Coming And Going

This week I have thought, at various times, about this little blog of mine.  Just sitting here.
Like I have nothing to say at all and no time to say it. Sometimes it does seem like that, other times I have so much to say I don't know where to start.
More often than not though, there are things in my head and on my heart and on the very tip of my tongue even,  that stay where they are because they are not for public viewing/reading/hearing.

You know those things you want to say and those days when you feel like there is literally not one person on this planet that understands you, or cares what you have to say anyway.
We all have those days.
When you feel silenced... misunderstood...alone...when you are moving along, keeping your mouth shut because you know it's the best thing to do. The days you don't even feel like trying, or explaining, the days when you know if you said these things out loud you would surely be deemed crazy, like officially.

I have a lot of those days but often they are just moments in my days...not full days.
Sometimes I miss the days of writing or typing, sharing and just getting it all out there, if only for myself--Because really it has always been just for myself, this space and these words and pictures.
It's for me.

So you keep going and there are good days and bad days...
There are days you want to start over, somewhere else where no one knows your name, and there are days when you know you couldn't do this if there wasn't someone around that did know your name, your story and your heart.
These days of coming and going and giving all you have and feeling certain it isn't enough, they are hard. But they are good, too.
There is always good, every single day and that is what I keep telling myself- Some days we need this reminder and some days we absolutely do not need it. It's okay to have both kinds of days.
It's okay to be a contradiction.
It's okay to be up and down, coming and going, hot and cold.
Most days I can't pretend to be anything else, I just don't have it in me.



And that is okay.

And Suddenly...Here We Are

You know how when your kids are younger and not sleeping so well, or they are in a real hard stage like tantrums, teething, potty training(the three worst!)...And you feel like this will always be your life and your kids will ALWAYS be in this stage and they will never grow out of it, you will never sleep normally again and you kinda want to jump out the window?
Yeah? Me, too...I so remember those days. Very well.
When someone with older kids would tell me to; "Just wait" or something along those lines referring to wait until they are moody preteens, wait until they are hard to handle teenagers, wait until instead of not sleeping, they are sleeping until noon... Somehow you kinda think those days will never come.
Like logically you know they will, but you feel like it will be twenty years away and no time at all in the near future.
Right? Or is it just me? Maybe denial?

I don't know why we think that way-Maybe it's just because the difficult stages really seem as though they will never end.
Maybe it's self-protection, I cannot get emotional about every new stage/change, everything they leave behind and every little new thing they become.
I mean, I would be in tears constantly. Right?
Suddenly we are entering that stage where things are changing, just ever so slightly, but you can feel it, and you can see it... Small changes.
My baby boy that was a teeny tiny 6lb 8 oz baby and stayed in under the fifth percentile for height until he was about six years old(or older) now reaches my nose. I know he will soon be taller than me! What? When did these things happen?
Sigh.
The annoying saying about the days being long and the years being short is oh-so true.
I was kinda hoping they were wrong.

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Happy Wednesday!

A Working Mama and her Summer Guilt

When you are not working(outside the home) Summer vacation is exciting and carefree and wide open and, let's be honest, often overwhelmingly long when you have kids home all Summer. 

I know that. 

But, when you are working and your kids are on Summer vacation it just goes way too fast, 

it's a little depressing and often guilt-filled, when you are the mom.

So last week I decided I was taking a day off of work and the kids and I were going to do something fun.  My idea of fun might have been laying in bed with a really good book all day and not getting out of my pajamas, but we really needed to get away from home and do something fun together.

Two things on our Summer List were to have a picnic at Allerton Park and go to the swimming pool where my sister lives and my niece works.
Luckily it was a hot, beautiful day and we got to wander around the park, have a picnic, pick up my nephew to go to the pool with us, swim for hours and then spend the night at my sister's.
For my kids, that is seriously like their DREAM day.

This park is beautiful, we love coming here, there is so much to see.
The sunken garden is one of my favorite spots and the kids find a million different things to climb on in there, naturally. Statues, flower gardens, koi fish pond, the mazes, the mansion... we definitely didn't see it all this time.

This was a really good day, the three of us had a lot of fun together and my mama guilt was eased, if only for a few days. Hey, I'll take it. 

