Oh my goodness!! I have a TEENAGER!!

It's official.  At 11:55 AM, I became the mother of a teenager.  Oh. my. goodness!  Has it really been 13 years?!  The time has flown and I am so thankful.  I have this amazingly kind and loving son who is so great.  He's respectful.  He's sweet.  He's considerate.  He's my son.  What a blessing he is.

Birthday Recap: Life is Fine at 39

Hi Guys!  I recently celebrated my 39th birthday and I enjoyed myself so much.  I know that ideally I'm supposed to post tons of photos, but I didn't take a single one really.  I just wanted a day to be in the moment and that's exactly what I received.  I told my husband and the children that since the heat index was to be 115 degrees that day (OH MY GOSH!), I was perfectly happy with someone picking up Bonefish Grill after church and bringing it to me to eat home.  Of course, the kids and S. wouldn't let that fly.

Weekend Recap: The Sleepover Edition

Guys!  My tired is tired!  What an awesome weekend, but man what an exhausting one ☺!  S. and I were still up in the air about just how we would celebrate Honeybee turning 5 years old.  It's a milestone and begs a nice celebration, but with our huge family we just can't go anywhere.  Tuesday or so, S. suggested a visit to Chuck E. Cheese and a sleepover with the little cousins.  Now, full disclaimer, I am not a fan of Chuck E. Cheese.  No knock on them, but I think of them as little germ factories lol.  That being said, the one in our area recently underwent a renovation (per the flyer outside) and was ready for our large family.

Dance floor

Happy birthday, Honeybee!

Life would not be as amazing if you were not a part of it! Love you!!

Happy birthday, S!

Today we're wishing my husband, my friend, my love, my fussing partner, my confidant, my iron sharpening iron, a very Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Bug!!

Time waits for no man.  Truer words were never spoken.  Today, my first born turns 12 years old.  I'm so proud of him and the young man that he has become.  He is kind, respectful, sweet, and sincere.  He's an excellent big brother, a fantastic son, a lover of Christ with all his heart and soul.  He has a genuine compassionate nature and I am excited to see what God is going to do in his life.  I pray He allows me to live to see it.

Twelve years ago, I greeted this amazing little person and today, I get to celebrate him all over again.  Join me in celebrating my Bug.  As is our custom, we will have a family dinner at the place o his choosing, followed by cake, ice cream, and gifts when we get home.

I'll make sure to give a bit of recap on that later, but for now...happy birthday to my BUG!!!!

Baby A.'s Birthday Party Recap (plus End of Summer Bash!)

So, I’m not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to go with my husband on a couples’ vacation, only to return and host an annual party that would feature our daughter’s first birthday party exactly two days later.

                                                                          via GIPHY

Lesson learned. I don't think I'll try that again. Fortunately, everything seemed to fall into place exactly as it should have...despite being a bit crazy.  Now, let's discuss the party!

Baby A's Birthday Month!!

Oh my goodness! It’s so amazing to see that Baby A. is turning 1 this month! I’m not being at all cliché when I say “time flew”! I was all excited to have a huge birthday party like I’ve done for Bug and Honeybee. Alas, S. locked on an escape that takes he and I far away on baby girl’s birthday!!! I think he thought we would have the party earlier than her actual day and we couldn’t because of a conflict. Since the lock on was a surprise he’d been cultivating for a while complete with a non-refundable clause, we can’t change it. Yes, I cried, especially since we only have big parties for milestone birthdays.  So she won’t see another big one until five. Fortunately, we’re able to kill two birds with one magnificent stone since we host an annual end of summer bash at our home.

It usually focuses on and culminates in a fantasy football draft, but this year I’m going to make the baby’s birthday the focal and the draft will be the feature for the guys.

I’m going with a pretty cool theme and doing a lot of the same things I’ve done before with the party, but making sure a lot of other things get accomplished as well. I’m hoping everyone will have a good time and that we get some pretty cool pictures too. 

I am really looking forward to celebrating her birthday with you guys and celebrating the return of school for Bug too!

