#53

The resurfacing made this corner impossible to mow, so I don’t. 

#52

It was the only room that we didn’t paint.  Not perfect, but good enough.  

#50

The tree should be too short to cast a shadow on her shed.

#47

He let her keep the board books when he moved downstairs. 

#45

I don’t know why, but I wanted a floating clock.  Fishing line and screw eyes in hand, I drilled the first hole…directly into my finger.  After a good cry, I tried again. 

#42

It was tedious, but a color can really make it feel like home.  

#39

Every summer she grows the same variety of tomato plant.  The tiny yellow globes look so good.  They eat them like candy.  I hate tomatoes. 

#36

He requested it be painted Spiderman red.

#31

A passion flower vine used to grow right beside it.  They have these strange spherical seedpods.  We would always throw them against the house, making them explode.  He would always jokingly accuse me of causing the crack to appear with my strong throws.  

#23

Hill and Dale.  It is such a strange name for a street.  Telling people we live at the corner of Hill and Dale and Taylor Mill always produces the same puzzled look.  How can three roads make a corner?   No, no, Hill and Dale is the name of a single, strange little road.   

#22

For like two weeks, it was magic.  In his mind, the simple Dollar Tree pinwheel had become Dumbo's feather.  Arm stretched high, pinwheel spinning, both dimples deep.   He ran, seemingly non-stop, through the house "flying."  Then one day he put it down on this red box and moved on.  

#21

Mom loves wildflowers.  Black-eyed Susans have always been a part of her backyard.  I plan to get a start of them this summer.  I think I need a patch of them in my yard as well. 

#19

My dad called them "cigar trees."  I was always fascinated by the seed pods that hung from the one up the street.  Now I have two huge, gnarly ones in my front yard.  I'm still fascinated by the seed pods. 

#17

I bought it on Craigslist.  The first time I fired it, I nearly burned down our house. 

#16

It is her favorite season.  She likes getting her long sleeves out again after a hot summer. 

#15

Yes, we knew they didn't match our decor but we bought them anyway.  

#14

Our sloped driveway is not the best place for a toddler to learn how to ride a tricycle.  He managed, though, with only minor scrapes and that one time he careened into the shed. 

#4

her -- "Whoa, we'll definitely need to change the old lady wrought iron shutters."
me -- "Really?  I love them."
I won..

#2

We didn't want your typical nursery.  Precious Moments and Noah's Arc had no business in our baby's room.  Since we didn't know the gender, we settled on the neutral decor of brightly colored polka dots.  We spent hours spacing them just right in the corner over his crib.  He spent only seconds to peel them off once he could reach.  I took them all down with him in the summer.  His sister's imminent arrival called for redecorating.  His now four-year-old dimples never faded as he pulled his baby dots from the wall.  I cried a little.