I gave up on the illusion of the "perfect summer" and marking everything off of our Summer Lists a  long time ago... there are no perfect Summers or even perfect days and we always want the opposite situation from the one we are in. Or I do anyway... And I know I am not the only one.
If I am working I wish I wasn't, if I am home, the kids are driving me nuts and I am secretly dreaming of all of the jobs I could have that day...Usually jobs where arguing kids aren't allowed and I am not cleaning up anyone's mess but my own.

{Charlotte on the high dive, she said it was mortifying but she kept doing it anyway}

We don't get a lot of whole days like this and even if we did, all days are not like this, but man am I glad to have one every once in a while.
Watching them go off the high dive even when they are scared too, down the slide 50 times, hang out with their cousins, watching them being so nice and sweet and helpful to each other with no fighting and little threatening on my part. That is a damn good feeling.
Many days it's easy to feel like you are barely keeping it together, that you are surely ruining your kids. It's nice to have a day when you honestly feel like you aren't doing half bad and that yes, even though you are working and they aren't doing exactly what you wished they were doing every day...It's still okay.

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On Wednesday I got to tell the mama guilt to kiss my ass... what a nice feeling.

Happy Weekend!

Summer Vacation Is Here!

At 3:05 on Wednesday, Summer vacation officially began.
We are excited- and freaking out just a bit at the same time- That would be me, not the kids.
Summer vacation just isn't the same when you are working(Boo!), so this Summer is going to be a
little different than those in the past...
It is going to involve a lot more juggling, s few Summer camps and figuring it all out along the way.
My Summer List this year might just be; Keep everyone alive and Mama sane!
That might be the only thing on the list.
I might add "keep guilt at bay", too. Yeah, I'm probably gonna need to add that.

 Wish us luck!

The Grateful Dead and Girl Scout Badges

I had a moment the other day.

It was one of those strange moments where you can almost see yourself, sitting there doing what
you are doing, but from the outside.

I was sitting at the kitchen table listening to music on my little wireless speaker that plays music from my phone.

I was trying to sew patches on Charlotte's Brownie vest about thirty minutes before her Girl Scout meeting started. I was doing a pretty bad job of it, too. 

It's something I put off over and over- I do a pretty crappy job, I can never find needles, or the badges and mostly because I just know after I go through all the trouble to finally sew them on  I will find
out that I sewed them on in the wrong place. 

Because that's exactly the kind of thing I do. Like regularly. I'm that mom.

Charlotte was sitting at the kitchen table next to me writing a story that she kept hidden with her arm
so I couldn't read it.
I was sewing and listening to the variety(both good + bad) that Pandora was playing when a song came on, it was this song and I'm linking to it even though I'm sure no one else knows this song or probably cares, really.
But I love it and all of the sudden.... So MANY memories.
Me at 16 and 19 and 21 and 24.... and now.
I have so many tiny but vivid snippets of memories and sounds and smells and places tied to this song... to this band and to those years.
So many happy, carefree memories with good friends...
They all flashed through my mind in a matter of seconds, so many thoughts and feelings.

And then I looked back at Charlotte writing and down at the little Brownie vest I was(badly) sewing patches onto and it was a moment, a strange one.
A moment of then and now and how I am the mom now and where did that other person go, anyway?
The old me, the younger me.
Because if I'm honest, I wouldn't trade where I am now or go back to that time permanently for anything... but sometimes I miss that girl and sometimes I feel like I've lost her, some days she feels a life time away from me now.

////////////////

I think in a matter of seconds I smiled, I felt like crying, I felt like dancing and I just wanted to freeze time right then and just enjoy doing exactly what I was doing.
And then Charlotte looked at me, covered her papers again to make sure I couldn't read anything
and I went right back to sewing with my crooked needle while trying not to look at the sink full of dirty dishes.
And the moment left just as quickly and unexpectedly as it came.

Staying One Step ahead Of Mama Burn-Out

This picture was taken last week when the kids and I were in St. Louis.
I am always on the lookout for these graffiti/art walls and the kids know how much I love them, so they are always quick to point them out to me when I am driving.
They are usually fairly cooperative when I do a u-turn and go back to take pictures and beg them to get in some of them for me, too. I said usually.

So this past weekend I realized something... it's kind of funny that it just hit me, but it did.

{But first- my PSA about taking time for yourself...}

Now if you have read here for very long you know I am a HUGE supporter + encourager 

of getting away from home by yourself- dinner, a movie, coffee, exercise, whatever. 

For a few hours, overnight, for a weekend... Whatever you can manage.

