Our Random, Fun Life!

Adam and I love taking our kids to sporting events. That is one reason why we are loving being here at West Point. We can take our kids to a variety of events from football and lacrosse to women's basketball and men's gymnastics to hockey and sprint football. We get to expose them to so many things that we may not have been able to elsewhere. With some of the sports, we can teach them about the game while we are there. For other sports, we get to learn about them together. Payton and Adam with Mr. Fulton at the West Point Open From a very young age (3 and 1), we are getting the opportunity to expose our kids to sports and competition. And sometimes, there is a moment where everything comes together. Yesterday, we went as a family to the Patriot League Women's Basketball Championship where Army played Holy Cross. We left the house very early to grab a quick bite to eat, and then headed for the game about an hour early. We had amazing seats in the second row behind the...

I have hosted several parties for various home-based businesses, from Lia Sophia to Thirty-One to Arbonne. I love hosting get-togethers at my house. It is so much fun to bring friends together from different walks of life and hang out and try out new drinks and appetizers. If you are thinking of hosting a home-based business party but need a little more motivation, here's my list of reasons for why I love hosting and hopefully it will tip the scales in favor of hosting. 1. You get to try out all those Pinterest drinks and appetizers that you've pinned and haven't made yet.      I have a board called 'Favorite Recipes' that I use to pin things I want to try. As soon as I try them, I either delete them if they were not good or way too difficult to make or I add my comments and date I made it. I love finding fun and easy recipes to try. And they aren't always recipes; sometimes they are just about the presentation. But yes, the attendees at the parties are my gu...

Our family was driving to run errands and we decided to grab a bite to eat. We asked our daughter if she wanted to go to Applebee's or to Sonic. She replied with, "Payton wants to go to Applebee's." My husband then asked her why she was speaking in the third person. Without skipping a beat, she replies with, "you're a third person." ----------------------- I asked my daughter to go upstairs and get ready for bed. She gave me a dirty look and told me that she didn't want to. I told her that if she wants to continue to give me a dirty look, she could just stay upstairs after getting ready for bed. She walked away and started going upstairs. She turned around on the landing of the stairs and still has a dirty look on her face. I give her a stern look in return to which she all of a sudden gives a little angelic smile with the slightest tilt of her head as if to say, "aren't I so cute mom." She is 3.5 years old; can't wait for those tee...

To the outside world, I try to be calm and polite. I keep my annoyances to myself and I try not to let people see when I am getting aggravated. I do not proclaim to be like my grandmom; I never heard her say anything negative about anyone. But I do try to simply smile and go about my business. My husband is wonderful as he listens to me at the end of the day when I've had enough of the outside world. I often tell him that I am going to say something, but he knows me better than that. He likes to remind me that I'm a lot of talk and not a lot of action. I hate it, but it's true. You know that you are a friend when I tell you about the things that other people do that bothers the bejeezus out of me. You know you are family when I can tell you the things that bother me about you. But there are a couple of things that I want to get off my chest.  1. Be a GOOD neighbor! I cannot stand a bad neighbor. When it snows, shovel. When the leaves fall and they are scattered all...

Before I begin, let me just say that I am not a parenting expert. I have two kids who I absolutely love and adore and great parents who raised me. I do not think that I have all the answers, or that how others choose to raise their children is better or worse than what I do with my kids. To each his own. I did, however, feel compelled to write this blog after many weeks of people "attacking" one another through social media and after many, many lessons with my oldest on how she should behave with her brother. Playing nicely together on Christmas morning I have this philosophy when it comes to raising kids that I have been passing on to my kids, and that philosophy is 'worry about yourself.' Most people would look at that phrase and think, "my goodness, how selfish." But I contend that it is anything but selfish. Payton, my 3 year old, often comes to me with the all-too-common-in-our-household phrase, "Austin did this..." or "Austin di...

I nominated mom today for the Live with Kelly and Michael's Search for Unstoppable Moms. Here is the submission: There are so many things that make my mom unstoppable. While her children are all grown up, mom still cares about us and leads by example as much as she did when we were little. My mom is one of the strongest people I know. My dad is currently going through chemo and radiation for esophageal cancer and my mom has been not only his rock, but my sister and my rock as well. From the moment we found out dad had cancer, mom has been by my dad's side and has shown great faith and hope. She asked my sister and I to make sure people were informed, and sends us regular updates to upload to my blog and dad's Caring Bridge site. She takes my dad to his appointments, feeds him through his feeding tube, and gives him his daily injections. She's even decided that we are doing the Glo Run in August when dad is all better, which will be a great and fun run with our fami...

Sometimes it's hard for us to believe that God really does have a plan for us. Often, we don't see it until after it has happened. So why is it so hard sometimes to believe that there is a plan when we are reminded time and again. Looking back over our 5 years of marriage, I now know that every place we've been and the length of time we've been there have been a part of God's plan. What we sometimes called "luck," wasn't really luck at all. When we first were married, we lived in Savannah, GA while my husband was stationed at Ft Stewart. While there, we met our very best mutual friend, were able to spend time in Florida with Adam's grandpa before he passed away, and rescued Chance who has been our protector. Nick, our mutual friend (basically we met him around the same time and all 3 became friends together), is our daughter's godfather and brings us lots of laughs and smiles. Chance is our protector dog. Ok, so mostly he's my prote...