While things may have been quiet on the blog front the past two weeks, it has been far from quiet on the home front.  Raising 3 little boys is no joke –  You think the newborn stage is tough, and then the toddler stage rolls in, and then they have their own lives and schedules and school projects to tend to – it’s exhausting! I love chatting with fellow moms that have kids of all different ages, because no matter how far apart our little ones are, we share one thing in common.  We are all balancing everything the best we can.  And balance is bullsh*t, and motherhood is madness.  So let us all just raise our glasses and give one another a giant virtual high-five, because we as parents are super heroes.

Am I right?

Each day I wake up with an array of duties on my agenda.  As optimistic as I can feel after waking up 3x with Max, and having the boys in my face at 5:50am I wake up with the best intentions. Somehow, some way, the kids will cooperate!  Max will nap longer than his usual 15 minutes spurts, I won’t get a phonecall from the school nurse and have to pop in and the 3 errands I have to run will not take 3x as long.  I will dominate my day like the momma beast that I am.

And then my stomach growls –  it is 3:40, I realize I have not eaten lunch and it is time to pick up Brody so that means when I get back I feed Max, get dinner ready, feed the kiddos, skip my dinner for getting Max in bed and munch on crumbs until I shower and get all the kids to sleep with Dan.  By the time I sit down to eat and do my work I am pooped and my tank is at zero.

Folks, as parents, it is pretty darn hard to put yourself first – in any way honestly.

Because of that it has shown on the blog the past two weeks.  I am embarrassingly so behind on deadlines.  Life has pulled me into a major wedgie.

I feel torn, as my blog is a huge part of my life, but my family comes first.

In these slow weeks Dan and I have finalized some much-needed items.  I think down time with social media is essential to filling up your tank again.  So yes, every 4 or so months you may hear crickets around here, but know that we are pulling up sleeves and getting to work on SO many exciting adventures.   Our plans for 2017 have me giddy, and things are flowing into a fantastic direction.  We have huge changes happening in the new year, and we couldn’t be more excited to share them with you guys! But do not fear, the next few weeks will be packed with holiday treats, our bathroom renovation (yes, it is finally down to studs!) and family stories to make you chuckle.

Can I ask you something though? Share this blog with your friends and family – with all of our changes happening we are sOoOo excited to have you guys on our journey.   So share it on your facebook, instagram account or just simply word of mouth.

Spread the love, ya’ll xoxo.

Each holiday I swear it just cannot get any better.  And then this year rolls around, and we have this amazing little chub of a babe Max by our side, and gosh, it gets THAT much better.

We all love candy, but my gosh do we love each other.  Is that to candy-corny? 🙂 It is true though.  One thing I truly love about Halloween is that it starts the countdown to two of my ultimate holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Max rocked this nemo costume I had in 2009 (ahhh) for Brody.  Still in mint condition, and still so fluffy the little pudge couldn’t sit upright for more than 3 seconds without falling backwards.  B and O tackled trick-or-treating like a champ and now we have SO much candy it hurts.

Perhaps I’ll brainstorm some sweet treats that use up these cavity causing candies that are sitting on my table!

I hope your night was just as sweet as ours!

xoxo, abby

I always wanted to be a mom.  In 7th grade we had a finance project where we had to purchase our dream car and figure out the payments and such and I picked a mini van.  It was just in my blood, and I could not wait for the day to be blessed with little ones.  Fast forward to being a mommy of three boys today, and the reality is that it is the hardest job ever.

Legit – the patience, the love, the heartache, the fear … it can all swirl around you in just a 24 hour period.

 Today, I picked up Owen from school.  He was giddy and ran his classic sprint-jump into my arms.  He buckled himself up, and of course I asked how school was and what did he learn today.

Owen :”We did lockdown drill again, Mom”

Me: “Oh, what do you do for that?” (playing dumb)

Owen: “The kids have to hide under the bean bags, not the table or chairs where you see us, under a bag.  And some kids didn’t listen this time.”

Me: “Well, good job listening!”

I had to switch subjects quickly….

