Kinsley is the girliest little tomboy I've ever met. Her thing right now is to find backpacks and fill them with all kinds of stuff. She'll then carry them around all day.
We saw this at a stop light on our way down to Des Moines lol
Aren't Lena's expressions just so spot on? lol I know, sweetie - those crazy cousins of yours are a tinge energetic for ALL of us!
A rare moment where these two actually sat at their seats to eat. Oy! I'd say this one was up there with the top 5 worst restaurant experiences with kids of all time for me. #1 will still always be when Mark and I took Cashel and Kendrick to this little pizza joint in Islamorada, FL back in 2015. It was just a poor combination of it being too hot for us to even stop parks on the way up, kids had been in the car all day long, and they were super hungry, had way too much energy, and were surrounded by chaos (it was the Iowa Machineshed Restaurant...anyone who has been there understands lol) My brother said that he'd never again complain about taking his kids out to eat lol I promise, it's not always that chaotic, it was just a ridiculous day.
It kinda makes me smile that my kids are at this age, and have been exposed to my picture craziness for so long, that when I say "Hey guys - smile for a picture!" they just do it much of the time.
This was the first time we had ever seen a double-decker train before! The kids enjoyed listening to me explain how the whole process goes from getting the containers off the barges that come through on the Mississippi River and get loaded onto the trains like this.
Little lady has been big into swiping my lipstick and putting it on. It's that permanent kind, which means basically if I don't watch it, it'll be everywhere.
Ever since Kinsley was a baby, I have scooped her up in a towel after her bath and carried her down to her room "like a baby". It's one of those things I'll keep doing as long as she asks, and she does every time. She'll hollar, "Mama! Get me out of here and carry me like a baby!" lol
On a whim, I brought cucumbers along on the trip. I honestly didn't expect the kids to enjoy them as much as they did, but oh boy did they ever! They wanted cucumbers for a bedtime snack pretty much every evening.
My cousin made these homemade noodles while were visiting the one day. Apparently my grandma used to make them growing up a lot, although I don't really ever recall that. This was a slightly different recipe, but they were SO GOOD! If I had more time and energy right now, I'd definitely get a noodle cutter machine like this - SO good!!
Just a friendly PSA about sunscreen. We had a pool day on vacay with our friends, and while I had repeatedly told my older 2 to get out of the pool and put on sunscreen, they didn't listen, and I was busy running around after a super cranky Ryan to keep him out of trouble, and yeah. Kendrick won't be forgetting this anytime soon. I was really thankful that the blisters disappeared after a few days (only one of them ended up popping) and he didn't get an infection.
She just looks SO grown up here!
It broke my heart driving past my grandparents' house we visited all the time growing up. The new owners just COMPLETELY let it go :( My grandpa was SO meticulous about his home, and he took such great care of it.
My friend Mike and his daughter Lucy came up to visit us the night we stayed in Dowagiac, MI, and brough us what they refer to as "Amish Crack". Seriously. These "doughnuts" (if you can even call them that) were like eating sugared air. INSANE! They were SO good! I think I ate 7 of them over the course of the next day and a half just on my own.
We had a day open up unexpectedly as my friend's son had been sick that we were going to visit, so on a whim, I opted to take the kids down to visit my hometown! First stop when we arrived? The first job I had!
I was a tinge worried that I would be talking up the fries too much, but nope! They were just as incredible as I remembered!
There are a LOT of times where I whine to myself about missing affection. This picture makes me laugh
I remember back in the other times I've visited Chicago, being very fond of Giordano's. However, I've more recently heard people raving about Lou Malnati's, so I thought I'd try that instead this time. So, two things to point out here: 1) When it comes to Chicago style pizza, you do NOT need more than a medium pizza for a family of 5. 2) IMHO, Giordano's >>>>> Lou Malnati's
I had a lot of fun making these little characters of us using that Viola app. Goodness, if they don't look just like us!
The kids LOVED staying in a hotel a few different nights during our stay. It was pretty darn cute, really.
These two are seriously inseparable the vast majority of the time. It's so stinkin' cute to hear them talk about things.
