Hi friends, MommyCoddle has moved. In order to stay up-to-date, please re-subscribe in your reader or go here to get the new feed! Thanks! Molly Continue reading

Oh, people. Remember my list of "Things That Are Stressing Me Out"? Well, last night at dinner the girls said to me, "Guess we can cross off 'check if sheep are pregnant', and 'find out what I need for lambs' birth', and 'set up lambing pens' "! Totally unexpectedly, and probably for the best, I was greeted at my bedside very early yesterday morning by my breathless husband...."You've got lambs. Two of them!" He was on his way to work... Continue reading

I don't have much to show in pictures for the weekend at the house. Because painters are still finishing up and cabinets and floors were late...blah, blah, blah, we're pushing back our move-in date a few weeks. So mid-March is the new goal. This weekend Dan did lots of unglamorous things like installing toe kicks under cabinets, moving around electrical outlets and fussing with toilets and sinks. But, BUT we did get some shelves, people! Dan was disapointed with the... Continue reading

We're revisiting an old favorite around here for Valentine's Day. These heart-shaped Valentine crackers are a fun twist on what is seriously my absolute favorite snack, well maybe second only to "the best snack ever". These thin, crispy crackers are made from Wonton Wrappers, which you can almost always find in the produce section of your grocery store. But in honor of Valentine's there must be heart-shaped crackers, people! The responsible part of me must tell you that these heart... Continue reading

Oh, people. I think I may have just completed my most overwhelming, crazy week ever. Not only was this the week we flew in Dan's amazingly talented carpenter-brother for a week of hard-core kitchen bootcamp, it was also the week I started a new job with BabyCenter, had vets coming to our house for every species of animal, dentist appointments for all my girls, and began to really feel the stress (and my unpreparedness) about the fact that I have... Continue reading

Another weekend at Woodlawn means a few more steps forward on progress. And as with any remodeling project, there have been bumps in the road. I've been scheduling the arrival of everything from flooring to appliances and kitchen cabinets. And even with my cushions for setbacks and issues, things are still "lost" or there's "no word from the manufacturer". The flooring debacle was a huge headache. Now the dishwasher is MIA. And the kitchen cabinets have no expected arrival date,... Continue reading

I'm pushing the pomegranates these days which means I'm also de-seeding my fair share of this beautiful little fruit of health. Antioxidants! Vitamin C! We are on day number "it's been so long I've lost track" of Birdy's fever/flu/cranky/mama's losing her mind sickness. I actually saw a glimmer of health from her today, so I'm cautiously hopeful. But everything you hear and read these days says this winter is a doozy for sickness. So we're amping up the goodness in... Continue reading

A post from Mary... Step one: Make a really big ball of snow. Love on it some. Add a second ball of snow. Get your Dad to help. It is going to be heavy. Now just look at it for a moment. Add the third ball of snow. Get your Dad and your sister to help. It is going to need to be lifted really high. Add carrot nose. And use coal for eyes. Add wooden buttons and a scarf.... Continue reading

There were a lot of things that had to fall into place before we could even consider that we might be able to live at Woodlawn. So many question marks that we even felt nervous driving back that long driveway to poke around the place. I won't publicly confess how many drive-bys I did for those months we spent in "house limbo". On one particularly brave day, we actually peeked in the windows. Heaven forbid! But I got a glimpse... Continue reading

There's a road the girls and I travel pretty often around here. We call it "taking the long way home". In the humid, unbearable days of summer, I've been known to pack the girls in the car for a chance to sit in the cool of the air conditioning for a few minutes. Cooling our bodies, renewing my sanity, we'd take the long way home. In the fall, we'd take the long way home--an excuse to escape through the woods... Continue reading

Through my work with Federated Media and Clever Girls Collective, I often get opportunities to share posts here with all of you. And I'll be honest, I don't jump on many of them because they don't feel like a good fit with my usual blog posting. But with four kids under my belt, I've discovered the necessity of online shopping so when given the opportunty to test out this new secure online payment system from Visa, I was all over... Continue reading

Hi friends. Umm, wow. We are in the throes of merry-making around here. The girls and I made these little votive candles the other day from air-dry clay . Just your basic pinch pot, with some of the greens pressed in the sides to make an impression. They've been the perfect little thing lining my kitchen table. And could not have been easier. But honestly, what I really need is another good week before Christmas. Though my kids would protest,... Continue reading

A post from Mary... It is a rare thing for our family to take a day and just do something. Together. No laboring, no laundry, no cleaning. A trip out of town. A favorite parade that celebrates our family's heritage, and is loaded with pipes, kilts and dogs. Lunch and knock-out basketball with cousins. On the way home, a pit stop at Daddy's office and an evening stroll along the creek through the urban park to a favorite burger joint... Continue reading

They are home. Yesterday morning in the rain and sometimes-snow the girls and I drove to pick up our sheep from the breeder a few hours away. Now home and tucked in their warm pen they are being spoiled and checked on often, just because. It's so nice to look out my kitchen window, across to their pen and see two white faces looking back at me from the gate. So fingers crossed and prayers thrown above, this place of... Continue reading

I always love hearing what other people are making, baking, cooking, especially when it's yummy. I definitely go through dinner-time slumps where I feel burned out on my rotating list of recipes. I'll call my sister and say, "tell me what you're making for dinner." Or ask my friends on twitter. Or browse my recipe box on pinterest, for ideas. Or dust off one of the cookboks on my kitchen shelf. In an attempt to break out of a recent... Continue reading

My dear friend + cousin Maggie (whose beautiful farm wedding you may remember from the summer) has had quite the year. Just days ago she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who I cannot wait to get into my arms to snuggle, and fill my lungs with that luscious newborn scent. A few weeks before he arrived, Maggie sent me a couple pictures of his nursery. Maggie and I share a love for mixing the old with the new.... Continue reading

I was searching the internet this afternoon for a map of the electoral college that I could print out. I wanted a map of the United States with each state's electoral votes, so the kids could color it in as results start streaming in. I found one that worked but it was no longer available, even a cached copy, and its numbers were out of date for 2012. So I played with it in photoshop and made the changes for... Continue reading

Emma is really into the election this year. Cheers at the dinner table when she realizes it's a debate night, into it. Asks if I've thought about putting signs in the yard and bumper stickers on the car, into it. Meets someone new and whispers to me "Who do they vote for?", into it. Personally, I'm at the point where I almost can't look anymore. I watch the debates, until I feel like I can't listen anymore. I simultaneously scroll... Continue reading

It feels almost silly and naive to be writing about this, only three days in. Because every new system is bliss in its early days. The real measure of success comes weeks down the road when you find you're still using it and it still works. But still I know how it goes. As parents we see a problem, something that needs to be changed and we come up with a solution. Sometimes it's a temporary fix that gets us... Continue reading