• Farming - Fun

    Herding Goats

    April 21, 2023 - By 

    Did you know that you can rent goats. I mean, if you’ve been following my blog and you’ve read this post then you know this already. But if you’re new here then – yes, you can RENT GOATS. Rented goats are, in my opinion, some of the best kind of goats because you get all of the benefits with none of the responsibility. The wonderful, spunky, capable, knowledgeable lady who owns the business (aptly named Goats on the Go) takes care of all the details. She sets up a perimeter fence to keep the goats contained to their area. She…

  • Family - Fun - Parenting

    In the Blink of an Eye

    March 28, 2023 - By 

    I touched on this the other day, when I wrote: Time flies slowly then disappears in the blink of an eye. In our family, we are at that cusp. That age when you recognize that your kids are Big Kids. Just a few years away from Teenagers. That every moment they are still a Little Kid – you should cherish that. It’s almost a part of your past. They are almost too grown for those midnight nightmares and impromptu hugs and can-you-cut-the-crusts-off-my-bread. Which is why, as a grown woman of over 40 years old, for the last two nights I…

  • Fun - Marriage

    The Gift that Keeps on Giving

    November 12, 2022 - By 

    For Mother’s Day this past May, the Husband gifted me a subscription to a “flower of the month” club. It works pretty much as you would expect – each month I receive a box. Packed inside is a flowerpot. At first it looks just like a pot of dirt, but with time and water the bulbs that are planted underneath emerge, revealing themselves and gracing our table with pretty blooms. The bulbs are chosen according to seasonality – Daffodils in April, for example – although I can’t easily identify them all because the packing slip does not provide any information…

  • Family - Fun - Parenting

    Yes Day!

    July 31, 2022 - By 

    Ever since I let the boys watch that Jennifer Garner movie, Yes Day, the boys have been begging to have one of their own. For the uninitiated, a “Yes Day” is when you pick one specific day that the parents can’t say no to any request the kids have. Now, there are some ground rules. There is a monetary budget. There are no requests to travel outside of the city (or a set radius of your choosing). And no requests that impact the future (for example, they can’t ask for a puppy). We laid the ground rules (most of which…

  • Family - Fun - Marriage - Parenting

    Camping… Sort of

    April 23, 2022 - By 

    Now that most of the major outdoor house projects are complete (**fingers crossed**), the husband and I have made a goal to spend some weekends going camping as a family. We really haven’t done this (with kids) but once, at a campground just a stone’s throw from our house in Iowa. It was amazing, and we stayed in a tent, but it wasn’t quite like true nitty-gritty camping. You can read about it here. Well, the weather looked to be warm, and we didn’t have any plans, so we decided this weekend was going to be our inaugural Missouri camping…

  • Fun

    Fool me Once, Fool me Twice

    December 22, 2021 - By 

    Recently, the husband and I went on a date night in Weston, MO. If you’ve never been to Weston, it’s this cute little Hallmark-esque town on the outskirts of Kansas City. In fact, it’s so quaint that they even filmed an actual Hallmark movie there. But I digress. The point of that story is that our date night was organized by the Weston Chamber of Commerce (we took a tour of 3 of the local Bed and Breakfasts) and at the end of the tour, we received a gift bag filled with goodies from local establishments. To be clear (and…

  • Fun - Travel

    Laughing out loud on an airplane

    August 24, 2021 - By 

    I recently flew – by myself – on an airplane. There was a time in my life where this wasn’t such a novel experience. (In fact, this one time it was a dual novel experience. Ha ha. Sorry not sorry.) ANYWAY. So I’ve done my fair share of flying but ever since having young kids people look at you all weird if you pretend you don’t know the toddlers at the airport and try to board without them. (I’m joking. I’ve never done this. And luckily my kids are remarkably good fliers as long as you ply them with enough…

  • Family - Fun - Marriage

    The Things that Bring Us Together

    August 14, 2021 - By 

    “Mom,” my oldest son asked me, “why are you taking a picture of your shoes?” “Well bud,” I replied, “Do you know I haven’t worn these shoes in a long time? Do you know the last time I wore these shoes?” He shook his head. “My wedding. When your dad and I got married.” His eyes got big. “Yep, over 10 years ago. Before you and your brother were even born. So, I took this picture to remember how much has changed since then. And how much I love everyone and everything in our lives.” Okay, so maybe being at…

  • Fun - Throwback

    That time I met Shaquille O’Neal at a Denny’s

    July 19, 2021 - By 

    As we’re currently in the last games of the NBA finals, it seems like an appropriate time to reminisce about that one time I met Shaq at a Denny’s restaurant. The year was 2002. Shaquille O’Neal was a pretty big deal. I mean, he’s still a pretty big deal but this is the same year he was named NBA Finals MVP for the third straight year. Shaq played for the LA Lakers at this point in his career, and after a 7-game series, they had beaten the Sacramento Kings and won the Western Conference Finals. The date – May 27,…

  • Fun - Marriage - Throwback

    How We Met

    December 22, 2020 - By 

    The boring version is that Chris and I met at work in Arizona, in the early months of 2006, dated for about three years and then got married. The more interesting version is that a guy I barely knew from work randomly asked me to fly out to Iowa with him as his date for his 10-year high school reunion. And I’d meet my future-mother-in-law when I stayed at her house for an extended weekend, where I’d also meet all of his siblings and attend his brother’s college graduation. And the first time I’d meet my future father-in-law it would…