TOGETHER

the boy has been bouncing on the trampoline for years.  since he was a small chubby little guy.   he has always gone out there on his own and would just jump, up and down on his own for the longest time.  it has always been like he goes in a zone, time in his own head, scheming and imagining.  it would calm him, it has always been his go to when he got shooed outside.  well, yesterday was the day that came to an end, snap.  the boy broke his arm.  yes, it was bound to happen yes, trampolines are an accident waiting to happen no, there is not a net around it yes, i am an awful mom so now that we have gotten that out of the way.   it went down like this, the first day of summer break, the boy got shooed outside and off fortnite. jumping away he goes, and attempts the cardinal trampoline sin, a flip.  doesn't land the flip and snap, just like a pencil snapping as he would describe it.     Clea...

Wow... we just pulled in from a great, warm sun filled vacation.  The last days unexpected twist was the road trip part of it all.  I watched airfare for the past month, looking at every combo of days and cities and for the number of people to fly, well it was just not in the trying to pay off everything budget.  I really did not want to give up my week in the sun, so grateful for the generous company I work for we had the house in Naples for 7 sunny days pool/beach side was what I very, very much needed.  More on that  in a later post, this post is all about road tripping with 4 kids and how to make it manageable. This wasn't our first OH -> FL trek. We have driven there multiple times to Disney, but we were going a bit further this time, Naples, so adding another 3-4 hours on the trip.  Also, in previous trips the kids were smaller, not just in age, but in height.  We have driven to Hilton Head several times, but 12 hours is a lot...

it is that time of year, cleveland marathon time, well in my case cleveland half marathon. several years back, after the slowest jog over the finish line of the chicago marathon, i decided i was going to be a halfer girl for my remaining running years.  it is about time for me to run my annual 13.2 miles which also means i have started training to do so.  if you call running a few times a week and maybe throw a 6 miler in on the weekends training, but hey, that is training for me! i have been a consistent runner for about the last 20 years, initially i started running because it burns lots of calories = weight loss.  that is not the case any more, not that i don't still burn a lot of calories, but the weight loss doesn't come with it and that really isn't my goal or my why.  I was recently asked...  'why do you run?' i run because it keeps me sane, or as sane as i can be. :) i know this doesn't just apply to me, nor am i the first to talk abou...

monday morning bright and early 2 of my girls went in to have their tonsils out. im not much of a remove your organs and surgeries, actually i dont take my kids to the doctor for too much, but this was necessary. grace gets strep or tonsillitis, ummm...i didnt even know that was a thing until we started this madness, all.the.time. she had strep 6 times in 2016. mae had tonsils a big as boulders, ok maybe very large river rocks. her tonsils would actually touch each other when she would get sick. that my friends is scary, like she stops breathing scary. she also snores like, well, like her dad, due to the tonsils. most importantly, her breath, like she can knock you over with the dragon breath, with the tonsils gone all of the above should improve. btw...snoring worse, but im guessing , praying, hoping that is because she is still recovering. i really liked the tag team thing. mae went first, after being all prepped in her stylish hat, they rolled her off in a wagon into the or...

i know, all the moms and dads say it. they warn you when you have kids it flies by, and that has happened... this sweet baby is 5 today. breaks my heart what a perfect piece to complete the puzzle of our squad. she is a little piece of everyone wrapped into her crazy self and i don't even remember life before her. this here was my favorite picture: i so remember laying her sweet little sleeping head down on this wood deck, thinking, most people would not lay their newborn baby on this, but it is going to be the cutest darn pic, the things we do for a great picture. you will be happy to know i did brush all the debris and ants away first.  anyway you can read the original post with these shots  here .  so for today, as you can imagine i am super grateful for this sweet gal and all the joy she has brought to my life and i am sure a few others too.  super super  grateful for her love of her sisters and br...

I'm still keeping on with my grateful posts and mixing it in with oh hey friday. i havent lined up in awhile, so lets go back to it. 5 anything, 5 something, you pick just link it back here to september farm and the farmers wife . leave a comment here too so i know who to go and read along with.                               oh and how cute is this summer badge that goes with it??  so lets talk grateful, these of course are in no particular order. :)  1//     my virtual beachbody groups - so grateful for this, for so many different reasons. when these girls get together on an app and get to encouraging, swapping stories, tips and recipes only good comes from it all. these peeps are from all over and working hard to crush fitness goals. now of course that makes me super grateful but more so is that these gals have become my friends, like real friends and i love that. w...

Im taking this blog on the road, not really, but I am typing this while on the turnpike heading to chitown to watch my oldest gal play in the windy city national qualifier. so for this volleyball road show the whole squad is in tow, so im sharing my top 5 volleyball tournament traveling tips. link on up with september farm and the farmers wife but first, leave me a comment, especially if you are one of those volleyabll moms. I am one, we should start a support group, or a hastag, that is for another post though I suppose. either way leave me a comment so I know you stopped by. 1// ez pass - my friend kati says it best 'it is just so easy'. And you know what, she is so right, it is just is so easy. ours is obviously from the great state of OH-IO but it can be used everywhere. if you are not familiar with these, well im not sure where you have been, but I still think your great. basically you load up your ez pass and then cruise right through those toll booths and not have ...