I'm just trying to walk myself home.
What to Pack for a Mediterranean Cruise Mary Polly and I leave tomorrow for our Mediterranean Cruise and we are all packed!! We have deliberated a lot about what to take to Europe with us. In general, if I am flying somewhere, I really like to travel light, but we are also trying to have …
We are celebrating Mama today because it is her birthday. But I am celebrating more than just that she was born today. I am giving thanks for the difference between last year and today. Last year at this time Mama was in a hospital, she weighed less than 100 pounds and was struggling to retain …
I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Ours was full of food, friends and squeezing in those last summer memories. Labor Day officially marks the end of summer for me. Even though we hit 100 degrees yesterday and we have not yet seen the end of the three digit temperatures in Little …
I couldn’t wait to introduce Cole to Mr Putter Books when he was little. I would get them in piles from the library and at first, he would flip through them and find all the modes of transportation. He really liked trucks. But soon he fell in love with Mr. Putter and Tabby the cat, …
I borrowed Lauren Winner’s new book, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, at the beginning of the summer from a friend. And I still haven’t returned it. It’s one of those books that you can read in one sitting if you don’t stop yourself, so after I read about half of it, I sort of …
I was new in town, living on the south side of Seattle. Renton, to be exact. We had lived less than a year in a relatively uninspiring mint green townhouse. I was new to motherhood, new to staying at home, new to leaving the house with everything but the kitchen sink. I hadn’t really met …
My sweet Aunt Jeanne gave my kids the children’s version of the wildly popular Jesus Calling for Christmas this year. Since school started, we’ve been using this devotion book in the mornings to connect for a minute with God and each other before we all run off in different directions. My mom uses this devotional …
Every year I give the kids a new book on the first day of summer. I picked The Great Wide Sea by M. H. Herlong out for Ben because in addition to the appealing cover and exciting storyline, the main character’s name is Ben. He read it the first day of summer, handed it to …
A couple of the books that have found their way into our home and hearts this spring are Chicken Boy by Frances O’Roark Dowell and Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. I read Chicken Boy with my fourth grade reading club at my local neighborhood school. Tobin’s family loses their way after cancer takes their mom, and …
I’ve been reading the Chronicles of Narnia aloud again this spring to Ben and Simon at bedtime. Since this is Ben’s second listen through, he requested that we read them in the order in which the events occur (the new order) instead of the order in which they were written which is how I …
This week I’ve been reading a memoir about reading. I’m all inside of books within books within books. My mind is sort of a wonderful twist and tangle of titles and quotes and all the ways books relate to life and characters mirror friends. Nina Sankovitch decides she is going to read a book a …
A few weeks ago, I happened upon a collection of short stories by Julie Orringer called How to Breathe Underwater. The last story, entitled Stations of the Cross, drew my attention and so I read it first. I was enraptured. The story drew me in and has haunted me in the weeks since. I flipped …
NPR’s All Things Considered came to eStem Middle School to do one of their Backseat Book Clubs last month. Mary Polly and several other students got to meet local author Trenton Lee Stewart and ask him questions about his books. Mary Polly’s question was chosen for the program that aired this past Tuesday. (She …
Currently Reading: Books about World War II in China and Russia The Distant Land of my Father by Bo Caldwell The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean In the last several days I’ve experienced World War II from the cell of a Japanese war prison in China and from the cellar of the Hermitage museum …
Little Rock Zoo Days This past fall I joined the Little Rock Zoo on one of our days out of school. I realized I only had to come one other time to make it worth it to go ahead and join, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much we’ve used it. Our favorite time …
A sweet friend who knows me well put City of Tranquil Light in my hands over a month ago and when I texted her early this morning saying I had finished it and loved it so, so much, she replied, I knew you would love it. I read a lot of books. I read stories …
Curried Lentil Potato Pot Pie with Pumpkin and Tomatoes Conversation overheard at this week’s football game: My mom: What did y’all eat for dinner tonight? Ben: Lentil Pot Pie My mom: Hmmm, how was that? Ben: no answer Mary Polly: Interesting. Translation: I am a filo dough amateur. My filo crust top on this dish …
I have noticed that it’s been a while since I posted a new recipe. I think there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that October is so busy at our house that I tend to get on autopilot and fix the same five to seven meals over and over again. And the …
The Monster in The Hollows by Andrew Peterson We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the third Wingfeather Saga book since reading the first two last year. I promise I could not love the sweet children in this story more. They are beginning to occupy spots in our hearts next to Edmund and …
Monday Grateful: The key to the Mondays is always gratitude. I got home last night from being gone for the weekend at my cousin’s wedding in California. This morning has been a sweet mix of relishing both a great getaway and coming home. Even though a certain 4 year old woke me up at 5am …