Author: Mia
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Memory Lane – Christmas Edition
What is it about the holidays that renders one especially nostalgic? Between baking Great Grandma Schafer‘s legendary ‘Green Tree Cookies’ and unearthing our collection of keepsake ornaments spanning several decades, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks a certifiable bundle of sentiment. When a Facebook friend recently posted a pic of a Christmas card photo from the archives,…
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Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World – a book review
Following on the heels of the season of thanks, and with a generous helping of conviction, I’m reviewing a book about instilling an attitude of gratitude in our children… Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a lovely holiday; celebrating, simply, with dear friends/former neighbors who’ve become our surrogate extended family here in Montana. We have much to be thankful for. Kristen…
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Halls: Decked
We spent the extended Thanksgiving weekend fighting an angry head-cold and decking the halls. Lacking boughs of holly, we opted instead for a single, stout Douglas Fir. Hoping to avoid further provocation of Husband’s man-cold, he shirked lumberjack duty and shamefully reluctantly purchased our conifer from a parking lot. To be frank, the ones grown here in Montana…
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Re-Adoption
On Monday we re-adopted Little Man. It’s not what you think… November being National Adoption Awareness month, a local adoption/foster-care/orphan-prevention non-profit organized a re-adoption ceremony and celebration before a judge who is a local champion of both international and domestic adoption (and whose joy in presiding over the hearing was evident, pun intended). An attorney– fellow adoptive mom who…
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Signs of Life
Scores of deer move in from the back forty to lurk around our neighborhood in the darkness, each night. Operating covert tactical missions, they silently snoop from the shadows, brazenly peering into windows while we lie unconscious in our beds. It’s creepy, really… reminiscent of an M. Night Shyamalan film, evidence of their stalking plain in…
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Mommy Musings
Firstborn was the unlucky recipient of a nasty curling iron burn, yesterday– her first. It was sad, but as a child of the 80’s/90’s I also recognize it as sort of a rite of passage for my sweet daughter… We chuckled as I retold of branding my own forehead numerous times in my prepubescent quest for The Perfect Bangs. As a…
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Sugar High
Yesterday I busted the girls literally fighting over Halloween candy… … so I levied a hefty “mommy tax“, confiscating the remaining Snickers and Milky Ways for use in a Thanksgiving dessert. (see recipe below) We also pillaged their stash for use as candy organelles on their edible cell model– the girls have started on a new Anatomy…
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Novemberists
Snow! Yesterday, the first flakes of the season arrived to the greater Bozeman area. By this time, most years, snow is old news. We are delighted it has finally arrived. Ask me how I feel about it come March. The kiddos romped with neighbor-friends until after dark while I watched from the window, stirring a big pot…
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Semi Charmed Life
Our kiddos had a pretty rockin’ Halloween this year: Harvest Night at Awanas Wednesday… an enormous Halloweeny package in the mail from Auntie on Thursday… after-school trick-or-treating down Main Street on Friday… and pumpkin patch, carving, and trick-or-treating with Daddy (I stay home and pass out candy) on the 31st. Sorting and graphing their spoils, Tootsie Rolls…
