34 years

I’ve hit my 34th year of life. I swear most days I still feel as if I’m 17 at heart. I still feel that I look much younger than I really am. I do not at all physically feel 17 though! I sure wish some days! The looking young will benefit me when I’m 80! 

I had a really good weekend. Friday night was filled with kidless, pure adult fun! I ate way to much, had some delicious drinks, played a lot of pool-and just got progressively worse. I talked my game up way too much. I also played ski ball!! It’s been YEARS since I’ve done that. So many memories there! It was a blast. 

Yesterday was my actual birthday. I can proudly say the only thing I really did was walk my 5k, meet my mom to pick up the girls and vacuum-once. It was a very relaxed day. 

I feel as if I should say something wise and smart. I can’t though. I’m always learning something every day. I’m just lucky to be alive, have an amazing family and some pretty cool friends! My biggest take away from life as of late it to always be kind. We don’t know other people’s stories. Especially right now. 

I included a recent pic Henry took of himself with Adrian. He’s such a goofball. 

We are finally into our last week of summer break! I’m SO excited to get back to work!! 

Until next time! 

Hanging around

It’s been another minute since I’ve blogged. Do you ever feel like you can not keep up with anything no matter how hard you try??? That's been my story this entire week. To be 100% specific and honest-I can’t keep up with the boys. They bring a totally different energy level and level of naughty. 

My days typically consist of me walking 3-3.5 miles, cleaning house, doing laundry, feeding kids and repeat. All. Day. Long. Side note-I don’t repeat the walk-unless I have to mow. Some days I hate it...others I don’t. I usually get frustrated because I can’t tell you how many times in one day that I vacuum. When I get the whole upstairs to where I think it looks AH-mazing-the boys have destroyed it while I take a shower or water plants. I mean, I don’t ask for a whole lot! Insert sarcasm here because it’s how I’m rolling with this post and if y’all think I’m dumping complaints I’m not. Just regular good old mom life. But seriously. Boys. They’re SO tough. Maybe it’s because Henry and Adrian are so close in age, but good grief. They’re a handful some days. 

This week they have luckily been able to be outside nearly all day, everyday. They love it. Sometimes it’s impossible for me to get them to come in at night. So today, after we ran up to Altoona, I took them to the park! Well Irving, but we call it the park. We were super excited because two of our cousins where there to play with too! We love our Max and Lili. 

After this we came home, gave Bru a bath and then I let them play with the hose to cool down. I found them in the backyard making mud puddles. 😂 No biggie. Every night is bath night for them right now. I’m trying hard to look at it as making fun memories. 

No matter how stubborn, naughty, sassy, or stinky these two can get-I’d never trade them. Adrian tells me 100 times a day I’m his favorite and Henry is always giving me hugs and kisses. I love my sweet boys for forever. They’re simply the best! 

Tomorrow I get a kid free night! My birthday is Saturday so we’re going out tomorrow night to celebrate! I’m pumped!! So if anyone wants to come say hey we’ll be at Houston’s!! 

Until next time!! 

All eyes on us

I’m slightly freaking out a bit on the inside. School is now officially 2 weeks away for us. We will now be the first school in the state to open. I believe the school board will make the final decision on Monday. 

I didn’t realize there was only one other year-round school in Iowa- in Urbandale. They have since turned to online only. They were set to start on the 23rd! So now that leaves us. I feel like if we do open-all eyes will be on Irving and Indianola as a community. I, in no way want to be nervous going back-but I am. Not because of the virus but because- what if we will all be judged. I give full support to our community and school system. I know that no choice is easy for anyone on any level during all of this pandemic. What I want to see happen if we do 100% open and people see it-I want them to praise our building. Praise all of us for being prepared, taking those extra steps to make sure things are clean, to make sure kids feel safe and aren’t made fun of for wearing or not wearing as mask. I want people to see that Irving is a family. Those kids are our kids. I want to see excitement of being back and hear/see the excitement of learning again! 

Knowing that this year will be SO unlike anything any of us have ever gone through, I want everyone to see that we’re in it together because we’re so tight knit and willing to work together. I want to be as of much help as possible when I can as well. I’m willing to step up and help anywhere and everywhere. 

So anxiety and nerves aside, pending that nothing changes, I am so ready to get back to work and see my kiddos I work with and see my co-workers. I’m ready to see my kids thrive and learn more and come home full of stories about their day! 

I’m including this quote tonight because work is home. For nearly five months we’ve been out of our norm. I’m ready to get normal back. We all are. I know normal will never be what it used to be-but we can all start a new normal and I’m ok with that. 

Until next time! 💜💛

Death in life

We all know that every living thing must die. It’s how the life cycle works. Most people are uncomfortable to even mention death. Some aren’t. I’m somewhere in the middle.

When I was at ISU I had to take a class called Death as a Part of Living. It sounded so morbid to me at the time, but after day one in the class and listening to my professor I wasn’t scared to learn about something that still terrifies me. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been in that class, but I can tell you it prepared me for a lot of new experiences I had later on. I learned that one of the best things to have taken care of is your will. While I still haven’t done that, I have had many conversations about what I want and what I would want with my kids if they still needed care. All that being said-in a nut shell it’s something we all have to be prepared for because no day is promised. 

I had the pleasure of attending the most amazing funeral service today. Following that was another celebration with food, music, laughs, hugs. The love was tangible today on SO many levels. 