Traveling alone, or traveling with my kids really isn't something that shakes me up often. I actually really enjoy traveling alone, and aside from my little scare at the end of my Vancouver trip, I've never had any issues with creepers. Traveling with my kids, my main concerns swirl around them getting lost, but although I'm VERY observant, I really don't worry about anyone taking them. (I've often joked that they'd return them in an hour or so) But for real, one of the things I've had to learn is how to manage the kids when we have to do things I don't really feel comfortable doing. One of those uncomfortable things is eating out. Ninety-eight percent of the time when we eat out on the road, it's not in an actual restaurant, but rather on the road. I'll pick up fast food and we'll either eat in the car, take it back to where we're staying, or stop at a park and have a picnic. This particular day, I simply couldn't find a good place to stop, so we went to this truck stop, and the kids were just especially squirelly (of course). I finally got them all wrangled (thank goodness the place was mostly empty), got them food from 2 different places, and they had started eating when this somewhat odd gentleman approached me and told me I was "missing one". I looked over, expecting to see an escapee, but counted all 4 of the kids, and said, "Um, nope, I think we're good". He kept at it, finally alluding to me missing the "big kid" (a.k.a. Daddy), and it just caught me so off guard. I got it together, chuckled a bit and said, "Right?!", and he just kinda went on, but that was honestly the first time I felt a little more guarded than usual. I'm sure he meant nothing by it, really, but it was a good reminder to me that THAT was why I never take them to places like that, especially by myself. Tip #1 of traveling alone or traveling alone with your kids: Don't let all the people know you're alone. Giving the allusion that we're just waiting for Daddy somewhere, or that I'm meeting a friend or what not is ALWAYS a good plan when traveling solo. ALWAYS ask for more than 1 room key. ALWAYS make hotel reservations for 2, not just 1. ALWAYS list 2 adults when you can, even if the adult isn't really coming. Stay safe!
My kids LOVE those protein bowls from Subway, but if we're being real, they mostly just love their meatballs. They never even want cheese on them usually, just a big bowl of meatballs lol It is right up there with KFC "6 dollar fill up" bowls for them as far as faves.
We were going to go right by the Wisconsin Dells on the way home from our trip, and I told the kids we could stop for a few hours, but they had to pick only the top 2 things they wanted to do, an it couldn't be water parks, since I couldn't do that kind of trip by myself. They all agreed on doing the mining thing, so that's what we did. Cashel ended up getting the find of the day with this massive chunk of rose quartz, and he was SO proud of it! I'm learning that I need to be THAT excited for him with stuff like that. I mean, honestly, my reaction was kinda like, "Oh - that's great, honey!" But I knew that he was already calculating in his head just how rich he was going to be by selling it. I hated to burst his bubble, but wanted to be real with him that he wasn't going to make millions, or even thousands or hundreds on this thing. Part of parenting is realizing where you need to step it up sometimes, and while trying to keep thing realistic, I realize at this point I probably should've been WAY more excited for him and supportive, and then let him find out on his own that it's not going to let him retire at 9.
So I'm pretty thrilled to realize that Olive Garden has these huge to-go containers of spaghetti and meatballs. It's really so easy to make, but when we're out of town, it's awesome that we can just...bring it home and just eat it. It was not, however, awesome to eat in a hotel room that had no table and bright, bright white comforters. I mean, we averted crisis, but there was a heck of a lot of yelling, and a couple impromptu showers.
Is there a better sight? I love these guys more than life itself, but let me tell you, sometimes my favorite part of the day is when they're ALLLLL sleeping.
My new "go to" drink when I'm near a Starbucks is an iced Cinnamon Dolce latte with almond milk. SO GOOD!! I'm not entirely sure that I'd like it as much hot, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to find out come September.
I LOVE introducing my kids to cool feats of engineering. We stopped at the Lock and Dam No 6 just outside of LaCrosse, and it was just SO cool to watch their little minds turn. Cashel, of course, was totally bored by it all and prefered to go throw rocks into the river, but the other kiddos and I sat there for probably half an hour just watching the boats go through the lock.
This will probably go down as one of the worst
Man, soccer was a rough one on us this year. Signing all 4 up and being a co-coach for the U6 team was probably NOT the way to break into the sports realm for my family. Cashel was the only one who really enjoyed it, but by the end of the season, even HE wasn't sure about it. We are SO thankful to have our evenings back again!
Admittedly, there was a TON of screen time in May and June. Trying to reign it back in has been ROUGH.
