We are now smack dab in the middle of my favorite time of year. FALL. After a long, hot summer, my family comes alive in the fall, along with the rest of our city. Tennessee is especially beautiful right now as the leaves change, and we fill our weekends trying to cram in as many […]

Punky’s fourth year was a significant one. It was her last year at home with me and I did everything I could to make the most of it. Each day included a special activity, whether we went to the zoo, baked cookies, walked in the park or visited the playground. And when she started kindergarten […]

When Punky was born, I bought an inexpensive CD player for her nursery. I stocked a shelf beside it with a few of the most peaceful CDs I had in my library, but the one I listened to most often was Pink Moon by Nick Drake. As a baby, Punky really seemed to respond to […]

Some of my favorite shots of my 4-year-old come when he doesn’t realize I’m taking pictures. But when he notices what I’m doing…. Watch out!

Like most elementary school students who bring lunch from home, Punky has a permanent lunch box. But she also brings a snack to school each day. I pack her snack in a brown paper bag. And ever since she started kindergarten two years ago, I’ve used the outside of the bag as a learning opportunity. […]

Like me, many of you have entered that uncomfortable time of summer when it’s really too hot to take the kids outside. My 4 and 7-year-olds tend to wilt quickly in hot weather, which means I’ve had to come up with some good indoor solutions to keep them occupied- and to keep me from going […]

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about fun kid photos and the stories behind them. Enter Plum’s “Babies for Yum Caption Contest” on Facebook and you could win a $100 gift card or Plum goodies. One beautiful summer evening, we packed up a basket of food  and headed to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens for […]

I have always, always, ALWAYS wanted to have a backyard garden. However, I have a slight problem: I have killed every single plant I have owned. And there’s another small matter:  I hate bugs. Also dirt. And sweating. These things combine to make me rather, erm, gardenally challenged. Which is probably why I have always, […]

It was one of those days. The kids were complaining, the housework was mounting, the writing deadlines were approaching and I? I was having a Calgon moment. Don’t even pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about. I try to keep a small cache of activities on hand for moments like this one, and […]

You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, but I’ve always had a secret longing to hatch butterflies. I don’t know why I never got to do it as a kid– probably because my mother was too busy making soup from a stone in a bucket of water to bother with helping me catch caterpillars. […]