March 15, 2025, was exactly 92 degrees in Austin, and if you think that stopped eight sweaty second-graders from trying to recreate the 1996 Bulls roster in my driveway, you don’t know my nephew Leo. I am the designated “fun auntie” and party fixer, which usually means I’m the one scraping orange icing off the…
My kitchen table looked like a smurf exploded on it. Blue felt scraps, silver glitter, and half-eaten crusts of PB&J were everywhere because I decided to host thirteen energetic eight-year-olds for a deep-sea adventure. My twins, Leo and Maya, turned eight on June 12, 2025, and they were dead set on an Octonauts theme even…
My kitchen floor currently looks like a primary-colored minefield, and my left heel is throbbing from an encounter with a stray 2×4 brick. This is my life in suburban Portland with three kids who think building block towers is a competitive sport. Last November 14th, my oldest, Leo, turned eleven, and he decided his childhood…
My living room floor in Atlanta looked like a crime scene involving primary colors and a hot glue gun that I clearly didn’t have a license to operate. It was April 12, 2025, just two days before Leo’s 10th birthday party. Most people think 10-year-olds are too old for three kids in pajamas fighting crime,…
Standing in the middle of a craft store aisle at 9 PM on a Tuesday, I realized that magical usually just means expensive. My daughter Maya was turning ten, and she wanted a fairy forest in our small Cabbagetown backyard. I looked at the price tag on a plastic toadstool—thirty-five dollars—and almost walked out. Being…
My living room in Austin currently looks like a Jurassic swamp, and honestly, I am not even mad about it. My nephew Leo turned nine on March 14, 2026, and since I am the “cool aunt” with the big backyard and an even bigger obsession with themed aesthetics, I volunteered to host. Finding the best…
The smell of sun-baked grass and grilled hot dogs always reminds me of the Saturday morning my daughter Chloe decided she was a cowgirl princess. It was June 12, 2025, in our suburban Denver backyard, and I was staring at a pile of pool noodles wondering if I had finally lost my mind. My wife…
My twins, Leo and Maya, turned seven last April, and I refused to let the Chicago wind or a tight budget dictate our joy. I had exactly fifty-three dollars left after paying the heating bill, and eighteen energetic second-graders were descending on our small bungalow for a “Pup-tastic” celebration. I spent three nights scouring the…
My kitchen table was a graveyard of blue cardstock and failed dreams on the rainy morning of October 12, 2024. I had exactly three weeks to pull off a birthday bash for my twins, Leo and Maya, who were turning nine and suddenly decided they were “too cool” for typical little kid stuff. They wanted…
Silver glitter is still embedded in the fibers of my living room rug from the Great Robot Uprising of 2024. I am a second-grade teacher here in Houston, which means my life is a revolving door of glue sticks, lukewarm coffee, and the smell of industrial-strength sanitizer. Last March, specifically on Saturday, March 12, 2024,…
