Somehow five years have past since our sweet, squished nose girl came into this world.  Your birth was a complete and utter whirlwind.  While I wouldn't go back and relive the days leading up to your birth... getting you out of all of it, makes it worth it. I didn't do a fourth birthday post.  We were in the early stages of a worldwide pandemic.  Covid-19 came in and completely rocked mama's world.  I had beliefs that we would come out of the other side of it and host your 4th birthday party.  To this day you haven't had a friend birthday party and that makes me ..read more

Three years ago our world was absolutely rocked when the sweetest baby rushed into the world 2 plus weeks early. Mama was not ready. But the moment that little squish came into our life... we knew our family was complete.  We didn’t know we needed an Emily. But you’ve been such a blessing. I’m not sure I did an at two post. For that mama is sorry. Your second birthday happened in the early stages of a worldwide pandemic and things were pretty rocky. The last year ended up being a blessing in disguise because you got even more time at home with both your sisters than you would have before ..read more

After a year of staying home during the height of the pandemic... we finally broke out to go somewhere outside of Kansas and farther away than my parents lake house in Missouri.  One positive the last year brought us was my college best friend and her family relocated from California to Texas. Specifically Austin. So a road trip over Spring Break was in order.  We left Wednesday morning and made the trip in 11 hours. Traveling with young children is less than ideal but we were pleasantly surprised at how our kids handled it. The key to any successful road trip is flexibility. Stop w ..read more

January 25, 2014. Our world forever changed. We became parents to the sweetest little squish there ever was. The last seven years have been filled with highs, lows, memories and adventures.  Being parents though has forever shaped the last seven years.  It all started with one little girl. Grace Elaine, I am so proud to be your mother.  Your soul is the absolute sweetest but you know how and when to be spicy.  You have figured out how to always keep us on our toes and your funny personality is turning out just like daddy's.  I love all the things you create, your crea ..read more

We made it 6 days before 2021 started feeling just as chaotic as 2020.  Obviously the calendar changing from December 31st to January 1st doesn't literally change anything except maybe our mindset.  Something about that calendar changing from December to January seemed to bring a breath of fresh air. With that fresh air I sat down and looked at 2021 and what I hope to get from it.  Last year I wrote my goals and when they popped up on Instagram it was awesome to look back and see that I achieved many of the goals I put into place. My 2021 goals - 1. Read 75 books.  I know ..read more

We made it.   When I last updated on life it was June of 2020.  I was optimistic that Grace's return to school would be triumphant that fall and my husband would eventually relocate back to his work office.  I was severely fooling myself to be completely real. COVID-19 turned into almost an entire year of giving, and it isn't even over yet. Throughout all of it we found our way and made lots of great memories along the way. Do I ever want to repeat a year like 2020? Hard no. But I am hoping we come out the other side of this with lots of life lessons we never quiet expected ..read more

I am back with one of my favorite companies to work with... the one and only SHINESTY.  You may remember them because everything they put out is the most unique and guaranteed to make you stand out at any of your holiday parties. "We created Shinesty for one reason and one reason only: To bring you the most outlandish collection of clothing the world has ever seen." Mission accomplished. LAST YEAR I FEATURED THESE HOLIDAY PAJAMAS..  I STILL rock those this year because they are some of the best quality pajamas I have ever owned.  This year though?  This year they sent me ..read more

I seriously never thought the word pandemic would become our everyday reality.  I never imagined living through what 2020 has so far brought us.  It's chaos.  It is quite literally history in the making.  Which is something else entirely. We have learned a lot during this pandemic.  Namely, I am SO glad our kids are the age they are.  While we missed the end of kindergarten for Grace and part of Brooke's first year of preschool... they aren't really super affected by everything going on.  They know there is a "sickness" and that we can't go about our busines ..read more

It's March, still, and we are very much still stuck at home.  Doing our part to flatten the curve.  So what better time to actually document and wrap up the last part of 2019?  I've been meaning to but honestly blogging always falls by the wayside in favor of life. With that... here is the last of 2019. We celebrated the kick off of (a very good) football season with family and fellow Chiefs fans.  Started the season saying it was OUR YEAR.  And what do you know?! We got our family pictures taken by Lashay Photography. We visited the sunflower fields at the very end of the seaso ..read more

As I start to gather my thoughts for this post, we are just 5 days away from Grace's 6th birthday.  Almost 6 years ago my breastfeeding journey began.  And I am now 24 hours into the end of this chapter of my life. The last 6 plus years I have been pregnant or nursing.  Early summer 2013, I got pregnant with Grace.  She was born in January of 2014 and nursed until she was 22 months old.  I was almost 5 months pregnant with Brooklyn when I weaned Grace.  In March of 2016, Brooklyn was born and she nursed until she was 17 months old.  I was 2 months pregnant (and extremely nauseous!) with Em ..read more