Author Archives: Chayli

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"Mom, do you want to see something cool I can do on the backyard swing?"

From the back door came the cold little voice, breathless with the fall air and the exertion of a newfound trick. I knew if I could see him his cheeks would be rosy, his hands would be grubby, and he would likely be holding a stick or a spade or a digging machine in the hand that wasn't still clasping the doorknob.

Just popping in from a lovely day outside to see if his mom wanted to come see him "do something cool on the backyard swing."

Fully expecting that I would.

Expecting my delight.

Unashamedly asking for it.

Knowing it would come, because he was my child, and I was his mother. ...continue reading →

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You know those pockets of time where you suddenly realize that all is right in your world and you are just . . . grateful? I'm having one of those right now.

Simon Khorolskiy blaring, Quickbooks open, boys playing happily, me typing away . . .

The only thing that could make it more right is if Eric were actually home on a Saturday, but it's not hard to forgive that when you get pictures like this of the work he's doing. Just look at those beautiful steps. ...continue reading →

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Almost two months ago, I was trying to catch up on my stash of WORLD magazines and came across a book review that piqued my interest so much that I literally grabbed my phone and ordered the book on Amazon. I couldn’t wait for it to arrive.

It was supposed to come the day before we left to go camping with Ian and Abby, and I imagined lounging in a camp chair reading all day long while my baby played happily in the dirt.

The book came; I took it camping; our campsite was on a slope; my baby trundled around precariously and had to be watched every moment; I did almost literally no lounging in a camp chair; the book remained untouched. (That’s okay, we had a lot of fun without getting any reading done.)

So I just started reading the book here and there in the small pockets of time I had where I didn’t feel like doing anything else. And it didn't disappoint. In fact, literally five minutes after I finished it, I printed Sebastian a bazillion train pictures to color like he’d been incessantly asking me to do, and then I closed out the coloring pages tab, and I opened Word, and I started to write.

It was that good.

I had hoped it would be. ...continue reading →