In life I've learned more from my failures than I have for my successes. For example I once cooked Ginger carrots. I made them according to the recipe following every detail to a T and I was excited to try something new for dinner. I was a new wife putting a new food down in front of my husband. I fully expected …

One more swim at the lake  One more bike ride. One more hike and one more picnic. One more trip to the playground.  This summer we have enjoyed all the sunshine and even danced in the rain. We have done everything there is to do and had a very full summer. We are as ready as we can be for the start of sch…

I love all seasons and I especially love living in a place that experiences all four seasons so drastically. I love the feeling of the weather change and the way our surroundings change in appearance but I will be honest, I really, really love the food.  Summer is nearly over and while we have enjoyed nearly every di…

Despite their size difference these furry creatures just want to be friends. Yogi would happily play with Sugar and Masala all day long and while we worry about Yogi's big paws and Sugar and Masala's small size they do seem to have fun together. Masala somehow seems to be the one in charge and Yogi happily le…

The kids and I were sitting around on another drizzling summer night and we all decided to play a silly game of Truth or Dare. The questions were all silly and we were laughing but none made me laugh quite as hard as when Aliya said she had three crushes in her life and Dylan quickly responded with "what in the…

August is a hard month. Half the days are bright and sunny and half cold and rainy and the weather alone is whispering for us to get ready, school is on its way. While we want to embrace the last summer moments we have no choice but to start buying supplies, getting haircuts and picking out new shoes. Floating around …

At night time Aliya and I love to read over older blog posts. It's fun hanging out together while we get cozy and snuggle up in bed. We look at old pictures while we laugh and enjoy our stories. We usually start with "give me a word"..."cat, singing, rain!" We search it on the blog and see what…

We had the most wonderful time at a Counting Crows concert this weekend. We did everything we could to make the experience fun for the kids and they really loved listening to the music, getting fried dough and even tailgating with a can of root beer and yummy food to eat before the show began. I love getting to do …

Dylan's 12th birthday was filled with as much fun as he could possibly fit. We celebrated with our Party of Five on his actual birthday, a gathering with family, a small birthday party with his closest friends, as well as going to a concert together as a family. It seems that no matter how we do birthdays in our …

Aliya enjoyed a week of dance camp this summer put on by her cousins at their church. She absolutely had a blast and was thrilled to be there with both her cousins and her friend Madeline. Each morning she practice and after three hours of nonstop dancing at camp each night she definitely fell straight to sleep!  They…