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Stylish organization from Blue Sky My children both head back to school in a few weeks. This fall is shaping up to be our busiest one ever. Now that Zuzu is in third grade, her schedule is jam-packed with activities. I don’t think of myself as one of those parents who overschedules her child, but [...] Watching the surfers from Ocean Beach Pier Part 1: San Diego With Kids My parents with their grandkids As many of you have heard, my father is gravely ill at the moment. I don’t want to discuss the details of his illness because my father is a very private person and because it is not my place to do so. But I am compelled to write about the conflict I feel [...] JR is always very firm in his convictions. One of my all-time favorite articles from The New Yorker is a 2002 piece by Adam Gopnik about his daughter Olivia’s imaginary friend, Charlie Ravioli. The funny thing about Charlie Ravioli, aside from his wonderful name, was that he was always too busy to play with Gopnik’s daughter; at dinner, Olivia would [...] Harvard Yard: now known as where Facebook began Over the Fourth of July weekend, my family traveled to Boston, which seems appropriate somehow. We were there to spend some time with my husband’s brother and his wife, who live in Boston, and my husband’s parents, who lived in Boston in the early days of their marriage. [...] Summer is better with sombreros Why is it that summer memories burn a little brighter in our subconscious than other memories? One whiff of Fritos and I am instantly transported back to my childhood pool club; my mom used to pack a Thermos of lemonade and bags of Fritos and Doritos for a forced snack time on the [...] This post originally appeared earlier this week on my new blogging community, The Chicago Moms. I hope that you will swing by and check out some of great voices being featured there. One of my favorite parts of being a parent is introducing my children to the books and movies that I loved as a kid. Now that Zuzu is [...] Today we have a guest post about being a dad in honor of Father’s Day from none other than Zuzu and JR’s dad, that is to say, my husband. I hope he realizes that publishing his guest post here actually constitutes his Father’s Day gift from me. My kids are lucky to have such a great [...] Like Kate Middleton on her wedding day, JR does his own makeup. I have been laid low this week with a summer cold. Henry James once said that “summer afternoon” is the most beautiful phrase in the English language. If that is so, then “summer cold” must be one of the ugliest. The cause of [...] So, Zuzu is my mini-me, even more so from the back! For the past few months, it has felt like interactions with my daughter are limited to: “Zuzu, do your homework.” “Zuzu, practice piano!” “Zuzu, your room is a mess.” “No Zuzu, you can’t watch the episode of ’Sonny with a Chance” where Sonny discovers there are two Chads [...] This post originally appeared earlier this week on my new blogging community, The Chicago Moms. I hope that you will swing by and check out some of great voices being featured there. Outdoor concerts are great for all ages. Not so much the Symphony. I have written before about my love for the CSO’s Kraft Family Matinee series. This series [...] Today’s post is part of the From Left to Write online book club. The idea of this book club is not to write a book review, per se, but rather to write a post in which the blogger connects that month’s book to an experience from his or her own life. One of the book club books for May is Good [...] A year ago, I wrote the following post for the Chicago Moms Blog about Mother’s Day and my discomfort with the hype surrounding the holiday. On the eve of Mother’s Day 2011, I thought I would repost it here. This week’s Oak Park Patch also had a provocative Moms Council post about Mother’s Day, which [...] Moroccan meat ball stew When I was a junior in college, I spread the year studying abroad in Paris. I had many wonderful, unique experiences that year, from traveling all over Europe, to eating marvelous food to getting to know the ins and outs of one of the world’s greatest cities. But one of the most [...] The Boy Wonder prepares to duel his nemesis, Evil Mom Lady JR had his friend, A., over to play this week when our preschool was closed for Passover. A.’s mother is a good friend of mine so she stayed for some caffeine and company. The moms were chatting in the kitchen when the boys appeared, [...] Dinner at Carnivale: breaking out of my suburban rut One of my three New Year’s resolutions was to have a monthly date night with my husband. When you have small children and busy schedules and limited funds, it is so easy to find yourself sitting in front of a DVD — or more likely in [...] Lately, J.R. has been our own Boy Wonder. When my husband was in college, he and his best friend had a theory that things could only be going well for one of them at a time. If one was up, the other was inevitably down. Who knew that was also true with children? Since turning four at [...] |
  
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