My husband and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary at a fancy restaurant. After he ordered an expensive bottle of wine, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his gift to me. It was a handwritten list of treasured memories from our marriage. Memories, he said, that reminded him of how much we belonged together.

It was a long list, maybe twenty or so memories. I glowed…

Two of my co-workers got married this year. In the first wedding, my girls were flower girls. They got new dresses, little gifts from the bride, a lot of attention, and cake. They were thrilled.

The second wedding was for adult guests only. My kids weren't even invited. Zaffy accepted this fate, content that she would attend the rehearsal dinner (Russell was…

Please select the answer that best completes the following phrase:

The conversation below took place in the:

a) Bathroom

B) Bedroom

C) Vatican

D) Car

The correct answer is D, of course. I actually have a tag that links to …

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave me to me…

• a Marriage that is Stress-Free

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

• Two Little Loves –  …

Zaffron's in love. The boy is in 5th grade. Much too old for her, if you ask me. This is what it's like when your second-grader is in love.

On the school grounds:

Mom! There he is! No, don't look! Mom, I said don't look. He's right there! WHY DO YOU KEEP LOOKING?

In the car:

I'm not using his sister to meet him. I liked her…

We're moving. Which means I'm packing. On Monday, I packed some of the girls' art supplies. Stuffed between some loose sheets of constructions paper, I found this booklet:

The Secret's About

Boys By: Zaffy

I now present to you my seven-year-old daughter's 13 beliefs about boys. Spelling…

So, I'm at the store waiting in line to buy my stuff, chatting on the phone with my friend, Toni. (How about that for a shout-out, Toni? You do still read this blog, right?)

So, I'm waiting my turn, minding my own business, regaling Toni with the latest hilarity in my life when a quick movement behind me catches my attention. Something has changed but I'm not sure what. I…

Me: Zaffy, go do that incredibly boring thing I told you to do five minutes ago. You know, the same thing you neglected to do ten minutes ago, the first time I asked.

Zaffron: Fine.... bossity boss.

Me: Hey Zaff. For that you get to go to your bed.

Zaffron huffs and stomps off to her bedroom. I can't…

Mgazi and I were fooling around with the kids' Hello Kitty Magic 8 Ball, asking it dumb questions.

"Will we have cheese with dinner?" I asked.

Hello Kitty answered, "Could be."

Mgazi was tickled so I kept going. "Is Mommy super duper extra good looking?"

I winked at Mgazi and pressed Hello Kitty's red bow. The answer cube went spinning and stopped…

Russell and I decided to watch the Star Wars series with the kids. We've seen the first two movies (four and five) and we're just about to start the animated series, The Clone Wars, before moving on to the third movie.

It had been a few weeks since the last movie. Zaffy bugs us every day to continue with the series. She's discovered that boys love to talk "Star Wars" and she…

Zaffy overheard me say that a guy on television was sexy. Of course, she asked right away, “what’s sexy?” I said, “it means attractive.” She said, “what’s attractive?” I said, “it means cute.” She said, “so babies are…

Mgazi has ballet class at her school every Wednesday afternoon. Every Tuesday night, I put her leotard and ballet slippers into her backpack in preparation for the next day’s class. To be honest, I’m successful at this only about 50% the time. The other half of the time I forget completely. This results in Mgazi having to take class wearing her school clothes and socks --…

Zaffron was helping me fold laundry the other day. (She didn't even ask to get paid!)

She was diligently going about her task when she asked, "Mommy, can I sort your underwear by fanciness?"

Note:

(There were three sorting piles in the end. 1) Not-so-fancy (left), 2) Somewhat Fancy (right), and 3) Positively Fancy…

When I was in college I loved music.  The more melodramatic the better. My favorite albums? Bat Out of Hell, Phantom of the Opera, and one of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums. Notice I didn’t say I had…

So, I'm driving the kids home after school. Mgazi announces that she doesn't want to have babies. (There is no context to this proclamation. The previous discussion had centered around Zaffron's snack bar strategy at school. "Mom, I know I'm only allowed to go to snack bar once a week. That's why I went twice this week. Next week I'm planning to take some time…

This conversation took place in the car. Of course.

Zaffron was telling me about a girl at school. She's been confused, unsure if the girl likes her or not. This conversation, of course, took place in the bathroom. (The second most popular conversation venue next to the car.)

Zaffy: Mom, Mary was mean to me 2 days ago. She was mean to me ysterday. But today she was nice.

Me: Maybe she…

I had a bad day. It started first thing. I misjudged while backing my car into a parking spot at work. Actually, to be more accurate,

I slammed my husband's brand-new electric vehicle into a wall.

The day kinda went downhill from there.…

“Mommy, can I say the ‘s’ word?”

I’m driving. Always when the questions come, I’m driving. “What’s the ‘s’ word again, Zaff?” I sigh. I have a vague recollection of having this discussion dozens of times before. You’d think I’d remember the…

The week leading up to the finale, I’d tried to prep the kids for the…