Free Range Family

Happy Mother's Day to all of my mama readers and bloggers! I love you all and am so thankful for all of you! Being a mother can be a blessing at times, but other times it is very hard... having other mothers there to support you and share with your struggles, is a blessing in disguise. Hope all of your days are amazing! We are pretty broke trying to get this new place and living seperatley right now, so we didn't do anything special for Mother's Day. I only really needed to spend the day with my beautiful family and that's exactly what I got! I spent the whole day with my kids and most of the day with Lon, it was wonderful! :) I love you Alan, Anna and Lon! Both kids made me gifts from their schools and daycare. It was so sweet! Especially to get something from the little miss! I expected Alan's preschool to make something (they always do holiday projects there), but Anna's two gifts from daycare were a pleasant surprise! Alan made me a basket of flowers that...

Happy June everyone! It officially is only a month away until Miss Anna's first birthday and I am frankly in denial some. But not as much as I am about my own upcoming birthday, I didn't even realize it was about two months away now! Wow, time really does go by too fast!! Happy Summer everyone! Here is May's Month in Review. Enjoy! I didn't post too much this month, we were quite busy with family! We started out the month of May like we always do, with Uncle Kalvin and Aunt Natalie's birthdays. We celebrated Uncle Kalvin's birthday at the local bowling alley and had a Disco Bowling Party! It was a blast, even though Alan did not fully understand the concept of bowling lol, maybe in a few more years it will be more interesting for him. :) On Aunt Natalie's birthday, we had Baby B's baby shower and her birthday barbeque! She loved it and we all had so much fun! Anna also turned ten months old this month, started crawling and pulling herself up to st...

I apologize for not posting recently, this may sound weird but its been too hot for me to be motivated to post. Its too hot for me to do much of anything right now lol, its been in the high 90s for the past two weeks! I am so overheated by the time I am done with the day, I have no desire to do anything. Especially not a blog post. Sorry, I feel like I have been neglecting my readers! I have not indulged you on my Mother's Day! I had a wonderful Mother's Day. My children came and raided our bed nice and early, they were at least nice enough to snuggle and fall asleep quickly. Oh how I just LOOOOOOVE mornings like that! Lon made us eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast and I had a pedicure from the kids in the afternoon. Alan also made me an ADORABLE card with monsters on it. Love it! He said it was from Anna too, even though she did not help. So sweet! :) After my pedicure, we went over to the in law's house for a Mother's Day lunch. We gave Grandma Amber a ca...

We have a nice weekend planned. We will be at Alberta Bair again to support Aunt April and Diversity Dance at the KR National Dance Competition tomorrow. I am excited and so is Miss Anna! She loves watching her aunt and all of her aunt's friends perform.  She can't wait to get up there herself! And as everyone knows, it's Mother's Day on Sunday. Lon and the kids surprised me early with a pedicure at the spa! I don't know what else is planned but as long as my day is spent with my husband and my kids,  I will have the best Mother's Day ever! Alan had his gymnastics showcase on Wednesday and he did so awesome! I was the only one in family who was able to go, Lon and Grandma Melanie both had work.  But I did film the whole thing for them.  I will share one of his videos with you readers.  Enjoy! Watch out for Alan at the 2024 Summer Olympics lol! I am only joking. :P Today we walked to Terry Park to meet up with my friends DesiRae, Kelsie and her two boys f...

Preparing for a new baby in the house makes for one busy month! Its been almost three years since I have done all this, I forgot how much work it entailed lol. Plus with all the other stuff we did and Lon working his two jobs like a maniac, it felt like May just flew by for my family. Here is some of the stuff we did: Three of my siblings had birthdays this month. Uncle Kalvin turned eight years old on the fourth of May and we went to the Reef for his birthday party. Aunt Natalie's twentieth birthday was the next day, on Cinco de Mayo. We went out to Dos Machos to celebrate her birthday. Lastly, Uncle Darren's 24th birthday on the 10th. I haven't seen him our my nephew Connor yet to celebrate with him, but we hope to see them soon! :D Mother's Day was also this month, May 13th. I felt so blessed to be Alan's mother and am so excited to add another wonderful child to my brood, that I dedicated a whole week to Mother's Day. I started out the week explori...

This weekend was quite busy for us. Saturday I worked all day and then that night Alan and I went over to my parent's house to have a barbecue. It was a gorgeous 70 degree night, so we all sat out in the backyard and watched Alan and Uncle Kalvin play while Grandpa Kevin grilled burgers and bratwurst. Then we started a fire in their outdoor fireplace and watched the flames while we had dinner. Alan thought the "campfire" was super cool lol, he just stared at it while he ate. :) Once it was completely dark out (not until like nine lol) we decided it was time to head home. Alan needed a shower for the wedding the next day and I was exhausted beyond belief lol. But it was a nice start to my Mother's Day. As I stated yesterday, I told Lon that I didn't want him to spend any money on me this Mother's Day because I felt that I didn't need materials to celebrate my motherhood. He told me that he felt I deserved more, so I told him to give me three gifts. The th...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Motherhood is a very special thing to me and it has only seemed to become more special as I am awaiting the birth of my third child Anna. This will be my fourth Mother's Day I have celebrated myself and I feel as though today is more of a day of reflection than anything. I have been reflecting a lot lately on my journey as a mother and how I have changed. In the past three years, I have grown so much as a woman and I will only continue to grow. I believe their is no such thing as the perfect mother, a perfect mother is always developing and changing with her children. After all, your children are growing and developing, shouldn't you be to adapt to them? :) I have always wanted to be a mother, as far back as I can remember. Whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my first answer was always a mother. I feel like children are such a gift of love and innocence, they are such blessings to the worl...

