When Phoebe called three and a half years ago and said they were coming to Purdue for grad school, the first thing that popped into my head was that we can fiddle again. She and I had been in an Irish Folk Dance class for a summer term in 2012 so we had something to…
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9 Months
Dear Laura, At nine months old you are bursting with new skills and abilities all the time. In the last few weeks you’ve figured out how to get onto your hands and knees. You quickly added rocking back and forth, crawling backwards, and now the tentative crawl/dive forwards. It won’t be long before you are…
Lessons Learned from the Madsen Bike
Around the beginning of the year I discovered this thing called a cargo bike. I was very intrigued with concept of having a bike that I could carry all my children on and groceries. For the next seven months I researched and researched and researched some more. I discovered there are two main types: The…
My secret to a clean kitchen: start with the kitchen table
I have been baffled with my inability to keep my kitchen clean over the last few years. I grew up with our family cleaning up after each meal. I have plenty of memories of job wheels rotating through who swept the floor, wiped the table, and put dishes in the dishwasher. I know how to…
Moments
With Laura on the move, she discovers all sorts of things on her own. It was fun to look over and see her engaged with this toy. While I was making my sandals, Emily and Nathan were playing doctor. They constructed band-aids with construction paper and lots of tape. Emily used the fabric that we…
First Week Home
Transitioning from our week in Utah has been a little rough. We’ve all agreed that one week was too short to be ready to go home. It takes us two weeks to feel that pull to return to normalcy. We’ve also had the hardest getting everyone back on EST. Being two hours behind the rest…
8 Months Old
Dear Laura, If I were to describe you in one word at this age it would be enthusiastic. You love people and you love life and your whole body exudes joy and excitement. Sitting up and playing happens a lot, side by side with your siblings. You are okay playing with whatever is in front…
Andrew’s 29th Birthday
Every year Andrew for the last few years Andrew has been at a conference during his birthday. This year he came home around 1am so he could be with us for his big day! The kids and I spent the four days he was gone planning and preparing for the event. On Saturday Emily remembered…