My living room looked like a red and orange bomb went off last Saturday morning. I stood there, lukewarm Starbucks in hand, staring at twenty empty juice boxes and a pile of cardboard that was supposed to be a trolley. Maya, my four-year-old, was currently vibrating with excitement while my eleven-year-old, Leo, tried to explain…
My living room still smells like orange Tang and damp sneakers from my son Leo’s 7th birthday party last October, but the sound of twenty kids screaming “Blast Off” while shaking homemade cosmic rattles is a core memory I will never shake. I live in a perpetual state of party-planning chaos here in suburban Portland,…
Our Chaotic but Sweet Easter – What Games Saved the Day? @nora96: Hey everyone! So, Easter this year was… a ride. With Owen, my little one, just turned 1, and Sofia, our 9-year-old, it’s always a balancing act. Arjun, my husband, bless his heart, tries to help, but let’s just say my last-minute planning tendencies…
Austin in June feels like living inside a hairdryer, but that didn’t stop my niece Avery from demanding a “vintage” Peppa Pig bash for her eighth birthday last year. I know what you are thinking. Eight is a little old for the pig in the red dress, but Avery has this quirky sense of irony…
My living room looked like a disaster zone three days before Leo and Maya turned two. Orange streamers tangled around my ankles while I fought a losing battle with a hot glue gun that kept spitting out molten plastic. Chicago summers are humid, and my Logan Square apartment has no central air, so I was…
My nephew Leo turned nine last May, and because we live in Austin, a “Gone Fishing” theme felt like a rite of passage for a kid who spends half his life trying to catch sunfish in Lady Bird Lake. I took on the role of party planner because my sister was overwhelmed, and I am,…
My living room looked like a neon green explosion happened inside a crayon box last Tuesday. I was knee-deep in crinkle paper and empty juice boxes while my twins, Arjun and Ishaan, practiced their TikTok dances in the background. Most moms would laugh at the idea of an 11th birthday party centered around a toddler…
It was 104 degrees in Austin last August, the kind of heat that makes your eyelashes sweat, and I was standing in my backyard trying to convince a Golden Retriever to stop eating blue crepe paper. My niece, Lily, was turning three on August 14, 2025, and my sister had somehow roped me into co-hosting…
Last Tuesday, I found myself sitting on my kitchen floor in suburban Portland, surrounded by three pounds of ethically sourced moss and a very confused golden retriever named Barnaby. It was June 12, 2025, and I was exactly forty-eight hours away from my daughter Lily’s 9th birthday. Lily is my middle child, the one who…
My living room smelled like scorched sugar and adrenaline last April 12th. It was 2:14 PM. Leo, my four-year-old, stood frozen in a cape made from a $4 thrift store bedsheet. Fourteen other toddlers, fueled by organic juice boxes and pure chaos, circled the dining table like a pack of miniature wolves. In the center…
