Just over a week ago, while I was sleeping in, seven-year-old Vivian wrote and self-published a book. It was Sunday. My husband had left for work, William was watching cartoons, and Vivian was bored. Because I’m a good mother and had been out until 1 a.m., I told her to go play computer games. I […]
humor
Father's Day Failure
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while (say, since Monday), you’ll know that I’m not a contender for Mother-of-the-Year. Well, here’s a newsflash. I’m also not a contender for Wife-of-the-Year or Daughter-of-the-Year. No holiday makes that more obvious than Father’s Day. Here’s my evidence: I don’t send my dad a card or buy […]
Joke Telling and Kids
I love how kids tell jokes. It’s chaos theory at its best. From my unscientific observations, there are two initial stages of kids’ lack of development with regard to joke telling. Stage One: The Surreal Phase In the surreal phase, kids will tell jokes greatly influenced by the postmodern movement. These jokes tend to follow […]
Parenting Techniques That Guarantee Kids Will Need Therapy
I don’t read parenting books. They simultaneously bore and annoy me, like watching the Canucks play in Boston. The last thing I want to do when I finally lasso my seven-year-old twins to their beds (besides watch Luongo let in another goal) is read Perfect Parenting for Dummies. I already know I’m an idiot when […]
What's in a Name?
I love name stories. The funny ones, the misunderstood ones, the weird ones. I have a lot of name stories. I’ve been Leanne Shirtliffe since the day I was born, and that same name will be etched into my tombstone one day. Life with this name is entertaining, to say the least. Here are 10 […]
Suburban CSI and Killer Rabbits
Last week, I stood on our porch and waved goodbye to visitors. After they drove off, I looked at the railing and noticed two things: (1) it is in desperate need of a paint job, and (2) there was a wishbone drying on it. It was a bit of a puzzle. I never save wishbones, […]
Math, Kids, and Fidelity
I like giving my kids math problems. It’s comedy in action. When Vivian and William were five, I blogged about fun-with-math. I wrote: A couple of years ago, in a good parenting moment, I started playing math with them while driving. I gave them number problems, and they figured out the answer (or not). The […]
The Birthday Party, by the numbers
If you’re a sports fan, you’ll know numbers don’t lie (especially if you cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs). Here are the numbers from William and Vivian’s 7th birthday party, which I bravely hosted yesterday. 10: Kids in attendance, including my own 2: Kids I temporarily lost sight of at the playground (including William) 5: […]
5 Announcements That Won't Change Your Life
ANNOUNCEMENT 1: Wednesday, June 1 is School Photo Day for bloggers. Join KB at Keenie Beanie, Clay at EduClaytion, me, and others as we post an embarrassing school picture from days gone by. Feel free to steal the above graphic if you wish to promote it. If you don’t wish to participate, just drop by […]
This Too Shall Pass
Today I’m thrilled to bring you a guest post written by Joy, who blogs at Joy in This Journey. Joy is one of the nicest people I have met in the time I’ve been blogging. She is a fantastic writer and a fabulous person. Even over the internet, she exudes compassion, wisdom, and an indomitable […]