Conversations with Kidzilla – How to Have a Happy Marriage
I love having conversations with my daughter. For starters, Zilla is a rather skilled conversationalist for a six-year-old. The kid knows how to have a discussion. She also has a wicked sense of humor and near-perfect comedic timing and delivery. She often stops me dead in my tracks with a snappy one-liner. But in addition…
1000 Voices Speak for Compassion
In a million years, I never thought I would be part of something like this. I was never a joiner. I didn’t belong to a whole lot of clubs in school. I didn’t run for student council. I was just sort of quietly part of my one or two things, did them with gusto, stayed…
TToT – Running Smoothly
Well, I think we may finally be up and running smoothly for the year. Even with a snow day Monday and Kidzilla home not feeling well Tuesday, the regular routine seems to be in place once again. And maybe even with some improvements in the works – who knows? I’m excited to get this list…
Soup of the Week: Spicy Butternut & Vegetable ‘Stoup’ and Giving Things Another Try
Several years ago, my Mom had a fairly extended period of kitchen experimentation. In those pre-Pinterest days, Mom would sit with her impressive cookbook collection and look for new meals to prepare for our family. She liked to find new and different ways to prepare fairly standard ingredients. My Mom is a great cook. Most of…
TToT – The Non-Routine Routine
My disappearance this week was not intentional. In fact, I had all sorts of great ideas planned for this space – and most were actually in a semi-written state. But somehow the first week back on routine went a little awry and I ended up with a cold to boot. Two of the five school…
TToT – Soft Landing
Our start to the New Year has been a very soft landing. I think I first heard the term used in conversation when one of Kidzilla’s preschool teachers talked about giving the children a “soft landing” routine in the morning. At the time I thought, “OK whatever,” but it’s actually a nice concept. And here in…
TToT – Between the Holidays
So here we are. It’s the end of a year once again and the beginning of a new one waits just ahead. I have been feeling rather reflective the last couple of weeks, even amidst the busy-ness of the holidays. Here between the Christmas and New Year holidays seems a good time to do that. The…
TToT – Enjoying Life!
We have been busy here, friends! I have to tell you this. I can’t remember quite enjoying the time leading up to the holidays as much as I am this year. It’s different. I could ramble on here for a few paragraphs about all the specifics of why, but I’m not going to. Let me…
TToT – We Are Christmas-a-fied!
Well, at least I am. And Kidzilla definitely is! Hard to say how the Hub feels about the whole thing, given that he’s Jewish and all, but he certainly has done his fair share of tree-trimming with us and shelf elf duty and OUTDOOR LIGHT HANGING. We have been quite busy Christmas-ing this week and…
The Spirit of Christmas
Saturday was the feast of St. Nicholas. My Daughter woke to find her shoes filled with clementines and chocolate truffles with pretty wrapping and of course she was delighted. When else does a child get a treat for not putting away their shoes at night? She positively floated to our room that morning, I am…