Oh, Christmas Tree

It was Christmas tree-trimming time in our house this weekend. The kids actually agreed!!! to get a tree on Saturday and trim it on Sunday. The trip to the nursery to pick out a tree went pretty much exactly as it has for the last four or five years. From the moment we arrived, Riley […]

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Connecting With Cousins

So, about that recent visit to Veronica’s extended family? Sure, we had some challenges. But there was an awful lot of good. It’s a trip we’ve taken just about every year since our kids were very young. The house is always overflowing with kids, presents and food. The kids all play together, but Ryan was […]

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Mr. and Mrs. Fix-It

The words, as they always do, avoid any pretense or shades of gray. They offer raw, utter, unvarnished truth, and they cut like a knife. “But I thought mommy and daddy could always fix anything!” Upon hearing this from Ryan, Veronica and I make eye contact and share a quick non-verbal communication. One that says, […]

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How Not To Travel

We went away to visit Veronica’s family not too long ago. It’s a trip we have made many times before, and it always comes with a healthy amount of anxiety, as it involves a plane flight, followed by a long drive, followed by a stay in a packed house where Ryan is always the first […]

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A Text From Ryan

I was flipping through the photo stream on my iPhone recently when I found a screen capture of a text message exchange that I had forgotten all about. It was a few a weeks ago, in the week after Hurricane Sandy rolled through New Jersey. Our kids were out of school the entire week and […]

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