Home of the BRAVE

I love this picture for so many reasons. The memories of this day when my brother came home from War, safely. I was so happy for my sister to see her husband again and for our family to be all together again. I love the memory of my daughter enjoying waving the flags and showing our enthusiasm for our love of our country and the soldiers that sacrifice for us.

My heart is so full of gratitude for the men and women who make it possible for us to have the rights we exercise every day. I love the saying "Home of the free BECAUSE of the BRAVE!" My love and prayers go out to these men and women and their families.

THANK YOU

Thank you for your sacrifice you give for me and my family. My God be with you!!

you know you're a M.O.M. when......

a "culture" GNO is Roller Derby.

I love experiencing things I've never done before wether that is traveling around the world, a new cuisine or your local Roller Derby league. I love opening my eyes and heart to all different lifestyles and finding the good in it all. It may not always be something I want to join but it's always a fun time and a new adventure. 

you know you're a M.O.M. when......

.......your arm hair stands at attention the second your child is pooping in the corner, tub, pool, etc.

Sorry for the potty words but it's true! Sometimes we may ignore our intuition because we don't want to deal with it. The fact remains we do have SUPERpowers, the power to sense poop danger.

I hope you all are enjoying the public pools! Don't ignore the arm hair standing at attention.

you know you're a M.O.M. when.......

.......your brilliance is measured by how creative you are and you are the only one telling your self your brilliant!

Ok, maybe not the only one telling you that, but I do say it to myself the most. My kids get sick of me answering them or coming up with a creative idea and then following it up with "I'm BRILLIANT!" I just hope they pick up on the compliment and at the very least say it to themselves like I do.

I have a lot of crazy ideas floating around in this head of mine and I love it when I see the fruit of my thoughts. What creative fruit have you or do you want to see?

cousin lovin

One of the curses of this summer if that some of our cousins are MIA. Their life adventures took them to two different sides of the USA and our hearts miss them lots. We love all of these kiddos and all the amazing times we have had. We look forward to the fun times we will have visiting them at their new homes. Till we embrace again!

you know you're a M.O.M. when......

.......summer time is a joy and a curse.

Share with me pics of how you love and hate the summer time.

times change, WHY?

At this time of war against M.O.M.s I wander why we have evolved to SUPER MOM?

Throughout time moms have had "help" be it wet nurses, nannies, governesses, etc.  Now I am in NO way saying that the "help" was always rightfully compensated or morally justified, but the actual "help" I agree with, WHY oh WHY did it go away? Why am I expected to raise well groomed, accomplished, intelligent, inspiring young beings ALL on my own? Maybe this is why children are so difficult in this day and age because us parents are out numbered? AND expected to be SUPER and to use all of our talents and resources to "Make the world a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race"?

Here's my solution.....bring back "The Brady Bunch Alice" (without judgement from my neighbors, friends or acquaintances about why can't I do it on my own house) as the normal standard of life, what do you think?
You know The Brady Bunch days where nothing terrible ever happened. haha

you know you're a M.O.M when.....

.....Calgon is calling and you just can't get there.

Some of you may not remember the old Calgon commercials that had a woman is a bathtub full of Calgon bubbles and she's saying "Calgon take me away". 

This last week with the Rock has been tough, no matter how much sensory input I give it's not enough. There's been a lot of screaming, tantrums and destruction. Not much sleep happening either. I know this too shall pass, but for now the Calgon's calling and I just can't get there, soon.....hopefully.

what do you do?

I have very spirited children and if you haven't noticed children get bigger and mouthier. It doesn't matter how big they get the fear of what will happen when you're not there can be immobilizing. I am ALWAYS in a state of anxiety, especially with the Rock having autism and no fear with above average gross motor skills. So being in Australia SO far away was very difficult and I did a pretty good job not letting in consume me, (thanks to the help of my babysitting team), UNTIL you get that dreaded text......

The Rock was in the backyard playing when I (babysitter) noticed he was playing with a mouse in his hand. He was running around with it and flipping it (like autistic kids do). I realized it was dead, when he had blood on his shirt. I finally got it out of his hands and washed him up, threw the shirt away, anything else I should do?

Oh My Heck! My initial reaction was he's going to die (because my husband added to the story that my son put the mouse in his mouth). I then calmed down and handled the situation and all is well. We will always have the crazy mouse story to tell the Rock for the rest of his life.

What crazy autism and/or children stories do you have?

you know you're a M.O.M when.....

.....you decide a trampoline (aka death trap) is the ONLY way you will PEACE this summer.  I have said NO to a tramp for 14 years now and have finally been broken down by the Rock. He canNOT seem to find enough sensory input so here it is a tramp in our backyard for everyone to enjoy!

Thanks to Spunky and her friends that were up for the challenge of figuring out the trampoline building puzzle. It was actually really fun working together and having an awesome time when it was done. 

How will you find peace this summer?