-K

Weekend Recap: The Birthday Edition

Hi guys! What a fun and amazing weekend! I was blessed to turn 38 years old this Saturday. I don’t take that for granted. Several dear friends and family members didn’t make it to that age, so I thank God for allowing me the privilege of living. I hope not to disappoint Him as I continue to journey through life. Let’s talk about the weekend.

Friday. We were supposed to see The Tomb of Christ exhibit at the National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C., but traffic destroyed my attempt at getting the family there in time for our timed entry L. Bug and S. had already seen it, but I hadn’t had the opportunity. I was pretty bummed to miss it, but I didn’t let it ruin the weekend. We decided that we would go to the “Golden Triangle” in DC to watch the outdoor movie “Jumanji”. We stopped first at the local Wawa and loaded up on subs and quesadillas, mac and cheese, a strawberry smoothie for me, and peach iced tea. Then, we traipsed our way to the lawn, unloaded blankets and bean bags, set up food, and settled in for a great evening. It really was. The atmosphere was fun. The temperature was comfortable with a nice breeze blowing. The movie was funny and the kids enjoyed themselves. Amariah did get a bit fussy towards the end because she was tired, but a few rocks in my arms and she was out. We made it back to the house a bit after midnight and all promptly fell asleep.

The screen was huge

Weekend Recap: Birthday Behavior

Hello everyone!  I hope your week has been absolutely amazing!  Mine was rainy and cloudy and blah looking outside, but SO much fun and enjoyable for the family.  Sunday was S.'s birthday.  We decided that we would do a private date night on Saturday with just the two of us and then celebrate with the family on his actual birthday.

EscapeQuest

I had quite a few ideas of things we could do for S.'s birthday.  He's big on new experiences and I was all game for some small thrill events like hot air ballooning or indoor sky diving.  It turned out the weather was forecast to be too yucky for ballooning.  The nearest indoor skydiving facility was an hour and some change away and our childcare arrangements couldn't cope.  So, I was thinking...what do we do.

Fortunately for me, S. has had an interest in trying out the Escape Rooms that have been so popular in the area.  We looked on Groupon for any deals and sure enough there was a pretty good one for a couple wanting to do the adventure.  We purchased, called and made an appointment, and were booked for the same evening.

We arrived at the Escape Room and were very impressed.  The lobby by itself was awesome!  Because the attraction has such a shroud of secrecy, I won't share too much about it, but we were paired with two other couples to solve a buried treasure riddle.  Oh my goodness!  We had so much fun!  Unfortunately, we didn't figure out the last riddle in time though we were SOOOOOOO close!  UGH!  But it was still a great adventure.

Happy birthday!

Wishing my amazing, awesome, sexy, handsome, hard-working, good providing, God-loving, God worshipping, God-following, wrapped around his daughters' fingers, our son's buddy, my HUSBAND, my MAN...a VERY GREAT  BIRTHDAY!!!!

Love you, S.!

Friday Frazzle: Honeybee's Birthday Wish List

This post contains affiliate links.  For more information on affiliate links and full disclosures, please click here.  As always, all opinions on this blog are my own and are not influenced in any way.

When I was a child, I grew up excited that the two days special and unexpected things could and would occur were Christmas and birthdays. Those were the times where, despite budgets being extremely tight, we could hope for something magical to occur. It often did like the year my Mom moved heaven and heck for an alto saxophone to replace the used and beaten one I’d been carrying in the marching band. I’ve carried some of that on to my children. They know that birthdays and Christmas bring amazing family experiences.

So when our Honeybee came tiptoeing up to me last week and asking if she could have a few simple items, my heart melted for a couple of reasons. (1) This is the first time she has asked for anything specifically for any celebration and (2) Her list really is quite tame. She’s such a generous spirit. Of course, I couldn’t wait to share with you all.

1. A Pretty Birthday Cake. When queried further, the “pretty” means any pastel colored cake. Our Honeybee is a Minnie Mouse Bowtique and Paw Patrol fan. The local stores don’t have Paw Patrol, so I’m grabbing her this lovely for her day.

I can't wait to surprise our Honeybee with this cake!