It's the recharge that I think everyone needs, everyone... 

But I'm talking specifically about moms here.

I know it's really easy to put yourself last and make sure that everyone else has everything they need and it is natural for us to be everything to everyone. It's also super easy to tell ourselves things like we don't care to do anything anyway and just generally talk ourselves out of it because
we actually feel guilty and feel that we are skipping out on our "jobs" when we get away...
"Things don't go as smoothly at bedtime/school mornings/homework, etc. when I'm not home...
my spouse can't do (blank) as well as I can, so it's better if I am at home..." etc.
At one time or another in motherhood we have all probably told ourselves these things, right?
But it's not true and I'm not buying it. And the amazing thing? Everyone survives at home just fine! And sometimes they have a lot more fun when mom isn't there(duh)... it's good all around for everyone, not just the mom. I promise. So I think you should be thinking about where you are going to get away to solo... and soon.

Back to my realization though...

This might sound completely contradictory to everything I just said, but I still mean
everything I said up there and I do make it a point to get away and I don't feel guilty for it.
I am a better mother for it and that is a fact.
So this past weekend I got away but it wasn't a solo or girlfriends get-away.
I realized that sometimes getting away with the kids is the best way to recharge, too.

With the kids... Yep, I said that- I know it's kind of opposite of what I just said.
 I have always loved doing short, spontaneous road trips with the kids, even if it is just
an hour away... But I don't often do them in the spirit of me "recharging" because sometimes it
feels like an oxymoron to say "recharging" and "with the kids" in the same sentence. Sometimes.

Those little get-aways are usually done for the experience, to break up the monotony of everyday work/school/home life + for us all to do something fun together...
But not for me personally to recharge, necessarily.

But this past weekend away, just the kids and I, was exactly that... a big, fat recharge for me.

It was just the timed I needed away, but with them. I realize this would not work for everyone, or have the same outcome, but with my kids being 8 and 10 and very easy-going, 

easy-to-please travelers, it was perfect. And it was a lot of fun.

There were no dishes, no dog messes, no laundry, nothing staring me down reminding me what 

all I should be doing. We weren't at home, there were lots of options for fun things to do
 and the weather was beautiful, the nicest yet this year. It was awesome. 

The kids got to go to an indoor trampoline park, to the Science center, a sculpture park... 

We went out for donuts + coffee in our pajamas Sunday morning and ate candy

 and watched movies in our hotel room at night. 

It was just the recharge I needed and just a whole lot of fun for the kids.

///////////////

Are you able to recharge regularly and how do you do it?
What is your favorite way to recharge by yourself?

Saturday Date With My Favorite Boy

Last Saturday was such a good day.
I think it was the longest I had been away from the hospital since my dad went in, I stayed there late Friday night and
didn't go back there until Saturday afternnon.
I had all Saturday morning and a good part of the day "off",  just the break I needed.

I got to spend a good part of the day with my favorite ten year-old and it was such a good day.
As of the middle of this week I was feeling like I had seen so little of my kids for the past few weeks and the time I did see
them wasn't very long at once and was rushed + stressed and without me really fully present, or even halfway present
for that matter.

So Saturday.

We had both been hungry for breakfast food and decided to go to a yummy little neighborhood spot for a late breakfast/brunch.
I was craving pancakes and Wyatt was craving french toast.
Next time I will definitely be getting the french toast because it was oh-so-good.
When I asked Wyatt what he was hungry for his answer made me laugh and he was completely serious : "Just a lot of bacon."

We ate and talked, he drew in his Moleskin and didn't mind me taking pictures of him.
It was perfect.
These uninterrupted, just the two of us dates are so, so good- and they don't happen nearly often enough but they are my favorite.
These one-on-one times with my kids really gives me a glimpse of who they will be one day, if that makes any sense to you.
The way they act, carry themselves and things they talk about is just different when it is just you and them.
It just is. 

After we ate,  we stopped at this little area of beautiful Gingko tress and a beautiful brick homestead-Oh I   l  o  v  e    these
trees and their super cool leaves!
So we had to jump out and get a pictures here, about two hours after we snapped these pictures it was snowing really lightly
and so cold.
I'll take pretty yellow leaves over snow in November any day, in case you were wondering.

