I was lucky enough to spend the moment 2011 gave way to 2012 at a wedding surrounded by friends and in formal wear. I'd almost, almost made it to 12 o'clock in my heels.

But when the countdown hit one and people cheered and toasted and kissed, the moment felt extra, extra exciting. And not just because of St.Matt's midnight kiss.

It's 2012.

Twenty- ( Read more... )

Writing with infant twins is hard.

In other shocking news: water is wet, books contain words, new mothers lack sleep.

Maybe it's that sleep deprivation that kept me from realizing this fact until now. After all, I've had the Schmidtlets for six months.


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Meet Churchill.

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I discovered recently that not everyone dyes their milk pink for Valentine's Day, or green for St. Patrick's Day. This baffles me. Excluding those with dye allergies, why wouldn't you?

I'm a big fan of celebrations. For big things, I know how to make a BIG fuss… but I like to make a BIG fuss for little things too.

Each year in my classroom I ( Read more... )

I'm living my life in twos right now.

• Two bassinets perched at the end of my bed.
• Two binks to locate when they drop from two little mouths.
• Two bottoms to diaper and two million loads of laundry to keep them covered.
• Two distinctly different cries that correspond to two very different personalities.
• Two downy heads to kiss and two sets of ears to fill ( Read more... )

Back before there were Schmidtlets, we used to refer to their room as the NTB: Nursery To Be. It was my favorite writing room -- how can you beat whiteboard walls?


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I've always been a rules girl. Sticker charts were made for people like me. If I set the table I got a sticker. If I made my bed I got a sticker. If I went a whole day without a time out in the Naughty Chair, that was worth at least three stickers.

I'm not going to say I never tried to manipulate this system (comforter pulled up over a tangle of ( Read more... )

My last day of school was Friday. I've spent the past seven weeks very conflicted about today - the battle of exhaustion versus my desire to teach. I wasn't surprised to discover that I woke up this morning feeling a little lost soul-ish.

I spent the morning as a flitterbug --  popping from one task to the next without accomplishing much of ( Read more... )

Today my class was supposed to be going on a field trip that includes a nature hike and sploshing around in a river, picking up slippery rocks and looking for macroinvertibrates. I wish there was an emoticon that truly captures the look my doctor gave me when I asked him about it. Part: Are-you-serious? Part: Don't-even-dream-of-it. Part: Do-I-have ( Read more... )

I leave for the airport in 9 hours for the Goldblatt Agency retreat. I still haven’t packed - this surprises no one - and I still haven’t blogged about the Italian adventures that took place between my last two airport experiences.

Some of you have been demanding photographic evidence of the trip - and pictures of the Twin Belly. ( Read more... )