The day after Thanksgiving we invited Katy, Tom, Colleen, Kyle and my parents over for dinner. How I wish we all lived closer and could do this routinely, monthly, even. But instead I will be grateful for evenings like these, even though rare. “When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.” [...]
My mom’s table settings are always beautiful. Mom, Kyle and Dad cooking in the kitchen. Grandma making stuffing. Mom cooking. beautiful Colleen Owen could have spent hours doing this. Sophie decked out for the holiday. fresh flowers (a gift from my dad to my mom), vintage linens, dinner plates from France, antique crystal wine glasses [...]
Happy birthday, Dad. I love you! “There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.” —John [...]
Early November my mom, Sophie, Owen and James drove up to Lewisburg, OH to attend the annual holiday bazaar at Trinity Lutheran Church. My grandma (on the right) is very active in the church and did a lot of work for this event, as she does every year. Like most small-town church holiday bazaars, the [...]
Early October Sophie and I joined my mom and dad for a trip to North Carolina to help celebrate my brother-in-law Tom’s 30th birthday. Because they already had a full house we stayed in a hotel, which Sophie loved. She had so much fun running the long hallway to our room, admiring the swirly carpet. [...]
A couple weeks ago we walked down the street to Woodfill Elementary (where Sophie will go to school) for their annual Big Top Festival. We went last year for the first time, and Sophie loved it. A lollipop, a dandelion ripe for wish making and pink hair—a 3-1/2-year-old’s dream Saturday afternoon. happiness “Life is a [...]
Sophie’s first Pork Festival doesn’t seem like that long ago. I was about to write about this being the boys’ first Pork Festival when I realized it wasn’t—it was their second. It was Colleen’s first. Time. I know it’s cliché, but it really does fly. I write about the Pork Festival every year. It’s a [...]
Two nights ago Sophie helped us make an apple pie, which took an hour to cook. As such, she got to stay up past her bedtime because we decided it would be cruel to have her help make a pie, smell the pie while it’s cooking and then not be allowed to eat it. Because [...]
We recently received the following e-mail: Dear Aunt Kara and Uncle Andy, Thank you for…. The clothes that keep me stylish. (And lets me know what team to root for). The diapers that keep my bum dry. The socks that keep my toes warm. The toys that keep me smiling. And the advice that help [...]
“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.” —Anne Morrow Lindbergh