Next we went and did a little Christmas window shopping- at Big Kmart... his choice. Ha!
We spent a long time in the toy aisles, him making a list on a piece of paper we scrounged out of my purse while I stood behind
him and took pictures with my phone of the toys he was writing
down... that was how I made my list. 
It was nice to go really slow, to lsiten to him, look at the toys he was talking about(well until I glazed over and could only nod my head...)
and just to not be hurrying him and wishing I was somewhere else in that moment or just going over my mental list of all the things
I need to do.
Why do we always do that, by the way?


In the next couple of weeks I am going to make it a priority to squeeze in a little morning/afternoon or evening date
with my most favorite + funniest little eight-year old.
These are the days to rememeber.


////////

Today, I Give You Permission

Today was one of those days.
Not terrible, not great... but a day.

Today I wanted to throw in the towel.
To run away.
Like really, really far away.
Maybe to another country where no one knows my name.
Like where I would walk around with sunglasses on, people watching... where no one would
talk to me and I wouldn't need to talk to anyone else unless I really felt like it.
I wouldn't exactly know the language in this foreign country, but I would be just fine.
Alone. Blissful.
That's my fantasy, My Running Away fantasy.
I have several, but that's just one of them.

And guess what?
Today I, Amy, give you permission to have your very own Running Away Fantasy.
And the rule is is that you cannot feel guilty for it.
Like not even a little bit... it's a fantasy, you're not really doing it.
And you also don't have to apologize for having one, or announce how grateful and thankful and blessed you are for your life...
None of that.
You can do that later, or tomorrow, but not while you are having your very own Running Away Fantasy because it's just
simply not allowed.
Remember, I am the one making the rules and handing out permission slips today. 


Today I gave myself permission to fantasize about running away from life and people and responsibilities and just all of it.
I give you permission too, because it's okay.
It doesn't mean you're ungrateful or selfish or that you would ever trade your life(not really) to
run away for real.
Because it's okay to not want to be with your people every second of every day... or people at all for that matter.
It's normal, I promise you.


Also.
In my fantasy I am in fact driving a VW bus, and it's either orange or baby blue or bright yellow.
And yes, I can drive it to another country from Illinois... because in my fantasy I am not getting on
a damn airplane.
No way.

The End.

Oh Motherhood, You $*%#!

Lucky for you I bleeped out the rest of my post title.
Or, Sorry... or, You're Welcome.

BUT, This is pretty much how I've felt since I saw the movie Boyhood Tuesday night.
Oh. This movie, you guys. Wow.
I can't stop thinking about it.
Every so often you see a movie that just knocks you right in the gut, one that you just totally "get", that speaks to you... You know?
If you're a mother of a boy/boys, or mother at all... Watch this movie.
If you're not a mother, watch this movie.

It was an amazing thing to watch this boy grow up, literally, over the span of 12 years...
It's just an awesome and bittersweet thing to witness really.
The scene with Patricia Arquette at the end when her son leaves for college, is me.
That's how I feel a lot of the time.
A LOT.
Heartbroken, filled with love, exhausted, emptied, full of joy, thankful and a bit sad...  All of it.
A L L   O F   T H E   F E E L I N G S.
All of the time.

I think it's completely appropriate for moms to feel like we have given every last little thing we have
to give to our kids and to want to move to a remote Island A L O N E far, far away from

Every living person for an entire year. Right Now.

{Or more}

Totally normal.

If you didn't feel like this on occasion, I'd be worried about you.

Seriously.

So it's been that kind of week.... The kind where Motherhood gets the best of you.

Not horrible... But emotional.

And that's just how some of these days and weeks and years are.

This weekend we will be watching my boy play Soccer and hanging out at home, hopefully getting
a few things done I have seriosuly been putting off.
I am so ready for a relaxing weekend.

H a p p y   W e e k e n d !

All The Ways I Fail

Yesterday morning got off to a bit of a rough start.
It was Monday first of all, so it already had that going against it...
But I woke up early(too early really) and had time to just lay in bed for quite a while and think and just wake up and be ready for the
day without rushing or oversleeping.
I remember laying there thinking that this was the perfect way to start the day.


But somehow things went from just fine to not,  in no time at all... And I do know that my actions or reactions sometimes perpetuate these things
or at the very least make them worse, you know, and go from not great to really shitty in 0.2 seconds.
That's what happened. It happens.

