Scrubbing neon pink frosting off my marble-look backsplash at 11:47 PM on a Tuesday wasn’t exactly how I envisioned my week ending, but that is the reality of being a mom to three kids under twelve in the rainy suburbs of Portland. My oldest, Sophie, just hit that weird “tween” transition where she is too…
Glitter is still coming out of my floorboards two years later, and honestly, I think it’s just part of the subfloor now. My youngest, Mia, turned three on October 14, 2024, and she was obsessed with “spinning like a princess,” which is toddler-speak for ballet. I had exactly zero dollars in the “fancy party” fund…
My eleven-year-old son Leo stood in the middle of our Portland kitchen last Tuesday, looked me dead in the eye, and told me he wanted a Chase-themed birthday bash. I almost choked on my lukewarm oat milk latte. He’s eleven. Most kids his age are begging for gaming PCs or those strangely expensive hoodies, but…
Standing in my kitchen on October 12, 2024, I realized that a group of eleven four-year-olds has the collective decibel level of a jet engine, and I was about to give them whistles. My son, Leo, was turning four, and I had this vision of a “Hero Training Academy” in our backyard in Atlanta. I…
My basement smelled like rain. Muddy puddles. Not real ones, thankfully, although the Denver snow outside was melting into a slushy mess on February 12, 2024. My daughter Maya was turning two, and I had exactly eighty-five dollars and a spreadsheet to make her world turn pink. I am the kind of dad who reads…
My living room looked like a pixelated nightmare last April when my nephew Leo turned four, and I realized I had zero idea how much green crepe paper was too much. I stood there with a lukewarm oat milk latte in one hand and a roll of duct tape in the other, staring at a…
My living room looked like a silk-spinning factory exploded last April 12th. My niece Maya was turning six, and she didn’t just want a birthday; she demanded a full-on metamorphosis. I had exactly $58 in my “Aunt Sarah’s Fun Fund” to make this happen for 18 wild kindergartners here in Austin. Figuring out how to…
Pink glitter is still wedged in the floorboards of my Austin bungalow from Mia’s birthday bash last June. It was a Saturday, the Texas sun was hitting a brutal 98 degrees, and 21 screaming kids were about to descend on my backyard for what I promised would be the ultimate “Dreamhouse” experience. If you are…
@the_real_levi: Hey everyone! Levi Flores here from Boston. Hope you all had a good week. Easter’s coming up fast, and I’m looking for some fresh ideas for my church’s youth group gathering. We usually do an egg hunt, but the kids, especially my Alice (she’s 9 now), are kinda over the same old thing. We’ve…
My living room looked like a Pepto-Bismol factory exploded. It was a Saturday in April, and I was standing in the middle of a pink vortex trying to figure out how to fold a napkin into a cat ear shape. I am a single dad in Atlanta. I don’t naturally “do” pink. My usual weekend…
