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Halloween Weekend 2020: 35 Hours without Power and Family Police Costumes
We just had a wonderful and much different Halloween weekend. Covid has caused life to look a little different, and while Halloween wasn’t completely normal–we made the best of it and made it as normal as possible (while being cautious). Reid’s preschool was set to have a trunk or treat on Thursday for all the kids. We were setting up a Paw Patrol table, however, Thursday morning around 4:30 am, we lost power. The preschool lost power as well, so school/trunk or treating was canceled. They say “you plan, God laughs,” well, I planned for the days leading up to Halloween–and no power threw all my plans for a loop.…
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Five Tips on How to Enjoy Hiking with Toddlers
2020 is the year of our family’s new hobby–hiking! I am not much of a “nature” girl, but I love this new hobby of ours. My husband, an Eagle Scout, loves nature and exploring the outdoors (candidly, I am still petrified of snakes and get nervous every time we go on a hike). The boys have become quite the mini-explorers and love going for rides on our backs while exploring the outdoors. We live in suburban Atlanta and I never would have imagined how many trails we have within a 10 minute drive of our house–it is truly amazing! When we have zero plans for the weekend, which happens more…
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Simple Semi-Homemade Halloween Costumes For Families with Boy Toddlers
Halloween is such a magical time for children. Growing up, my mom was a Pinterest mom before Pinterest was a thing. She literally sewed and made all of our Halloween costumes, and I will add she did some quality work as they are still in good condition to this day! While my mom is a creative genius, I am more of a semi-homemade type gal. So for Halloween, I purchase the cheap costumes and then add some homemade touches like ironed on shirts and painting on cardboard. Unwrapping candy every year, Reid tells us exactly what he wants to be the following year and much to my surprise he sticks…
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Going to Pre-K during Coronavirus: Thoughts on Letting Go
Reid has been out of school for almost 6 months. In that time, we have navigated, learned and grown so much as parents and a family. It has been a taxing, fun, stressful, different, playful time that brought our little family closer together. The boys have become best friends and their little friendship has blossomed immensely. I know that I will look back on these days and remember the precious moments we got to spend as a family unit (as well as the stressful, uncertain times). As I write this, we are a week out before Reid starts pre-K and gets back into the swing of somewhat “normal” life again.…
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Family Vacation to Pine Knoll Shores, Southern Outer Banks
We just got back from a very relaxing and peaceful trip visiting Drew’s aunt and uncle in the southern Outer Banks. I don’t know how I can describe it as relaxing when we have two little boys–but some how it really restored us and brought us back feeling refreshed (rather than feeling like we needed a vacation from our vacation and a full body detox!). We travelled down to Pine Knoll Shores on Wednesday afternoon, it is a pretty long 8 hour trip and thankfully Drew was able to work in the car the whole way down (meaning, I drove while entertaining two toddlers–thankfully, they are amazing car riders!). Since…
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Edisto Island, South Carolina Family Vacation 2020
We just got back from our family beach vacation to Edisto Beach, South Carolina. We had a fun filled trip to our happy place and given the pandemic, I am super happy we were able to make our annual trip happen! And please let it be known that I am totally procrastinating unpacking and starting laundry in writing this post 🙂 Drew’s family had a house on the beach for over 50 years, last year their family sold the house and thankfully we wanted to keep the tradition alive despite being in a different house. We rented a house called “Doc House” that is right next to the marina and…
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Shrimp Pesto Pizza Recipe and Weekend Recap: Pool, Lake and Family Time
Does it feel like Groundhog Day every day?! My little boys are growing up so fast and I know in a few years I will look back on the year 2020 and think wow I am glad I had so much extra time with them (gratitude is getting me through this week friends!). Every Friday night this summer, we make our favorite pizza–Shrimp Pesto Pizza (yes, it deserves all caps!). It was a creation we made about 5 years ago when we had a freezer full of shrimp and a basil plant that was going crazy. Originally, we made a shrimp pesto pasta, but in our family we love pizza…
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Fourth of July Weekend Recap: Family Fun with Friends and Fireworks
We had such a fun long Fourth of July weekend. It was the first time in months that we had visitors–and I have to say, I miss having guests! Drew’s best friend, Jake and his wife and kids came to visit. Reid and their oldest son are quickly becoming best buds, just like their daddys 🙂 They got in late Thursday evening which allowed us to have a full day on Friday. We ventured to the pool that afternoon, followed by nap time and a quiet evening chatting and eating homemade pizza (Drew’s latest obsession, which I secretly love!). We woke up on Saturday morning and ventured back to the…
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Navigating Motherhood and Burn Out During Covid-19
Let me start this by saying this comes from the heart. As I write this I in no way want to offend anyone or seem to be ungrateful. I just feel the need to speak from my heart and the place that I am currently at. My purpose behind this post is that maybe people can relate and feel a sense of relief that they are not alone in their feelings. Lets talk about being the best mom you can be. Lately, I have felt burnt out. It is not fair to my children, my husband or myself. It pains me to feel that I haven’t been giving the absolute…
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Whether or Not to Send Kids to Preschool During Covid-19
Parenting is a challenging season, and parenting during a pandemic is even more challenging. I have learned more about myself and how I parent in the past 4 months than ever before. I have learned to give myself grace when things don’t go exactly as planned. I have embraced the occasional TV time when I am nearing my breaking point. And I have dug deep to find fun activities that bond us closer together. We have become such a tight little family and for that I am grateful for this quarantine. That being said, one of the parenting challenges that came up recently is sending the boys to preschool. Both…