Birthday celebrations

Hello everyone.

I suppose I should have written quite some time ago, but I'm noticing less readers and more fatigue. It's kind of evening out.  But that's okay.  We're getting close!  This past weekend was my birthday! Woohoo!  It was nice to celebrate another year of life, but I have to tell you last week was a doozy.

We're currently prepping for a major meeting at my job.  It's a pretty big deal with some pretty big VIPs coming in.  As such, we are having meetings for the meetings.  Last week, I was in more meetings than I was out of.  Combine that with a massive heat wave with oppressive humidity and I was more than a little irritated.  Heat makes me not too happy these days.

When I was finally finished with the work of the day, all I wanted to do was go home and take a shower or a cold bath.  I'd just picked up our daughter when I received a text from S. asking me to meet him for a date night.  Because traffic was already so yucky, we ended up meeting at the gym S. attends and dropping our little one for a date night.

We went out to dinner and enjoyed a yummy meal of seafood, salad, garlic cheddar biscuits, and appetizers.  It was nice just getting out and spending some time with each other talking about the events of the week, upcoming childcare plans, etc.  After a lovely dinner, we went up the street to catch a movie.  Both S. and I are superhero fans, so catching up with the new Spider-man movie made sense.

I liked the movie though it was a bit long.  I think these days the movies tend to run longer just to add fluff.  The movie itself was pretty good.  I just could have done without some of the longer sequences.  Movie over, S. and I finally hopped in the car to pick up our daughter.  When we got to the house, it was after midnight and we were surprised to see our mother in love there!  She was supposed to have already left to visit her sister.  My father in love was running behind, so she was waiting for him.  About five minutes after we pulled up, so did he.  He and my husband loaded the car.  He came in and suddenly disappeared.

Three minutes later, he walked into the kitchen with a huge birthday cake!  How thoughtful!  The family sang happy birthday and then my in loves left to start their trip.  I went upstairs to the bedroom and found a gorgeous bouquet of deep purple roses, a cute new purse, a card that housed tickets to a play I've been secretly hoping to see, and a love note.  Awww!  I wasn't expecting that at all.  I felt very special!

I was also very tired.  S. and I called it an evening and I slept ALL DAY on Saturday!  Sunday, we woke early for early service, praise and worship, and Sunday School.  Then, I took our son (who'd returned from a summer visit to his paternal family's home) to meet my mother for a week with her.

When I got home, I was super exhausted but managed to make it in time to celebrate a dear gf and the arrival of her baby girl.  It was a nice time and nice event and I made sure to catch a nap afterwards!

Overall, it was a wonderful birthday and I wouldn't change it for anything.

How about you?  How was your weekend?

K

Weekend Recap: April is here!

Hello everyone! Happy April! I am currently sitting here in this recliner with my back cursing me out in all kind of languages all completely my fault.  I've had a pretty busy weekend.  Saturday was my nephew's one year old birthday.  He is such a laid back and special little boy.  He just observes everything and then decides to crawl to what he wants.  On his birthday, he discovered the joys of sugar and had a ball with his birthday.

36 while 36: A New Opportunity

I have to be honest. I’m not quite pleased with how I did with my 35 while 35 bucket list. Yes, there were some pretty nice accomplishments like exploring a new city and attending a black tie affair. However, I didn’t get half of the stuff I should have and I felt my list was slightly superficial. It just didn’t make an impact. No, I didn’t make an impact. So, I’m going to try it again. I’m hoping that I can knock some things out this year that open me to a lot of new experiences, and help me to grow as an individual. (Some of these beautiful suggestions came from a variety of bucket lists around the world including getoffthecouch.com).  Like last year's list, I'll add links and dates where applicable.  I also invite you to return to last year's list.  I'd like to see if I can complete some of those items, too.

