Speed Friending for Moms

 After moving around SO MANY TIMES the past 10 years of my life, I am like so over making friends. I know, I know, that sounds really bad. I just wish there was a faster way to make friends. 

So why can't we have speed friending for moms, you know, like speed dating? I mean, I think I'm on to something here. Everyone could come up with a list of questions that you want answered that would help you decide if you were compatible with one another. We could all meet at a great restaurant and everyone would have three minutes with each person. There would be a timer and a bell. And wine. After years of moving I can pretty much tell within the first few minutes of interaction if it will last beyond the first conversation. So if I could just have a few minutes with twenty different women, I could probably narrow down my options. 

That being said, I'm now going to say the complete opposite. I've also been surprised. I've learned over the years that first impressions are sometimes mostly wrong. In fact, I am typically the person who makes a terrible first impression. So I beg of you, give me another chance (and another glass of wine) and I'll make a great second impression! We as people, and especially as girls and women, seem to think that we should be hanging out with people who are just like us. That we have a “type”. And I just think we have it all wrong. Yes, as a mother, a lot of my friends are also mothers. And when we were military, most of my friends were military too. They were my people. They “got” me; we had a lot in common; it was easy.

But as I've gotten older I've realized that having something in common is not always the first step to a good relationship. Some of my closest friends are women who are completely different than me. Women who don't have children, women who have children in different stages of life than mine, women who don't have a college degree, women who are pastor's wives, women who have lost their husband, women who work full time, and women who live across the country from me.




Having something in common with someone doesn't always mean you'll hit it off. There are 

women I have met and I think, "We should be friends because we have everything in common!" But 

we just don't click. Sometimes people who you least expect make the best of friends. I've also realized 

that I like women who are different than I am. I like someone who thinks differently than I do (it makes 

for some great conversation), whose goals are different than mine (it makes me re- evaluate my goals), 

whose sense of humor is different than mine (everyone is funny in their own way). 

But I do think speed friending would be a great way to start the friend making process, right?  It would be kind of an ice breaker, a quick intro to who you are. Then maybe we can just skip those first few awkward and uncomfortable encounters and get to the fun parts. 

So what kind of questions would you ask if you were going to speed friend? 

Here are a few of mine:

1. Do you talk the entire way through movies because you feel compelled to comment on everything? Oh good, me too.

2. Do you sometimes serve cereal for dinner and not feel bad about it? Yeah, me too.

3. Do you make your own deodorant? hhmm.....

4. Do you like wine? Yes, we can be besties.

5. Would you judge me for watching Sister Wives? Yeah, I know, I sometimes judge myself. Hey, we all have things we are ashamed of.

6. Do you understand and appreciate sarcasm? Like a lot of it? Because I'm sarcastic about 50% of the time. No, that's not true, its more like 75% of the time. Can you handle that? Some people can't. 

7. Will you promise to not tell me the birth stories for each of your children? And I promise not to tell you mine. 

Mom hacks:  things that will help you as a mom and/or things I love and think you should love too! 


This soup is so good. It's kind of like tortilla soup, taco soup, and chili had a baby.....

I'm very into soup and using my crock pot in the the Fall.

This printable has been helpful for Savannah. It hangs on the fridge so she can easily find it when she packs her lunch. 

I LOVE Tea Collection and I REALLY LOVE when their sale stuff is an additional 20% off. You're Welcome. 






Stitch Fix, Rent the Runway, and Blue Apron: What I really think

Before I begin, I just want to note that the word convenience pops up in this post about one thousand times. I know. I should find a thesaurus. 


Stitch Fix: My 1 year review





Pros: So fun! My favorite aspect of Stitch Fix is that is is just hands down fun. You can pin styles you like on Pinterest and your 'stylist' will look at your profile and put together five pieces she thinks you might like. Also, you can put in specific requests- like you have date night coming up and want something for the occasion. The box arrives on your porch with items inside neatly wrapped in tissue paper and perfectly folded. Inside you will find a style guide giving different ways you can wear each piece. I always feel so special when this pretty little box shows up on my doorstep and it's all for me.




