I tell parents that there are two ways kids learn to read. One is all at once and the other is slowly and steadily. Katherine has taken slow and steady to new lengths. The child has been ‘reading’ now for close to two years. She began reading simple three letter words when she was barely […]

Read more

Frequent readers may have noticed that one of my main characters has been a bit absent at the blog. Caroline, in her tween-ness, has asked me often to not include her in my writing. Pictures, stories and funny comments have all been deemed “too embarrassing” or “really weird.” I have respected her privacy but also […]

Read more

Last night I was working upstairs to prepare lessons for a client. Caroline was at soccer which is almost always Katherine’s sign that she and I should play a game or read aloud. Unfortunately, she herself has proclaimed that “I don’t know how to play by myself.” So needless to say, when she stayed in […]

Read more

  When I looked at the kitchen floor, I saw the mud and dirt dragged in by our enthusiastic puppy. When Katherine looked at the kitchen floor, she saw the first letter of her name magically created by two blades of grass. If only we could always look at the world through the eyes of […]

Read more

Not sure how I got so totally out of control of a schedule I created but it has happened. Caroline is playing soccer and softball this spring and Katherine is  playing t-ball and dancing. And somehow the practices and games are at all different times on all different days throughout the spring. It is nearly […]

Read more

Oh my goodness. I had heard lots about this The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, one half of the famous Vlog Brothers. I had heard both how wonderful and how terribly sad it was. I bought it awhile ago but have been waiting to read it. I just wasn’t sure I’d be able […]

Read more

The girls had spring break last week so we decided to take an off-season trip to Cooperstown. We have since decided that we are a family that loves the off-season vacation. Great hotel room prices (a suite complete with bunk beds for the girls), lots of parking and a quiet museum. Win-win-win. It was also […]

Read more

I am trying very, very hard not to fall in to the big black hole that is Pinterest. But boy, is it hard to resist… The adorable image above courtesy of some time lost while browsing some of the many wonderful things to see on Pinterest…          

Read more

I’ve written before about the joy I feel when books that are hyped are actually worth all the excitement that surrounds them. I had heard and read so much about two books lately that when I saw them in my favorite book store this week, I wondered. Would they be any good at all? No […]

Read more

I discovered the Nie Nie Dialogues in 2008 shortly after the plane crash that left Stephanie with burns over 80% of her body. At the time, Stephanie’s sisters were writing updates about her condition and the blogosphere was abuzz with talk and ways to help. Somehow, as blogs will tend to do, Stephanie’s fell off my […]

Read more