That side eye, though lol
I'll be honest with you: Solo parenting is so freaking hard. Trying to solo parent without losing your shit during soccer season was pretty well impossible. When you know you need to make some changes, however, is when you get home from an out of town soccer game at 9pm and your daughter tells you she didn't want you to come home. Granted, it's because me coming home meant her favorite babysitter was going to go home, and she wanted her to stay. And I know, I know; it's far easier for a babysitter to be fun when they get to go home at the end of the night and aren't tasked with everything else in life. I get that. But still: I need to do better. She sat there by the front door after bawling uncontrollably that her babysitter had to go home for a solid 15 minutes, just bawling. She adores her babysitter (as do I!), and I am SO thankful. But I don't want to be the kind of Mom my kids who would rather stay with the babysitter than me. Soccer season is now over, and we're getting back to our normal, which does NOT include rushing everyone and yelling and trying to remmeber all the things and dragging kids where they don't want to go, and eating WAY too much fast food and junk food and pooping in port-a-potties continually. It's time.
Sometimes I like to just go sit and talk to Mark while I'm stuffing my face with food. I miss him tremendously, even if I seldom have a free minute to process those thoughts on a regular basis.
The first day of t-ball, apparently Ryan didn't know where to go when he got off the community bus, so he sat under a tree right next to the parking lot the entire practice and then got back on the bus. The next day he had practice, I ran over quick to check to make sure he got there okay and it made me smile so much to see him wearing his Daddy's hat. He wore it probably for a week straight and told anyone who said they liked it that it was his Daddy's with a really big proud smile. And then Kinsley found my lip stain and put it all over the bill of it, so we've got to wash it up lol I love these kiddos so much!
My favorite happy hour combo: margaritas, chips and salsa and my Jil!
Thinking it may be time for this little lady to get her very first professional hair cut! She's lucky like her Mama to have so many natural highlights!
This guy was so doggone tired he fell asleep sitting up lol
We're approaching the end of naps for the little two. Ryan is pretty well there, but usually almost always goes to bed willingly. Kinsley is a VERY different story, and honestly I'm exhausted dealing with her in the evenings. She never wants to go to bed, but on those days she doesn't nap, it's a DISASTER! She wants to stay up as late as the nights where she DOES nap, and man. Attitudes are high, she's screaming and whining and flailing about everything, and it's almost dangerous to pick her up if I want to keep all my teeth. I just am not a big fan of this 3/4 age. For all of my kids it has been solidly one or the other, so there's still hope that she'll flip a switch at 4, but it's doubtful.
This about sums up Ryan's perspective on soccer lol
Some rare cooperative play time together doing something that isn't electronics!
My strawberry pickin' crew!
Kendrick is the hardest kid to get to look at the camera directly lol He is always paying attention to everything else around him.
The kids painted this rock at daycare for Father's Day this year. I brought some paint markers for them to sign their names at the gravesite, and then we left Daddy some strawberries. It was a really sweet time.
I used to take bubble baths with epsom salts about 2-3 times a week. Lately with miss Naptime, it tends to be about once every month. This particular night, I thought she was asleep, but she told me she was "just tricking" and came in to visit while I took a bath.
I finally was able to get the flooring in the downstairs bathroom finished off this month, but not without a heck of a lot of hassle. I had started in May pulling up the rotten flooring, which happened when I didn't properly seal the toilet when I installed it after the original flooring was laid. However, when I went to lay the extra stuff I had, it ended up being two different types of flooring with slightly different hues, and different backing. So...I had to buy 2 more boxes of flooring so I could do it over. But then I cut 4 boards wrong and ended up having to buy yet another box of flooring to finish it. This was what I ended up doing before the 3rd box arrived to make it somewhat functional.
I've learned to put aside my procrastinating ways in many areas of life, but one of those areas is NOT to wash my work coffee mugs in a timely manner lol
There aren't often moments when I think to myself that I'm going to miss this, but this was definitely one of, at our inaugural trip to the POW WOW parade in Mountain Lake. It was a given we go since Cashel was in the soccer club "float" and Kendrick was on the wrestling one.
MY favorite part of every parade - the dancing lol
Cashel finished up and joined them.
Kendrick is so proud to be a Cobra!
Lots of this going on around here these days.
I introduced the kids to strawberry rhubarb pie and got totally shot down. I guess rhubarb isn't for everyone, but I thought it was delicious!
