I hope that I share enough of our life to show that things aren't all rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes things are tough, sometimes I'm frustrated to the point of angry, and sometimes I can't stop smiling because of these adorable kids and this amazing life God gave me. Today was a good day. Ana celebrated her First Communion. Though…

Have you ever seen that movie? The original one? It's very sweet. It has to be one of the first movies about blending families. Filmed in 1968, it would have been too scandalous for the parents to be single because of divorce, so instead, it's the love story of two widowers who marry and combine…

When my parents married, they joined two of the larger families in our relatively small town. My parents had four kids, of which I am the oldest. We often hear that we all look alike. It's hard to dispute. We mostly take after my dad. Growing up, rarely did a week go by without someone stopping…

I think it's happening. The carefully constructed glass box of my life with all of its structure, organization, and borderline OCD behavior has now developed hairline cracks. I had a realization this week that I am now one of THOSE people. It happened as I pulled away from a drive-thru window. I am now one of those people…

Every once in a while I have a moment when I realize how different life as StepMolly is. Reality Check #1: Floor Mats I had such a moment last week in Wal-Mart (ugh, I know). I was in the market for new floor mats for my vehicle. I stared in bewilderment at the pricing, not remembering them…

Our kids attend a nearby Catholic school, but on Sundays, we worship at an evangelical church. If you have a baptist or an evangelical (or combo, like me) upbringing, it isn't hard to imagine the many, MANY differences between an evangelical church service and a Catholic mass. Pre-Church Panera Breakfast Treat, December 2015 Church isn't for entertainment or for…

I am a huge advocate for not overscheduling kids. I am thankful that Tim and I are on the same page about this. We love nothing more than to turn the kids loose in the yard to create their own adventure or make friends with the neighborhood kids. We have a general agreement with the kids'…

A new development in our household is a second child who wears glasses. A new learning opportunity for me is to remember to remind him to put on his glasses. Today we were two miles away from the house for a day full of spring break activity when I looked in the rear view mirror…

These may look like just a dish of canned French cut green beans with bacon, but they are really so much more. They are the subject of a lunchtime terrorist negotiation. Yoseph does not like to eat. Well, wait, that's not true. He likes to eat candy, pancakes, and candy. Actually, there are lots of things he…

Yoseph's kindergarten class has discovered exclamation points! It has changed our after school reading routine! It is more like a shouting monologue these days! And then today, the reading passage contained something in ALL CAPS punctuated by an exclamation point! OH THE SHOUTING! We have also been working on some teacher thank you notes. Exclamation point. Since it…