As my daughter approaches the “tween” stage, I have noticed that every glimmer of childlike play has become precious and savored. Every time she plays outside with the neighbor kids could be the last time she is ever interested in doing so. Now, I promise you, I did not squander the moments of her childhood away, but there must have been moments where the mundane act of riding her bike or throwing a ball with a neighbor boy lost lustre in my eyes. Her childhood flew by so. Darn. Fast! My oldest child has taught and is still teaching me so much in my motherhood journey. She helps me be…
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Is Facebook a Tap or a Drain?
Our daily goals are achieved by how many taps or drains we allow access to our brainspace. Let me explain. We have all had that feeling before. We wake up, get the kids to school, get a cup of coffee, make a list of all the productive things we will do today… then we check our Facebook real quick. Suddenly, you are inexplicably involved in a fight between your sister-in-law’s, signed up to bring cookies to the class party tomorrow, ordered a new pair of shoes that will tie together our entire wardrobe (laugh!) and making a new recipe for chicken Parmesan tonight for which we have no ingredients and…
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Becky’s Museum of Useless Clutter
Marie Kondo will agree, you can let go of the sentimental clutter. Here’s how I did it
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A Reader in Bloom
SuperSnap has come such a long way in her reading. I have a hard time relating because I LOVED to read and tested out of HIGH SCHOOL in reading when I was a first grader. 😳 (no one knows how I even learned, it was a TOTAL mystery) 🤷♀️ So, when my brilliant and beautiful daughter proclaimed that she didn’t enjoy reading, I scraped and scrapped every possible avenue to help her enjoy reading. I tried everything. Reading reward charts, incentives, silly stories, reading to dogs…The only thing I couldn’t properly manufacture at home was REAL peer competition, an obvious struggle for a rural homeschooling family. This kid thrives on…
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“Is she too old to trick-or-treat?”
I’ve been wondering to myself lately, at what age does the childhood wonder taper off so dramatically that your child becomes a teenager, or even worse…adult? My oldest daughter, SuperSnap, is 10 years old this year. I’m already wondering, at what point will she tell me she’s too old to trick-or-treat? The sadness of this looming moment is overwhelming to my mommy heart. Our family takes great joy in holidays and in getting completely wrapped up in the festivities, fun and excitement. For Halloween we always have an elaborate family costume theme, we have done so since before the kids were born, in fact. Somewhere in my mind I realize…
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Flatwoods Park and Wetlands
This Labor Day we took the chance to spend some family time together having a small picnic and nature walk at Flatwoods Park and Wetlands in Ellettsville IN. There is a nice playground, covered picnic shelters, restroom and guided/paved hiking trail. This was easy to take a stroller along with sleeping baby. The paths are dotted with informational signs explaining the wetlands. Not that my kids cared, they were more into the benches and resting spots. Haha. We found some nice leaves 🍁 Hard to believe they are already starting to turn colors and fall. It’s nice to take the kids away from the screens and noise to spend some…
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Review of Hickam Harbor Beach
On my recent trip to Hawaii, I discovered a hidden treasure. Hickam Harbor Beach! This beach is a BEAUTIFUL turquoise and PERFECT for beginner watersports because the water is not as choppy and the waves are very small and tame. There is a break in the surf, waaaay back off the beach. It reminded me of “Moana” when they weren’t allowed to go beyond the reef. Far off in the distance you can see the big ol’ blue and the larger ships, but Hickam Harbor just moves at a slower pace. You can rent watersport equipment here at Hickam Beach for CHEAP! These prices are fractions of the cost of…
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Baby Snap is ONE!
My LAST baby has turned one. I will never again have an infant of my very own, and surprisingly, i’m OK with this. BabySnap was a MAJOR blindside, but she has been a great addition to our family. She is so precious and good natured. I mean, she is always being the picturesque, cute baby. We will often find her sitting quietly, sweetly holding a baby doll or teddy bear. She is so sweet that it’s ridiculous. haha! We had a big family party for her (and her big sis) this past weekend, but today we decided to celebrate her on her physical birthday by taking a trip to the…
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Build-A-Bear and CHILL
So, Build-A-Bear is like, this magical DIY toy store that children of today are blessed with. We didn’t have BAB when I was a kid, not that I would’ve ever been allowed to step foot into their store because we were poor as beans and I was a total spazz who would’ve undoubtedly knocked over a display of teddy bear roller skates while practicing my cartwheels in the store trying to get “discovered” by a talent scout…anywho. Some kids get to go, and that’s a total blast for them. (Hip-Hip-Hooray!) Today, this magical toy store decided to offer a super cool special. They called it “Pay Your Age Day.” This…
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Big Woods Pizza and Brewing Co.
My family visited a neat restaurant today. Big Woods Brewery and Pizza Co in Nashville Indiana. We came from a neighboring city to pick up a toddler bed we were buying off Facebook Marketplace. The kids were hungry, we were far from home and this restaurant came up highly recommended, so we gave it a try. The had a great selection of specialty pizzas and craft beers. My husband, DaddySnap, ordered a flight to try a few Left to right: Busted Knuckle, Common Necessity, Hoosier Red and Six Foot Blonde. I’m not much of a beer person, but he is. His favorite from the flight was Busted Knuckle, with Common…
