Mom and Dad have always said, “Toys are really more for parents than for children.”  What they mean is that children don’t need expensive toys to have fun; it’s parents who think buttons, gadgets, and electronic wonders will bring happiness to their kids.  Thinking back on my own childhood, that was certainly true.  I grew […]

I love Carolina snows.  I used to think we were all pretty pathetic, hanging out of our windows catching the snowflakes on our hands even for just a flurry.  A few years ago, it took me 3 hours to get home from picking Riley up from school on a snow day (the school was about […]

Our sweet Adam had dental surgery today.  He’s not completely a stranger to the hospital; all the short little beds and nurses with cartoon characters on their scrubs took me back to December of 2004, when Adam was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.  Back then, he had to sleep in this sterile metal crib (that looked […]

It is my blessing to watch Adam change every day.  He is so funny.  Every time someone calls me on the phone and he thinks that I am not paying attention, he sneaks away and tries to find some trouble.  One day last week, I hung up the phone and found him throwing a stuffed […]

Over track out, my kids are learning how to help out around the house.  I don’t know if it’s me, my situation, or just the way parenting happens (Is it an illusion that some of you are just way more “on point” than me?), but most things just suddenly hit me and I think, “Wow. […]

Riley is passionately in love with schedules.  If you ask Riley what is happening on any random date on her calendar, she will recite every single one of life’s details that may be written there and even some that you may not have known she plans to have written there as soon as possible.  Of […]

I think it was my mom who first introduced me to the descriptive phrase that so aptly describes this time of day in almost every household with children.  She calls it “the witching hour.”  When Riley was a baby, I spent 5 o’clock standing at the sink in the kitchen, singing Dock of the Bay, […]

Monday was errand day at The Circus.  We piled into the van, each with our own vision of the hours ahead.  Riley sees shopping as an opportunity.  At Mom and Dad’s, Aunt Mo and I heard her singing her own version of A Whole New World.  It went something like: A whole new world…I can […]

We just got home from a full and wonderful weekend at Mom and Dad’s celebrating our second Christmas with the Killen part of our family.  Have you ever noticed that extended family weekends are more like an interesting journey than anything anyone could blandly call “a visit?”  Our weekend couldn’t even be described as a […]

Every year since I was 3, I’ve gone on a Christmas dinner date with my dad. It’s been a special time for us. We dress up just a little bit, do some Christmas shopping together, and pick a favorite restaurant for dinner. I think it’s fair to say that both of us cherish the real […]