As many know by posts I’ve made on Facebook my sister-in-law, Charmaine, her sister, ShaRayne, passed away on July first. I hadn’t gotten the chance to meet her, as our paths never crossed, however, hearing all the amazing stories from today-I’m sad I didn’t. She sounded amazing. From being an amazing child care provider, best sister and daughter to an incredible singer. That’s the part I wish I could have seen in person. I will forever wish we’d met. 

My niece Ava and nephew Tre were at the service. I could hear poor Ava sobbing. She loved her aunt. It made me feel so sad for her, but at the same time, I’m so glad she was able to experience the amazing service that was held and feel and see the love and how everyone comes together in death. There wasn’t anything formal about this service.  It was an open floor to come up and share memories. I think this is truly how any funeral should be. I don’t want to have people be sobbing over me-celebrate me! Tell all about the good, the bad, the ugly and the funny! 

Death doesn’t have to be sad! I mean yes. It is. Obviously. But this family today! I’m in awe. Shasity is Charmaine’s mom. I was finally able to meet her briefly. She is a strong, strong mom! Her uncles. Her friends. Every. Single. Person. amazing. The love. It’s all you could see and feel today. 

Please know that I’m only showing my utmost respect for this family in sharing this experience tonight. I’ve been to a few funerals in my life, but this one just felt so special and right and I left feeling like I knew ShaRayne! 

Family is what it’s all about. We alway stick together. 

Charmaine, Ian, Shasity, and everyone else in the Glass family. Thank you for letting me be part of this day. I send all my hugs and love in the days and months to come. And I’ll proudly wear my shirt and tell about Rayne and the light she shown on you all. ❤️

Pool lovers

Spent yesterday and today up in Conrad. We hung out at my uncles pool. That was fun. It felt so nice. It was also nice to be in an actual pool! So photo bomb I’d out adventures of today! 

We had a jumping session. 











I can’t get Henry to ever pose for pictures any more. He’s very against it! 

And I’ve still got it! I can still do handstands! 

These two pics are from last night. Viola was comforting Adrian after he got stung by that damn wasp. She had her arm around him and it was pretty cute. As you can sorta see Bru came with us. He did awesome! 

Iz and Henry were on my moms phone sending me snapchat after Snapchat. They made me laugh! 


I’ve been fighting headaches this week. I’m SO stressed out and my anxiety is eating at me and I’m fairly confident this is why. Constantly thinking about what school will look like when we go back and what my day will look like has me on edge. I have a very hard time living in the unknown. I’m a very planned out person! 

So my goal now is to get in bed and fall asleep! I hope I’m successful! 

Until next time! 

Breaking bad habits

So I haven’t really had a lot going on other than cleaning and yard work, so I thought I’d go about this kind of different tonight. I also have a few things I need to get off my chest. 

As all know, Vi is my sassy pants. She’s my unicorn baby and is also a sweet and loving girl. Since school has been “out” (I say that loosely because covid and summer blend into one) she’s been acting out more. If she doesn’t get her way she’s been throwing some pretty epic fits. I also think she’s just tired! She doesn’t sleep well. 

I had a very bad habit of hanging out in the kids’ room until they were asleep. I have broken that-finally-with the three youngest. Isabelle is still struggling. Viola has never been a fabulous sleeper. From day one of coming home from birth she was always up all night. She still wakes up multiple times. I usually get so frustrated that I either A-sleep on her floor and sneak out or B-let her sleep in our bed. Both habits are now an immediate no-as of last night. Ryan and I had a solid argument about shutting our door for the night. I won’t lie-it was hard for me. I’ve always been close by to all the kids and now we’re on different levels its admittedly harder for me. BUT! It went somewhat ok though! I heard footsteps around 1 am-turns out Henry got a bloody nose and couldn’t find wipes. I helped him out, got Vi back into her bed-she’d moved in on Adrian-and I went back to my room. That was it. I’m hoping tonight is smoother for me and less stressful. 

I created these habits all on my own. I guess a part of me is holding on to them being little for longer than they need to be. I can’t blame anyone else and I know that. I’ve tried a lot of new things. I use the melatonin gummies, a weighted blanket and nice calming smells to ease into sleep for Vi- and Iz too. Some nights work better than others. 

If anyone else has any ideas please send them my way! I know I was somewhat of a stubborn sleeper but I also vividly remember the night I made it all night without my mom and never looked back! 

So any who. Just had to get that off my chest. 

Until next time! 

Weekend recap

We had a pretty good forth weekend considering all local festivities were canceled because of covid. I’m getting a little tired of saying that-because of covid. I want to say something else as the excuse! ANYWHO

Friday Ryan was off work so I was able to sneak away from home and run some errands alone. I always try my hardest to make this a weekly to do-getting away by myself. I need a mental break-some weeks are of greater need than others. We kicked off the weekend by going out to eat at Houston’s for the first time since March. Physically being in a public place like that felt SO good. We all had fun. Lots of laughs, lots of good food and some pretty delicious drinks. 😉

Saturday was up in the air. We ended up going to a friends down by Murray. We had a late lunch. Boys and girls got their dirt bikes out and and went riding down in the river and woods. We came home and the neighbors put on their own fireworks display for Milo and they didn’t disappoint. It was pretty epic! 

Today was a catch up day. Lots of cleaning and laundry. ALL the kids are in bed early tonight as we were all up way late and some up too early! 

We did set off the fireworks we had. We turn into some pretty big pyros on the 4th! We can’t help it. Just so much fun. 
 

I don’t have too much else to report. Ryan bought another ktm dirt bike. So now he has two. Like a kid in Christmas. 😝

Well I hope everyone stays cool this week. It’s going to be SO hot!! 

Until next time.