and you’ll never guess who came. We had Sts. Elizabeth of Hungary, Benedict, Joseph and Agnes and Queen Isabella of Spain. Sherlock Holmes, Christine from Phantom of the Opera, the Frog Prince’s lady put in an appearance. It was a stunningly varied group of the real and the fictional, but they all had so much fun. We had our homeschool group’s Halloween party at our house yesterday and 30+ children came. They ranged in age from 2 in the womb... Read more

From RealChoice comes this excellent post. She does good work, you should check her out. Once upon a time, according to a Chinese legend, there was a poor widow whose only son was killed in an accident. Her grief was so deep that she wanted to die. In desperation, she went to a magician and asked if he could prepare a potion for her to cure her grief. The magician told the widow that he could make just the potion... Read more

Find out what day and time your grocery store marks down meat left over from the weekend. Ours does it at 7AM on Tuesdays. Go and hang out while they’re doing it. (You may need to get your spouse or eldest child to watch the kids) You can save 30-50% on your meat bills. How do you know what day to show up? ASK! always ask. You also should check out the “Sell by” date on each package. If the... Read more

I don’t know why I have been thinking so much lately about the passage of time, and how quickly my little ones seem to be growing. I have just been oddly nostalgic lately. Not over some sweet memory, but wanting desperately to hold on to the small, normal things which all come together to make my life complete. I just want to live in this moment for a long. long time. I get the feeling that THIS is the best... Read more

  Yesterday in the car I realized that I had missed an important moment in my eldest child’s life. The moment when she stopped being a little kid. How did I miss it? We were taking her to dance class and singing our favorite silly songs at full volume when I looked to my right and saw her staring out the window. She had that definite “I love my mom, but she’s a dork” look on her face. When did... Read more

My family and I often joke that I live my life like a duck, calm on the surface but paddling like heck underneath. There is in reality only one thing that ruffles my calm feathers, and that is being late. It turns me from a pretty happy mom into a crazed lunatic with one glance at the clock. Always in my head is the refrain To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be... Read more

I think this guy has been in my house at bedtime. h/t Play the Dad? No, be the Dad Read more

So many people have written such lovely things and included our family in prayer since reading of the loss of our Bernadette. I wanted to take a minute and thank you all for your kindness. One of the many things we have learned through all of this is of the extreme generosity and compassion of complete strangers. I wanted to let everyone know that our lives did indeed go on. Six weeks after our loss, we discovered to our surprise... Read more

Before we have children, we know it all. We think about all the things we will teach our children, then there are the unexpected things they teach us. 1. Don’t run with your finger up your nose. If you fall you’ll poke your brain.2. Don’t eat that crayon, it’ll make your poop purple. 3. No, babies don’t bounce.4. Dogs don’t like to wear dresses. If they love you they’ll do it anyway.5. Hand soap is a substitute for hair gel.6.... Read more

Start shopping for Christmas now if you haven’t already. I usually start in May or June. Set a strict budget for your children and then STICK TO IT. We usually budget $100 per child. By starting way ahead of time, you can look for bargains and get way more for your money than if you wait until the last minute. Never spend more than $30-35 on on our parents and less than that on other relatives. What can you get... Read more