My kitchen counter looked like a green and yellow crime scene last Tuesday at 2:00 AM while I desperately tried to glue googly eyes onto twenty-two individual lime-green paper plates. My thumb had a fresh blister from the high-temp glue gun, and I’m pretty sure I’ve had “The Wheels on the Bus” looping in my…
I stared at a pile of red and blue crepe paper on my dining room table at two in the morning. Leo was turning eight the next day. The exact date was October 14, 2023. His only request for this milestone was a superhero party, specifically demanding a room covered in webs. My plan was…
Sweat was dripping down my neck as I stood in my South Lamar backyard last October, clutching a tea-stained map while fourteen twelve-year-olds screamed about “scurvy dogs” and “doubloons.” It was my nephew Jax’s birthday, and I had foolishly promised his mom I’d handle the whole thing. If you’ve ever tried to keep a pack…
I found myself staring at a pile of pixelated green napkins on my kitchen island last Tuesday, realizing that my eleven-year-old son, Leo, had more opinions on “server hierarchy” than I have on my mortgage. We were deep in the weeds of planning his birthday bash in Denver, and the sun was barely peeking over…
The glitter is still deeply embedded in my classroom carpet from the March 12, 2024, spring break bash, and I suspect it will remain there until the building is eventually condemned. Twenty-two kindergarteners in a Houston classroom during peak humidity is a recipe for chaos, especially when you add wings and wands into the mix….
My kitchen floor in Logan Square was covered in a sea of light blue crepe paper and half-eaten goldfish crackers last Tuesday. Aria and Maya, my four-year-old twins, were currently “shadowlands” jumping over the rug while I tried to figure out how to make a budget bluey party for 4 year old twins look like…
Hey everyone! Jackson here from St. Louis. Man, Easter this year was… memorable. In a good way, mostly! You know me, I let my kids, Aurora (1), Leo (7), and Finn (10), help with EVERYTHING. It’s chaos, but it’s our chaos. We had this big Easter egg hunt planned, got all the Dollar Tree eggs,…
My kitchen table disappeared under a sea of glitter and cardboard last March 14th. Maya and Leo, my twins, were turning eight, but we decided on a “Four Ever Young” theme because, frankly, they act like they are four half the time and I am clinging to their childhood with both hands. Chicago winters are…
My kitchen smelled like burnt cornmeal and desperation on the morning of March 12, 2025. Maya and Leo, my six-year-old twins, were currently staging a protest because I hadn’t yet found the perfect “Casita” look for our dining room. Living in a drafty Chicago bungalow means that when the wind kicks up off the lake,…
Leo stared at me with those wide, innocent eyes while a literal river of cherry-red fruit punch cascaded off his desk and onto my classroom’s beige industrial carpet. It was March 14, 2024, and we were attempting a “Rainbow Science” day that quickly devolved into a colorful disaster because I had only provided one cup…
