melted smoosh

Easter was "late" this year, April 20, which has the added benefit of slightly warmer temperatures. it always seems incongruous to me when Easter falls at the end of March and all the pretty Easter dresses are covered up by coats and we might have to choose snow boots rather than sandals!  this was the first year Elizabeth was allowed to be more involved with hands-on egg dyeing and she was so excited. I bought the "deluxe" PAAS kit with extra supplies to make glittery and foil-bedecked eggs and somehow, by the grace of God, did not end up with glitter all over the house.  I don't know how this one was so blurry but you get the idea! Greta's pastel eggs Cece's jewel-toned eggs I debated once again about which Easter mass to attend. we have attended the evening vigil once before , but that involves a lot of faith and perhaps a dash of insanity to attempt solo with young kids. so we typically go Easter morning, but I asked the older girls about it and they...

volume 1 volume 2 volume 3   volume 4 volume 5   1) Trader Joe's. prior to this week, I hadn't set foot in a Trader Joe's in years. the closest ones to me are at least a twenty-minute drive (as opposed to Giant Eagle and Aldi which are ten minutes away), and since they don't offer curbside pickup or delivery, I couldn't even peruse their offerings to decide if I wanted to pay a visit. but Greta has been asking me to pick up these PB&J snacks that her friends bring to school, and I keep hearing about amazing products TJ's offers (mostly from the hilarious Girls Next Door podcast -- every show with a TJ's mention is linked here !). for some reason, I was thinking that Trader Joe's price point was even with Whole Foods (or as it is sometimes known, Whole Paycheck), so I wasn't in a big rush to check it out.   finally, last week I had a rare pocket of time after dropping Greta off for a school event close to a TJ's location and decided to take a ...

after almost fifteen years of marriage, we know each other sometimes better than we know ourselves (or it can seem that way at least). we pick up on subtle shifts in mood and energy levels and can predict our spouse's response to any given situation with 99% accuracy. we both are easy-going and low-conflict, which means no knock-down drag-out fights or yelling, but we definitely both have our own pet peeves about the other spouse's behavior! I'm sure some of these pet peeves are universal although the roles might be reversed in your partnership... so, let's get into the nitty gritty!  what drives him nuts - the pile of boxes I leave by the back door for him to break down and take out to the recycling bin behind the garage - the state of the minivan; I let it devolve into a giant mess before cleaning it - related: the fact that I purposely keep a supply of extra toys, books, wipes, diapers, sunblock, etc. etc. etc. in the car. he has suggested bringing everything into th...

Greta is in the green dress the school musical was once again a smashing success. Greta thoroughly enjoyed being part of last year's production of Annie JR  (she was too young to participate in the previous performances of The Music Man JR and The Sound of Music JR). this year, they put on Into the Woods JR, a mashup of classic fairy tale stories involving Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and others. Stephen Sondheim's music is brilliant and fairly sophisticated for an elementary/middle school ensemble -- but the kids pulled it off!  the auditions were originally scheduled to be held just a few days after the audition materials were released, which led to much feverish rehearsing and quickly scheduled FaceTime calls with Auntie Kris and Kira (Greta is spoiled to have professional musicians in the family!). then, a sudden snowstorm postponed the audition to later that week, and then, a funeral was scheduled to take place during that same ti...