“Hi, what are you doing?”
“Writing.”
“Go figure. That’s all you do, write and read.”
“Well I am a writer.”
“You need to have more fun.”
“Does this call have a purpose or are you just calling to rip on me?”
The call did have a purpose. I am babysitting the kidling posse tonight. Despite what it might seem, I am [...]

On being an influential aunt. Sweet!

Cade popped up from behind the couch and leaned in to sniff me, crinkling his nose. “You should take a bath.”
“What?” I asked.
He leaned in again making sniffing noises. “You smell.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Yeah.” He sniffed again. “You smell like dirt.”

So my brother-in-law Tony is in the hospital. He’s having some weird heart problems. This is freaky enough. Apparently he went in last night some time. I say apparently, because the only reason I even found out he was in the hospital was by reading my sister’s blog.
Fuck. Come on!
Immediately upon reading it, I call [...]

Sister #3 on Tony’s TV appearance.

Despite my howls of protest, my family has instituted family dinner night on Tuesdays. Since the bowling alley closed my parents have found themselves with more free time then they know how to fill. Thus the summer of family togetherness. I was going to howl a bit more about this nonsense, but then I realized [...]

Yesterday we all gathered at Sister #3’s house in honor of Mother’s Day. For those you not in Minnesota, yesterday (and most of today) was really fucking hot. Like 90+ degrees hot.
For most of the day we hung outside in the hot breeze with the kidlings running around like savages. Once the sun started [...]

It must have been last night or the night before when I got the instant message from Sister #4.
“Just so you’re in the loop,” she said. “I’m moving back to Minnesota. Don’t worry I’ll live with Mom and Dad, Sister #2, or Sister #3.”
“Oh,” I said, because I am a kind and supportive sister [...]

Sister #3 was appalled when she opened the front door to discover that we were all sleeping. It was 8:45 a.m. She had warned me that Liam would be up for good by 7 a..m. She couldn’t believe that I had gotten him to sleep so late.
Yes, I am that good.

They’re asleep. I am very nearly asleep. We went down to the bowling alley for a little while, where they bowled their little heads off. But man, kids will kick your ass. The grownups didn’t have a chance. We were nearly outnumbered 2 to 1. Jodi Hanson’s four kids were there, the three Tibbles, and [...]

After we dined on pizza, I forced all five of them to go outside. I made them run from the garage to the swingset three times in an attempt to get them to expend some energy.
About midway through the third lap Max got the brilliant idea that they should have a Fart Jamboree. From what [...]

Sister #3 and Tony went away for the night. They’re participating in some bowling tournament with my parents. I can’t remember where it ism but it’s a few hours away.
Somehow, in a moment of cute-induced weakness, they managed to get me to agree to watching the Tibbles for the day and night. That’s 24+ hours [...]

“I can’t wait to show this to Caroline.” Max climbed into Ruby’s front seat clutching a Ranger Rick sticker he had just gotten in the mail. It said he was a junior member of the National Wildlife Federation.
“Who is Caroline?” I asked. We were going to Chipotle, since Sister #4 wanted it one more time [...]

The Strib article about the bowling alley is up. The accompanying photo gallery even has a pic of my dad on top of one of the machines. The article is cute and sad. The reporter did a good job getting my mom’s voice down, which is awesome (and those of you familiar with my short [...]

As I mentioned before they are gonna tear down the bowling alley to put up a parking lot. So when my cousin Wendy suggested we gather together for a final Chromey v Chromey, everyone was pretty game even though we just had one in November (as is tradition).
After arriving an hour late to Sister [...]