My living room looked like Elsa had a panic attack after a three-day bender of glitter and blue frosting. It was April 12, 2025, and my twins, Maya and Leo, were turning eight. In Chicago, April is basically just “Winter Part Two,” so the Frozen theme felt appropriate, if a bit redundant. I had a…
I was standing in my kitchen on April 12th, 2024, covered in green buttercream and wondering why on earth I thought I could sculpt a realistic cow out of marzipan while my four-year-old, Leo, was busy trying to shove a handful of sprinkles up his nose. This was the kickoff for his third birthday party,…
The Austin sun was hitting the backyard of our East Side bungalow just right on March 14th when I realized I had severely underestimated the physical footprint of twenty-one pre-teens high on sugar and Bluey-induced nostalgia. My niece, Maya, was turning eleven, and she had insisted on a “Bluey but make it ironic” theme. It…
My daughter Chloe turned two on March 12, 2023, and I learned a painful lesson about gravity. I thought a pink bedsheet and some cheap Scotch tape would make a decent princess backdrop in our Atlanta living room. It didn’t. Ten minutes before the first guest arrived, the whole thing slid down the wall like…
@kofi86: Hey everyone! Easter is just around the corner, and I’m already deep in planning for our church youth group’s annual celebration here in Boise. My daughter, Aurora (she’s 11 now!), helps me brainstorm ideas, but this year we’re really trying to keep things super budget-friendly. We want to put together some fun baskets, but…
Picking metallic stars out of a high-pile rug at 2 AM is a special kind of torture that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Last April, specifically on Saturday the 12th, I found myself in that exact position after my daughter Sophie’s 9th birthday party. We had 21 kids from her 3rd-grade class running…
My kitchen smelled like a giant salad dressing factory last Tuesday, and I have exactly zero regrets about it. If you have ever tried to wrangle three kids under twelve on a rainy Portland afternoon, you know the desperation that leads to “science experiments” on the dining room table. It started because my middle daughter,…
My living room looked like Peter Parker’s basement had a stroke. It was last March 12, 2024, and I was frantically trying to stick black yarn to the ceiling with masking tape while my 11-year-old, Leo, watched with that judgmental “mom-you’re-embarrassing-me” look they perfect at that age. We were prepping for his 10th birthday, but…
Last June, specifically on the 14th, my living room in Denver looked less like a suburban home and more like a soggy coral reef that had been hit by a glitter bomb. My daughter, Chloe, was turning five, and she had requested a “mermaid underwater extravaganza” with a level of intensity usually reserved for corporate…
Water is loud. Kids are louder. Put them together in a backyard in Denver, and you have a sonic boom that would make a fighter jet jealous. Last April, I stood on my patio watching seventeen four-year-olds vibrate with pure, unadulterated energy. My daughter, Lily, was turning four, and I had the bright idea to…
