Our Three-Week Check-in

OMG, they have to walk upstairs???

So many little things and changes pop up at the beginning of the school year. While they may not seem like that big of a deal to kids (especially if they’ve been in their school for a while), for parents it’s a sign of time passing too fast.

Continue reading

Child(ish) Reads: Never Enough

This book came out three years ago. I didn’t jump to review it because at the time, our kids were only 5. That’s a bit young to start worrying about achievement culture. Now, even though high school and applying to colleges are far off, there are still big parts of this book that speak to child development; both academically and personally.

The book also gives more nuance and research to our education system, and sheds more light on that pesky Gen Z: Cautionary Tale thing. It’s a great book to start your school year.

Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-and What We Can Do About It by Jennifer Breheny Wallace.

Continue reading

Joyride, Part 2: Riding a Bike

“I think it’s also one of those quintessential kid activities that parents actually look forward to teaching.”
Oh, how young and naïve we were three years ago

My girls had been riding their first bikes (with training wheels) for about 3 years. Since our neighborhood is on a steep hillside, the girls keep the bikes at their grandparents’ house where it’s flatter and where they would have more space to ride. They rode them heavily; growing out of helmets, raising seats, and patching tires. But for me and Troy, the bikes were a bit out of sight, out of mind.

We had the intention of taking the training wheels off over Spring Break when they were around 5 ½. That got pushed off until the summer, and then another Spring Break passed. Finally, Aeris grew out of the entire bike, knees hitting the handlebars. It was time to buy a new bike, thus no more training wheels.

Continue reading

Mid-Year Check-In

We’re back from Summer Blog Break and recapping not only our summer to-dos but our resolution goals as well. May/June may have felt like the longest month ever, but we just got our Back-to-School shopping lists and the last four weeks of vacation are gonna slide by ridiculously fast. Let’s call this our Q2 review.

Continue reading

Summer To-Do List: 2026

Another school year is done! We have two months to exhale.
If you are anything like us, you’re probably also thinking way far ahead to the next school year, trying to use the season to make sure your kid moves forward, not back.

We gotta have fun, stay active but also rested, make memories, do the summer homework; it’s a tall order. Hopefully, we can do a little bit of everything.

Continue reading