So convenient! Okay yes, I have time to shop, and I like to shop. But nothing beats cute clothes showing up to your door that someone else picked especially for you. The items you don't want, you send back within a few days in an already supplied prepaid envelope. I could see how convenience could be a huge plus if you are short on time. 




Element of surprise! If you have major control issues and you want to know exactly what you are getting, maybe this is not for you. Sometimes SF sends me things that I would not have picked out on my own. But some clothes look better on you than on the hanger (or folded up in a box), so I always try everything on and there have been a few times that I've kept something that I initially thought I wouldn't like. I like this aspect because I tend to choose the same patterns and styles. I need another gray/black/neutral top like Tom Brady needs another deflated football (wait, what?). 




Cons: Some things are alike (or are exactly alike). I now own two of the same shirts in different patterns (clearly I liked the shirt enough to actually keep them both though)! Also, I am starting to feel like it all kind of looks alike. It's like eating at Chick- fil- a, which I love, but sometimes it doesn't matter if I eat a salad or the original chicken sandwich...they kind of taste alike. But I'll keep going back. Oh yes, I'll never not go to Chick-fil-a. This is sometimes how I feel about SF and all of their clothes....

Overpriced at times: Sometimes I think, “how on earth is this $68.00?”, some things are just way overpriced. Or maybe I'm just cheap. Yes, I'm cheap.

Rent the Runway



Why I LOVE it: Convenience, hello! Yes, once again, I have time to go to a bunch of stores and try on dresses. But no, I really don't want to spend my day doing that. Especially when I have one day to do it because someone didn't decide if he wanted to go to an event until the last minute. But this shows up to your door, ready to wear.

Wearing a style you would never buy: Sometimes I wish I owned a platinum blond pixie cut wig because that's what I would really love to do with my hair. But let's face it, I'll never do it. At least not on this side of 50. So RTR is like that...sure, rent that jumpsuit (see pic) but don't keep it! I'm pretty sure the jumpsuit will not be a “classic” look in 2020. But that's just my professional opinion.




Easy Peasy: It comes in a hanging black bag, all items dry cleaned, on hangers and ready to wear! Returns are just as easy. Wad it all up and throw it in the bag and drop it at a UPS drop box.

Will I use it again? Absolutely. I'm hoping Tyson's company has a big fancy shmancy Christmas party just so I have an excuse to use it again. It's great if you don't want to commit to a dress you may only wear once or twice. And it's great if you like wearing something different to every event you attend. 

Why I COULD have hated it: It may not have fit! Coming from a lady with a small waist, but some big time hips and butt...things do not always fit as they should. This is why I hate jeans. And shopping for jeans. BUT, my items may not have fit, or looked like they did on the 5' 9” 110 pound model. And this was a huge concern of mine. Which is why RTR gives you a second size for FREE. I love free and I love that they did this- it is what sold me on the whole thing!

 It was a risk! If it hadn't fit, I woulda been out some money (although I think the prices are reasonable and there is a whole range of prices) and still without a dress. And would still have had to gone speed shopping and probably ended up with something sub par.

* I only have one picture of me in the jumpsuit rental from Rent the Runway. And it's not even my picture. Someone else took it with their phone because I like to be living life and living in the moment and not trying to constantly capture pictures for social media.  I'm just a lazy picture taker. I just really suck at remembering to take pictures. 

me in my jumpsuit





Blue Apron


          I was introduced to BA by a friend who signed me up for 2 free meals. I don't know about you, but I can't turn down free food. Or free anything. 