Annual exam time! All is good!
I SO enjoyed catching up with my dear friend Erin at one of Cashel's soccer games in Marshall! Cashel, apparently, cannot take a decent picture to save his life right now.
I'm having a retired co-worker friend make all of Mark's t-shirts into blankets for the kids, and she's starting to whip them out. I LOVE them! This is Ryan's. The kids will get them for Christmas this year.
Hi, I'm Amy, and I have a sweatshirt addiction.
Nance and Heather are friends who go WAY back! I met Nancy in college a couple decades ago, and when Mark and I started dating and I met her husband Curt (who was one of Mark's best buddies), I introduced them. Heather met her husband Jamie around the same time, and Mark, Curt, Jamie and their other best buddy Jed...we all started hanging out pretty much all the time. But...life keeps moving at rapid pace, and we all started families and careers and just got busy, so I hardly ever get to see them. We had a girls' night out in Okoboji, and it was SO nice and relaxing!
You cannot go wrong with these seared ahi tacos and a 3LM at the Okoboji Store!
It was PACKED! Boji feels like a whole other world in the summer.
Oh you guys - this was just the BEST! I got to snuggle this sweet baby boy and hug the crap outta his Mama! Brittany is the manager over Memory Care at Mark's facility, and she is one of my favorite people. Mark and her had a special friendship, and he softened considerably around her. He'd go visit her and sit in her chair in her office every day. She'd have to hide her snacks or he'd swipe them. When the sweet pup Parker joined the Pillars crew, his bed was in her office too, and Mark would come visit them together then. Brittany is such a sweet soul, and I'm so grateful to have gotten to know her during Mark's stay there. It's bittersweet to finally hold this little guy, as she spent the vast majority of her pregnancy working there and seeing Mark each day. Love you, Brittany! See you again soon!
Then (March 2020)...
...and now (June 2021)
The big boys are transitioning from helping in the kitchen to helping with the grill. I've GOT to remember, though, that they need to wear shirts when they do it! This was definitely one of those things where I didn't even realize it until I saw the picture lol
Cashel is such a goofball most of the time lol
It is a sad, sad day when the country hearth is gone! Fortunately, I have a dealer who can give me the inside scoop (although I typically do just get it from the grocery store lol)
The end of mowing is nigh. I just finally got our ring doorbell installed, and just a few minutes after I said "I really need to mow tonight", I get an alert on my phone that someone is at the door. I go check the app to see who it is and watch Kendrick and Ryan run out into the driveway with the lawnmower and the gas can lol I went out to get him started, but Kendrick legitimately did the ENTIRE lawn himself with pretty much NO help (just monitoring). He'll be 8 in August. With the snowblowing and lawn mowing taken care of, what else is there? He even wants to be the one doing the weed whacking.
He had to try on Sissy's warm pj pants after his bath because he was "just so cold" lol We threw on her little tank top as well.
We're getting pretty darn excited about this surprise party for my two bachelor uncles (who are not on FB, no worries, but if you know them, don't spill the beans!)
I saw this sign for sale on Zulily and laughed for a VERY long time. I'm kinda tempted to buy it to put out at his gravesite and put some feed out there for the deer lol Probably not the best idea, though lol
Still working hard at that "Calling in The One" book - SOOoo many distractions lately! I finally hit Week 7 at the end of the month. My mornings are beginning to fall back into place.
I saw this ad pop up on Facebook and started doing the happy dance! My dear friends Erica and Steven both live out that way (and I'm pretty sure some other FTD family as well that I met at the AFTD conferenece back in 2019). A direct flight makes a weekend feasible to meet up with them!!
Fresh ceviche is my jam, baby!!
Upside down socks and no shoes is how we roll at the park these days, apparently.
Teeter tottering with my boys...
...and Miss Kins
We caught the tail end of Cashel's soccer games after a very whiny, very exhausting couple hours park hopping with two non-napping preschoolers. This is the end result of repeatedly asking Ryan to move his chair up the hill to sit by us so he's not on the field.
I'm needing a snack cabinet refresh, people. I don't really care for pretty much anything in here. What should I add to the mix?
I've put on about 4lbs over the past couple months of chaos, so finally being able to have 4 evenings a week free after work to hit the gym feels like bliss! I have really grown to love it, and I feel tremendously better on the days I make it to the gym.
