The Atlanta humidity was already wilting my spirit, and I hadn’t even started blowing up the balloons yet. Being a single dad means you wear a lot of hats, but on July 14, 2024, I was specifically struggling with the literal ones. My son Leo was turning seven, and his only request was a “Battle…
My living room in Atlanta looked like a glitter factory exploded on the morning of April 12, 2025. Maya was turning nine, and she had decided, with the unwavering conviction only a third-grader possesses, that her party needed to be “Frozen” themed despite the 82-degree Georgia heat. I stood there among 19 chairs, a stack…
My son Leo stood in the middle of our messy Atlanta kitchen on April 12, 2024, covered in blue frosting and holding a half-eaten gummy worm like it was a trophy. He was turning four, and I had spent the previous three nights staring at my computer screen, paralyzed by the sheer pressure of “The…
Chloe stood in the middle of my Austin living room on March 12, 2025, surrounded by fourteen other eleven-year-olds who were all vibrating with the kind of energy only a Saturday afternoon spa theme can produce. My rug still smells faintly of the “calming” lavender oil I accidentally knocked over while trying to help someone…
Bowie, my golden retriever, looked absolutely ridiculous in his miniature neon green leg warmers, but he was the only guest who didn’t complain about the humidity in my Austin backyard last March. It was March 14, 2025, and I was deep in the trenches of planning a birthday for my nephew, Leo, who was turning…
Farm Party Napkins – Help a Mama Out! Where’d You Find Yours?!? @chloe_partymom: Hey everyone! Hope you’re all having a great week. Chloe here from Austin, TX – military spouse, mom to Leo (2) and Ezra (4), and trying to survive on TikTok recipes and too much coffee, as usual. My little Leo is turning…
My classroom smelled like old crayons and humid Houston air last Tuesday afternoon, but the atmosphere was electric. Usually, I’m trying to convince twenty-two second-graders that regrouping numbers is a life skill, but that day, we were solving “The Case of the Missing Masterpiece.” One parent, clutching a lukewarm Starbucks, looked at the chaos and…
My son Leo looked at me with those giant seven-year-old eyes on March 12 and told me he wanted a pirate party, which normally would have sent me into a financial panic if I hadn’t already survived the Great Dinosaur Debacle of 2022. I stood in the middle of my kitchen in Kirkwood, Atlanta, on…
Living in a drafty Chicago bungalow with twins means I have learned to make a single dollar scream for mercy. When my twins, Leo and Maya, announced they wanted a “real farm” party for their ninth birthday last October 14th, I felt a familiar tighten in my chest. We don’t have a backyard pasture. We…
I spent my Saturday morning scrubbing bright green “Cactus Juice” off my back deck in East Austin while my Goldendoodle, Barnaby, chewed on a stray piece of hay. My nephew, Leo, officially turned three last week, and my sister was spiraling over the cost of a “Wild West” bash she saw on Instagram. She showed…