Pros: Convenient! Ah, that word again. I bet you wish I had used that thesaurus now...  But you are paying for them to do the meal planning, shopping, and the food. Think of it that way and it may be worth the $. Sometimes the hardest thing for me is coming up with dinner ideas and actually doing the shopping. Especially in the summer with my two kiddos complaining and asking to buy every other item we pass (Luke once asked to buy Gluten free Kale chips because HE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT WHAT HE WAS PICKING UP). BA shows up (in a refrigerated box) on your door. No shopping, no buying of the kale chips.




It was delish! Both of my kids approved, which means a lot. They are my toughest critics. 


New recipes and unique ingredients! I get stuck in recipe ruts periodically. And even Pinterest cannot help me generate new dinner ideas and pull me out of my deepest rut sometimes! This was fun because the four meals I cooked were different than my typical "go to" meals. I also picked up a new technique to cook chicken that I have used since. Bonus!

Quick: The 4 recipes I have made I prepared in 40 minutes or less. This is HUGE for me. If you are pressed at dinner time because of school, sports, and homework then these meals were straightforward, easy, and quick to prepare. 

Cons: Expensive! $70.00 for 2 meals (that feeds 4) is expensive! Like way expensive in my opinion. For us, this is not sustainable. I stay at home, we are not a dual income- au pair-cleaning- lady-private school-vacation -all-the-time kind of family. Although I'm not opposed to this idea. But I am able to meal plan, shop, and prepare. And most weeks I don't mind it and sometimes I (gasp) enjoy it! I decided that doing BA once every other month to give myself a little break and be slightly indulgent is acceptable. But we can't actually do it every week for every meal. We just can't.

If you don't cancel or skip a meal a week before a scheduled delivery then you are automatically scheduled for a delivery, so you HAVE TO PLAN AHEAD. And put it on your phone calendar with an alert. Or you will receive a meal. And it might include shepherds pie or salmon with bok choy. And you might not like those options. But you might have already been charged the $70.00 so you might have to eat it.

There is a lot of chopping of the veggies: These meals do include a lot of fresh vegetable which I hugely appreciate! It translates to it being a healthy, fresh meal- so I don't mind too much. It's just that....I hate to chop is all.

To sum it all up...can you guess?.....All of these 'deliver to your door' companies are incredibly CONVENIENT! 

Mom hacks:  things that will help you as a mom and/or things I love and think you should love too! 

This candle is like Fall wrapped up and wafting through my house. I'm obsessed. 

T.V. Indulgence: BBC is where it's at. Those British people have the acting thing down. And the drama thing. And those accents don't hurt either. Happy Valley is a 6 episode mini series that is worth your watch. You may even spot a familiar face in the cast (think Downton Abbey). Watch it while you fold laundry, then you won't feel so guilty for just sitting there. Or is that just me?

Great workout to pair with a long run or bike ride!

This cinnamon apple coffee cake is da bomb (do people even use that phrase anymore?) and since I have 2 pecks of apples (that's half a bushel if you were wondering) I'm making all things apple until they are gone. 

Hello Real World and Civilian Life!

Why hello there real world! 

I have been anxiously awaiting to lead the civilian life for quite some time now. Like since we made the decision to leave the Navy in January of 2014 but had to wait until the Spring of 2015. Those 18 months were a joy. But not really.

I am loving civilian life for several reasons. First, T works 9-5 8-6. He kisses us all goodbye in the morning, he's at Luke's football practices and is home for dinner. We even get to plan trips in advance.  I consider this a win, and a far cry from our “norm” in the Navy. Also, no deployments in the real world. Yeah, my husband doesn't leave for six months at a time while I try and “hold down the fort”. Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to some one week business trips... cereal for dinner, crappy t.v., reading in bed late into the night, less laundry... Lastly, him not climbing into a metal death trap (also known as a helicopter) on a regular basis is a plus. Especially one that seems prone to crashing.

