What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
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“That, my dear, is the last time you will get that picture.” This is the text message I received from my mom after I had sent her a photo of my oldest talking to Santa at the fire hall. In the photo, he’s giving him a bit of a side-eye and the gap between him and Santa is the widest it has ever been. Each year, he tends to scoot a little further away and it feels like every inch he moves away from Santa is one inch closer to his childhood being over. I still remember his first Christmas. He was...
Recently an individual that works at the school stopped me at the grocery store and told me how much she enjoys my son and how kind he is to others. He always says hello to her and gives her a hug and she just appreciates it so much. And while to her this was just a casual conversation, it meant so much more to me than she could have ever guessed. As parents, we are typically in the trenches and it is hard to see down here! We are weighed down with the hustle and bustle of raising children. Socc...
This past week my grandma passed away. She was 91, so it really was a blessing that she was able to leave her earthly body, as she had suffered multiple strokes in her last several years of life. When I was a sophomore in high school she had her first major one — that was almost 17 years ago. It’s been over half of my life that she had been dealing with the after effects and sadly I feel like I mourned the grandma I knew as a child a long time ago. I spent so many Sundays at their house after ch...
I can’t believe it’s time for school already. I love being home with my kids in the summer, but at this point I am tired of running my dishwasher twice a day, I’ve become a snack vendor and my house is like a small-scale version of fight club. We have had a great time together, but it’s definitely time for us to disband. Back-to-school was my favorite time as a kid. I loved picking out school supplies, getting new clothes and coordinating the first day of school bike ride with my friends...
This past weekend we celebrated the one year anniversary of my mom’s life-saving open heart surgery. We gathered with family and friends to soak up each other’s love and company, because a milestone like that is something to celebrate! May 1, 2021 was a life changing day for not only my mom, but for my whole family as well. I will never forget the nerves, tears, and celebratory hugs of that day. Another reason I’ll never forget it is because it was also the day my middle son broke his arm at soc...
I used to hate when people would say to me like “You’re going to miss this,” “don’t blink,” or “the days are long but the years are short.” I remember a friend saying something along those lines when our middle child was a newborn. I was extremely sleep-deprived, covered in spit up, hadn’t showered in a few days and felt like I was losing my sanity by the hour. Why would anyone miss this? But now, we are at the stage of parenting where the days feel like years and the years feel like seconds...
Back to school is here. The hustle and bustle of cramming in last minute family vacations, shopping for school supplies, getting back into regular bedtime routines and saying our sweet goodbyes to pool days and fire pit nights. As a kid, I remember picking out new shoes for school as being my favorite part of the back to school season, so I let my two oldest do the same. My middle (starting kindergarten) picked out some red, white and blue shoes because they reminded him of Captain America. My...
Wheat harvest is rapidly approaching and I often get sentimental this time of year. There’s something magical about it. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the rush of adrenaline when equipment starts heading to the fields. I love the way the wheat dust settles in with the sunset, the roar of the grain elevator heard from a distance and the lights of the combine turning on like lighthouses on the shore. It’s a fast-paced, busy, non-stop ride that we somehow look forward to with both exc...
Two is somehow my most and least favorite. It’s a stage that comes with so much fun and new found independence, but also with a formidable dose of tantrums and tears. There’s not a button that goes unpushed by my two-year-old on a daily basis, and if anyone is needing a theatrics coach, he’s your guy. This is my third time through the “terrible twos” and you would think I’d have a little bit of a handle on it by now. It turns out that toddlerhood smacks you in the face even when you think you’r...
At some point in my motherhood journey, I had convinced myself that to be the best mom I could be I had to give up everything that made me who I was before I had kids. I told myself that being a good mom meant spending every waking second that I possibly could with my children; devoting myself entirely to their happiness instead of my own. Being a good mom meant I had to give up girls nights, weekday beers, cussing and any type of spontaneity. Let me be clear: I did not give up all of those thin...
‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house A bomb had exploded that water could not douse The stockings that were hung on the entertainment stand with care Were ripped down and scattered and nobody knew where The ornaments from the tree were strewn about And mama herself was about to freak out The toddler no longer nestled all snug in his bed But rather half-naked screaming off his head Mama still in her pajamas and it’s half past noon Daddy just hopes she’ll shower sometime soon Wh...
4 sucks. We’ve all said it and we’ve all felt it really deep in our bones. COVID has taken a lot of things away from us and it’s easy to get so focused on what we’re missing that we may have missed wonderful things happening right in front of our eyes. It was hard for me not to feel personally attacked by COVID this year, especially with two of my kids being in school. The oldest had a quarter of his kindergarten year taken away from him. He didn’t get to do those fun spring activities like t...
