Lazy summer days are a thing of the past.  August bows to September and the sun is setting sooner.  Unopened boxes of crayons have been broken in.  The back-to-school adjustment seems to make our family more receptive to new routines than at any other time of the year, so we’re cramming as many good things [...]

Does your world look like this right now? It’s that time again.  Back-to-school is, in some respects, more a fresh start than the New Year.  The adjustments are in full swing around here.  One of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood is the feeling I felt at the beginning of a new [...]

It’s Sunday night.  The house is, at last, quieting as one child after another nods off to sleep.  My efforts to anticipate the school schedule and get them to bed earlier were largely a waste of time.  They spent the next hour sneaking around. Some weeks are easier to end than others.  I wanted this [...]

Yikes!  Another week has come and gone and our summer vacation is almost over. This week’s report:  81 steps. Highlights: 1.  It was a lot of fun to celebrate our daughter’s birthday at the beginning of the week. 2.  We went to the school to look at teacher assignments and class lists for the coming [...]

July has come and gone; August is upon us.   I turn the calendar page with a sigh… I hate seeing that first day of school written in.   There is still so much I want to do!  I have a list of simple pleasures for us to enjoy during our last days of summer and hope [...]

We just wrapped up a beautiful evening.  The sunset was golden as we stood outside and chatted with neighbors while the children played and enjoyed being alive as dusk turned to dark.  We’re so blessed to live in a beautiful place and to be surrounded by fantastic people. This week’s report:  80 steps.  It was [...]

We are in the height of summer, the time of year when I most often remind my children of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Bed in Summer.”  Do you remember it? In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by [...]

July is in full swing at our house.  The flags are still out and will remain that way throughout the month.  In some ways it feels like summer’s just begun.  We’re in that sacred month which is, at last, unscheduled by the world.  So much of the year is like a paint by number experience:  [...]

Happy Independence Day! I hope you’ve been celebrating all weekend long!  We certainly have.  The 4th of July is my favorite holiday of the year, and this one did not disappoint.  Even the weather was perfect:  cool breezes and pleasant temperatures.  Life is good. This week’s report:  57 steps.  It was a productive week.  The [...]

It is Sunday evening and the sun is beginning to set.  Most of my children are upstairs playing cheerfully while my oldest is in the kitchen making soap bubbles the size of watermelons.  It is nice to be back in our own house.  As I review the week  I realize how nice it was to [...]