But, um, let's talk about things I am not loving about the real world. Let's talk about medical insurance for just a sec. TriCare Prime was A-MA-ZING. Yes, I know, it has it's issues and can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, but um, hello, IT WAS (essentially)FREE. My hospital stay for having Savannah (with an emergency C-section) was $33.00. Luke's 6 ER visits (we are averaging one a year people!) and 2 ambulance rides, well, never saw those bills.  Prescriptions, if filled on base, were FREE. Although as Tyson likes to say, “nothing is ever free”. I mean there was this terrible numbering system where you drew a number, waited 20 minutes then went to a window and handed them the number. Then they would tell you they would have it filled in 45 minutes. So not especially convenient when you have sick children and an unreliable spouse and need the medicine like right now. So sometimes I'd get it filled “out in town”- ya know, with the locals, the civilians, the others. And then I'd have to pay $3.00 or something. Once when it was $10.00 I was like, “why is this so expensive?” So please imagine my SHOCK and HORROR when I was told that Luke's epi pen would be $90.00. For a brief moment I thought maybe he doesn't really need to have it.... But then I paid and I was so sad. Sad about not having TriCare Prime. Sad that my kid has stupid allergies.

And let's not forget about the commissary. For you lay people out there, that's the grocery store on base. And it is oh so special. And I miss it. And I miss their sushi! And my grocery bill is completely out of control and I am still trying to figure out how to get it back down to my pre-civilian days. sigh.

Thank you real world for mostly being pretty great.

Mom hacks: things that will help you as a mom and/or things I love and think you should love too!

I love reading and I especially love reading in the fall and winter as it actually gets cold here (in Maryland) and I don't go outside when its cold. I huddle by the fire and count down the days until Spring. And I read. The last book I read that I could.not.put.down was The Nightingale. Yes mom, I know its sad so you couldn't read it. If you are one of those people(like my mom) who can't read sad books or watch sad movies(for the love- it can't always be a happy ending) then fine, don't read this book. But you're missing out on a great book!

Having a bad day? Buy someone else a coffee. No seriously. Participating in altruistic behaviors makes us happy (a little tidbit that I picked up- and more importantly remembered- from PSYC 101). Making someone else happy in turn makes you happy. Go to Starbucks and get that Pumpkin Spice latte and while you're at it, buy the other exhausted, overworked, overlooked person in the car behind
you a coffee. It'll make their day, and yours too. Win win.  

We went apple picking yesterday. Here is the applesauce recipe I made last night. It's easy, delicious, and...delicious. 

And I'm still over here singing the praises of  the Skimm. If you haven't checked it out yet, well, you should. And then when there is grown up conversation you can chime in and talk about the Pope's visit to the US. And Donald Trumps orange skin tone. And you can make witty comments and people think you keep up on your current events, when really, you just skimmed.

An unposted post from last year: A change will do you good

 At the beginning of the year (2014) Tyson and I had to make a very serious and grown-up decision. Do you ever feel like you're not qualified to make some of the decisions you have to make? Like, I know I'm 30, but I don't feel like I'm equipped to be making decisions that impact my life and the life of our family.
  It can be daunting, but T and I work well together making decisions. I'm not bragging or anything, because there are some things we don't do well together (please don't ever invite us over to play Trivial Pursuit or any other trivia game. or any game. and do not put us on the same team), but making big decisions is something we do well together. We can talk a decision to death, play devil's advocate,  and then put the decision away. We can pull it out days, weeks, and months later to talk about it again, to reexamine what we have each been thinking and see where life has led us and put the decision in that new context. Because some decisions require months and years to make. Some decisions need more than a good night's sleep. And those decisions are the big ones. The ones you'll look back on and remember the day you made it.
  We had to decide if T (and our family) wanted to continue the military life or if we were ready to get out and become part of the real civilian world. Yeah, big decision. He wasn't being forced out. He had just come to the end of the time he owed, which was ten years. We also had to make the decision before he was written another set of orders and before he was up for the 04 promotion (Lieutenant Commander). So this decision had to be made 18 months before we would actually get out. So big stuff here. No waiting around to see what would happen; we had to be proactive about this decision. So after lots of deliberation and so.much.talking. we decided that getting out of the Navy is what would be best for our family.
  The Navy has been all we have ever known as a couple and as a family. We move when they say, go where they send us, and he deploys when he's told. We've celebrated birthdays and anniversaries apart. I've bought a car without him, taken my 13 month old to the ER without him, evacuated with a toddler and a puppy, and completed my Master's degree with a 2 year old while pregnant. All while he was gone. We have done so much of life apart. And we are just ready to do the rest of it together. We uproot our family, leaving behind new friends, schools, homes, and memories to begin again. and again. and again. Although this life is not easy, I wouldn't change a thing about it.
  But it is a new season for our family and the idea of being able to choose where we live, have a husband who doesn't leave 6 months out of the year, a home our family can grow up in, and making friends we don't have to say goodbye to two years later sounds pretty good right now. And yeah, I know the grass is always greener on the other side...but that grass looks pretty darn green right about now. And it's a risk we are willing to take, even if it turns out the grass is exactly the same on both sides of the fence.

