was the day before spring break of 2020, and nearly 100 of us gathered in the library. Together. Our principal told us to take home our laptops “just in case” this whole Covid thing exploded like some health experts feared. There were varying levels of concern, but not a single one of … Continue reading One Weird Year
Profoundly Ordinary 