My mother. She is a strong and wonderful woman. I admire her so much. My mom, me and my dad at my wedding For those of you who don't know her, let me tell you a little about my mother. She has been a teacher since I was six months old, and currently teaches first grade at Orchard Elementary. I may be somewhat biased but I think she is one of the best teachers around. I have seen her many times with her students (and have heard her talking about them) and the dedication she has for each kid just amazes me. Its like they are her own children. What a great teacher she is. :) My mom has five children, four biological and one adopted. My brother Darren, me, my sisters Natalie and April, and my baby brother Kalvin. I think she is the best mom to us, she would do anything for our happiness and has always been there as our main supporter. My mom is like a super mom, even now when most of her children are grown up. On a daily basis, she will get April and Kalvin to all of their ma...

Mother's Day has been around for a while, it seems, but did you know that as a national holiday it hasn't even been around for a century? A lot of people don't know about the origins of Mother's Day so I thought I would do some research on it. And wouldn't you know, I found a TON of information. I created a little timeline to show you how Mother's Day developed in the world. The History of Mother's Day Ancient Times: Fertility goddess statures serve as an early tribute to mothers and motherhood. Early Egypt: An annual festival is held to celebrate the goddess Isis, who is known as the mother of the pharaohs according to legend. Early Rome: The festival of Isis is adopted by the Romans, who used the holiday as a way to mark the beginning of Winter. This then developed to a celebration of Cybele, a Phrygian goddess also known as the Magna Mater (Great Mother). Early Europe: On the fourth Sunday during Lent, early Europeans began to use that day...

I have only ten more weeks left? Wow this is just crazy how fast this pregnancy is going! Our baby shower is in less than two weeks and then its time to set up the nursery! :D I feel like we won't have enough time, but keep reminding myself that we were even further behind at this point with Alan and we did just fine. I just need to concentrate on keeping my stress level down. No midwife appointment this week, which I am okay with. I want to surprise them next week with an awesome weight gain! Let's put on some weight Anna! :D As Delivery Day approaches, I tend to think a lot about being a mother of two and the challenges it brings. I have a few friends who are also moms of two and from what I have gathered it is easier once the older sibling is a little older. Somedays I feel like Alan is the perfect age to be Anna's big brother, but other days I feel like we might have just barely missed the cut. Like he might just barely be too young. Those days, I remind myself that m...

My town has a local magazine that I read quite often called Simply Family. Its kinda like Parents magazine, but with more Montanan type stuff. I love it! Here is their online website, check it out, even if you don't reside in Montana! That's one of my former dance students! This month's magazine is mostly themed around Motherhood and Mother's Day. Although many of the articles featured this month inspired me, my favorite article is called "What Kind of Mother Are You?" by Brenda Maas. The article highlights all the different types of moms and then asks the reader to reflect on what types of mothers they experience. Each mom type has a whimsical explanation of what they are about. It was quite funny. But it also really got me reflecting on not only what type of mother I am now, but my journey and growth as a mother. Here are the mom categories and my brief explanations of them: (Remember, these are Brenda Maas' ideas, I am only sharing them w...

Since Mother's Day was yesterday, there will be no Meet Me on Monday this week. However, you can still stop at Java's blog to see what's up in her life here. My Mother's Day was grand! Lon let me sleep in until 10! :D The boys got me a hand drawn card and four roses- one for each family member, even Rosalie! Then we took a nap together and went out to dinner with my mom and family at Hu Hut Mongolian Grill. We had never been there, and it was quite the delicious experience! :) Alan even ate egg rolls! It was a wonderful Family Sunday and a great Mother's Day! Hope everyone else's was grand as well. :) Okay, I've been getting so many comments on here and FB about the wedding photos that I have posted my second set of pictures there, so its my blog's turn now! Please enjoy these Before Wedding photos! :D Jenelle lacing me up. Tying the bow. Kari did my makeup and Jenelle did my hair. :) They both did a wonderful job! I couldn...

I am so full of love this morning! Happy Mother's Day to everyone! To my mother: I have so much more of an appreciation for you and for Mother's Day, now that I am a mother. I always knew you were a great mother, but having Alan makes me realize how special motherhood really is. I love you so very much, to the moon and back. <3 You birthed me, nursed me, raised me, taught me almost everything I know about motherhood and so much more in my lifetime. You truly are an amazing mother. I hope that one day in Alan's adult life, he will feel the amount of love and appreciation for me as I feel for you. Thank you for everything you have done for me, given to me and sacarficed for me, as well as many other things. :) I cannot wait to spend my day with Lon and Alan! They will not tell me what they have planned for us, but I wouldn't mind just spending my whole day at home with them. All I need for Mother's Day is my husband, my son and my mother. <3 Motherhood i...

Happy Friday everyone! I am so glad that its Friday because this week has drug by soooooooooo slowly and has been so stressful for me. I just can't wait for the weekend! Plus today is Uncle Kalvin's birthday party at the Reef. Alan and I will be making a short appearance there since its right during his nap time lol. :) Tonight I work only three hours at Child Watch and then get to go to Bryson's Photo Studio to view my wedding photos! :D Then Saturday I work all day (blah to the max lol) and Sunday is Mother's Day. :) So who knows what Lon and Alan have planned for me, they've been being very secreative lately. And now for Five Question Friday!! Enjoy! Have you ever had roommates? Have I ever lol! I have had seven different roommates throughout my adult life. How many names do you/your children have? (i.e. Prince Charming William Phillip Arthur Louis John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt) We both only have three names, but that almost wasn't the case for A...