Oh, how do I feel about all of this? Excited. Anxious. Hopeful. Scared. Ecstatic. And all of that at the same time. For New Years this year I wrote down one word that I wanted to own this year. The word was adventurous, and I feel like if anything else, this decision will give us one heck of an adventure.



Mom hacks:

-I absolutely love This coffee mug! I just think every mom should have one. Like, give me 10 minutes to drink my coffee in silence. and peace. shhh.

-If you don't feel like being addicted to cocaine, you should become addicted to this candy corn bark instead.

-I'm currently obsessed with this highlighter for my face. It makes me look shimmery and youthful and well rested. yes please.

Zombies and almost getting punched in the face

  It's scary movie October in our house. Every October I force Tyson to watch scary movies with me. I love it. He tolerates it. Ahhh.... marriage. But before you think I'm a huge weirdo- I do have standards.  I am really picky about what movies we watch ...I don't want a lot of blood, which is why I love the older movies- they leave a lot to the imagination. I also refuse to watch anything demonic...especially involving children. I just cannot. So no Exorcist for me, thanks.

  I don't know why...but I love all things scary. Scary movies, haunted houses, Zombies, and jumping out and scaring my husband when he leaves to go to the bathroom while we are watching t.v. at night.
Except last time he almost (out of reflex, so he says) punched me in the face. So I may have to stop doing that.

  And yes, for the love, calm down. I also like fall for all of the obvious reasons: pumpkin everything, cooler weather, changing leaves, football, boots, apple picking, the holiday season....blah, blah, blah. Its just that scary movies top my list of favorite fall things.

 Here are a few of my all time favorite scary movies....so you too can watch scary movies this month. It's lots of fun I tell you. And while watching them you should eat Brachs candy corn. The original flavor. And now you have the perfect fall evening. You are welcome.

My all time favorites:
  -Halloween (original)
 - Friday the 13th (original)
  -Psycho
  -Nightmare on Elm Street ( the new one)
 - Let the Right One In (Swedish horror film)
 - 28 Weeks Later
 - Dawn of the Dead
 - 30 Days of Night


 Mom hacks:

- Caramel Apple Cider Sangria. So good, so fall-like, and so easy to make.

- lunch packing. I now pack two lunches everyday. Which is twice as many as last year. Which means if I didn't use these reusable containers I would be going through hundreds of Ziploc baggies. And the lunchbox love notes are too cute...

