I spied on my husband and sons today. I was driving by a park on my way home from writing at a coffee shop when I spotted them frolicking on the soccer field. Three bright, puffy parkas—red, yellow, blue—bobbing on a sea of lush green, little legs churning below the coats, matching Padres hats atop. Daddy was among them, pushing the empty triple jogger while his yellow parka’d helper hung onto the side, co-steering. I pulled over and watched, captivated, as my CD player filled the car with Madonna’s chipper ‘80s ditty “Cherish.” Read More…
HONK IF YOU HATE ME may have a few laughs at the expense of the fast food world, but in reality the fast food world needs no help from me when it comes to inciting giggles. Here are some stand-out fast food moments from the past year:
McDonald’s, Part I: “Salt lands McDonald’s employee in jail” Read More…
Last year, the boys weren’t even two, and they didn’t register much about the holiday season. This year, they’re almost three, and it’s magic . . . for all of us.
Merry Christmas from the Halversons.
“Boys? I’m having boys? Three of them?” When I first learned that all of my triplets would be boys, I experienced a millisecond of terror: I grew up with three sisters, I didn’t know the first thing about raising boys. In that millisecond, much as one’s life flashes before one’s eyes in a life-and-death moment, I recalled all the little boys I’d known in school, with all their nose-picking (and eating), all their whizzing in the bushes (a big shout-out to the kid who peed on that dirt pile under that pine tree when I was four and shocked me with the anatomical differences between boys and girls), all their bra strap snapping on the playground (life is rough when you’re the first girl in your class to hit puberty), and all their spitting contests and loogey threats and choral burping. In my experience, little boys did icky things and had weird parts. Read More…
I pulled Monalisa Kent, the reluctant star of my novel HONK IF YOU HATE ME, out of a hole in the ground. An eight-inch-round hole, to be precise.
One of the first things I ponder when I read a new book is the inspiration for the story. What sparked that initial idea, or image, or mood, that led the author to write this particular book? Maybe it’s the writer in me, or the editor, or the book lover, or the curious girl, but I’m always itching to know. And there’s usually a story behind the inspiration for a story. Mona is no different. Her story actually began twenty years ago… Read More…
HONK IF YOU HATE ME is a book about secret identities, about the wish to be greater than who you are, about the need to feel like you’re more than the schlup that the outside world sees. Kind of puts you in the mind of superheroes, doesn’t it?
Think Superman. Think Batman. Think Wonder Woman.
Whether you’re a teen trying to survive school or a grown-up trying to survive the “real world”, who doesn’t want to be a superhero? Read More…
Why is it that the fraternal boy in our trio…
Triplets are not so different from Smurfs. For one thing, while my trio are not blue of skin, they are diminutive, highly animated creatures with high-pitched voices and a certain cookie-cutter quality. Also much like Smurfs, they’re pretty darn cute.
But beyond their physical smurfiness, my three sons are smurflike in the way they converse with each other. Read More…
Trying to get young triplets to sit next to each other, for even an instant, without someone moving is nearly impossible. Trust me when I say that, for I’ve seen grown women break into panting sweats trying to photograph my trio. So I was truly thrilled to see the amazing shots captured by the ladies of Forever in This Moment in our recent photo session. You have to check these out: www.ForeverInThisMoment.com. (Choose “Halverson Triplets” in the “Galleries” drop-down menu.*)
Equally amazing was watching photographers Noel and Lindsay turn my boys into mini Ford models, posing or “acting spontaneous” on command. Read More…
It’s official, I am the proud mama of sixty pearly whites. Well, make that fifty-nine pearly whites plus one gray. The oldest of my triplets bashed his front tooth on a cement wall last month, and now the darn thing has changed color. Read More…