The Not Too Shabby Mom

That children will change settings on your tvs and phones that you never knew existed. That multiple times a day you will wonder how something is wet. You will read a kid's book aloud for the 1000th time and realize you are on the last page without ever "reading" it. You plan trips based around where you can park and if you can navigate a store with your double stroller. If they don't have carts....fuhhget about it. Internet shopping isn't for fun; it's a necessity. (see above) You now know your friends that had kids before you hadn't forgotten about you. They were just consumed with making snacks, cleaning up messes, reading blogs to fix that weeks's worry/issue and before falling asleep at night going through their list of to dos probably thought I need to call/text/plan a girl's night out with so and so. You plan vacations on how long your brood can be in the car before everyone loses their shit, how much stuff you will need ...

Everyone complains there isn't enough realness on Facebook, Instagram, etc. So I am going to give you a snapshot into what I have accomplished today....so very little. Every person in our house is sick to like the tenth degree. We are all whiney, miserable, barking with coughs, dwindling our tissue supply by the moment. We are a family with no boundaries...you want to lick my spoon? - sure, baby wants a drink out of brother's sippy? - it happens, you want to rub your snotty face all over our bed pillows? - probably going to happen because we are too tired to care. Kolt and Klay do EVERYTHING together except sleep. They will either be best of friends when they are adolescents or hate each other. No happy medium. So needless to say we are all equally contaminated. My husband usually avoids these things because he works a ton of hours, but he has been on vacation and in the trenches this week. Meaning he legit got coughed in the face buckling a child into a carseat and hasn't...

Today on the way to Play School (think pre-pre school) I caught a glimpse of you in the back seat. All handsome and quietly looking out the window. How are we in this stage; where you now leave mommy to spend time with other adults and children while I run errands with your baby brother? Childhood, and parenthood for that matter, are just a string of stages we carefully, yet optimistically navigate. In your dad and my case case we tend to look back more than forward it seems. We were just lamenting the other night how, in what feels like days, your vocabulary has changed. No longer do you say "structions" (instructions) or "The kea" (Ikea). When we still use your toddler slang, you now correct us. You no longer wake in the night or give us much grief at bedtime. You are even allowing us to take your picture again. Quietly and swiftly we have moved into this preschool stage. This stage where you are becoming more and more independent. You wa...

Superbowl Sunday is here! We are opting for a low key night at home with our little guys vs our traditional bigger party with friends this year, but we will still break out a few decorations and eat all the yummy food though. Our 3 year old loves helping in the kitchen and this is a super easy, make ahead recipe he can help with. (Although it can get sticky.) This is a tried and true family recipe that I remember my mom making all the time. (My sister calls it Pink Dip!) (Don't we all cook in our underwear?) We will be having this with bananas, strawberries, apple slices and kiwi. (Also goes great with grapes) Makes plenty for leftover snacks this week as well. Enjoy! Ingredients: 8oz cream cheese, 7oz jar of marshmallow cream, maraschino cherries Mix the cream cheese (softened) with the jar of marshmallow cream, add some juice from the maraschino cherries. Cut some cherries into 4ths and mix in.  Kid approved!