Parenting a good kid. Writing about Julia's kindness is so very easy. There is no shortage of her love for God and others. Yes, I know I'm so blessed. Yes, I know this is not the teenage cliche. Sometimes, I wonder if this is challenging me in a different way. When it...
My sweet Riley. I just can't imagine life without you. You are so full of energy and silliness! You love your brother and sisters with your entire being. It is a beautiful thing to watch. I think Mary Alice's guardian angel whispers "thank you" in your ear every...
Disclosure: I am a Friends of Pfister blogger and was sent this faucet to review. The opinions expressed here are my own. Last year, granite on our kitchen counter started to crumble right around the front of the sink area. You may remember that our home was a short...
A few weeks ago, I was sitting at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and the speaker caught my attention. She said, "Be the adult you want your children to be." I have thought about those words every day since that talk. When I watch one of my children behave in a way I...
A few weeks ago, a few of my friends put on their first Crush workshop! It is a local craft night to talk about the things we are crushing on right now! How cute is that?! Laura, Liz, and Erin created and hosted the event. It was outstanding! They thought of every...
I asked Julia to write her story of their trip to Rome. I can remember my dad asking me to do this after we went on trips. I'm so glad he did, because now I look back and read of our travels, written before my memories faded, and can instantly remember the feelings of...
Many years ago, we lived in the tiniest apartment in Frisco, Texas. All was well – money was just very tight because Brian was still in school and I was just out of college working a customer service job. Julia was a baby and we were still surprised at how expensive...
Linking up with Rebekah at her wonderful Ten on Ten series:
Disclosure: After a very sweet email exchange about clothing for all body types, stages of life, and motherhood, I received a cardigan from ShopPinkBlush, a Women's Online Boutique, to review. The opinions expressed here are my own. A few weeks ago, I posted a...
Yesterday, Mary Alice started waving. It is pretty adorable. She cracks herself up waving at everyone until they wave back. A few weeks ago, she would just raise her hand. It was like she was saying 'I See You'. It wasn't quite a wave, just a sweet acknowledgement...
As a photographer, one of my favorite things is storytelling. One of my favorite things is to meet up with a friend and tell their stories in pictures. I met Heather a few years ago at a Mom's Night Out event. We were at Buffalo Wild Wings and I only knew the hostess....
Oh Mary Alice, you are a treasure. When I share your story with people, they are so happy. I cannot tell you how many times I have told your story and people respond with tears or by saying "God is good. All the time." When I think about God's hand in Riley's...
Everyone should have a Mary. I do wish everyone had a mother as loving and selfless as I do. When Brian and the bigs were in Rome, mom stayed with me to help with Mary Alice and Riley. She could have gone on the trip with my dad and brother, but she stayed. She helped...
Yesterday morning, I wrote this on Instagram: "If you know me well, you know assembly is not in my vocabulary. I rush ahead, don't read all the instructions, and usually loose one part. But this very excited four year old is not gonna wait for dad to get home. ? one...
After falling into the trap of doing too many sponsored posts, I wanted to pause and get back to my blog's roots. (How many sponsored posts is too many? I'm sure this is different for everyone. For me, it was when I didn't have time to write what I really wanted to...
My Word of the Year Calm for 2016 I love the tradition of choosing a word. In January, I think of the word often. And for the rest of the year, I am in constant amazement when the word surfaces in conversation or text. When mom was here last week, I was thinking out...
This past year, I pulled back a little from sponsored posts. Those posts were a huge blessing to me and made a significant contribution to my family, and I will always be grateful for them. But, as I find my way in this blogging world, I wanted to create even more...