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12 in 2014 {linking with Dwija}

January 4, 2015

I’m late to this game, Dwija, will you still take me?? I’ve been scrolling through my friends 12 moments in the year 2014 and finally had 20 minutes alone to share mine. It was a really big year, and it was a small year, and it was everything in between. Instead of blog links, because I feel like I already did that a bit in my New Year post, I’m just going to do 12 photos that captured our year. Love love love, late//tardy//nell//me       We celebrated my brother’s safe return from deployment by all getting together at the beginning of the year!   One of my best friends from law school got married on the beach in Florida. I got to be a bridesmaid!!   Two of my favorite friends ran a fermented foods workshop in our kitchen. Let’s just say my gut bacteria was impressed.   SuperBoy and his bestie practicing being priests. This little boy’s mom is one of my absolute favs!   My life-long friend and I got to be pregnant at the same time with two boys who are bound to be best friends! She looks so fabulous here, and even though I was due before her, I definitely look like it’s my third 😉   Double birthday with my baby girl. She was the best birthday present ever!   emily rumsey photography Another super close friend with her adorable boy. These kids of mine are so lucky to grow up being surrounded…

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how to get inside the holiday spirit {{review, gift, and coupon code}}

December 2, 2014

Step 1: do not go out of town for Thanksgiving. Lap up the days & days of your spouse being home, roasting fires, knitting in front of said fires, and making sure the crawling standing six month old doesn’t hurl himself into said fire. Step 2: decorate for Christmas (or whatever you’re celebrating) right after you’ve consumed more freshly whipped cream than your postpartum jeans thought were humanly possible. Step 3: bust out your Holy Heroes paraphernalia and go to town catechizing your kids via CD and coloring books. But seriously. Jenny from Holy Heroes is a superwoman I met at the Edel Gathering. I LOVED the Holy Heroes cd my friend Cynthia (check out her etsy skillz, for seriously) gave SuperBoy for his birthday but we needed something fresh. We were maxing out on Curious George books on tape (I mean CD, I mean digital file, I mean beam me to the next galaxy and back) and when I saw her booth I practically trotted up to her shouting My four year old wants to be an altar boy so badly and is obsessed with all things Catholic–I need loot. She obliged! She sent over the Joyful Rosary CD and accompanying coloring book AND the Best Loved Prayers of the Mass CD and coloring book. Stop. … Hang on. … Yup. He’s listening to it right now. He repeats the Mass prayers and not-so-gently instructs his sister and cousin on them. Complete with practicing the EF in Latin, he now can…

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Bocce Ball in 7 Quick Takes

September 25, 2014

— 1 — It’s been too long, Jen & crew! I’m back. Quick taking it. In seven. Really it’s all about the bocce ball. So go here to Bridget talking about taming the toddler instead. Or here to Christy and see what she’s been reading. Britt made pecan pie muffins. I just died from joy. Speaking of death by food, did you know Laurel had a food blog??? //// Back to bocce ball game from h-e-double hockey  sticks. My dad plays it every late afternoon with the old geezers in the neighborhood. But when the owner of the set leaves town, he is the keeper. Enter: my children who watch the guys play now get to play. It’s intense. She wants to measure. He wants to measure. He wants both pagnigno (spelling whatever) balls. Imagine their reactions. Imagine the croc tears.   — 2 — — 3 — More fighting. I wish I could say his pained expression is fake. It’s real. So much more where that came from. — 4 — She takes off. With the yellow ball. Her fav. Her coveted. Her precious. Insert Gollum here. — 5 — And he wins. He beat himself. Record, really. Those lovely blueberry bushes? Didn’t produce a da*n blueberry this year. We need to recheck our acidity in the soil. Did that sound like I know what I’m talking about? Because I don’t. But overhead AA telling my dad that. — 6 — She was thoroughly unimpressed. — 7 — It…

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The 100 Event & 10 better blogging tips

