Funny | Chino House

First Flights

May 6, 2013 - 10:00 am | family, funny, stories

photo by Jacob Slaton Do you remember the first time you ever flew on an airplane? When you first felt the now everyday miracle of accelerating down the runway and then the nose of the aircraft lifting up into the air? Just like that. All of a sudden, you are flying. Houses below you become smaller and smaller, until they look like toys and then like ants on the ground. Soon they disappear altogether below the clouds. Puffy white pillows of condensation outside your window seat. Honestly, it still amazes me when I fly. I am like a little kid … Continue reading →

Done and Done with Standardized Testing

April 12, 2013 - 10:00 am | being grateful, funny, raising chinos

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celebrating the end of standardized testing, ice cream with everything please

My kids have been in the middle of standardized testing for the last two weeks, and I am feeling so grateful that today is the last day of it! We are definitely going to have to celebrate! I think a little ice cream party is in order this afternoon. Sprinkles, cones, toppings and the like. I especially feel for my kids’ teachers during testing time, because it is perhaps the most stressful couple weeks of the school year. I made a special point of finding Simon’s teacher to give her a little love after the first graders finished testing last … Continue reading →

Taos {Town Visit}

March 26, 2013 - 1:00 pm | funny, travel

Seven

November 15, 2012 - 9:30 am | books, faith, hope & love, funny

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seven: an experimental mutiny against excess, reading, cute coffee mug, jen hatmaker book,

Last week I read Seven: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker, and thinking about this book is taking up the better part of my brain. The book is the storytelling of her efforts to do a fast of sorts for seven months, from seven different things. One month she eats seven foods. One month she wears seven articles of clothing. One month she gives seven things away every day. One month she adopts seven new earth-friendly habits. You get the idea. I have resisted reading this book because I sort of had a feeling that it was going … Continue reading →

Hiking with Kids: Trekking Poles

August 31, 2012 - 12:47 pm | camping, funny

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My husband Taido, who we also like to call the Gearhead, owns these trekking poles for when he goes backpacking. He is usually carrying a decent sized pack in the mountains, so the poles help take some of the weight off his knees and land his feet a little lighter in spite of his heavy load. The kids love these poles. They frequently claim one of them for day hikes even though they aren’t really carrying anything heavy. They always start off on the trail, using the trekking pole as it was intended, placing it before each step ahead of … Continue reading →

What to Wear to Dinner on a Cruise

August 15, 2012 - 5:40 am | cruise, friends, funny, travel

5 Comments

What to Wear to Dinner on a Cruise One of my favorite parts of our girl cruise last year was dressing up for dinner. At first I wondered what to wear to dinner on a cruise, but then we planned it all way ahead of time at our cruise meetings. Also, I should mention that both Whitney and Sarabeth did a beautiful job covering our dinner attire on their blogs when we returned. But it was so much fun that I love to look back at these pictures. Also, Mary Polly has been going through past cruise pictures to plan … Continue reading →

photo fail

August 11, 2012 - 6:41 am | funny

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One night this week while I was writing about meeting my friend Laura, I went through tons of scrapbooks trying to find a picture of us together. I could only find one. I did not use it in the post because it has several problems, not the least of which is that it is a little blurry. However, I laughed so hard at the many issues brought to light in this picture that I decided that it would be fun to share it. First of all (and perhaps most obvious), we are in the middle of de-boning a turkey. The … Continue reading →

call me maybe

July 31, 2012 - 6:47 am | friends, funny, raising chinos

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While Taido was out of town last week, Mary Polly had a couple of girls spend the night. Usually our house is full of boys, so it’s always interesting when the hormone scale gets tipped the other way. The dynamics in the house shift. Nail polish fumes overpower the smell of sweaty socks. One Direction and Carly Rae Jepsen drown out Passion Pit and Mumford and Sons. Mary Polly is in the 8th grade. She and her friends are just starting to be a teensy weensy bit interested in boys. I am kind of slow on the uptake, but I’m … Continue reading →

Caribbean Cruise Notes: Cruise Kareoke

July 25, 2012 - 1:56 pm | cruise, friends, funny

4 Comments

This is the fifth in a series of posts about a super fun birthday cruise that was planned by my friends, Sarabeth and Rhonda. Read the the other parts here: part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. The Story of 12 Women Who Went on a Cruise, Part 5: Cruise Kareoke One of the many pleasant surprises for me on our cruise was how much we enjoyed Kareoke. We would wander around the ship after our late dinner, popping into the different bars. Eventually we would make it to the Kareoke lounge and stay for a few songs. … Continue reading →