Tell You [a] Little Story

The kids and I spent a lovely Friday night and Saturday in Sedona, compliments of the lovely Alice DeWitt and her family. They have access to all kinds of cool vacation spots, and were kind enough to invite us to visit beautiful Oak Creek Canyon with them last weekend. Thank you, Alice! I thoroughly enjoyed the Sedona scenery -- it doesn't get much better, anywhere -- and the company was fantastic: Sarah and Mark, Alice and Jay, and my long-lost cousin Karalee and her husband, not to mention a whole array of playmates for the children. Sarah took these great pictures of Isaac. I love them! I so need to get some mad photog skills and a camera that captures colors this vividly. Marveloso. I had a strange twisted ankle episode while we were at the Creek. I twisted it, it hurt, then it didn't hurt for 4 hours, then I got in the car to drive home and it hurt like the dickens, then I picked Steve up at the airport and I couldn't walk around the car, then I went home and called e...

Sarah -- I have a sister. She is beautiful and kind. She never wanted to have a blog, but now she has one. And she didn't tell anyone about it, even me. Her blog shall not be on the down-low much longer, for her brilliance will attract readers from far and wide. Be one of the first. Nancy -- Steve has a sister. She and I are a lot alike in ways that aren't initially apparent. While she is fast becoming the consummate poster child for domesticity-- and I am, well, not-- we are similar in our middle-childishness: we share interest in other people, leadership styles, our respective abilities to make and keep friends, and the inclination to worry. Nancy is a great sister-in-law. Amy -- Amy is one of those people who is enormously talented at being everybody's best friend. She and I met freshman year in college, where we spent hours upon hours inventing elaborate and engaging methods of procrastination. She is outrageously funny, kindhearted, disciplined (when she's not p...

Welcome to the world, sweet baby Pearl! We can't wait to meet you.

Now. Yea or nay?

In Chicago, I spent a very long time in H&M, poring over the racks and racks and racks of bogo sale items. I tried on a ton of things, and eventually settled on 4 things for myself: a long, striped brown sweater with tie belt; a very simple but cute black corduroy skirt; black linen pants that fit me nicely and are seen below in the fun mirror photo; and a funkyfunky gray dress that I may or may not ever wear. All of this cost me $35. I wish to discuss the dress. I could run and take a picture of it, and upload it so you would all know what I'm talking about, and I may still do that at some point, but for the purposes of this discussion, exercise your imagination with me. The dress is one large gray crocheted doily, shaped like a tent, with fitted three-quarter-length sleeves . I think it is so cool and retro. Do you have a visual? Good. Now, clearly, if I wear this dress to church, all the old ladies--and many of the young--will think I'm off my rocker. I am sure to get st...

The longer I go without blogging anything substantial, the easier it is to go longer without blogging anything substantial. Last week seemed to be the week my entire family entered into various philosophical and/or religious debates with guys I knew/dated in high school turned theologians. When I posted the link to the thread a few posts ago, I was maybe secretly crying out for moral support, a plea for rescue me!, if you will. It was nice that my homeboys Steve, Neil, Ryan, and Sarah rose to the occasion. Austin and Abby and Amy had some nice contributions as well. I think all of the above are really, really smart. The other parties in the discussion were quite passionate about the subject matter, and I learned quite a bit from the exchange. This week was the week I went on vacation, and oh, did I! A quick trip to the glorious mecca of San Diego with my husband and kids and mother was a little, um, noisy is the word that comes to mind. But we managed to have a great time, and it's...

I was born in Illinois, but was just informed by my mother that when we lived there, we were too poor to drive to Chicago. Thus, I've never been. I'm going to Chicago for the first time on Monday and haven't the foggiest what I should see and do whilst there. Any suggestions would be most welcome and appreciated. With love from San Diego, Emily

I'm going on vacation. If anyone wants something fun to read while I'm gone, go here and read the comments to see how many Baptists who are praying for my soul I've managed to accrue.

It's been kind of a long and whiney and disappointing day. I sat down at the computer with the aim to wander aimlessly, hoping to find something to put me in a good mood. I found it. I'm totally hooked on ". . .Cho Chang, what have I done. . ." Thanks, Pepper, for the introduction to my new favorite band. (Sort of kidding, sort of not.)

We stayed busy today running errands and enjoying other establishments' air conditioning {See Footnote 1}. Aaron had lots to say about where our day went because we were gone so long and did so many things. "Wow, we sure wasted the whole day." "Dad, we had a short day today!" He couldn't quite figure out the right wordage to explain that it was morning, then we had lunch and Scouts at our house, then we were gone, then we came home and the afternoon PBSkids shows were already over and Daddy was already coming home from work. Under normal circumstances, I would be highly reluctant to venture out with all four children to an appointment, then to get work done on the car (i.e., lots of waiting). However, today I was feeling brave and thought the five of us could get through it without any major meltdowns on any of our parts {See Footnote 2}. As it turned out, the children were WONDERFUL! I got three lovely and sincere compliments from three people this afternoo...