August 13, 2014

I went to Texas. Again. With BabyLoves. In the sling. This time it was for another conference. Last time was all about being women together. And supporting each other. And rap karaoke. This time Megan, Bridget, Lauren, and Grace hosted us. Such sweet hostesses. They went so above and beyond. Every meal was sponsored. The drinks (no alcohol for this paranoid nursing mama) were DELICIOUS {hand squeezed lemonade, anyone?}. All the restaurants we went to were interesting and good, darned good food. The sponsors were generous with their swag and very generous with their insights. Every time I turned around, we were doing something fun and interesting. The ladies even played a little pass-the-baby so I could be bebe free for a few minutes to take notes when he wanted to a-gooop on me. Support these ladies. Follow them. They’re doing great things. I want Bridget’s lipstick. Bloggers of the world: come together for delicious food, amazing gifts, spurring conferences, and the opportunity to have an intimate luxurious weekend to learn, laugh, and love. {love? yes, love. we loved the freedom to wear heels. yes, I wore heels. and yes we had lots of girly moments wherein we said “i just LOVE you!”} My sweet roommate Kelly and her beautiful shop with wood wall hangings, Britt of the infamous cattle ranching in New Mexico {infamous for her beautiful photos and fabulous style}, Olivia of her lifestyle blog & handsome son who is my son’s best friend. They drooled on each other. Can’t…

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Teaching sharing: family vacation with 6 kids under 4 years old

July 29, 2014

We had such a blessed family vacation! Almost two weeks of cousin bliss. Our siblings came from south & east coasts and with their kiddos, the house was burgeoning with cries of joy and despair. Oh you know those sounds. “It’s MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” “You HAVE to share with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!” “No, NO, NOO!!!!!!” Punctuated by SuperBoy’s newly minted fresh attitude (I’m 4 going on 14) and SweetPea’s strident possessiveness of all things that she may have seen, or touched, in her lifetime, the little cousins were so sweetly abominable to each other. My saintly nieces, 3 and 7 months, were snatched from, screamed at, tormented, and stepped on. They valiantly tried to give as good as they got, though the little 7 month old just looked perplexed as did our adorable Godson and nephew, 12 months. Those two, and BabyLoves, were out of the running for loudest child ever. My fav? When V, 3, would fancy a toy, and then SuperBoy & SweetPea would literally chase her into the ground to get it back. It was like she was the huntee and they the hunters–painful, painful to watch. Yet we did, we moms. We sat back with the bambinos nursing and pretended we couldn’t hear most of it. They were learning to share with some intervention, mostly narration, and a few time outs. It’s never long enough, we never can get enough time or conversation in, and I loved every single minute our time at the Lodge, the hanging around the house,…

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I Believe in Love guest post & my sewings on a gift guide

July 19, 2014

What I really want to write about was our epic family vacation. Epic. Staycation for our immediate family, ca-y-cation for those out of towners who traveled with their wee ones to join in the party. 6 kids under 4. 11 adults in the house. We all fit, somehow. And no one died. But while I’m editing the photos and weeding out all the ones where no one is looking at the camera, or my mom cut off the heads of some, find me on other places on the internet. Do you follow I Believe in Love? Well, you should. It’s an awesome project. I wrote for them about coping with being the at-home parent, but that it’s not a competition for who suffers more between AA&me. Read it here. And I partook (partaked?) in a baby gift guide with a couple of things from my etsy shop. See the gift guide here. Scroll. Keep scrolling. I’m number 5, the chenille wipes. Love those wipes. Most importantly, know that I haven’t put away my clean clothes for a month so they’re in a big pile on the floor of my closet and I can’t find a thing to wear. I rummage and rummage but only encounter AA’s work socks and my hoodie sweatshirts. Where are my nursing tanks? Where’s something that doesn’t smell like cottage cheese / baby spit up?? In closing, I’m going to this amazing conference/cocktail party in Texas next weekend. I’ve been planning for it for . .…

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