Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Roman's 7th Birthday

Roman, it’s your birthday! And if I had my wish (since it’s also MY birthday) it would be for you to feel all of the good vibes today that you typically share with others. I truly believe on that birthday those few short years ago, you were meant to rebirth all of the best parts of me I’d forgotten about. 

You are absolutely the “good-est” boy I’ve ever known. The way you love and give and care for others is something I’m so proud of. This big wide world has a bad habit of breaking boys, squeezing out all of the sweetness and innocence our beautiful boys have to give. But I know you’re smart enough to understand that love and kindness ARE strength and nothing makes you a better human than being who you are absolutely supposed to be, no matter what. I love you so very much and what you give to this family could not be duplicated. I’m happy to share this day with you and all the days to come.
-0:58





Wednesday, February 13, 2019

DIY Valentine's Boxes

In this round of the battle that is Girl vs Pinterest...Girl won!
Gosh, this is just so unexpected. I guess I’d first like to thank the Academy, then my so-called friends for claiming their “jobs” were so important yesterday they couldn’t Marco Polo me throughout the day like real friends are supposed to (like your ability to pay the mortgage is more rewarding than hearing me re-tell old jokes for the 200th time - pshhht) It’s just amazing what you can do on a rainy morning when you find 2 empty Kleenex boxes and there’s nothing OnDemand.
Real talk though: I’m the craft-attempting mom. I know my strengths and wanting to create cutesy, homemade mementos with my own 2 hands is something I commit to. I sometimes get the “but everybody can’t do that!” response thrown at me when I share that. But to that I say, “Cool. Not everybody wants to spend 3 hours on Valentine’s Day boxes that’ll be torn apart before the end of the next day so your kid can get to the Skittles faster.” That’s life.
We’re all just working with what we have. You may have the patience of Job or the ability to whip together meals that leave your little ones chanting for more. And to that I say, “How in the hell did you pull that off?!” But AFTER I say that, I’ll calm down and remember that Im doing my own thing for now, whatever it is that makes me feel like a present, attentive parent and you all are on your own path for that. I may pick up tips on the way, but your journey isn’t mine. I have to work with the (limited 🤦🏾‍♀️) gifts I was given.
In the interest of fairness, I did attempt to make an adorable how-to picture tutorial to go along with this. But somewhere after re-constructing the Kleenex box and in the middle of sketching the Black Panther mask, I started saying sweary words that weren’t appropriate for social media, so....you get whatcha get. 
Happy almost Valentines Day, everyone, may the Pinterest odds be ever in your favor!