We saw this at a stop light on our way down to Des Moines lol
Aren't Lena's expressions just so spot on? lol I know, sweetie - those crazy cousins of yours are a tinge energetic for ALL of us!
A rare moment where these two actually sat at their seats to eat. Oy! I'd say this one was up there with the top 5 worst restaurant experiences with kids of all time for me. #1 will still always be when Mark and I took Cashel and Kendrick to this little pizza joint in Islamorada, FL back in 2015. It was just a poor combination of it being too hot for us to even stop parks on the way up, kids had been in the car all day long, and they were super hungry, had way too much energy, and were surrounded by chaos (it was the Iowa Machineshed Restaurant...anyone who has been there understands lol) My brother said that he'd never again complain about taking his kids out to eat lol I promise, it's not always that chaotic, it was just a ridiculous day.
It kinda makes me smile that my kids are at this age, and have been exposed to my picture craziness for so long, that when I say "Hey guys - smile for a picture!" they just do it much of the time.
This was the first time we had ever seen a double-decker train before! The kids enjoyed listening to me explain how the whole process goes from getting the containers off the barges that come through on the Mississippi River and get loaded onto the trains like this.
Little lady has been big into swiping my lipstick and putting it on. It's that permanent kind, which means basically if I don't watch it, it'll be everywhere.
Ever since Kinsley was a baby, I have scooped her up in a towel after her bath and carried her down to her room "like a baby". It's one of those things I'll keep doing as long as she asks, and she does every time. She'll hollar, "Mama! Get me out of here and carry me like a baby!" lol
On a whim, I brought cucumbers along on the trip. I honestly didn't expect the kids to enjoy them as much as they did, but oh boy did they ever! They wanted cucumbers for a bedtime snack pretty much every evening.
My cousin made these homemade noodles while were visiting the one day. Apparently my grandma used to make them growing up a lot, although I don't really ever recall that. This was a slightly different recipe, but they were SO GOOD! If I had more time and energy right now, I'd definitely get a noodle cutter machine like this - SO good!!
Just a friendly PSA about sunscreen. We had a pool day on vacay with our friends, and while I had repeatedly told my older 2 to get out of the pool and put on sunscreen, they didn't listen, and I was busy running around after a super cranky Ryan to keep him out of trouble, and yeah. Kendrick won't be forgetting this anytime soon. I was really thankful that the blisters disappeared after a few days (only one of them ended up popping) and he didn't get an infection.
She just looks SO grown up here!
It broke my heart driving past my grandparents' house we visited all the time growing up. The new owners just COMPLETELY let it go :( My grandpa was SO meticulous about his home, and he took such great care of it.
My friend Mike and his daughter Lucy came up to visit us the night we stayed in Dowagiac, MI, and brough us what they refer to as "Amish Crack". Seriously. These "doughnuts" (if you can even call them that) were like eating sugared air. INSANE! They were SO good! I think I ate 7 of them over the course of the next day and a half just on my own.
We had a day open up unexpectedly as my friend's son had been sick that we were going to visit, so on a whim, I opted to take the kids down to visit my hometown! First stop when we arrived? The first job I had!
I was a tinge worried that I would be talking up the fries too much, but nope! They were just as incredible as I remembered!
There are a LOT of times where I whine to myself about missing affection. This picture makes me laugh
I remember back in the other times I've visited Chicago, being very fond of Giordano's. However, I've more recently heard people raving about Lou Malnati's, so I thought I'd try that instead this time. So, two things to point out here: 1) When it comes to Chicago style pizza, you do NOT need more than a medium pizza for a family of 5. 2) IMHO, Giordano's >>>>> Lou Malnati's
I had a lot of fun making these little characters of us using that Viola app. Goodness, if they don't look just like us!
The kids LOVED staying in a hotel a few different nights during our stay. It was pretty darn cute, really.
These two are seriously inseparable the vast majority of the time. It's so stinkin' cute to hear them talk about things.
