Let Them Sleep...

"Let her sleep for when she wakes, she will move mountains"

As a mom, one of life's mundane acts always makes my mind reel back to when the kids were babies; sleeping. When they are sleeping, it washes away any frustrations from the day or arguments. They are just my sweet, precious little babies.

I have been very busy at work lately. In some ways, I love this. Since I enjoy my work-time being filled with things to do. Lately, it has been to the point that I have worked way more than my usual amount of time. It has been exhausting. For all of us. Will has been awesome at helping with the items I usually do at home. He is worn out since he already does a lot at home.

I am very fortunate that my work schedule is pretty flexible. I try to make sure I have a few early days each week, so that I can come home and spend time with the kids and Will. The past month or so that has not been as easy. I have had late nights more often than not. I think it will slow down this next week. Fingers-crossed.

One of my favorite time of day is story-time and laying with the kids while they fall asleep. I love that they are still at an age where they want me to lay down with them. They both want to hold my hand as they fall asleep.

I love the questions they ask about the poems we are reading and our whatever our current book. Right now we are reading a book of poems by Shel Silverstein, which opens it up for a lot of questions! We are also reading Pete's Dragon.

Anyways, I am so glad that I can still sneak these moments in. We may not always get reading in, but I can still lay with them and snuggle.




Colin's face was covered, so no pictures of him this time.


                                       ~ Love, Hugs &  Kisses ~
                                                     The B Family

Our Canvas: My Painting Buddy

Meli has been my most consistent painting partner. Colin will join in occasionally. Will and I are even going to have a night where we drink wine and try our hands at a Bob Ross tutorial! We have been watching those at night for fun. I cannot believe I did not watch him as a kid. This Christmas, I totally scored in the art department with canvases, acrylics, oils, an awesome wood box/easel. Thrilled me to my core! I am inspired to really invest time in this hobby.

To get Meli comfortable with paints, she will pick out something she wants to paint. Then I will draw a basic outline for her to follow. Then she paints away.

Then I get to work on my own painting next to her.

Heart & Rainbow

Black Kitty in a field of flowers

 We are making some final touches on it today.

 ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

                                                                       The B Family

Our Canvas: Seasonal

After years of not touching a brush, I have decided to pick up painting again. I was never a full-blown painter, but I enjoyed it during my school years. I was always more of a sketcher with pencil or charcoal and still not necessarily very good.

Since the kids have been able to walk (possibly before) we have had art time. We have explored watercolors and finger paints. Now we are exploring acrylics and soon oils and different techniques. Meli has loved moving to canvases and using my tall easel. I seem to always get my small wooden table one, which I actually do prefer.

Over the past few months we have stuck to some seasonal themes. Meli and Colin both did a fall foliage inspired piece. For this one we bundled Q-tips together and the kids used them for the leaves. I thought this method was pretty neat. The Q-tips added a cool texture.

Colin's tree

Meli kind of sits like I used to when creating!

Colin's tree

Meli's tree

Meli is the only one that did a Christmas one. She will want to paint on her own often.

She has started to explore mixing colors. 

                                                          ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                   The B Family

Double Digits...What?!

My affectionate, honest, and fun first-born turned 10 a little over a month ago. I think that out of the milestones we have come to, this one has been the most difficult for me. We are starting on the next chapter of parenting. The next set of years are going to be ones more challenging on us to teach what is right and to provide the skills to handle situations on his own. Leaving the early childhood years behind (for at least one of our kids) is not going to be easy.  I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we have and for building a strong bond with my lovable son. I am so proud of Colin.

I am in utter shock that we are at this point. The last 10 years have gone by in a blink. Literally feels like I closed my eyes and when I opened them he is talking about coding and relationships. It seems like he went from this small bundle in my arms to this kid asking about girls in a fleeting moment. I feel ill-prepared for this next phase of Colin's childhood.

It has really put in perspective how much we need to hold onto these moments even more. I am loving every hand hold, hug, kiss, question, and reading time. These are the memories that I will miss. I know there will be a day that Colin will not want to hold my hand. Or will tell me that he would rather just read to himself at night.

I am so grateful that one of his love languages is time spent. Hopefully, he will need that from me for a long, long time.

I am so thankful for a son who has made being a mother so easy. I love his sense of justice, his genuine goodness, and that child-like wonder that makes him so kind and curious.


                                                                   ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                               The B Family

My Little Witch

I am so far behind on my posts. My goal was to write one per blog each week. That is totally not happening at the moment. Work has been extremely busy, but I am hopeful that it is calming down soon. Need to be thankful for the periods that make you realize how nice you have it. My job is usually very flexible and allows for me to have a lot of family time. This last month not so much, but I am grateful that most of the time it does.

These pictures are from October. Seems like ages ago. I love watching Meli play when she does not know that I can see her. She gets lost in her own world of make believe and it is just magic to witness. I love her playful, creative, imaginative side. I am glad that the kids get so much use out of their costumes well pat October. Totally worth the money.

She was playing "potions". Meli loves to use my kitchen items to play pretend with. Yes, there is a bottle of beer in the picture. Yes, she was playing with it. It is part of our Halloween decorations. We have collected over the years some cool fall/Halloween beer and wine bottles.