The time in between

  I dreamt of this day. for years. The day where both of my sweet babies were in school and I was free.  It seemed like it would be forever before it happened. When we were in the throws of two kids under 2 and not sleeping, and not showering, and not leaving the house, and not fully functioning, it seemed like such a distant hope. There were days I thought, "I cannot do this. I cannot." But then I'd get my baby boy up from his nap and that smile of his...oh that smile would get me through the rest of the day. It had to. Because honestly, the days were long so I had to find those moments that made it all worth it. And y'all, there were many days I had to actively search for those moments.
  So here I am now with a second grader and a kindergartner. And I'm not needed like I was (which I'm completely okay with). I don't need to change a dirty diaper, or sit and watch Chuggington for the gazillionth time, or make a bottle, or rock a baby to sleep. I was so physically needed then that there were nights I looked at my husband and said, "please don't touch me because I have been pulled on, snotted on, and grabbed in all sorts of places today and now....I just need to not be touched." But that's just where I was. Where we were.
  But here we are now and while I'm still needed, it's just a different sort of need. I'm needed to shuttle to soccer practices, help with math homework, have lunch at school, find a lost inhaler, buy new shoes because suddenly the ones from yesterday don't fit, and have pizza/movie night every single Friday night. I find myself now with chunks of time where I have nothing to do. The kids are gone, the house is clean, I've gone to the gym, grocery shopped, called my mom, and fed the cat. I've caught up with the goings on of the world, played Words with Friends, made Dr/dental appointments for the year, and cleaned out my fridge. This is new territory for me and after years of waiting and wishing for this utopia....I'm not quite sure what to do. Along with this newly acquired free time, I told Tyson that I felt like we were getting a glimpse of empty nest syndrome, like some sort of pre- empty nest syndrome. That should be a real thing. We had a breakfast date a few weeks ago sans children. It was weird because no one spilled milk and I was able to complete full sentences without being interrupted. I seriously couldn't handle it.  We ran out of things to talk about half way through (granted our breakfast took 45 minutes to come out so we complained about that together for a while- bonded over our shared hunger).... and I do not want to be one of those couples that looks at each other after the kids are in college and realizes they have nothing left in common because their kids were the only thing they had in common.
  This time in between my kids being really young (and really needy) and them being really old (and mostly independent) feels like this weird mom limbo. I'm not quite ready to work full time, because I still want to be available to do all the things  I do now. But there are times I find myself not knowing what to do with my free time.
  With the experience of motherhood and the past eight years of my life... I can tell you, I'm not who I was when I started this journey and it has been interesting just getting to that realization alone. The dreams I had before children are not my dreams now. The life I wanted 10 years ago is not the life I want now. Where I thought I'd be when I was 30 is not where I am. But that's okay. Its better than okay. And now I will sound like a little old lady, but really, it is all about the journey. Its about getting there. And I'm really trying to make an effort to live that way. For a girl who likes a checklist and end results, this is huge.

Mom hacks:

-Cinnamon Dolce K cups....OMG. That's all I have to say. And use Hazelnut creamer. don't ask, just do it.

-Screen time tokens: This concept is interesting. Our kids are growing up with technology we did not have when we were younger (feeling old yet?). My kids are not quite at the age where this is an issue, but we do limit Kindle and tv time during the week. And absolutely no screen time on school mornings. Because then there is almost always rushing around and yelling raised voices. Here is an excerpt from the book Essentialism:

The children were given ten tokens at the beginning of the week. These could each be traded in for either thirty minutes of screen time or fifty cents at the end of the week, adding up to $5 or five hours of screen time a week. If a child read a book for thirty minutes, he or she would earn an additional token, which could also be traded in for screen time or for money. The results were incredible: overnight, screen time went down 90 percent, reading went up by the same amount, and the overall effort we had to put into policing the system went way, way down.

interesting right?

-And hey, if you need a good cry, watch this short video. It's a great contrast to what I posted last week about yelling. How do your kids really see you? So stop being so hard on yourself - your kids tend to remember the good while you tend to remember the bad. And that's good.

-Another recipe, because hey, I like food. It is officially fall, so here is a fail proof Pumpkin bread recipe I have used for years. Sometimes I add chocolate chips. Sometimes I don't. I also make this year round because Luke believes pumpkin is not seasonal. and I agree.