1. Establish a strong social media presence for YGI and OF&S

2. Establish a stronger physical presence at my son’s school events for the upcoming school year

3. Do one thing every two weeks that will take me out of my comfort zone but open me to new experiences and opportunities

4. Volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association

5. Awake NLT 6:30A M-F and NLT 8:00A on Saturdays and Sundays

6. Complete 2 30-day challenges

7. Attend the 2017 Honda Battle of the Bands

8. Try a new dish

9. Have a monthly date night with my husband (Almost)

10. Attend a poetry slam

11. Achieve my ideal weight (126-130 pounds)

12. Attend a spa day

13. Watch every movie on the IMDb Top 250 Movie List

14. Do 36 random acts of kindness

15. Get a professional massage

16. Hike at Government Island

17. Write letters to 5 people who have positively influenced me

18. Host a dinner party

19. Learn to swim

20. Attend an Ugly Christmas party

21. Visit a new city

22. See a play

23. Host a Game Night

24. Attend a Sip n’ Paint or Dine n’ Paint event

25. Have dinner with TFatherWinter at Potomac Winery

26. Buy something for a stranger off their wish list/registry

27. Attend a jazz festival

28. Attend a Mother Daughter weekend with just my mother and I

29. Go to an orchard and pick fruit

30. Make preserves

31. Regularly get my hair done

32. Take the kids to an amusement park or the state fair

33. Take a self-defense class

34. Have a professional family photo shoot done

35. Landscape

36. Bake my own bread

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my 36th birthday.  Yep, 36 years old.  I'm okay with the round number.  It feels...good.  I've learned a lot in 36 years and one thing that remains is that I can never stop learning.  I have to keep going, keep growing, keep learning.  So, I'm excited about being 36 years old and still trying to conceive.

A recent conversation with my gynocologist has me declared as advanced maternal age.  Really?  I didn't think that was the case at all.  But apparently, once I got off that 35 year old mark, I became the Old Maid of conception.  Lol.  Good to know as I walk through this season.

Today, I have taken two pregnancy tests as I am now 4 days late.  I made the mistake of grabbing a blue dye test (accidentally) and saw a faint line, but I cannot tell if it is an evap.  So, remembering the fiasco of last month where we (now with confirmation) had a chemical pregnancy, I ran back out and got pink dye...but I haven't taken it.  My nipples are still sore.  I'm still cramping.  I still have a bit of nausea.  These are still symptoms of PMS.  So, we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm having fun enjoying my birthday in peace and quiet.  I pray your day has been perfect and blessed as well.


I'll keep you updated on the tests!

-K

His facade is slipping (the birthday episode)

                                       
I'm so sorry that I've been out of pocket!  The last couple of days have been very busy in our household.  S. recently celebrated a birthday.  I made sure to shower him with all of his favorites and his birthday wish list.  He wanted a special breakfast that morning.  Granted.  I made sure to capture his favorite fruit and have it available for lunch.  Granted.  I went to his favorite bakery and procured his favorite birthday cake...twice when the baker got the order incorrect...Granted.  I got his favorite ribs and his favorite over loaded sides.  Granted.  Much desired gifts were given.  I made sure that he received gifts that he both wanted and needed.  At the end of the evening, S. was very happy.

The very next day, our baby girl celebrated her birthday.  I made sure cupcakes were present at the daycare, gifts were ready to be opened when she returned, her birthday candles blown out on her birthday cake.  Later, after everyone was sleeping soundly, S. and I took advantage of it also being #ttc week for me and celebrated with each other with an impromptu in home date-night.

Cyclebeads.com

Yep, it is the week of ovulation.  Because my body does it's own thing, S. and I know only that it occurs this week and the suspected spike of actual ovulation days.  But my body (and my trusty app) has let me know that this week is go week.  And S. knew it.  S. has done everything possible to ensure conception.  He's raising my hips after we baby dance.  He's placing pillows and having me lie very still.  These are all things we've heard of before, even implemented occasionally, but now it seems hard wired into him.  Today, we were catching up on our favorite sports show and he had his hand resting on my stomach and would occasionally rub it to "talk to the baby".  I hope above hope that this is the month for us, but I do not want S. to be disappointed.