My gut was spiraled together.  I know I cannot be naive, that this is a necessary practice in every single school across the U.S.  I guess it was that this was the 6x I heard about this drill so far this school year.  To roll back a few decades, gosh, I think we practiced a fire drill and tornado drill.  Heads were not accounted for when you walked out the school doors the second the bell rang.  Parents didn’t worry when their little ones walked to school and didn’t get a “text” to say they got there safe.  And here we are, in a day where kindergarteners are practicing lockdown drills on a regular basis.

Does he understand the extreme meaning behind it all? I don’t think so.  But it got me so choked up as we drove home, picturing my little boy having to practice scenarios such as that.

That this is the day we live in.

How do we keep our kids innocent, yet well-informed? To help them understand the good and evil that exists in this world.  And even in a place (school) where they should feel 110% safe, that unfortunately in today’s world bad things can happen.

To understand their limits these days and yet feel free enough to be a kid without a worry in the world – it is a privilege that has been stripped from our kids.

For goodness sake it pisses me off –

But we must not live in hate, or fear, or stop doing things we love to do in fear of the worse.

For now, let them be little – that is what we owe them.  A chance at the childhood we all had.  A chance to be so sweetly innocent with their heads in the clouds –

Let them run into your arms when you pick them up for school. Wrap them up tight and let them know how much you love them so.

After all is said it done, it is OUR job as parents to raise them up right.  To teach our children to be packed full of compassion. This is our shot folks to create a better day in years to come.

Let’s take that job seriously.

xoxo, abby

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nickelodeon and Party City. All opinions are 100% mine.

Mom’s and Dad’s, Aunt’s and Uncle’s, neighbors all around – get ready – Halloween is coming quickly! Remember the anticipation as a child? The excitement would build for weeks as you changed your mind 10x over for the perfect Halloween costume? The big night would come, you would wait until the clock struck 6:00pm and out the door you would go.  With one goal in mind – get as much candy as possible, in as little time possible.  Always look for the light on kiddos! I remember that so clearly.  Don’t even bother knocking on a door thats completely shut, or that has its front porch light off.  They don’t want to be bothered, even worse, you’d get tossed a penny.

My boys have always loved Halloween.  Gone are the years of making the costume decisions for them.  They have their very own personalities to dress, whether we like it or not.  Thankfully, they have such a good sense of humor and are far from picking out the “scary stuff”.

So, if you are in the same spot I am, with kids having SO many decisions to make.  Making it simple go to ….

Party City

Brody and Owen had an absolute riot running through the store.  Staring for nearly 10 minutes just gawking at the wall of costumes, using their imaginations to picture themselves in each one.

It was a total one stop shop, costumes, candy buckets, and treats to pass out (aka, eat on the way home!)

Check out our experience:

You’ll have one foot out the door and on your way to your local Party City too!

Shop at Party City

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Were you tossing and turning last night in your bed?? Wondering “what is Abby into lately?” If you must know, please don’t beg, I’ll just tell you –

Last month I finished this book, by the one and only Kimberly Paisley.  For those of you saying, “Who is that?” My gosh, she’s only the amazing lady from Father of the Bride (my favorite movie of all time) and the wife to Brad Paisley.  She writes about her experience as her mother was diagnosed with rare form of dementia.  My grandmother had dementia, and I can say this book was touching, uplifting, and so well written.   So if you know of anyone experiencing a loved one going through a situation such as this, it is a must read.

Pick it up on Amazon, HERE.

If you’ve been here a while, I’m not shy to say that Dan and I love our t.v.  We are that sick old couple who loves to get cozy with a glass of wine and dark chocolate pretzel thins and just rip through all of our recordings.  It’s the silence, it’s the laughter, it’s the mindless hours that just unwind us from a crazy day.  The two shows we are just ga-ga over right now …

Designated Survivor …

(source) 

This totally surprised me that I got into it.  Dan, I knew it was right up his alley.  But the scenarios in this series are just a little too close to home, after the first episode I said “I can’t watch this anymore, it makes me nervous” and here I am — aching that it’s off air for another week and itching for the next one.  It’s sooo good.