I heard fighting downstairs and after lots of talking and them pretending to listen yesterday and the day before, I lost it.
There was no screaming but I did yell and lectured and then I was really grouchy and mad.
And then of  course it was time for the kids to leave for Vacation Bible School and for me to go to work and I left feeling like the worst mom
ever, that is obviously doing  E  V  E  R  Y  T  H  I  N  G
wrong or else my kids wouldn't be fighting and I wouldn't be losing my temper and I wouldn't feel like crying on the way to work.
I didn't, because I actually put make-up on and wore a skirt so I wasn't about to cry.
Mostly I was mad.
And stressed.

And then I am mad that I am mad.
I get mad at myself for things that could have been avoided had I given it a few more minutes, been just a little more patient,
been a little more organized and not stressed about
getting out the door late.
Then there are the times that no matter what you do, someone might just be in a grouchy mood, or tired or whatever, and there is absolutely
nothing I can do about that.

But still.
When I have these mornings or days or evenings or weeks, it's really hard not to think of all the ways I am failing.
Because there are so, SO many.
I'm failing in the patience department.
I am failing at the organization thing.
I am failing at the working outside the home thing.
I am failing in the laundry and cooking department and pretty much anything and everything in the house.

I could give you a list a mile long of my shortcomings and sometimes only come up with a couple of things that I am doing right
or even just semi-good.
I think this is normal.
Motherhood can be defeating.
It's hard.
It's a roller coaster.
It's my most important job.
But it's not the only thing I am or the only person I am.
And that can be so overwhelming at times.



Thank goodness that tomorrow is a brand new day.
And we all have another chance.
To do better or do it over or to just another day to give ourselves a little more of a break.




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Margaritas + Feeling Like A Failure Mom(+ A Give-Away)

This week is crazy, crazy.
And not the good kind of crazy... know what I mean?

Maybe two weeks before Christmas, with so much other stuff going on, is not the ideal time to start having big evening events for my new job.
But I have two this week, last night and tonight and I have literally been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
I can't wait until tonight is over.

The other day Charlotte started drawing a book of "Mommy's Favorite Things" and page 1 was a margarita.
She wanted to take the book to school to show her teacher and right now as I am typing this I just remembered that I never checked
her backpack to make sure she didn't.
Ooops.
That margarita is going to be sounding pretty good about 8:00 tonight though....

This morning I am feeling bad about snapping at Charlotte for losing one of her new gloves already, right before she left for school.
And yesterday she wanted me to walk with her class to a play at the University and I couldn't go because I had to work.
I hate saying I can't go.
And I think one day last week was her snack day and I just remembered. Yep.
Got it all together over here, don't I?
Also, my girl has to get a tooth pulled next week and there's more guilt.... my kids have inherited my terrible teeth.
It's so easy to let all of these things overwhelm you, make you feel guilty and less than.


BUT,  I have not failed completely with our Elf this week... it's the little things, folks, and I'm hanging on tight to the little things
I haven't screwed up.
In the midst of the busy craziness our little Elf is something to look forward to every morning.
Even if I forgot last night and Eric hung him off the back door know to make it look as if he was trying to get out of the house(Booooorrrrriing).

One morning we woke up to papers scattered all over the dining room floor.

It looks as though he was trying to draw the perfect self-portrait.

Another morning he got into the basket of CLEAN laundry and scattered socks 

and underwear all over the Christmas tree.

 I can't forget tonight though,  I need a good idea...

and I need to do it before I crawl into bed exhausted tonight...

no more of this hanging off the door handle business.

:::::::::::::::

Look at this post about my little GIVE-AWAY that ends tomorrow.

Leave a comment on this post or any post this week.

A swell little bundle of vintage goodness + one pretty sweet little coffee mug.

50% off everything in My Shop through tomorrow, 12/13/13.

Happy Thursday, y'all.

The Time I Almost Gave Birth In The Hospital Elevator :: Wyatt Is Nine.

Today my boy turns nine years old.
Nine. Years. Old.
This feels like a BIG birthday... but then they all kinda do, huh?
I love Birthdays and  I really love  my kid's Birthdays.
I love making them feel extra-special, I love that the day is all about THEM, I love remembering their previous birthdays and how
much they have grown and just exactly how and when they came into this world of ours.

Indulge me in a little mama rambling and reminiscing this morning, will you?

I knew in my heart that this baby was going to be a boy.
I knew it.
We didn't find out the sex but I insisted the nursery be painted a really pale blue and every time I was shopping I went directly to the baby boy's clothes. 
During my out-of-body-experience-delivery I kept thinking "I wish he would just be out"... and when he did come out and they said "It's a boy"... 
it sounded like the most right thing in the world.
Of course it's a boy.

