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Category - Toys

Reviews • Toys

K’NEX Sesame Street Neighborhood Review

Reviews • Toys

Toy Testing – Early Years Grip-O-Sphere

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            Happy first day of December!

Not only is it the h
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            Happy Thanksgiving, friends. 

For many- myself in
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            20 years ago today, the only home I’d ever known
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            One way to decorate a Christmas tree with toddler 
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            I didn’t get a finished photo before the twins s
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            Family photos matter to me. 

And here’s why. 


            	                    
        
    

    
        
            From 2010 to 2020, our house had exactly one showe
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            The set where our family photos were taken was abs
            	                    
        
    

    
        
            Meal planning has been a part of my life (on and o
            	                    
        
    
    

	

	        
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Happy first day of December! Not only is it the h

Happy first day of December!

Not only is it the holiday season, in our family, it is birthday season! We have four kids with birthdays between December 7 and 17. 😯 A fifth kid has a January birthday.

This is our last “quiet” weekend of the year and Justin will be working. We live for weekends at home so December can feel wild with so many birthday and holiday plans.

Some of my favorite traditions are attending small town Christmas parades and going to Christmas at the Falls at @noccalulafalls.

Yesterday during my bi-weekly therapy session, I actually spoke about how hard the holidays can be. Most of the traditions and gatherings from my childhood no longer exist because so many of the people I love are gone. My therapist gently pointed out that I’m creating new traditions with my own family now. That is enough. ❤️

May December be filled with new and continuing traditions, memories of times past with people who are now gone, and kindness and gentleness for ourselves and others.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. For many- myself in

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

For many- myself included, today holds both gratitude and grief. Know that you are seen.

Whether you are holding gratitude or grief or a mixed bag of both, your feelings are valid and I wish you the best day possible. Be kind to yourself today. ❤️

20 years ago today, the only home I’d ever known

20 years ago today, the only home I’d ever known went up in flames. I was sitting in my 8th grade math class when I was called to the office to check out of school. Instantly, I knew something was really, really wrong.

I spent the rest of the day standing in our yard watching firefighters attempt to put out the fire while also knowing everything would be lost either to the flames or destroyed by smoke or water.

I will never forget leaving that evening to go to my grandmothers where we would spend the next several nights. A friend had gone to Dollar General to buy us things like toothbrushes and deodorant. I remember looking at that bag of essentials and being stunned that inside that Dollar General bag were the only things I owned now.

Losing all of my possessions was a defining moment in my life. It was an awakening that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend at 13.

Something else came out of that experience- I learned to wear a mask. How to make myself small and unseen as the adults in my life tried to cope with a devastating loss I couldn’t understand. I saw my dad cry for the first time in my life. They’d just paid that house off and the insurance wasn’t enough to even begin to start over with. So I said aloud and to myself “it’s okay” over and over. It wasn’t okay.

When people found out that my parents and I were safe and that our cute little dogs who sat in the window were safe, the resounding comment was that “that was all that mattered.” While I get the good intentions behind those words, it made me feel as if I wasn’t allowed to complain or mourn all we’d lost. We had each other and our animals, so all was well according to the outside world. Things are replaceable. That is true. But losing everything you’ve ever owned? That hurts in ways that I’m still figuring out 20 years later as grown woman with a family of my own. But at the time, I just stuffed all of the sorrow and pain and loss and chanted “it’s okay” to myself and anyone who would listen. Because that was what everyone wanted to hear and I knew it.

(continued in comments)

One way to decorate a Christmas tree with toddler

One way to decorate a Christmas tree with toddler tornadoes.

Felt and fabric ornaments. Soft and resembling stuffed animals, no worries about anything breaking or shattering.

I first did this the Christmas the twins turned 2. That was also the year we moved into our new home and had space to put up a tree again. They’ll be 4 next month. They continue to be wild and reckless and can tear the house apart in .2 seconds. So the soft ornaments are still much appreciated, but even after they are no longer “needed”, they’ll stick around because they are adorable.

Ornaments from Target, Kohl’s, and Walmart. 🎄

I didn’t get a finished photo before the twins s

I didn’t get a finished photo before the twins snatched some of my electric candles and skulls so these will have to do.

Instead of having Halloween all over the house, I put my focus into this little nook under the stairs as you enter our front door. I love how it turned out. Next year, I want to add a life size skeleton to the rocking chair. ☠️

Happy Halloween!

The twins and I are *still* sick so it looks like we won’t be trick-or-treating tonight. I’m hoping everyone will be better by the weekend. 😩

Family photos matter to me. And here’s why.

Family photos matter to me.

And here’s why.

In 2014, my dad went from a healthy 52 year old man to a terminally ill man basically over night. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and he died less than 5 months later.

Knowing that there were zero photos of my family with our 3 small children and my parents, I contacted a photographer the day we got the call. Based on his symptoms, I knew the diagnosis was going to be really, really bad. I took the first available session and I have family photos with my dad.

And they are absolutely beautiful. But, those photos are also soul-crushingly painful.

It is important to me that my children never need last minute photos after a terminal diagnosis.

I won’t wait until my kids are all older. I won’t wait until my twins fully cooperate. I won’t wait until I lose the weight.

Family photos. Every year. At least once.

While it’s far in the future, I’ve already decided that my gift to my children when they have their own families will be a gift card to a local photographer each year.

I’ve never once regretted a photo session with my family. Is it stressful leading up to it? Absolutely, but it’s typically once a year. We can do that.

If my children are anything like their mom, one day they’ll be grateful for those captured moments.

Photos by @kcphotogram

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