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    Three Years-Old: Happy Birthday, Tate!

    Tate’s birthday is around the corner (July 1). We’re having a simple birthday party at home. I’ll serve basic snacks and then use the cake recipe from The Art of Simple Food to make a birthday cake with a big 3 in blueberries. I honestly don’t think we’ll do anything else in terms of games or favors. I think we’ll just play in the backyard! 
    Another part of our birthday rituals is to write Tate a letter about his year. We print it and put it into his scrapbook. Here’s his letter for this year:
    Dearest Tate,

    What a year! I can’t believe you are now three. This

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    How to Create a Letter Writing Station

    If you’ve been following my blog the past couple of months, you know I am completely swamped with work stuff and just trying to keep my head above water. (As a side note, I enjoyed reading this article, which included this quote: “We’re expected to do our jobs as if we don’t have children — and then raise our children as if we don’t have jobs.”)

    But right before the big tsunami of work stuff hit, I had a period where I was actually able to attain some balance. During that [very brief] period, I cleaned out the drawers in my bedside table and created a letter writing station,
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    Vacation Recap: San Juan Islands with Kids

    Every year, we go on a vacation with our in-laws (Matt’s mom, dad, and two brothers). This year we decided to go to the San Juan Islands off of Seattle. 
    What a trip! 
    We left Austin early on a Saturday morning, arrived in Seattle later that morning, met up with friends for lunch at a great restaurant, and then drove to catch the ferry at Anacortes. From there we took the ferry into Friday Harbor. 
    It’s a stunning part of the country. It seriously soothes my soul in ways that not all landscapes do (I’m not a huge fan of the desert or even the shrubby landscape that we
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