I would wonder why now does it seem so strong, so necessary, but I think I know.  I believe that birthday hit him.  It reminded him that we've been trying for a while and that he has still yet to conceive a child naturally with me.  Our beautiful children are amazing and wonderful.  There are no "step" anything in our family nor any other designation.  But, it does remain that our children are those conceived from a previous relationship and adoption respectively.  I would love for him to know the joy of being there from the very beginning, from the moment of conception, from the first heartbeat, and first inutero kick.  I'd love for him to know the joy of new and wonderful development stages.  I think this is what is driving him this week.

And I want it for him.  S. is an amazing father.  Amazing!  He is so kind, so sweet, so patient.  I would love to carry his child.  I just don't want to see the look of sadness in his eyes if it doesn't happen this month.  I think it will be a stronger blow than usual.  I truly think conception is his birthday wish.

Sigh.  So, what does that mean?  Well, for now, it means that I do the same as I always do.  We will continue to try and conceive.  We are still trying to do so naturally until we can afford an IVF cycle, which our RE believes if our best option to conceive.  I have said it before and will continue to say that I don't understand why our jobs allow for coverage of abortions, but refuse to cover the costs of infertility treatments.

Hope everyone is having a great evening.  I'll do better about keeping you apprised.  Talk to you soon.

-K.

Happy Birthday, Honeybee!!

Happy Birthday to our perfect little lady.  It doesn't seem like two years.  So very blessed to have you in our life, little one.  God bless you!

Honey

Happy Birthday, Superbug!!!

Nine years ago today I was blessed to give birth to the most amazing, handsome, and special little boy that I have ever known.  What a perfect gift he was and what a perfect gift he is.  Happy birthday to my amazing, wonderful, kinds, sweet, loving, Superbug!  I love you very much!

Happy Birthday, Superbug!!!

35 while 35

Inspired by http://polkadottedbluejay.blogspot.com/p/3030.html

So yesterday, I turned 35!  Eeek, the big 3..5..  Love it!!  Today I wanted to figure out a way to make 35 more of a meaningful celebration than just one day.  I thought about doing a list of things I wanted to accomplish this year.  This list was inspired by the awesome Elise at Polka Dotted Blue Jay.  I found her 30 while 30  post back in March and decided that, if I am still alive and breathing, I would like to do something similar.  So, here's my list.

To make things even more interesting for me (because I really am trying to get out of my comfort zones), I plan to donate $5 for every item not accomplished by July 21, 2016 to the Alzheimer's Association in honor of my great-grandmother.  If I do accomplish everything, I will donate $200 in her name.

Here's my list and the links or completed dates for those things I do accomplish.

1.   Visit the Newseum
2.   Lose 10 pounds
3.   Have a Mommy-Son weekend with SuperBug
4.   Have a picnic
5.   Pamper myself more (bi-monthly with either massage or nail session)
6.   Lock on 5 new monthly service clients for my business
7.   Attend a Mommy-Daughter Tea with Honeybee (5/14)
8.   Have a professional family photo taken
9.   See adoption finalized for Honeybee (10/1)
10. Bake a pecan pie from scratch.
11. Bake my mother in law's peach cobbler from scratch
12. Gain 35 new blog followers
13. Go camping in a cabin w/s'mores and hiking
14. Go to the National Zoo
15. Spend an afternoon museum hopping all by myself
16. Have monthly date nights with my husband (8/7)
17. Volunteer at the Alzheimer's Association local offices
18. Learn how to swim
19. Host or attend a fab Christmas party complete with games, a photo backdrop, and a visit from Santa (12/12)
20. Start seriously building my investment portfolio
21. Take a weekend trip solo.
22. Learn to tango
23. Attend a professional conference
24. Run a marathon
25. Spend at least 15 minutes a day in quiet devotion to God
26. Visit a new city and explore (8/17)
27. Create a really nice nursery/bedroom for Honeybee
28. Create a really nice bedroom for Superbug
29. Create a really nice bedroom space for FatherWinter and I
30. Finish Masters degree or start new Masters degree program
31. Attend a play or live performance (8/7)
32. Go to a book signing
33. Do a boudoir photo session for my husband
34. Visit a planetarium
35. Attend a black tie affair (4/24)

-WinterMommy