stories and pictures

I seem to average one post a month these days, so that's a good indication of how busy we've been ...
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We're only halfway through the month, but the momentum of the new school is already giving me whiplash. Is summer ...
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Earlier in the spring, my sister asked me if Jeremy wanted to join Owen on his summer youth trip, and ...
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My Uncle Bob and his wife, Carie, came to visit the week of July 4th, and I was more than ...
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I know, I know - we just went on vacation. BUT, Karin and I like to skip out of town ...
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As promised, we made sure the boys set their feet in London before flying back to the States. A quick ...
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The weather was a bit gray when we left Levanto, an indication that the remainder of our Italian experience would ...
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It was hard to leave France, if I'm honest. We had just found our stride with the neighborhood and language, ...
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We scheduled a morning to sleep in and take our time, which was necessary for happy moods and getting some ...
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If you'd have told me as recently as January that I would want to go to Monaco for a Formula ...
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It was a genius move to sleep in the hotel connected to Gatwick Airport because our Easy Jet flight from ...
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Last year, when Chuck and I flew to the UK, we opted for an overnight flight so we wouldn't lose ...
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At some point during winter, Chuck and I started talking about where to take the boys on a summer vacation ...
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Several years ago, as a gift to myself, I decided that as long as we are homeschooling our academic year ...
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I don't know if this is a short-lived phase or the beginning of something, but I've become a Formula 1 ...
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When I became a Mumford & Sons fan, Chuck and I were in the midst of trying to move back ...
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In my former life, blogging was an almost-every-other-day thing. I had so much to say, so much to post, so ...
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We don't get a lot of snow around here, but when there's a threat of an inch, schools and businesses ...
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I have a short list of artists I want to see in concert. As a fan of not wasting time ...
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January is supposed to be an inspirational month, a time when folks have the most amount of resolve to improve ...
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Honestly, we did our best. It was a tough year, so it's hard to be festive during a time that's ...
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I signed up for the Santa Hustle Half Marathon in the Smokies back in the summer, not yet knowing that ...
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My parents are moving back to Tennessee, and since they are already in the process of the move, it made ...
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For a dozen reasons, we didn't want to leave Scotland. How can one look forward to a trip for more ...
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By Day 9, we were acutely aware of how quickly time was passing us by. It was an impossibility to ...
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Having spent one full day in Edinburgh and one full day in London, I for sure knew I was a ...
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We arrived in Edinburgh Thursday evening just as it was getting dark. We were fortunate to find our Airbnb apartment ...
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The night in Horsley near Newcastle was a delight, and the Airbnb apartment where we stayed was in an old, ...
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Of all the unpredictable details of our anniversary trip - the pleasant weather, the ease in which we navigated the ...
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The plan for Wednesday, October 10, was to spend the morning walking in Oxford and driving through the Cotswolds before ...
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Last week I had a near heart attack when this site went blank. A corrupt plugin (or perhaps a plugin ...
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Originally, my plan was to drive to Brighton, then Dorset and up to Oxford, but when I couldn't find room ...
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Every day we spent in England was meticulously mapped out to make the most of our limited time. Scotland was ...
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We visited more than just Hever Castle on Day 3, but my affection for Queen Anne Boleyn warrants its own ...
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I've already confessed to the number of photos I took throughout our 12-day trip. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed, but ...
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In 2006, Chuck and I started talking about taking a trip to the UK. Until last week, it had always ...
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Chuck and I are going on a trip, but before we leave I have eleventy billion tasks to complete. I'm ...
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It began on Tuesday night, September 4, when Major lost his mind. Evenings are typically low-key for our blue tick ...
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We are fully immersed in the fall schedule - homeschool co-op classes, soccer for Jeremy, another round of equine therapy ...
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We'd gone out to dinner one night this summer to one of those restaurants with TVs scattered throughout the room ...
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Last fall, after Jackson finished nearly three months of occupational therapy to help with his spatial awareness, fine motor skills, ...
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Earlier this year, Chuck started asking me what I wanted to do to celebrate turning 40 years old. Figuring that ...
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We've caught a bad bug. Something happened this summer, and I can't necessarily pinpoint when everything shifted. The idea of ...
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While our lifestyle affords us plenty of family time, Chuck and I don't get a lot of time just the ...
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Typically, by mid-June, I'd be nurturing a well-groomed garden and plucking off a zucchini here, a tomato there. In previous ...
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The first time Jackson asked to repaint his bedroom, which had been a shade of light blue since buying this ...
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The original idea for one our 2018 Girls Weekends was to reunite in New York City where our friendship really ...
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The moment we finished our last day at the homeschool co-op where the boys attend and I teach, my brain ...
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Eleven years ago I entertained a personal physical challenge: could I run 13.1 miles?  For some, that was a reasonable, ...
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There are good things that happen during a time of mourning - favorite stories are told, family members gather to ...
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I don't remember the first time I met my future father-in-law, but it was sometime in the early spring of ...
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Yesterday was a bad day of school. Those days happen. Sometimes it's on account of bad moods, other times it's ...
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Are you ready for the longest race report ever? There are a dozen reasons why I shouldn't have run this ...
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After our day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (and subsequent day of rest by the pool) it was ...
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Previous post: Hogsmeade Village After lunch we walked through Universal to reach the discreet entrance to Diagon Alley, which was ...
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We had one full day at Universal, and that limitation required careful planning in regard to arrival time, meal time, ...
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As homeschoolers, we do what we want. It's glorious. It's magnificent. Our first spring break was spent at home, and ...
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Five years ago I was accosted by a girl in my head. She showed up uninvited, as if she'd been ...
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A couple of days ago I was on a six-mile run while listening to West Cork, an Audible True Crime ...
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You can start here if you like. You can also start with Part One where I talk about the importance ...
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Read Part One first. The reason to take care of yourself first can be summed up with a simple analogy: ...
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I've been sitting on this post for a while. Sometimes it's hard for me to know when to share something ...
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This post probably feels random for most of you, but bear with me. One of the things I decided to ...
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Last week Jeremy got his tonsils and adenoids taken out after we realized that more than 50 percent of his ...
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It all began with "Mr. Brightside" and Hot Fuss in 2004. It was a new sound, something I hadn't heard ...
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Parts of Tennessee got its first snow of the year last week, but we weren't that lucky. Yesterday, however, we ...
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