The humidity in Houston during June feels like wearing a warm, wet blanket, which is exactly why I found myself staring at twenty-two seven-year-olds vibrating with excitement near a body of water. I am Ms. Karen, and after fifteen years in the classroom, I have learned that twenty kids in a pool is less of…
My son Leo turned twelve on March 14, 2025, and instead of wanting a gaming party or a trip to the skate park, he looked me dead in the eye and requested a Baby Shark theme. He called it “ironic.” I called it a nightmare for a single dad who still hasn’t figured out how…
The strobe lights were still pulsing in my peripheral vision three days after Leo turned eight. My Austin living room looked like a highlighter factory had exploded, and my Golden Retriever, Barnaby, was still wearing a stray glow-in-the-dark bracelet on his tail. March 12 was a total blur of neon orange frosting and 21 screaming…
Twenty-two toddlers in a small Houston living room is a recipe for a structural failure of your sanity. My living room still smells like apple juice and regret from last March. I am Ms. Karen, and I spend my days wrangling thirty sixth-graders. You would think I could handle a two-year-old’s birthday. I was wrong….
Living in Austin means you’re either at a brunch spot with your dog or you’re sweating through a themed event in someone’s backyard, and last March, I was definitely doing the latter. My nephew, Leo, was turning twelve, which is that weird “in-between” age where they’re too old for bounce houses but still secretly love…
@caroline.schneider: Hey GINYOU fam! It feels like just yesterday I was planning Zoe’s first birthday, and now my sweet girl is nine! Can you believe it? Where does the time go? As a daycare owner here in Omaha, NE, I’m surrounded by kids all day, every day, and then I come home to my own…
Twenty-two eleven-year-old boys in a suburban Houston living room sounds like a recipe for a structural integrity failure of my house. Last March 14th, my son Leo decided he was officially over superheroes and dinosaurs, demanding a “professional” racing setup for his birthday. I spent $242.45 on that Saturday alone, mostly on high-end snacks and…
The living room smelled like a chaotic mix of burnt buttered popcorn and damp Portland sneakers. My four-year-old, Leo, was currently vibrating at a frequency that could probably shatter glass, mostly because he’d just discovered that if you blow into a noisemaker hard enough, the dog hides under the sofa. It was October 14, 2025,…
Twenty-two second graders and a gallon of lukewarm hibiscus tea do not usually mix well with white classroom carpet, but here we are in Houston, where the humidity is 98% and my patience is roughly 2% by Friday afternoon. Last March 14th, instead of doing the usual Pie Day math, I decided we were going…
Finding a flattened Pikachu ear under my couch cushion three months after Leo’s fifth birthday felt like a rite of passage. Most people see a piece of yellow cardstock with a black tip, but I see a structural failure in the 250-GSM paper I chose during a late-night crafting session. Last March, I spent three…