Wyatt was born early on a Sunday morning, at 4:33 am to be exact.
I woke up after Saturday Night Live was over and felt weird... I didn't know for a couple of hours that I was in "real labor".
My labor was short and painful, it was my first time... I had no idea what to expect.
I got to the hospital such a short time before he was born that it was too late for medication... which was a really good thing considering
I thought I might attempt a drug-free birth, anyway.
I ended up having no choice.
I walked into the hospital and kept stopping while I had a contraction, I could have very well given birth in the elevator during a horrible
contraction...  when I got into the room and was checked I was dilated to 10.
Ooops.
So much for not wanting to look stupid by getting to the hospital too early.

{Making a wish on his birthday candles this morning... }

This boy has taught me everything.
He made me a mom.
He is the sweetest, kindest, smartest boy I know.
He has a great big heart, he is funny and wise beyond his years.

It was a long road to becoming a mom for the first time.
Trying and trying and stress and tears and dr. appointments, medications, specialists, surgeries, shots, bills... more stress and tears.
It was a long stressful road but at the end there was Wyatt, the sweetest most perfect baby in the whole world.
And I feel like the luckiest mommy in the whole world, even on the worst of worst days.

Happy 9th Birthday Wyatt James.

What An Awesome Mom Really Looks Like

Let me tell you, a few years ago I would not have been able to write a post like this... and when I was
a new mom? Forget about it. No way.
But along the way in this whole Parenting thing, you really do learn so, so much.
And I am still learning and will never have all the answers, because no one ever will... but we learn as
we go, that's for sure.
OH- and one of the most important things I have learned so far?
That just as soon as you thing you have tackled something with your kids, beat it, figured it out and have it under control--
something new will pop up. Always.

Not long ago I was at a baby shower and everyone was asked to give the new mom advice.
Oh, people have advice, yes they certainly do have advice.
You know what I wish I knew when I was a new mom, or a mom of a 1-year old + a 3-year old...
a 2-year old + 4-year old, etc?
That there is no right way to do it, nobody has it all together(nobody!) and to follow you gut.

Let me say that again ::

1. There is no "right way" to do it
2. Nobody has it all together. NOBODY. So stop comparing yourself to other parents. NOW.
3. Follow your gut.

This applies to parenting at all ages and stages, not just babies but toddlers and preschoolers, school-aged children,
pre-teens and teenagers. Everyone.
Of course I haven't gotten past age 8 yet,  but I'm sure it does. Right?
It is so incredibly easy to compare yourself to other people and as mothers I think it is increasingly difficult not to do so.
Wouldn't you agree?
She's more organized, her kids are better behaved, her kids will eat anything, her kid is reading
already and speaking Spanish, her child does not throw fits, her child doesn't hit/bite/talk back... her kids are always on High Honor Roll .... the list could go on and on.

I think that every single day, as mothers,  it is easy to get down on ourselves  for a variety of different reasons; we snap at the kids, we lose patience, we never had patience to begin with, we forgot a doctor appointment, we sent our kids to school sick because we didn't believe them when they said they didn't feel good, we didn't show up for our kid's performance at school(remember when I did that? that was a sad day).... again, the list goes on.



One of my favorite things about my real-life mom friends + online mom friends is that everyone is different, so very different and we are all awesomely fantastic moms for a million different reasons.
Tiny reasons +  big reasons and there is always something to learn from each other.
But for some reason it is so much easier to point out our own flaws and what we are bad at, where we fail.
And fail we do, of course we do.
At least I do anyway.... A whole lot.
But there are things that all of us are good at, really good at... that work for us, for our kids, that make things easier/better/happier....
awesome things.
What do you do as a mother, for your kids or in the way you parent, that is really  awesome?

I  LOVE doing messy creative things with my kids, or letting them do messy creative things themselves... paint, glitter, glue,

mud, sand, making potions, digging... you name it. Using their imaginations and making big messes while they do so.

I am no neat freak, that is one thing I will never, ever  be accused of(right, Eric?).

It might be a small thing... but it's a thing.

It's my thing.

So, what is your thing? What are you really awesome at?

And don't be shy, brag on yourself... what are you REally AwesOme at as a mother?
Give me one thing or a whole list.

And have a Happy, happy Tuesday.