For laughs, I turn to this The Good Place, with my favorite girl Kristen Bell

(source) 

Set your dvr’s and you will thank me later.  Kristen is absolutely hysterical in this show, and the entire concept is genius.  I love a good light-hearted show to get into – my perfect way to end an evening.  Watch it!

Halloween is right around the corner, and if you lack crafty/diy skills have no fear, because Wayfair came out with the cutest halloween printables to make decorating for your little gouls extra easy!

From these cute book covers, to treat bag tags to masks! Check them out, HERE. 

The next two books are ones I cannot wait to flip open.  They came in the mail this week and I know they both will be a page turner.

Amy, my girl, you cracked Dan and I up when we saw you at the Play House years ago and I know your book will be a cherry on top.  If you’re not into raunchy humor, this will more than likely not be your cup of tea.  But, if your foul-mouthed and enjoy having your head in the gutter like I do, you can buy it HERE.

And since buying cookbooks are my equivalent to what women feel after a shopping spree (pure euphoria) I knew I had to jump on getting Daphne Oz’s new cookbook.

I love her.  And if you follow her on snapchat you get a day to day glimpse of how normal and amazing she really is.  I have heard great things about all of her recipes in this book and cannot wait to dive in. Join me and grab it HERE. 

Last but not least, if you need a good laugh, or need to pee your pants —

You’re welcome.  These ladies are my new Bff’s.

Check them out on Facebook, and like their page HERE! 

Obviously you recognize one of those cuties up there.  The other two cuties are Dans cousins Melissa + Katie.  And if I’m being quiet frank, they are my cousins too.  Heck I’ve known them for over 13 years, which as you can see they are fresh-faced babes, and I’m 30 so yah, I’m practically their mother -HA.

They both work at this amazing farm, just a 20 minute ride from our house.  Luther Farm  – Luther’s Farm is this darling place where during the fall months in particular you can bring your kiddos for hours, and I mean hours of fun.  From hay rides, slides into the corn pit, ice-cream trucks, and face painting – those are just a few of the things you’ll get to do if you get your butt there in the next 2 weeks before they close for the season!

To say places like these make me happy is a total understatement.  I get completely giddy running around with my littles, taking pictures and soaking up every ounce of the fall beauty around us.

The barn in the back of the farm stand is my absolute favorite.  Hands down I am convinced I was a zoo keeper of some sorts in a past life.

I named all of these babes as I walked around.  My gosh were they all had such a sweet temperament and most were just walking around at our feet!

I should probably warn you now, there are a lot of pictures to this post.  But our trip to Luther’s was SO good, I could not resist showing you every nook and cranny.

That goat in the upper right hand corner was our soul mate.  He literally sat and perched himself up to be pet by our entire crew the whole time we were in the barn.  It was the sweetest –

And let us not forget the star of the show –

This rockin’ rooster was just prancing around like owned the place.  And judging by his beautiful black and white feathers, I’d have to agree with him

I want to just volunteer for a day just so I can tend to the animals.

Of course you can pick up pumpkins, fresh produce and a sweet treat while you are there.  I’m telling you, they’ve got it all!

We could not pull the kids away from the corn slide.  Any chance we could I snapped a picture of them!

They were pulling corn kernels out of every piece of clothing for the rest of the day ..

We went a little pumpkin crazy, I just couldn’t help myself.  Like a kid in a candy store.

Dan could not believe my madness, but like a good husband he stood behind his crazy wife.

Max was a total dolly the entire time.  His pudge stops people in their tracks, most assume he is months older than he really is.  And I, just as them, want to squeeze him up all day long.

He is Dan 100%

If you guys are local, I urge you to swing up here for the perfect fall celebration day with your loved ones.  We will continue this tradition for many years to come.

Just next year, I may come back with presents for all of my farm friends – the animals that is.

squish squish squish 🙂

Make sure to show Luther’s Farm some love on Facebook — and go check them out!