Too much birthday

Remember that Berenstain Bears book, Too Much Birthday? Well that's what its been like around my house this week. Luke's birthday was Monday and Tyson's was Tuesday.

Here is a quick story that ends with me being right and every year saying to T, "See, I told you so."
Luke's due date was 9/27/09, but since I had had Savannah via emergency C-section, I planned on having Luke via a PLANNED C-section (no thank you VBAC). And just as a side note, I LOVED both of my C-sections. Yes, even the emergency one, minus the whole baby's heart rate dropping and it being an emergency and all. But it was quick, painless (except for that whole 8 hours of Pitocin induced laboring part), and ended with me having a fully intact vagina afterwards. So that was good. So with Luke I got to skip the labor part (yay!) and head straight in to the OR and get that baby out! And as a bonus with Cesareans, you schedule a few days before the due date, unlike Savannah, who was 10 DAYS LATE. I repeat, 10 days. Anyway, back to the story. So, T and I go in to schedule said C-secion for Luke and the Doc gives me a few options. 9/22, 9/23, or 9/24. Well, Tyson's birthday is 9/23 so I said, "Let's do it on the 23rd. Y'all can share a birthday!" (Who doesn't love a birthday twin? I get ridiculously excited when I meet someone with my birthday. ) Anyway, to which my husband replies, "no, I want my own birthday." To which I reply, "Fine, I'll have him the day BEFORE your birthday and your birthday will live in his birthdays shadow. forever." I then went on to explain that Luke's bday would always come first and all the birthday attention would be on him and by the time it was Tyson's bday, no one would care remember. But no, this compelling argument did not sway him.

   So fast forward to present day. I cannot for the life of me keep their birthdays straight. I  have to stop and really think about whose birthday is when! And I feel like medical personnel give me judgy looks when I can't quickly recall my son's birthday. sheesh. I constantly write Tyson's bday wrong on important documents and he is like, " do you not know when my bday is?" And then I gently remind him of the above story. And of how, if they had just shared a birthday (per my request) it would all be so much easier.on me. and then I could buy make buy ONE cake. And all of the celebrating could happen on ONE day. But no. By the time we get to T's birthday y'all, I.am.done. Its just too much. So this year I bought 4 cupcakes from a local bakery and stuck a candle in one. And then we all half heartedly sang. Even Savannah wasn't into it, she was like "Why are we singing this song every day?"
Moral of the story, I was right, he was wrong, and I'll be knee deep in birthday fun for two back-to-back days every September.

And don't get me started on September birthdays in general. Apparently, while conceiving, I did not look ahead 5 years (a huge oversight for a natural born planner like myself) and realize that  I would be having a child who would be 3 weeks past the school cut off date. So that's been fun. Oh great, another year of private half day preschool?



Mom hacks:

Chores. No chore charts here. My children are expected to help me with certain age appropriate tasks around the house simply because they are part of this family unit. If they would like to earn a little more than their weekly allowance then they can chose extra chores and get paid on the spot. And it gets my baseboards clean because I just don't do that.

I like including a recipe on the mom hacks because I know that I always love a new family friendly recipe. So this is another hit with us! Open cans and pour into crockpot....does it get any easier?! Chicken taco chili from Skinnytaste.

Christmas. Yup, it will be here before we know it. October is next week?!! Real Simple had some great ideas for gift giving with family, colleages, and friends. For my extended family, we each draw names and spend $50-$75 on that person and then each family donates to a charity that we have chosen together. This has been a great way for us to stay on budget, receive a nice a nice gift we actually want (we each do a wish list containing 2-3 items), and be charitable.

This book was recommended by my cousin-in-law. I'll say it, I have a tendency to yell raise my voice from time to time  often. We have noticed ( as in, my husband has kindly pointed out to me) that this only makes our daughter shut down. She absolutely does not respond to yelling. So I'm making it a point to stop yelling, or at least do it less often.