{excuse the lack of photos … I forgot my camera at home!}

Figure a good place to start when you haven’t been able to write in a while is with a blog post.

I’m on a plane (LOVE airplane wifi, not so in love with this airline — my plane smells like pee) — headed to what promises to be a grand couple of days of meeting & greetiing, and re-kindling friendships, and learning about what’s new with some of my favorite web destinations like Flickr & Shine. I’ll be at the Yahoo! Mother Board Summit & it promises to be a busy/informative/great event.

Every time I take a flight I find myself with an awful case of the jitters and insomnia, last night was no exception. I think I slept all of 45 minutes, and didn’t pack my bag until around three in the morning (upon blurry reflection, I’m pretty sure I have a day’s less clothing than I need, sigh…). I also left the house in a total disaster (which always happens, and which always leaves me knotted with feelings of guilt and inadequacy).

I haven’t even gotten where I’m going yet, and already I’m missing my family something terrible.

See? I think I’ve just demonstrated the why of my writer’s block. It’s much funner to post happy fun times. Creative, vibrant, alive times. Must focus on those more. Right now I’m feeling the weight of my responsibilities a bit too heavily & need to re-focus, re-group. Maybe stepping away for a couple days will be good.

I wish I’d brought a camera.

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Kellogg’s® Pop-Tarts® Toaster Pastries.

After getting to sample Kellogg’s Pop-Tart recipe, they asked me to create my own so, naturally, I delegated to Maggie (11) who took to the task with gusto (more…)

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Kellogg’s® Pop-Tarts® Toaster Pastries.

The other day the folks at Kellogg’s sent me a big ol’ box full of Pop-Tarts and a recipe for Sprinkly Ice Cream Bites to try out with the kids. Hoo-whee is this stuff sweet and, naturally, the kids loved that I made these for their after-school snack. (more…)

Last night after dinner Maggie was practicing her clarinet and Tomas espied a swan (!!!) outside our kitchen door. Apparently, it really liked her sound. It hung around as long as Maggie played, and waddled off when she stopped.

It was pretty nerve wracking, waiting for him (her?) to cross our busy street. Eventually, a neighborhood birder came by & asked if we’d seen the swan, so we pointed her to where it was by the side of the street. She explained to me & the kids that our bay has just one swan couple now, so it was extra important that we save this one. She also informed us that swans could only take off and land from water (who knew?), so I directed her to the nearest inlet (and pools), and watched her shoo the bird in that direction.

I can’t tell you how thrilled the kids were, and how they all chattered excitedly about how their friends and teachers would never believe this without pictures:

Yesterday was the perfect early spring day. The kids spent the entire day out of doors, on their bikes, playing hide-and-seek, and naturally… making huge mud puddles. Today we all have sun kissed cheeks and cheerful dispositions to go with them.

So odd to think that just a week ago we were digging out of a big snow storm.

February 28th:

March 7th: