I was standing in the middle of a party supply aisle on March 12, 2024, staring at a wall of blue and red, trying to find the perfect spiderman birthday tableware for Toby’s big day. Toby was turning eight, and he had very specific ideas about what “cool” looked like. If the red on the…
The glitter usually settles by 4:00 PM on a Friday afternoon, but the ringing in my ears from twenty-two first graders screaming over cucumber sandwiches lasts well into the weekend. Last February, specifically on the humid afternoon of February 14, 2025, I decided to host a “Kindness Cafe” in Room 4B here in Houston. I’ve…
Austin in April is a gamble. One minute you are sipping an iced latte in 75-degree perfection, and the next, a humidity wall hits you like a rogue Hulk smash. Last year, on April 12, 2024, I found myself standing in my backyard with sixteen two-year-olds and a very confused Golden Retriever named Biscuit. It…
My classroom floor usually looks like a confetti cannon exploded, but last April, it was specifically blue and yellow confetti. Leo turned 12, and for some reason known only to pre-teens in Houston who spend too much time on TikTok, he wanted a Baby Shark theme. I spent three hours after school on a Tuesday…
Twenty-two second graders staring at you with wide, expectant eyes is a specific kind of pressure that only we teachers truly understand. It was October 12, 2024, and my classroom was vibrating with that post-recess energy that usually signals impending doom. We were celebrating a “Cocomelon Throwback” day for the kids who still secretly hummed…
Last October, the Chicago wind nearly blew my $2.50 bag of pink streamers all the way to Lake Michigan while I scrambled to set up for Maya and Miles’s 10th birthday. Being a mom of twins means double the joy but also double the potential to go broke if you aren’t careful. I had exactly…
Austin in May feels like sitting inside a preheated oven, but that didn’t stop my nephew Leo from demanding a full-blown western showdown for his fifth birthday last year. On May 12, 2024, I stood in my sister-in-law’s backyard with a staple gun in one hand and a lukewarm iced coffee in the other, determined…
Standing in the middle of my kitchen last March 12, I stared at my nine-year-old son, Leo, who had just announced he wanted a Peppa Pig birthday party. Usually, nine-year-olds are into Minecraft or whatever digital chaos is trending, but Leo is a nostalgic soul with a wicked sense of irony. My first thought wasn’t…
The smell of damp cedar and burnt vanilla cupcakes always reminds me of the Great Encanto Disaster of 2025. Last March 14th, my oldest, Maya, turned 11, and she decided her entire personality was now Mirabel Madrigal. Living in suburban Portland means you spend half your life planning outdoor events that inevitably move into a…
Rain was lashing against the windows of our drafty house in the West Hills of Portland back in April 2024, and I was three cups of coffee deep into a full-blown panic. My middle child, Sophie, was turning five, and she had very specifically requested a “Princess Peach and Mario” bash for 19 of her…
