Ever After

WOO HOO! Ariana attacked the reading portion of the TAKS test and earned a perfect score! To celebrate, we went on a little family getaway to the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Dallas (THANKS to our dear friends who gifted their ‘free night’ hotel certificate to us).   After a few tries, we mastered the self-timer [...]

Dear BT, I just want you to know that I’m not at all upset that you couldn’t find two eensy, weensy minutes this beautiful Sunday morning to call and check on your dear, sweet, sleep-deprived, mother-of-two-sick-children, camera-wielding, overly-creative, eternal companion. Ok.  That’s not entirely true. I was a teeny bit miffed, but, for some strange [...]

It’s true.   I’m a sucker for American Girl Doll accouterment.  The dolls . . . dresses . . . accessories . . . EVERYTHING! I am completely aware that everything is overpriced.  It does not escape my notice that, ever since Mattel bought out the original AG company, everything is made in China. I [...]

Week after week, especially these hormonally-imbalanced postpartum ones, I try to put on a happy face and pretend that everything is peachy keen.  And perhaps that is truly the best course of action. Perhaps that’s what I’m supposed to do. Maybe that’s my role at this stage and in this season of life. And yet, [...]

A sweet email message from my Dad–Birthday gifts just don’t get any sweeter than this. Dear Lori,   I have not forgotten the feelings of my heart when I first saw you and cuddled you in my arms– and walked you around University Village on a cold fall day– and  watched you walk from the car up the [...]

I seem to have lost my right arm, and I want it back!  It’s the appendage that helps Vivi brush her teeth, that comforts baby Tad as I try to make dinner, and that gives me hugs of unconditional love at the end of a long day.   I’m amazed at how much I miss [...]

As we got her ready for bed at the end of her big day, we asked our sweet three-year-old a few questions to document this darling stage of her life: Q: Vivian, what’s your favorite color? A: PINK Q: Favorite kind of ice cream? A: PINK, too Q: Favorite kind of cake? A: PINK Q: [...]

  From the earliest days of her life, I’d sing the song “You Are My Sunshine” to her–not only because it was one of the few songs I actually could remember the words to, but also because she truly “made me happy, when skies were grey.” When Ariana was not yet two, I cried, “please [...]