TWENTY

 

I caught a rare moment of these two just chatting after school while brushing out the American Girl Dolls' hair. 

2026 week twenty

We found frog eggs in the creek at school.

End of Year Awards Ceremony. Theo got A Honor Roll for the year. 

We celebrated afterwards with ice cream.

The whole school had the same idea so V ran into one of her best friends. 

These are the glorious days of dinner outside in the soft green light -even though your mom makes you eat borscht. 

We ended up having an unexpected breakfast visitor when a Blackburnian Warbler hit our window. 

V sat outside with him until he recovered and flew away. 

V is learning the art of practical effects wound make up. It all started with a concerned email home from her teacher when she was drawing bruises on her arms with a highlighter. 

Quotes:

V- "Ahhhhhh! Mosquito bites! They're all over me uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!."
Me- "You're so pathetic."
V- "I know -but I'm also so delicious!"

V- "You're not my boss!"
T- "But I am your advisor."

At the End of Year Scouts activity Matt caught the turtle that was eating all the hot dogs off the fishing lines. Theo named it "The Glizzard."

NINETEEN

 

Cinco de Mayo was Salem's 6th birthday. Happy birthday to the best of cats. 

2025 week nineteen

American girl re-released their classic dolls for their 40th anniversary. I no longer have my original Kirsten so I treated myself to the new one. The first thing V did was unbraid the perfect braids. Ugh. I have to keep reminding myself: Dolls are to be played with... 

V had her 13th birthday party at the asian food court at the mall. Everone got some cash to go buy themselves dinner or treats. They had a lot of fun using real money and weighing the cost of things. Classic skills. 

It has been such a garden week. With this beautiful bouquet of chard, I made a chard potato gratin to go with our steak for Mother's Day. 

Just thinning a little bit of kale so the melon sprouts can see some daylight. 

Turnips which became a teacher appreciation gift - probably the weirdest one...

On Mother's Day morning, Matt went to a local bagel shop to try their iimitd edition "Alliyum" bagel. Onion bagel with ramp cream cheese and crispy fried onions. It was pretty good and was worth the fact that we all had pretty awful breath for the rest of the morning. 

As a gift to me for Mother's Day, V begged to watch endless episodes of Gilmore Girls. 

Italian almond cake for dessert. 

EIGHTEEN

 

The girl is officially a teenager. 

2026 week eighteen

Veronica turned 13 on Monday. Matt, Theo, and I ate lunch with her in the cafeteria and then we all went out to sushi for dinner. 

Theo had his last baseball game of the season. 

Veronica asked for pony beads for her birthday and has been making complex beaded bracelets. 

Then I taught her the ways of the 90s and 00s middle schoolers and she's been making lizards and other creatures non stop. 

It's not a party unless someone is shirtless on the roof and then vomiting in the street. Wait, both of those were my kid. Sorry. 

The garden is looking extra lush this year. 

It is such a pleasure every time I go outside. 

Our driveway was redone this week by the crew redoing our street. This is the before. 

After. 

Matt and the brothers-in-law all went on a trip to Turner Falls for the weekend. 

Quotes:

Me- "Why is there a belt on the side of the bed?"

V- "You said I kick you when I get to sleep in your bed so I belted my ankles so I wouldn't kick you." 

The kids always get to sleep in the big bed on the night before their birthday. 

SEVENTEEN

 

Matt and I had a date night at Delhi 6. They opened a new location and it is just stunning. My class gave me a birthday gift card, which was such a treat. 

2026 week seventeen

While our street is being repaved, we booked the crew to redo our driveway as well. 

Theo won a bowl of succulents in the school silent auction. Everyone thought they were for me. No, they are for my plant lady son. 

V's last weekend of being 12. She's about to be a glorious teen. She keeps reminding me I only have 5 years left of her living at home. 

V woked tech crew for the school play this year. She had a fun time learning the backstage skills but she said she prefers to be on the stage. 

Quotes

Me- "Oh no, look in the road. Is that a kitty or a sweater?"
Matt- "That's a fun game show..."

SIXTEEN

We got ice cream to celebrate Theo making honor roll! 

2026 week sixteen 

4th grade had a spelling bee. The kids went wild for the final three. I brought the winner a box of candy of their choice. Everyone always wants Nerds gummy clusters. 

Beautiful spring weather has made recess so nice lately. 

V and I started watching Gilmore Girls. She’s definitely hooked. 

 Quotes:

Me- “What are you doing?”
V- “Nothing.”
Me- “what are you reading?”
V- “Oh alright I’m reading The Giver, ok? Are you happy? I hate it that you’re always right about these books! I want to hate the but they’re so good and then I just feel like a loser!”
Me- “Are you going to believe me the next time recommend a book?”
V- “No!”

T- “Why is he just so much funnier than you? Does it make you sad that Papa is just so much funnier than you?”

T- “At recess we’re playing pirates and we’ve stolen the buried treasure but captain Billy Bones doesn’t know. We need to gain his trust so we’re going to steal some of the treasure and pretend we’ve found it to convince him. I have my own mutineers that I’ve been winning over to my side.”

FIFTEEN

 

On Thursday one of my oldest friends, Lauren, came into town for a girls weekend. Our first stop was Creamy Seoul for Korean filled donuts and matcha. 

2026 week fifteen

We left town Friday and stopped in Mabank, TX for Barbecue and boba. 

B4 Bbq and Boba was well worth the drive. Every single thing was better than the last and we just couldn't decide what was best. 

Our ultimate destination was Tyler, TX. We, of course, saw the roses.

Lauren and the roses. 

The rose garden also had the fattest snap dragons we had ever seen. And they were all buzzing with bumblebees. 

This hibiscus looked like it came from a Lisa Frank folder. 

We both decided, however, that the chaos garden was our favorite part.

We walked through a few old houses, and gardens, and antique shops. We did the Roseland Plantation tour which was rather interesting. Seen above is an 18th century fly catcher. 

We stayed in a 150 year old house converted into a BnB. There was so much original stained glass. 

It was just stunning. Mostly we just sat in this beautiful room chatting and laughing and catching up good and proper like. 

The oddest part of our trip was at the end of the plantation tour. A barn in the back of the property houses antiques for sale, and a to-scale exact replica of DaVinci's The Last Supper. 

While I was gone, Theo hung a Texas flag in his room,

and peeled an egg in one strip. And also severed the bottom of three toes... 

Quotes

Me: Theo you need to take a -"

T: "I know! I have to take a shower because it's a tradition or something." 

V: "You should park there."

Me: "That says it's for expectant mothers."

V: "You're an expectant mother. You expect a lot of us!"

T: "I didn't want to tell you but I accidentally licked a pole today."

T: "So do you have the energy to hold me after getting me in trouble?"

Me: "I have a headache."

T: "Oh, so THAT's the problem.'

Me: "Nope. You are the problem."