Free Range Family

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...

Happy Friday everyone! Our weekend is a little busy, I work almost all day Saturday then Sunday is Mother's Day and my co-worker Jessica's wedding. Pretty excited for Sunday to say the least! :) Here's this week's Five Question Friday! Enjoy! What advice would you give a couple getting married? How coincidental that this is one of the questions, with the wedding on Sunday lol! :P I would have to say... Communicate. The most important thing for any couple to have is communication, in my opinion. Maybe that's just the point I am at in my life, but I feel that if you can't talk to your spouse and tell them EVERYTHING (and yes, I mean everything, what would you hide from your spouse?) then your relationship isn't as strong as it can be. Right now, Lon and I maybe see each other two hours a day. But I make sure that I am always in contact with him, always know what he is doing and how he is feeling, etc. This keeps our marriage strong and us happy....

Today is my oldest brother Darren's 24th birthday. Darren loves poker, so this cake would have been perfect for him lol! Darren is my adopted brother, but I love him just the same! He joined our family in 2008 but honestly, I feel like he's been a Kimmel all of his life! :) I haven't seen him in over a year now and I miss him! He is the father to my only nephew Connor, the cutest nephew on the planet! I think he is an awesome father and Connor is pretty darn lucky! Connor and Darren, circa 2010 Not only is Darren my brother, but he is also Lon's really good friend. Darren was Lon's best man in our wedding and they have been best buds for about two years now. Its a little weird to have my brother be my husband's best friend, but I am not complaining! I love them both and love to spend time with them! The men of the wedding party, with Darren included :) Happy birthday Darren! Lon, Alan, Anna and I love you so much. Hope your day is fanta...

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...

I am disappointed to say that I did not take a single picture this weekend, even though I had my sister and her boyfriend in town and had all these parties lol. But my sister did get a good shot of her and Kalvin in the sombreros from her Cinco de Mayo birthday dinner at Dos Machos. Its quite the hoot! :) Uncle Kalvin and Aunt Natalie in their birthday sombreros  We had a fun weekend. We went to Uncle Kalvin's birthday party Saturday afternoon at the Reef, an indoor water park. Alan had gone a few times without me since I had had him, but I hadn't been to the Reef since I was pregnant with him. It was a little different from last time, to say the least lol. Last time, I was pregnant but otherwise childless and this time around I had a very active, very excited toddler with me who wanted to do and try everything lol. Including the big kid tubing slides... Alan drug me all over that water park lol, from the water playground to the wave pool to the big kid slides and back...

Today is Aunt Natalie's twentieth birthday. My sister and I have always been real close. We are three years apart and spent most of our childhood with just the two of us as sisters. We shared a bedroom for the longest time and have spent endless nights up together sharing our darkest secrets. Not much has changed either. She is still one of my best friends and I feel like I can tell her almost anything. We are still really close, even though she goes to school in Missoula like six hours away from me. I talk to her at least every other day. I had her be one of my bridesmaids in my wedding too. :) I love you Natalie! Natalie and I, circa 2008 Natalie has grown from the wild child that I love from my childhood to the smart, beautiful and mature woman she is now. She is so smart, doing great in her major of radiology in college, and works really hard. She is currently juggling two jobs! Wow! :D Her real passion is dirt biking (just like my father and Uncle Kalvin) and ...

Happy Friday everyone! I am in a bit of a better mood today, just trying to stay positive and keep my belly full all day long lol. I am excited too because my beloved sister Natalie comes home from college today for her birthday this weekend! Yay, can't wait to see her! Since her birthday is on Cinco de Mayo, its tradition in my family to go out to dinner at Dos Machos and have her wear their birthday sombero. I will get pictures and post them lol! Tomorrow is Uncle Kalvin's birthday party at the Reef. Should be fun for Alan and I. Hope everyone else has a fun planned weekend! Here is this week's Five Question Friday! What did you wear to prom? Include a picture if possible. After searching Facebook like mad for a picture of me at senior prom, I have been unlucky lol. But our prom was 007 themed because of our graduation year (2007) so I wore a slinky light blue dress with silver heels that laced up to the knee. We rented a mustang for the trip too. My prom su...