Traveling alone, or traveling with my kids really isn't something that shakes me up often. I actually really enjoy traveling alone, and aside from my little scare at the end of my Vancouver trip, I've never had any issues with creepers. Traveling with my kids, my main concerns swirl around them getting lost, but although I'm VERY observant, I really don't worry about anyone taking them. (I've often joked that they'd return them in an hour or so) But for real, one of the things I've had to learn is how to manage the kids when we have to do things I don't really feel comfortable doing. One of those uncomfortable things is eating out. Ninety-eight percent of the time when we eat out on the road, it's not in an actual restaurant, but rather on the road. I'll pick up fast food and we'll either eat in the car, take it back to where we're staying, or stop at a park and have a picnic. This particular day, I simply couldn't find a good place to stop, so we went to this truck stop, and the kids were just especially squirelly (of course). I finally got them all wrangled (thank goodness the place was mostly empty), got them food from 2 different places, and they had started eating when this somewhat odd gentleman approached me and told me I was "missing one". I looked over, expecting to see an escapee, but counted all 4 of the kids, and said, "Um, nope, I think we're good". He kept at it, finally alluding to me missing the "big kid" (a.k.a. Daddy), and it just caught me so off guard. I got it together, chuckled a bit and said, "Right?!", and he just kinda went on, but that was honestly the first time I felt a little more guarded than usual. I'm sure he meant nothing by it, really, but it was a good reminder to me that THAT was why I never take them to places like that, especially by myself. Tip #1 of traveling alone or traveling alone with your kids: Don't let all the people know you're alone. Giving the allusion that we're just waiting for Daddy somewhere, or that I'm meeting a friend or what not is ALWAYS a good plan when traveling solo. ALWAYS ask for more than 1 room key. ALWAYS make hotel reservations for 2, not just 1. ALWAYS list 2 adults when you can, even if the adult isn't really coming. Stay safe!
My kids LOVE those protein bowls from Subway, but if we're being real, they mostly just love their meatballs. They never even want cheese on them usually, just a big bowl of meatballs lol It is right up there with KFC "6 dollar fill up" bowls for them as far as faves.
We were going to go right by the Wisconsin Dells on the way home from our trip, and I told the kids we could stop for a few hours, but they had to pick only the top 2 things they wanted to do, an it couldn't be water parks, since I couldn't do that kind of trip by myself. They all agreed on doing the mining thing, so that's what we did. Cashel ended up getting the find of the day with this massive chunk of rose quartz, and he was SO proud of it! I'm learning that I need to be THAT excited for him with stuff like that. I mean, honestly, my reaction was kinda like, "Oh - that's great, honey!" But I knew that he was already calculating in his head just how rich he was going to be by selling it. I hated to burst his bubble, but wanted to be real with him that he wasn't going to make millions, or even thousands or hundreds on this thing. Part of parenting is realizing where you need to step it up sometimes, and while trying to keep thing realistic, I realize at this point I probably should've been WAY more excited for him and supportive, and then let him find out on his own that it's not going to let him retire at 9.
So I'm pretty thrilled to realize that Olive Garden has these huge to-go containers of spaghetti and meatballs. It's really so easy to make, but when we're out of town, it's awesome that we can just...bring it home and just eat it. It was not, however, awesome to eat in a hotel room that had no table and bright, bright white comforters. I mean, we averted crisis, but there was a heck of a lot of yelling, and a couple impromptu showers.
Is there a better sight? I love these guys more than life itself, but let me tell you, sometimes my favorite part of the day is when they're ALLLLL sleeping.
My new "go to" drink when I'm near a Starbucks is an iced Cinnamon Dolce latte with almond milk. SO GOOD!! I'm not entirely sure that I'd like it as much hot, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to find out come September.
I LOVE introducing my kids to cool feats of engineering. We stopped at the Lock and Dam No 6 just outside of LaCrosse, and it was just SO cool to watch their little minds turn. Cashel, of course, was totally bored by it all and prefered to go throw rocks into the river, but the other kiddos and I sat there for probably half an hour just watching the boats go through the lock.
This will probably go down as one of the worst
Man, soccer was a rough one on us this year. Signing all 4 up and being a co-coach for the U6 team was probably NOT the way to break into the sports realm for my family. Cashel was the only one who really enjoyed it, but by the end of the season, even HE wasn't sure about it. We are SO thankful to have our evenings back again!
Admittedly, there was a TON of screen time in May and June. Trying to reign it back in has been ROUGH.
