I've been meaning to record this here for about a week, but I haven't.  Last week Mr. Sneaky Pants and Sarah were working in the office at the art table.  They had been busy for a long time, which was excellent because The Banana and I were accomplishing some much…

To convince my husband that crab apples are not the spawn of the devil, we've been picking the fruit that hangs low enough to the ground to reach.  The kidlets take the lowest branches, and I climb about on the ladder, filling buckets of crab apples.  We haven't even come…

I mentioned before that over the weekend we traveled down to The Cities.  In addition to visiting our good friends, the main purpose of the journey was to transport me to the middle of St. Paul so that I could sing with the Arrowhead Chorale at the Minnesota State Fair.  For many…

We were so exited to take a little weekend trip down to The Cities last Saturday.  I spent the greater part of Saturday singing at the state fair with the Arrowhead Chorale as part of the Minnesota Voices concert sponsored by the American Composers Forum.  (It was very fun, and…

We were all driving in the car on our way home from some morning appointments today.  From the middle of the van, Mr. Sneaky Pants was listening to me describe an article I had been reading in a magazine about old houses: Mr. SP:  I really, really wish we could…

It is the season of crab apples!  Our trees are loaded again this year.  I love lying in my hammock in the late afternoon, gazing up at the ripening tiny orbs above me, breathing in their fruity scent and appreciating their slow change in color.  I bask in the knowledge…

On our way home from our state park outing, Dot called us.  She was on our way back to our house, but had some car trouble just outside of city limits.  We zipped right down with our van full of smelly kids to rescue her and the dog.  When the…

I won't lie to you and tell you that our hike at Tettagouche State Park was uneventful, last Saturday.  In fact, it was fraught with minor catastrophes in addition to the shoe episode below.  About half way through the hike, at the point where we were farthest from our diaper…

On Saturday, in an effort to be independent and helpful, Sarah tried tying her shoes when she got out of the van to go to the bathroom before our family went hiking.  Unfortunately, as you may be able to tell from the photograph, she miscalculated and tied two wrong strings.…

We were walking in our neighborhood a few days ago, and as we stepped off the sidewalk into the curb before we crossed the street, Sarah looked up at a yellow-beige  house with chocolate brown trim on the corner and said, "Mama!  Look!  That house has the same color of…