At Home Today is the last day of school. I'm half glad and half dreading the summer. It'll be nice to not have my days revolve around school hours and to be able to get my kids out and exploring for the first summer in too many years. But it's a whole bunch of weeks … Continue reading The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – June 9, 2023
At Home On one hand, I'm thrilled it's finally Friday because this past week has been crazy. On the other hand, I can't believe my kids' last day of school is in one week! I'm about three-quarters prepared for the summer. We have the workbooks, I've been working on their schedule and keeping an eye … Continue reading The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – June 2, 2023
At Home Is it Friday already? Well, I'm not sure where, exactly, the week has gone, but I'm glad it's a three day weekend. Even if I'm up to my knees preparing for the summer and our vacation. I did so much laundry this week to wash a ton of new clothes we've gotten for … Continue reading The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – May 26, 2023
Odalis pressed her lips into a thin line as she crumpled the paper. “My magic could have pinpointed the right location. Her protector might be smarter than we think.” She threw the paper at her brother. “Start back where Camila saw the two riders.” “Odalis,” Leandro started, but she had turned away and was waving … Continue reading The Queens: Part 12
Well, that and trying to figure out how not to be so naive in the future. She imagined that wouldn’t do her any good once she reached Meridian. She knew the Southern Queen was the oldest, and the other two were much younger, which would put An Lan as the second oldest. She also knew … Continue reading The Queens: Part 11
At Home This past week has actually been quite uninteresting. We're starting to get ready for summer vacation and our first family vacation ever in July, so lots of prep work (mostly buying clothes) has been going on. My son isn't really interested in buying clothes, but my daughter is in rainbow unicorn heaven. Her … Continue reading The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – May 19, 2023
An Lan was miserable. Even after spending three nights sleeping out under the stars, she still hadn’t slept well. Li Feng had thoughtfully packed a couple of extra blankets, knowing the servant had never slept on small rocks and twigs before, but turning over right into the boulder he’d set her next to had been … Continue reading The Queens: Part 10
At Home Where the last couple of weeks were full of errands and other not fun things (with a few fun things mixed in, of course), this past week has kind of felt like a massive social call. We spent Saturday at Disneyland with another family, which could have gone horribly wrong, but ended up … Continue reading The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – May 12, 2023
Li Feng chuckled softly. “You’ll get used to it, My Queen. Meridian is surrounded by a forest. The late Eastern Queen loved to wander it, and perhaps you will, too.” An Lan squeezed her eyes shut. “Please stop calling me Queen.” The fire crackled into the silence, but An Lan didn’t dare open her eyes, … Continue reading The Queens: Part 9
At Home I thought last week was a bit nutty, but turns out even that could be beat. I have both been more absent from this blog than I had planned and literally absent from my home as nearly every day has had errands that needed to be run. And the one day that didn't? … Continue reading The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – May 5, 2023
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