Mommy Musings

Wow, talk about a blogging break. I did not mean to neglect this space so much over the holiday {though I feel like no one even reads blogs anymore, so it's probably not a big deal}.  I will be back later this week with Christmas recaps, a look back at 2014 and a look ahead at 2015.  But first I wanted to share my news with you, the reason that I've been away from here so much.... ....as of last night, December 30, 2014 I officially finished my book.  My very first novel.  Well finished is a strong word to use as I have weeks and weeks of editing to do, but the first draft is DONE!!  Yes, I hand wrote the whole thing, and then went back and typed up what I had written that day...because I'm crazy. Skip thinks these notebooks will be worth a ton of money one day...he sorely overestimates how much money people make writing.  When I first started writing, I had only a small idea for a story.  And before my eyes it grew and grew into something I'm rea...

Last Friday I decided to do something special with the girls.  Skip had gone in at 3 for a double shift, so it was just me and the girls.  We kicked off the afternoon by picking up donuts after school.  We played and relaxed for a bit, and then got started on our party. I pushed away the ottoman in the living room and laid down some old comforters, blankets, and pillows.  Emmy and I made homemade pizza, popcorn, and put out some candy.  We snuggled up on the floor and had a picnic/movie night watching Madagascar 3. It was seriously one of the best nights I've ever had with the girls.  We snuggled, chatted, and just enjoyed our time together under the twinkling Christmas lights.  They both said they had a great time and couldn't stop talking about it to Skip the next morning when he got home. We've done movie nights before, but this definitely took it up a notch and made it a little more special.  I definitely plan to make this a more regular thing...

Emmy had her Christmas concert at school last week, and it was pretty much the cutest thing ever. We obviously needed to take a little girly time the night before to get her ready. Her concert was in the morning at the church the next day, and we were so excited that Skip was off and could come too!  I was a little worried that Charlie would fuss, but she did great!  She sat the whole time and kept yelling out to Emmy! She got to dress up in her finest Christmas clothes and grades K-2 sang about seven songs.  They were all so adorable and proud of themselves! First big elementary school concert down...and many more to come!

I have to admit, I've loved the invention of Instagram.  I love getting to see tiny slices of people's lives.  But Instagram isn't really true to life all the time.  We filter, crop, get just the right angle.  I get it it, if you're sharing a picture with lots of people, you want to look your best. But sometimes it's fun to share the pictures that don't  make it to Instagram.  The ones you snap quickly and often times forget about.  Those are the ones that give a real glimpse into what life is like. So here's a little taste of what real life is around here: Trying to get some work done Eating dinner, standing up in the kitchen, watching Gilmore Girls Silliness Morning snuggles Picture with best friend Monkey Watching TV after dinner Dinner shenanigans Pajama days Bundling up to go out Working on our core Early morning family time A little screen time in the morning Surviving dance with little sister Snuggles Laziness Snuggles What does your real life l...

I had big plans to take the girls to go see Santa at the very beginning of December.  The past two years I've failed at going early, and we end up having to wait on line forever.  Not something I'm interested in repeating. But time slipped away, and I started to get nervous last week.  I really wanted to just get it over with!  So finally Thursday afternoon we decided to bite the bullet and make it happen.  AP had told me about Santa FastPasses they have in our area at some of the malls now {no I'm not kidding} so we grabbed one of those, put some cute shirts on the girls, and headed out. I was nervous because the past two years the girls are excited to see Santa, until they actually get up close to him.  Then they freak and Skip and I end up jumping into the picture.  This year I was hoping I could get one with just them. We must have chose the perfect time to go, because there was only one person ahead of us on line...we didn't even need the Fast Pas...

The other day we were in the car, the four of us driving back from somewhere.  I pointed out a new construction house to Skip and was commenting on how I didn't think the two-tone exterior paint color looked good.  I then heard a little voice pipe up from the back. Emmy: Mommy, it doesn't matter if you like the house, it only matters if the owners like the house.  It's their house.  You should only worry about your own house.  If you are thinking about somebody else's house, then you're not thinking about your own.  And that's not the Christmas spirit. My six year old....wise beyond her years.  What she said is so true {and really put me in my place!} and can be applied to so many different things in life.  So this Christmas, let us remember to look inward, instead of judging others around us.

I loved that our whole family was together to decorate our tree this year.  Skip is often working when we do it, so it was a treat to have him home! First off, we have a fake tree that we set up in the living room.  Growing up I always had a real tree and absolutely believed they were superior.  I still do in fact!  Skip and I had a real one our first few years married.  But then I had kids and dogs and no time to vacuum up pine needles 8934897589375 times a day and continuously shoo the dog away from drinking all the water in the basin.  So during the after Christmas sales one year, I snagged a pre-lit fake tree and have never looked back.  Just put a few pieces together and boom...all done. We also don't have a theme when decorating our tree.  Every year growing up, my mom bought my sisters and I a new ornament.  So those, combined with ones I have gotten for the girls, and a bunch of others we've picked up along the way, are what we use to...

I have gotten embarrassingly behind on things I want to blog about, but hopefully this weekend I can get caught up a bit! Let's start off with a recap of Emmy's birthday, back on Saturday November 29th.  First off, I loved that her birthday was on a Saturday this year, because she was born on a Saturday as well.  It made for a lot of reminiscing about the day she was born. She woke up nice and early and came bounding into our room.  She could barely contain her excitement over the day. We went downstairs for some gift opening and donut eating {after we sang happy birthday and she blew out the candle in the donut of course} We relaxed for a bit and then got ready for her "friend party". We invited all the girls in her class and one of my bestie's and her three daughters, and had it at Emmy's dance school.  Per Emmy's request it was Power Ranger themed, and the girls all had a fabulous time!  {well except Charlie who apparently thinks dancing is the most evi...

I was really excited leading up to last weekend.  My mom was coming up to stay with the girls Saturday night so Skip and I could go into the city.  We were going to meet up with some of my college friends to go see the Rockefeller Center tree, and then go out to dinner.  Skip had never seen the tree in person before {?!?!?!} so I was really excited to experience that with him. The first hiccup in our plans was the impending rain.  Not fun to stand outside in the pouring rain and stare at a tree.  The girls and I decided if it was too bad, then we'd just meet for dinner instead.  Problem solved. The next problem arose about 4:15 am Friday morning when Emmy suddenly came down with the stomach flu.  I thought we'd have to cancel our plans for sure.  But she was only sick for a few hours and improved greatly as the day went on.  So I bleached everything in sight and carried on with our plans. Saturday morning Emmy felt great, so my mom came up as...

We had such a lovely Thanksgiving...mainly because Skip was off!  It is such a difference when he actually gets to spend the holiday instead of having to go to work.  We kicked off the morning with a little relaxing with my parents before heading out to see Disney's Frozen on Ice!  I had gotten tickets a few weeks ago.  I had originally thought about going on Black Friday, but the Thanksgiving tickets were half price, so I went with those:)  It actually was a great way to spend the morning waiting for dinner! Emmy actually got a little bored with the show about halfway through, which surprised me, but Charlie {who I thought would fuss} loved every second of it. The show really was cute, and worth every penny when I got to see their faces light up! It was around 1:00 when we got out, so we picked up some Sonic and ate in the car on the way home.  We spent the afternoon hanging out with my mom and watching football....GO LIONS!  We went over to my sister...