I suggested the kids decorate paper bag to use for trick-or-treating. I was thinking happy Jack O’Lanterns. I was rather surprised to find the kids all getting into the fun of making the scariest pictures they could. Bella made a scary witch...
Mr. McFadden’s Hallowe’En by Rumer Godden. This year seemed like the time to introduce Bella to this Halloween themed novel by one of my favorite writers. (The only writer I can think of who is equally adept writing for children as for adults–...
Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges is really beloved by all of us, but Ben’s been asking for it quite a bit of late and that is a bit surprising since he’s had nightmares about dragons in the past. As I read it to him at...
It’s Wednesday Sunday night and I still haven’t found time to write about our crazy, fun, busy weekend, which is now a whole week ago. C’est la vie. So last weekend Dom helped to host the Catholic New Media Conference in Boston. On...
A friend shared this post about bringing kids to Mass on Facebook. I don’t really want to renew that hoary old debate, though I did get into it in the comments on her post. What I really want to explore is something kind of tangential that...
When we were at the Archaeology Fair at the Museum of Science on Friday the kids got goody bags from the Archaeological Institute of America. They had some magazines, brochures, stickers, a button– nothing all that exciting for little kids...
October is archaeology month in Massachusetts. There were so many activities on the calendar that looked like fun. Some of them we missed because we were sick. Others were just logistically too difficult, too far away, wrong time of day. Fortunately...
Copious tears shed this afternoon. We read the chapter in A Little Princess when Sara learns her father has died and left her a penniless orphan without a friend or relative in the world. And then we had a long discussion about why things are sad...
I love dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. Scott Peterson’s new novel/series/project whatever you want to call it, promises to be right up there with the best of them. So far it reminds me a bit of S.M. Stirling’s Change books. And...