That side eye, though lol
I'll be honest with you: Solo parenting is so freaking hard. Trying to solo parent without losing your shit during soccer season was pretty well impossible. When you know you need to make some changes, however, is when you get home from an out of town soccer game at 9pm and your daughter tells you she didn't want you to come home. Granted, it's because me coming home meant her favorite babysitter was going to go home, and she wanted her to stay. And I know, I know; it's far easier for a babysitter to be fun when they get to go home at the end of the night and aren't tasked with everything else in life. I get that. But still: I need to do better. She sat there by the front door after bawling uncontrollably that her babysitter had to go home for a solid 15 minutes, just bawling. She adores her babysitter (as do I!), and I am SO thankful. But I don't want to be the kind of Mom my kids who would rather stay with the babysitter than me. Soccer season is now over, and we're getting back to our normal, which does NOT include rushing everyone and yelling and trying to remmeber all the things and dragging kids where they don't want to go, and eating WAY too much fast food and junk food and pooping in port-a-potties continually. It's time.
Sometimes I like to just go sit and talk to Mark while I'm stuffing my face with food. I miss him tremendously, even if I seldom have a free minute to process those thoughts on a regular basis.
The first day of t-ball, apparently Ryan didn't know where to go when he got off the community bus, so he sat under a tree right next to the parking lot the entire practice and then got back on the bus. The next day he had practice, I ran over quick to check to make sure he got there okay and it made me smile so much to see him wearing his Daddy's hat. He wore it probably for a week straight and told anyone who said they liked it that it was his Daddy's with a really big proud smile. And then Kinsley found my lip stain and put it all over the bill of it, so we've got to wash it up lol I love these kiddos so much!
My favorite happy hour combo: margaritas, chips and salsa and my Jil!
Thinking it may be time for this little lady to get her very first professional hair cut! She's lucky like her Mama to have so many natural highlights!
This guy was so doggone tired he fell asleep sitting up lol
We're approaching the end of naps for the little two. Ryan is pretty well there, but usually almost always goes to bed willingly. Kinsley is a VERY different story, and honestly I'm exhausted dealing with her in the evenings. She never wants to go to bed, but on those days she doesn't nap, it's a DISASTER! She wants to stay up as late as the nights where she DOES nap, and man. Attitudes are high, she's screaming and whining and flailing about everything, and it's almost dangerous to pick her up if I want to keep all my teeth. I just am not a big fan of this 3/4 age. For all of my kids it has been solidly one or the other, so there's still hope that she'll flip a switch at 4, but it's doubtful.
This about sums up Ryan's perspective on soccer lol
Some rare cooperative play time together doing something that isn't electronics!
My strawberry pickin' crew!
Kendrick is the hardest kid to get to look at the camera directly lol He is always paying attention to everything else around him.
The kids painted this rock at daycare for Father's Day this year. I brought some paint markers for them to sign their names at the gravesite, and then we left Daddy some strawberries. It was a really sweet time.
I used to take bubble baths with epsom salts about 2-3 times a week. Lately with miss Naptime, it tends to be about once every month. This particular night, I thought she was asleep, but she told me she was "just tricking" and came in to visit while I took a bath.
I finally was able to get the flooring in the downstairs bathroom finished off this month, but not without a heck of a lot of hassle. I had started in May pulling up the rotten flooring, which happened when I didn't properly seal the toilet when I installed it after the original flooring was laid. However, when I went to lay the extra stuff I had, it ended up being two different types of flooring with slightly different hues, and different backing. So...I had to buy 2 more boxes of flooring so I could do it over. But then I cut 4 boards wrong and ended up having to buy yet another box of flooring to finish it. This was what I ended up doing before the 3rd box arrived to make it somewhat functional.
I've learned to put aside my procrastinating ways in many areas of life, but one of those areas is NOT to wash my work coffee mugs in a timely manner lol
There aren't often moments when I think to myself that I'm going to miss this, but this was definitely one of, at our inaugural trip to the POW WOW parade in Mountain Lake. It was a given we go since Cashel was in the soccer club "float" and Kendrick was on the wrestling one.
MY favorite part of every parade - the dancing lol
Cashel finished up and joined them.
Kendrick is so proud to be a Cobra!
Lots of this going on around here these days.
I introduced the kids to strawberry rhubarb pie and got totally shot down. I guess rhubarb isn't for everyone, but I thought it was delicious!
Annual exam time! All is good!