Today is Uncle Kalvin's eighth birthday. I love my baby brother so much! He has grown up to be quite the young man too. He is a skilled reader now (I love it when he reads to me) and is pretty good at math. But his real passion is dirt bikes, just like our father. Uncle Kalvin can now ride a dirt bike and a four-wheeler all by himself! He is pretty good at keeping up with everyone on the trails too. He is also really into football and baseball, and is your average little boy. Uncle Kalvin riding his dirt bike Even though they are only five years apart, I think Uncle Kalvin is a great uncle and a very good role model for Alan. I love to watch them interact and play together, Kalvin is extremely protective of his nephew. :) I think that Alan really admires his uncle, as I will see him copy Uncle Kalvin pretty much all the time. Kalvin doesn't usually get too annoyed by it either lol, which is a good thing. And now that Alan got his hair cut short, they look like lit...

I was all excited about my weight after finishing up my Pregnancy Post and going to my midwife appointment yesterday, but that feeling was soon shot down. If you don't remember, I thought I had gained five more pounds since I had last been to the midwives, according to my mother's scale. Well, as I stood on that scale at the midwife office, my heart started sinking as I watched the numbers sink themselves. Not only did I NOT gain any weight, but I lost a pound. :( My nurse didn't say too much about it, I think she sensed how upset I was about it, but my new midwife sure did. I met with Katie today. She was nice, by far the youngest of the midwives there, so I was kinda glad it was her I had to talk to about this. She asked me what my daily diet looked like and how my morning sickness was. She seemed less worried when I explained that I was in a similar situation with Alan and he came out a healthy weight, but she still told me to up my iron supplement intake and try to e...

We had a somewhat busy month in April, with all the birthdays and anniversaries and the outdoor events. All in all, it was a good month for us. Here are some things that happened to us this month: The month started out with us celebrating two good school friends of Alan's birthdays. Easton and Treyton, the two brothers, invited us to their fun birthday party at Kid's Klubhouse. We had a blast! Then we celebrated Aunt April's thirteenth birthday with sunset baseball and an ice cream cake. That Sunday was also Easter, so Alan and I went on several Easter egg hunts and then spent the day with our family and loved ones. April 23 was also Lon and I's one year wedding anniversary. I can't believe its already been a whole year! Then we finished off the month celebrating Earth Day with my family and Arbor Day with a Tree Scavenger Hunt. What a month full of holidays and birthdays! We were kinda busy this month with all the things we had to do. I participated in t...

I have a feeling that this month will fly by already. Each weekend we have something going on. This first weekend is Aunt Natalie and Uncle Kalvin's birthdays, the next is Mother's Day and Jessica's wedding, the third weekend is my baby shower, and the last weekend is Memorial weekend. So that means, before I know it, it will be June! Aaaaahhhhh!!! How crazy is that lol??? Happy 29th week everyone! I feel like I am finally gaining weight and finally showing enough that everyone knows I am pregnant lol. :P Today is my first two-week midwife appointment, I will post tomorrow on how that went. :) For now, here's this week's Pregnancy Post! How far along:  29 weeks and 3 days Size of Baby:  3 pounds and 15 inches long or the size of a butternut squash Developments of Baby: Baby girl's muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. Her brain is also now contr...

I had a very good weekend. It wasn't too busy, which was just perfect, and even though Grandma Melanie and Aunt April were out of state, I enjoyed the time I spent with my family. Friday night was Jessica's Bachelorette Party, Saturday I worked and then had a pizza party with Alan and Sunday we went to Pioneer Park for our Arbor Day Tree Scavenger Hunt. We had a pretty decent weekend! :D Jessica's Bachelorette Party was a lot of fun for me actually! :) I was pleasantly surprised lol. Because I had covered her shift for her, I missed the dinner but met up with them at their first bar destination. Manny's Sports Bar and Grill. There was a comedian in the actual bar part that I wasn't aware of, so I walked in on the show and embarrassed myself, to say the least lol. But I quickly found them thanks to the help from the very polite bouncer (I mean, I interrupted the show and he was still helpful and nice!) and after receiving my Team Bride shirt and my nickname (I was ...

Happy Friday everyone! It has been raining pretty much all day. I believe it started sometime late last night, or should I say early this morning lol. But luckily, Alan and I got the car so we were still able to run the few errands that we needed to. Tonight is also my friend Jessica's Bachelorette party, I will be stopping by to hang out and dance with the girls some. Here is this week's Five Question Friday! Do you make your kids finish all the food on their plates? Well my kiddo is still only a toddler, so no I don't force him to eat everything on his plate. I do however, make a point to encourage him to try and eat a little bit of everything I give him. I have been pretty successful with this too. :) Do you give an allowance? Lol once again my little guy is only a toddler, so no. But as for when he is older? Meh, probably not. My husband and I both came from families who did not give allowances, instead rewarded us with special treats and events. I thi...