At the end of November, I celebrated my 40th birthday. It's both a momentous occasion and also just another day of the week. It's a birthday that people seem to expect you to have a lot of feelings about and I guess I do but I also am not quite sure how I feel. The… Continue reading Karissa is 40!
It feels deep into November around here. It starts to get dark around 4pm and while we've had some hours of brilliant sunshine, other days it feels like the sun never really rises. There's been a lot of rain. We've added extra blankets on our beds and I've started lighting candles in the evenings. As… Continue reading 2025 Highlights: Into Autumn
This is a long, non-bookish post featuring a lot of pictures of my family and dinosaurs and beautiful scenery. Don't say I didn't warn you. Let's begin. It started with a t-shirt from the thrift store. As many kids do, our oldest, Pearl, went through a dinosaur phase when she was younger. She loved watching… Continue reading Summer 2025 Highlights: Part 3 (Road Trip Edition)
The last couple of weeks since my previous highlights post have been both full and peaceful for me. While Peter took the girls on epic hikes, I stayed home with the other kid and had a lovely, relaxing time. We planned the hikes around my work schedule so that I could be at home while… Continue reading Summer 2025 Highlights: Part 2
My little herb garden The other weekend, temperatures reached in the high 20s and it really did feel like summer was around the corner. This past week though has been cooler and a little rainy but we're still gearing up for summer. One more week of school while other activities have finished up. Lots of… Continue reading 2025 Highlights: Spring Edition
Hard to believe but recently we celebrated 10 whole years of Pearl! This girl is the best. She's so thoughtful and silly and smart. She's a fantastic big sister, a loyal friend, so curious about the world and so eager to step in to be a helper. Pearl loves animals, exploring, and being outdoors. She's… Continue reading Pearl is 10!
It's mid-February and the rain has returned but we had an absolutely beautiful and sunny January. Maybe it's the Vitamin D I started taking this winter, but even though January felt about 7 weeks long, it didn't feel nearly so dreary as it usually does. We had a family weekend away, booked a hotel in… Continue reading Some 2025 Highlights
Last Monday we returned to our regularly scheduled lives after our winter holiday. While I worked a few days over the winter break, Peter and the girls were all off school and so our schedule was drastically different. Working when Peter is off and can be home with the girls is 100% easier than days… Continue reading Holiday Highlights
Small Animals - Kim Brooks (Flatiron Books, 2018) When Kim Brooks' son was 4-years-old, she took him along for a last minute errand at a Target while she was visiting her parents in the state of Virginia. Once there, young Felix wanted to stay in the car and so Brooks allowed it. She locked the… Continue reading Book Review: Small Animals by Kim Brooks
It's hard to believe we are both halfway through July and only two weeks out from finishing school. It's been a full and busy time already. While Peter and Pearl were off on their epic hike , Rose and I got to spend some time just the two of us at home. She got her… Continue reading 2024 Highlights: More of July
Karissa Reads Books 