                                                            ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                    The B Family

A Thanksgiving Revelation

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalms 100:4

I love that song that is based on that Psalms. "I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heard. I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for He has made me glad." We would sing this song at church a lot. One of my favorites. Yesterday was such a good and needed reminder of all that I have to be grateful for. It is so easy to get caught up in all that I am failing at and all of the things I need to improve on. Things to make me a better parent, employee, wife, person, etc. I think it is good to do self-reflection and work on improving ones self, but there is a fine line between that being too hard on ourselves. We need to celebrate our successes. 

It was affirmed to me yesterday, that I am where I should be. I am with who I am meant to be with. I am a parent to two amazing kids. At times, I feel that I am doing horribly, but I can see in the eyes of my kids, that most of the time I am doing a pretty decent job.

I hope everyone had a lovely day spent with family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving! Blessings to you and yours! 

                                                               ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~ 

                                                                      The B Family

Witches, Pirates, and Candy!

Both of our kids love Halloween. Meli probably puts it right up there with Christmas. That makes complete sense for a kid who wears some kind of costume at least a few days a week. Yesterday, I came home from work and she was still wearing the kitty ears that she had on when I left early that morning.

Colin usually knows right away what he would like to dress up as. Meli changes quite often and starts planning once she sees the signs for the local Halloween store. COMING SOON. Well, she actually starts planning earlier than that. She has already started her ideas for next year.

This year, we were going to be two pirates (Will and Colin) and two kitty pirates (Meli and I). Meli was torn between wanting to do a family thing and really wanting to be a kitty.

I convinced her to be a witch. Each year, I take the kids south after the school day ends to enjoy trick-or-treating where we used to live. They close the downtown area of all traffic and all of the businesses get into it. They have bounce houses, games, and lots of candy. They even have a haunted house (well...haunted martial arts dojo).

We usually meet up with MiMa for trick or treating. She loves Halloween just as much as Meli!

We make it back home in time for passing out candy and going around our neighborhood. Poor Charlie was scared of the costumes. I thought it would be easier for little Char-Char if I set up in our driveway. Avoiding the doorbell ringing constantly. I actually scared a few kids sitting there in my witch costume! Will had the fantastic idea to play Halloween music. We were one of the more lively houses!

Our friends came over to trick-or-treat with us. Odin (who is almost 2) was the wolf and his mom was Little Red Riding Hood. So cute.

Pictures from their school Boo Bash.

She even got to put some (washable color) in her hair. 

Then they had a neighborhood party.

Halloween Day!

Will managed to avoid any pictures...again!







                                                      ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                               The B Family

Walnuts of all things

I love how random items can cause you to recall memories that have been long forgotten. When we took the kids apple picking recently, I found a big bin of walnuts and it made me giddy. I grew up with a big walnut tree in our backyard and love them! The walnut tree was the coolest thing ever. My brothers and I loved this tree. It was such an wonderful source of entertainment. We would climb it, swing on the tire swing my grandpa made, have walnut fights (which hurt like hell) and lay under its shade.

I remember having a big sheet laid on the floor with tons of walnuts on it for us to crack. Usually around the holidays. Perfect memory.

My grandparents house was awesome. We also had a plum and apple tree. I need to get more trees for our yard. We have several but not any that produce actual food. I would love an almond tree!

                                                        ~ Love, Hugs &  Kisses ~
                                                                The B Family

Emojis...I think

Colin and Mae both love costume play. They have a huge chest of costumes and accessories that can provide wonderful entertainment all day. Or at least until they get the idea for a video game in their head.

We try to make it to the Halloween store after the holiday to see what costumes we can get at a discounted rate...because OMG costumes have become ridiculously expensive. I think I want to go back to making our own next year.

Still, we found these. I think they are emoji things. I realize I am getting old when I do not get the references. I do think they are adorable though.

Our puppy, Charlie, was not so sure about them.

The one with Meli wearing the Devil face cracks me up. That fits her grumpy face so perfectly!



                                                        ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                 The B Family

Cat Week at the B House

More like cat month. Our story time has been interrupted more recently.

The kids both pick a chapter book that they wanted us to read aloud. This way we can read books that fit both of their ages. Meli will kind of listen to Colin's story while she plays and Colin will usually read his current book when I read Meli's.

Meli loves kittens and puppies. She was so excited at the library to find several chapter book series that were about both. So we started with Magic Kitten: A Summer Spell (Meli) and the Warriors Series: Into the Wild #1 (Colin).

Meli's pick is about a lion that is magical that has to disguise itself as a kitten in order to hide from his evil uncle who wants his throne. It is cute so far. I like the writing more than some of the early chapters.

I actually really like Colin's choice. We are both excited that this series has been around for a while, so there are a lot out there. I remember this one from when I would work in the children's section at Barnes & Noble. They even have a dog series and wild animal ones. This one was a little slow to start, but mostly because you have to learn all of the cat clans and long names. We did find a Warrior companion book at the library that was pretty cool. You do have to be careful reading that too much before the series, because you learn spoilers.

Reading to the kids is one of my favorite things to do. I am so glad that they both seem to get excited about books and the adventures that can be had.

UPDATE: We are now reading the third book in the Upside Down Magic series. It is not necessarily about kittens but the main character can turn into a kitten with dragon parts. That sounds weird, but it is a really cute series. The kids love it!



                                                          ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                    The B Family