I SO enjoyed catching up with my dear friend Erin at one of Cashel's soccer games in Marshall! Cashel, apparently, cannot take a decent picture to save his life right now.
I'm having a retired co-worker friend make all of Mark's t-shirts into blankets for the kids, and she's starting to whip them out. I LOVE them! This is Ryan's. The kids will get them for Christmas this year.
Hi, I'm Amy, and I have a sweatshirt addiction.
Nance and Heather are friends who go WAY back! I met Nancy in college a couple decades ago, and when Mark and I started dating and I met her husband Curt (who was one of Mark's best buddies), I introduced them. Heather met her husband Jamie around the same time, and Mark, Curt, Jamie and their other best buddy Jed...we all started hanging out pretty much all the time. But...life keeps moving at rapid pace, and we all started families and careers and just got busy, so I hardly ever get to see them. We had a girls' night out in Okoboji, and it was SO nice and relaxing!
You cannot go wrong with these seared ahi tacos and a 3LM at the Okoboji Store!
It was PACKED! Boji feels like a whole other world in the summer.
Oh you guys - this was just the BEST! I got to snuggle this sweet baby boy and hug the crap outta his Mama! Brittany is the manager over Memory Care at Mark's facility, and she is one of my favorite people. Mark and her had a special friendship, and he softened considerably around her. He'd go visit her and sit in her chair in her office every day. She'd have to hide her snacks or he'd swipe them. When the sweet pup Parker joined the Pillars crew, his bed was in her office too, and Mark would come visit them together then. Brittany is such a sweet soul, and I'm so grateful to have gotten to know her during Mark's stay there. It's bittersweet to finally hold this little guy, as she spent the vast majority of her pregnancy working there and seeing Mark each day. Love you, Brittany! See you again soon!
Then (March 2020)...
...and now (June 2021)
The big boys are transitioning from helping in the kitchen to helping with the grill. I've GOT to remember, though, that they need to wear shirts when they do it! This was definitely one of those things where I didn't even realize it until I saw the picture lol
Cashel is such a goofball most of the time lol
It is a sad, sad day when the country hearth is gone! Fortunately, I have a dealer who can give me the inside scoop (although I typically do just get it from the grocery store lol)
The end of mowing is nigh. I just finally got our ring doorbell installed, and just a few minutes after I said "I really need to mow tonight", I get an alert on my phone that someone is at the door. I go check the app to see who it is and watch Kendrick and Ryan run out into the driveway with the lawnmower and the gas can lol I went out to get him started, but Kendrick legitimately did the ENTIRE lawn himself with pretty much NO help (just monitoring). He'll be 8 in August. With the snowblowing and lawn mowing taken care of, what else is there? He even wants to be the one doing the weed whacking.
He had to try on Sissy's warm pj pants after his bath because he was "just so cold" lol We threw on her little tank top as well.
We're getting pretty darn excited about this surprise party for my two bachelor uncles (who are not on FB, no worries, but if you know them, don't spill the beans!)
I saw this sign for sale on Zulily and laughed for a VERY long time. I'm kinda tempted to buy it to put out at his gravesite and put some feed out there for the deer lol Probably not the best idea, though lol
Still working hard at that "Calling in The One" book - SOOoo many distractions lately! I finally hit Week 7 at the end of the month. My mornings are beginning to fall back into place.
I saw this ad pop up on Facebook and started doing the happy dance! My dear friends Erica and Steven both live out that way (and I'm pretty sure some other FTD family as well that I met at the AFTD conferenece back in 2019). A direct flight makes a weekend feasible to meet up with them!!
Fresh ceviche is my jam, baby!!
Upside down socks and no shoes is how we roll at the park these days, apparently.
Teeter tottering with my boys...
...and Miss Kins
We caught the tail end of Cashel's soccer games after a very whiny, very exhausting couple hours park hopping with two non-napping preschoolers. This is the end result of repeatedly asking Ryan to move his chair up the hill to sit by us so he's not on the field.
I'm needing a snack cabinet refresh, people. I don't really care for pretty much anything in here. What should I add to the mix?
I've put on about 4lbs over the past couple months of chaos, so finally being able to have 4 evenings a week free after work to hit the gym feels like bliss! I have really grown to love it, and I feel tremendously better on the days I make it to the gym.
