Austin heat in mid-April feels less like a warm hug and more like standing behind a running bus. My nephew Leo turned two last Saturday, April 12, and my sister begged me to handle the “vibe” because she was drowning in diaper changes and sleep deprivation. I accepted the challenge with the confidence of a…
My kitchen counter looked like a tropical rainforest threw up, and not in the cute, curated way you see on social media. It was June 12, 2024, the morning of Leo’s 2nd birthday, and I was currently losing a battle against a tub of store-bought vanilla frosting that refused to turn the specific shade of…
My kitchen looked like a Smurf had exploded in it by 10:00 PM on Friday, April 11th. I stood there, clutching a spatula covered in neon blue buttercream, staring at my four-year-old son Leo’s birthday cake. The “Sonic Blue” food coloring I bought at the North Lamar HEB had stained my white quartz countertops, and…
My kitchen smelled like a mix of industrial gold spray paint and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets on the morning of June 12, 2024. That was the day Leo turned four, and I, a single dad with a history of party-planning disasters, decided to conquer the elusive safari birthday centerpiece without losing my mind or my rent…
My son Leo aggressively hugged his slightly mangled, blue stuffed unicorn in the middle of a Denver Target on a freezing Tuesday morning. He looked at me with those giant brown eyes. That was the exact moment I realized I had to figure out some solid unicorn party ideas for boys. Most party store aisles…
My living room currently smells like a mix of industrial-strength carpet cleaner and vanilla frosting. It is a very specific scent. It’s the scent of a mom who just survived another toddler birthday. My youngest, Leo, just hit the big two, and I decided—in a moment of pure suburban caffeine-induced mania—that we needed a “Sunny…
I was standing in the middle of the Beaverton Target on a Tuesday morning, staring at a wall of brown paper bags and feeling like my brain had completely melted into a puddle of overpriced latte. My youngest, Leo, was turning three that Saturday—October 14th, 2024, a date burned into my memory because of the…
@the_real_miles: Alright, fellow party people, I need some serious help here. Easter just happened, and my grandpappy planning skills took a serious hit. My grandkids, Caleb (5) and Ezra (11), bless their hearts, were NOT impressed with my “creative” approach to fun Easter party games. I spent hours, HOURS, on a spreadsheet, mapping out an…
Fifteen years of teaching elementary school in Houston has taught me that glitter is the herpes of the craft world; it never truly leaves your classroom or your soul. My third-period students once managed to coat a rescue tortoise in iridescent pink shimmer during a pollinator unit, and I’m still finding specks of it in…
Chloe stared at me like I had three heads when I suggested a Moana theme for her 12th birthday last May. In Houston, twelve is that awkward age where they want to be sixteen but still secretly sleep with a stuffed animal. She wanted “aesthetic,” not “toddler.” I had exactly $150 in my “fun mom”…
