Clio* and Penelope* grew up in the same itty bitty town on an island in between Vermont, New York, and Quebec.  They spent their formative years making up outrageous stories (read lies) about life on the island: how there was no electricity or indoor plumbing, and how they had to row to the mainland and hitchhike to high school (which was why they were so often late to class). Eventually, they learned to channel this penchant for dishonesty into a slightly more reputable interest in creative writing, and they spent many adolescent hours in Penelope’s bedroom filling notebook after notebook with such melodramatic, angsty drivel that reading those notebooks now makes them blush. College separated the heroines, but also provided an opportunity for both to develop more healthy interests.

They reunited post-graduation and found their friendship had become something more. Penelope became an entirely respectable school teacher, and Clio went to law school (to the intense mortification of her family), where she learned many useful skills. They moved back to Vermont (but not to the itty bitty island), and got civilly united in 2001 and married in 2009. (Yay, Vermont!) Hank* was born in September 2010. Ollie* arrived March 2013.

(*Names changed to protect our privacy — well, mostly the boys’.)