• Family - Parenting

    The Trade-off

    February 3, 2018 - By 

    Chris and I were laying in bed this morning, listening to the boys chatting with each other in the living room. Chris: Is Aiden making breakfast for both of them? This is nice. I could get used to this. Me: Yes, but there is usually a trade-off. Like cereal all over the floor or two cups of milk on the counter. After a short while longer of listening to their sweet voices, I get up to find out how they are doing. I notice small wrappers scattered all over the floor, and immediately piece together what has happened. They had…

  • Family - Food

    Lucky Charms

    January 11, 2018 - By 

    Another cold winter day means school starting time is delayed 2 hours. I decided to take advantage of this and sleep until the boys woke up. Around 8 am, I heard Aiden in the living room, but he was being quiet and not demanding anything of me, so I proceeded to lay in bed for a while before deciding to get up.  After almost 30 minutes of this, I began to get suspicious. He had to be up to something. “Hi mom!” he chirped when I entered the kitchen. “I made breakfast for me and Connor.” And sure enough, he…

  • Family - Fun

    A Parent’s Summer Bucket List

    July 18, 2017 - By 

    Apparently, some teenager wrote down her summer bucket list and then forgot it in an Urban Outfitters dressing room.  The bad news is now all the internets knows that she wants to pet a giraffe and other, less-PG things, although the good news is all she has to do is log on to Twitter to remember what she wrote. While I can identify with some of the things on her list (binge new Netflix series? check.  eat cotton candy? check), there are some that, sadly, as a thirty-something mother of two I just do not identify with.  (have a super…

  • Family - Food

    Oh, Sweet Innocence

    June 24, 2017 - By 

    I left off one of the best moments from yesterday’s Cupcakes and Confessions post. I had put Connor to bed upstairs for his daily nap. While I was doing so, Aiden was in charge of stirring the cupcake batter. He takes after me, in that he’s a terrible liar. Just stick to the truth, kid.

  • Family

    Cupcakes and Confessions

    June 23, 2017 - By 

    I made cupcakes using a generic store-bought mix and frosting out of a can.  Instead of making them from scratch using one of the many Pinterest recipes I’ve saved. And something else: They were pretty darn tasty. This is not because I have excellent culinary skills. I mean, I’d like to think that they’re halfway decent these days, but that’s not why the cupcakes were tasty. I’m going to guess it had more to do with these three things: Sugar Oil (aka FAT mmmmm) Years of product testing and research Okay, so yeah I’m sure my $1.99 cake mix is…

  • Family

    Father’s Day

    June 19, 2017 - By 

    A few days ago, my son asked me: “Mom, is it almost the day that we love daddy?”  (pause)  “You know, like Mother’s Day for dads?” “Well yes it is almost that day,” I explained to him, “and we call it Father’s Day.” The day was simple, but wonderful:  bacon and coffee, kid giggles, a bike ride, lunch and soft serve ice cream, naps, and finally, fishing on the dock.  We even caught a fish with our fancy and sophisticated fishing pole: Oh, and something more amazing?  After seeing the fish caught, filleted, and cooked, (getting a brief lesson in…

  • Family

    Strawberry Fields

    June 14, 2017 - By 

    The weather was beautiful (if a little windy) and it is strawberry season around here, so I took the boys to go pick strawberries. Well, I took Aiden to go pick strawberries.  Apparently, I took Connor to teach him not to pick the green ones. Aiden already knew not to pick the green ones because of a discussion we had about my tomato plant last week.  I had scolded them for picking the ripe tomatoes before we were ready to eat them.  (This is mostly because they use them as small flying objects, rather than food).  So when I saw…

  • Fun

    Moving Day

    April 20, 2017 - By 

    It’s a little strange to walk through the home you’ve lived in for the past seven years when it is no longer yours.  Your things are packed and gone, and you tour a series of empty rooms, feeling like a stranger in a familiar place. Our belongings are boxed in a moving van, and some new family will move into our house and make it their own.  It’s almost shocking how simple the paperwork process is when you’re the one selling… less than an hour and the process was completed on our end. We are officially no longer Arizona homeowners.…

  • Fun

    Goodbye, Arizona

    March 22, 2017 - By 

    Arizona will always hold a special place in my heart. That is a super cheesy thing to say, but – well – it’s the truth. Arizona is where I learned to reach outside of my comfort zone to make new friends. It’s where I met my husband, fell in love, bought a home, and started a family. It’s where I watched my tiny babies grow into little boys. Their first smiles, first steps, first “I love yous.” But things change. The one constant about life is that it is never constant. And as our little family grows, we find ourselves…

  • Uncategorized

    Things I learned about my husband by looking through his iPhone pictures

    December 14, 2012 - By 

    Okay, I’ll admit, I didn’t really learn anything new about my husband. The photos just confirmed what I already knew about him. He likes: Football, Classic Cars, Red Tractors, Fishing, Car Parts, Tractors (Green isn’t is preference but any tractor he gets to drive is all right), Fast Cars, My Cat (I think he’s secretly getting used to her), His Dog (of course). And there you have it! I wonder what my phone photos would say about me? There are probably too many pictures of my cat, I’m guessing.