We were preparing for school pictures last week and my middle child was adamant on having “rock and roll hair” for his. I tried and tried to talk him out of it, but he kept insisting that he has a mohawk for his picture. I showed him how I was going to do his brother's hair in a nice side part, and pulled out a new polo, hoping the brand-new shirt would sway him. As much as I hoped he would forget about the hair, he never did. He’s my wild child. Or a “strong-willed” child as some will deli...
As a mother of young children (three boys, for that matter), I am no stranger to the smelliness that accompanies their little bodies. Dirty diapers, vomit, stinky shoes, farts, sweaty clothes, spoiled milk, etc. I’ve smelt it all. This past weekend I went upstairs to change sheets on all the beds when I felt like I had been sucker punched square in the face with this horrible odor. I checked Wade’s room to make sure a poopy diaper didn’t get left in the trash. I checked Knox and Otis’ bedroom...
My kids haven’t asked about school. It’s not even a blip on their radar at this point, when usually we’re gearing up for it with some back-to-school shopping, talking about their new teachers and wondering what their new classroom will be like. It’s not that they don’t like school, they just don’t really know what the plan is (neither do I) so they don’t know what questions to ask. We’ve talked about how it will look different this year, but our conversations usually end pretty quickly. Never...
The day you become a parent, you are given this enormous responsibility and privilege to raise a child. A responsibility and privilege so great that everything else falls by the wayside. Everything we do becomes solely about the children; it completely changes our lives. Our priorities, our schedules, our dinners, even the TV programs and music we listen to change. It is both a blessing and a curse to begin this journey, because when we’re busy being the best parent we can be, we start sucking a...
We are a farm family, so playing with tractors, combines, semis, barns and cows is commonplace. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stubbed my toe on a toy tractor or vacuumed up a barnyard animal. The boys love to farm whatever dad is farming at the time, and (for the most part) work as a good team to get their carpet fields harvested. Last week, we were taking a break from harvesting to let a field dry out a bit so the boys and I were just hanging out at the farm waiting for the go ahead fro...
We had just gotten home last Saturday night around 8 p.m. and by 8:30 p.m., our two massive trees had blown over, barely missing our house. It was a whirlwind, to say the least (see what I did there?). I had just put our youngest to sleep in his room upstairs, which is on the front side of the house. The older two were watching TV in our living room, also on the front side of the house. As I was coming down the stairs from putting Wade to bed, Knox started screaming “Mom! Mom! Mom!” in a sca...
I try to keep three or four frozen pizzas on hand. I buy them at the beginning of the month and limit myself to cooking up one a week; only on those days when things are crazy or if I just don’t have it in me to make a nice meal. I always try my hardest to save pizzas for Fridays, but when life gets away from me (as it often does), pizza ends up being served even earlier in the week. Sometimes we could make it to Friday, but more and more often I end up cooking a pizza on a Tuesday. As a kid, W...
Since the weather has gotten nicer, we’ve been spending a ton of time outside. My boys could be out there from sunrise to sunset just digging in the dirt, playing on their playground or roaming the place. They are usually muddy, dirty, smelly messes by the time the day is over in the summer and I love it. Lately, we’ve been trying to go for bike rides or walks. We live about half a mile from the dirt road, so often we will get on our bikes and ride down to the dirt road and back in the eve...
I hope all of you mamas had a blessed day with your families or I hope they left you alone if that was your Mother’s Day wish. No judgement, I get it. Each passing Mother’s Day makes me feel more and more emotional. They often say that you don’t really appreciate everything your mom has done for you until you are a mom yourself and I would have to agree with that. Most of all, I appreciate that she didn’t drop me off at a fire station. Motherhood is tough because there are so many simulta...
Being in quarantine with boys is like living in Lord of the Flies*. My oldest is Ralph. He makes the rules, tries to maintain some type of order and has power and influence over the others. My middle child is Jack. He is strong willed, desires power over all things and is constantly pushing the limits of his subordinate role. Our youngest is Samneric, who are really twins Sam and Eric, but are often viewed as one person. He is excited easily, can be physically dominated and mostly exists in his...
What a crazy time we’re in right now, huh? I’ve gone back and forth on this quarantine and social distancing thing a lot. When things first started being cancelled, closed and shut down, I thought we were overreacting in the most dramatic fashion. But the more I read about this, talk to people and mull it over, I think that this time, while extremely difficult in some respects, is the opportunity we all need to reconnect with our families. I will be the first to admit that I have no int...
We parents have big hopes and dreams for our children. As soon as they start figuring out that life exists beyond the four walls of their home, they start dreaming of what their future selves will become. Popular in our house are a farmer, a basketball player, a firefighter and of course, Spiderman. Like all parents, I want what's best for my kids. I daydream of my kids' future careers: a doctor, a farmer, a scientist, an investor, a teacher. I want them to be successful and strive for their...
