Eighteen years and one week.

Eighteen years ago today, you were one week old. Your hair still very dark brown, stick straight, and so long I could curl it around my pinkie. Your signature raspy cry was still soft and always adorable. You had that perfect, brand new skin that I can recall so very clearly with all of my senses. […]

Evening solitude

Bedtime around here is kind of a big deal. As much fun and creativity and laughter that resides in this house, there is also a whole lot of structure and schedule. A busy mom, and two busy daughters would be chaos without it. Even in the summer, as our bedtimes extend out by 30-60 minutes […]

I changed my mind.

I hate May. It’s always a rush of getting every field trip (three for Ava), concert (two for Ava), awards night (one for each kid), and Family Picnic & Field Day (Ava), crammed into the days where we aren’t clamoring into our basements for tornado warnings. There is the end of school rush to hang […]

To be lovely.

Exquisitely Beautiful; Beautiful especially in a graceful way. Lovely. If there is every a word to aspire to, it is lovely. My girls have always had a way with words and somehow I’ve imparted my “no filter” stance on how and when they express them. Sydney, unfortunately, was in her most authentic unfiltered phase long before […]

The small things.

As a “noticer” the small things are what matter more to me than anything else. Today was a lovely day. Mothers Day is nice, I get special recognition, gifts, extra hugs, etc. But what was special about today has not been those things in particular. This morning Ava came in to my room, I was […]

Storm season.

Living in the midwest isn’t bad. It isn’t great…but it isn’t bad. Living in Nebraska you give up being near oceans, mountains, big cities, and most cool things. What you get in return is an overall nice place to raise a family, low cost of living and my personal favorite, the storms. Spring in Nebraska […]

Home

When you have a baby at 18, and get married at 19, and buy your first house at 20, there isn’t a lot of room for what you love, what moves you, what makes you feel content, and honestly, you aren’t really thinking about those things anyway. As I got older and my marriage was […]

Burn

Writing is a leap in the dark. It’s a total surrender to the unknown, and a test of faith in yourself. To create in any form is to trust your own voice, above anything else. Writers are “noticers”, which can be a blessing, but often a detriment. I stole that term from another blogger, and I […]

Monday

I like all the memes. I chime in with the “ughs” and “no’s” when it comes to rolling out of bed on Monday mornings, but I think I’ll stop doing it, and here is why. I like Mondays. I always have. I’ve just always pretended to go along with the idea that they are terrible. […]

From the back.

Our first time at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the giraffes have everyone in awe. They’re long, black tongues, and their willingness to come right up to say hello. Then the elephants. Ava’s favorite. All the giggles and excited high pitched requests to “look!” and “look at that one!”. We’re in Colorado for the first time, […]