Mommy Musings

Thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes for Emmy yesterday!  I think she had a really wonderful birthday.  It was low-key, simple, and we just followed with what she wanted.  Even though her family party isn't until today, Skip and I wanted to decorate for her so she'd wake up to a world of horses {her most favorite thing ever} Had to wear our horse jammies to bed obviously And of course no horse jammies are complete unless they have zebra pants too There were a few gifts to be opened and played with before school. Once the birthday donuts were consumed, we packed up some cookies and goodie bags for her friends, and headed off to school. I know how excited Emmy was to celebrate her birthday with her school friends, but it was tough to be away from her!  She's always been with me all day on her birthday, sniff sniff.  When we went to go pick her up at noon though, she was just bursting with excitement to tell us how she got a special crown, st...

My sweet sweet Emmy.  Here we are on your fourth birthday...FOURTH.  I cannot believe how fast these years have flown by.  Four years ago today I heard the words "It's a girl" for the first time, and my whole life was changed forever .  You have brought such light and joy into our lives from that very first moment, and continue to do so every single day. Every morning I wake up and thank God for blessing me to be your mom.  It really is such a treasure.  And you make it so easy!  You are at such a fun age right now.  Gone is any little glimpse of you being a baby or a toddler.  Now you are my kid .  We talk, hang out, sing, dance, play, laugh together.  It is so wonderful getting to see the person you are developing into. From a tiny little newborn, to a sweet one year old , to a lady bug , to a princess , to a horse-tamer I have loved every second of watching you grow.  I hope you have a day that is as special and ama...

Last Wednesday, Skip and I received another notch in our parenting belts.  One I was hoping not to get for a long time, if ever .   One I just knew would come from my daredevil second child.  The one who has been on the go since she turned seven months.   The one who scales and climbs the furniture with not a care in the world .  The one who runs with legs, though still fairly unsteady , she deems more than capable.   Can you tell where I'm going with this? Well, last Wednesday started off like any other day.  Took Emmy to school, Skip and I each worked out, I stayed home with Charlie to get lunch ready while Skip picked up Emmy.  They had been home not five minutes.  Charlie was toddling over to the other side of the room when she slipped...catching her fall with her face ...on the solid wood floor.  I was there in a second .  Scooping her up, trying to console her.  A few second passed before I noticed the blood.  ...

I'm very excited for Becky's Women Connect project!  I love finding new blogs, especially when they are in a similar life stage as me.  I think it's important for women to be able to find someone going through the same things they are to share stories and bounce ideas off one another.  So who am I?  If you're new here, I'm Mandy.  I'm newly thirty { ouch }, married for seven years, mommy for four years. I've worn a lot of hats over the years: student, teacher, girlfriend, fiance, wife, Marine Corps wife, cop wife, deployment survivor, Jersey girl...the list could go on. But the most important hat I've ever worn, is that of stay-at-home mom to my two sweet girls. Being a SAHM is the one thing I always wanted to do in life.  I always knew I wanted kids and as long as my husband and I could afford it, I wanted to be able to stay home while they were young.  I didn't want to miss out on a second of their little lives.  So ...

I'm back for another week of 'Hey that's Pin-tastic!' I had to make a baked good the other day to drop off at an event at Emmy's school.  I wanted something nut and peanut free, and super cute to boot.  So obviously I headed to Pinterest, my go-to for recipes these days, and came across these bad boys. Source: fantasticfamilyfavorites.blogspot.com via Mommy on Pinterest Don't they look amazing!  I've made M&M cookie bars in the past, but these never came out looking as good as this, so I gave them a try.  I changed the recipe slightly...here's the one I used: 2 1/8 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 12 TBSPs butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 1 large egg 1 large egg yolk 2 tsps vanilla extract 1 12oz bag M&M's, divided Preheat oven to 325*.  Line a 9x13" pan with tin foil, and then spray the tin foil with cooking spray.  Set aside. Mix together the butter and sugar.  Mix...