Oh, I know he wouldn’t like me calling him a baby, but it’s a coveted spot in the family I hope he’ll grow to appreciate someday. Bring on 8 extra boys at an 8th birthday party at a bowling alley and what do you get? Crazy train! It was a busy evening and I was [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Apr 22
Dec 31
memento mondays: before the door to 2012 closes
By the time you read this, I’ll be knee-deep in preparations for our annual New Year’s family celebration. Over the years, we’ve developed a tradition of just hanging out here at home, having a bit of a New Year’s Eve feast, usually complete with some catawba, shrimp cocktail, lefse and other goodies, and taking part [...]
Read the rest of this entry »May 28
mama mondays: field trips, graduations and piercings
I missed Friday’s post this week. It might have something to do with the fact that we had an 8th grade Mass, graduation and reception Wednesday evening, followed by an early Thursday morning bus ride to Valleyfair amusement park in the Twin Cities. Here’s Liv getting ready for the special evening on Wednesday. That night, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »May 21
mama mondays: let there be cake
In a recent column, I stated that May is the month for mothers. I’d like to amend that to say that May is the month for cake. Two weekends ago, we had cake at our son’s Confirmation and First Eucharist. Our oldest daughter made rainbow cupcakes for her tennis team last week. This weekend, we [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Apr 16
mama mondays: seven
Today, our youngest turns SEVEN! Yesterday, we celebrated with some friends and a big mouse. (And a silly 14-year-old sister who didn’t want to be left out of the fun.) It wouldn’t have been right if his cake had not included a guitar of some sort. Hmmm…like father like son. Nick has a real [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Nov 28
mama mondays: wedding memory more meaningful 20 years later
Coming off a holiday weekend, it’s a little hard knowing where to focus my Monday thoughts. So much has happened. The youngest Salonens giving their best Thanksgiving pose I could write about my daughter’s first attempt at apple pie with Grandma, or the layered Asian dip we made together. I could write about my favorite [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Oct 31
mama mondays: the scariest thing of all…
Gotcha! That’s me having a bad hair day. It didn’t help that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Okay, seriously now, I took my kids to a Halloween party on Friday at Yunker Farm and Children’s Museum here in Fargo. This getup totally happened on a whim. The hosts invited us [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Jan 17
mama mondays: on a cold winter’s night, hear us roar!!!
It was a cold winter’s night… My friend Marie and I had gathered at a lovely local restaurant to toast to our fellow blogger-mama-writer friend, Emilie Lemmons, who left our world on Christmas Eve 2008. Emilie would have been 43 on January 16. Last year, Marie and I drove four hours to the Twin Cities [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Jan 10
mama mondays: blogivesary and ugly sweater winner
A celebration of blog anniversary and winning the annual Ugly Sweater contest
Read the rest of this entry »