My living room smelled like sugar and wet dog because Portland rain never quits, and I was knee-deep in iridescent fringe. Mia turned nine on March 12, 2025, and she demanded “maximum sparkle with maximum sound.” Finding the right unicorn noise makers for kids became my entire personality for three weeks because a group of…
@scarlett_muel OMG, you guys!!! I just survived Wyatt’s 10th birthday party and I HAVE to share! It was a full-blown Super Mario Bros. extravaganza, and honestly, I’m still buzzing (and recovering, thanks to way too much coffee, as usual! ☕️). Ten-year-olds are a whole different beast For party expectations, let me tell you! They want…
The Austin sun was already beating down on March 12, 2024, when I realized I had exactly two hours to turn my backyard into a pixelated wonderland for my nephew Leo’s third birthday. My golden retriever, Barnaby, was currently trying to eat a stack of green napkins, and I was sweating through my favorite “Dog…
March 12, 2024, was the day my classroom at Piney Woods Elementary finally looked like the high-tech laboratory I had promised my twenty-two fifth graders. Houston humidity usually ruins everything made of paper, but that Tuesday was different because I had a secret weapon that didn’t wilt. It was silver. It was shiny. My students…
March 12, 2025. 2:14 PM. The Denver sun was blinding through our kitchen window, casting a spotlight on the carnage. My four-year-old son, Leo, stood frozen like a statue. A red sea of fruit punch was currently colonizing the white grout of our tile floor. He had squeezed his “festive” striped paper cup just a…
My kitchen floor currently looks like a prehistoric swamp, mostly because Leo, my four-year-old, decided that green juice is the only thing a “real” T-Rex drinks. We just wrapped up his birthday bash last Saturday, and while the house is a wreck, the biggest hurdle wasn’t the screaming toddlers or the fact that I accidentally…
My floor still sparkles with tiny, sugar-shaped paper circles from last Tuesday’s sprinkles-themed blowout for my son, Leo, who just turned four on March 24th. I spent three hours scouring the web for donut confetti for adults because the parents deserve a bit of whimsy too while they’re corralling nineteen toddlers hopped up on yeast…
Houston humidity does things to duct tape that no teacher college course ever warns you about. Last Tuesday, March 11, I stood in the middle of my classroom with 22 three-year-olds staring at me while our “Intergalactic Command Center”—which was really just six refrigerator boxes from the Best Buy on Richmond Avenue—slowly wilted into a…
Twenty-two third graders and one very tired teacher stood in the middle of my Houston classroom on March 12, 2024. The humidity outside was pushing 90 percent, but inside, we were pretending to be in a sub-zero blizzard. I had spent three weeks planning this “Ice-Stravaganza” to celebrate the end of our weather unit. My…
My living room looked like a florist shop exploded last Tuesday. I was knee-deep in pink tissue paper, jagged stems, and tiny wooden shovels. Maya turned two on March 12, 2026, and the Denver wind was howling outside our brick bungalow. Planning a toddler party is basically high-stakes logistics mixed with a heavy dose of…
