Pumpkin cookies

Growing up my best friend was my neighbor Alice. Her children were grown, but I never really thought of her as a grandmother type, she was just my friend. She loved gardening and I would spend many hours helping her with all of her vegetables & flowers. I would make mud pies, eat rhubarb dipped in sugar, can pickles, try to pick 'money' from the money plant and also bake with her. We moved away when I was in 6th grade but my memories of her are some of the best of my childhood. As I grew up and moved even farther away and started my family we started writing to each other. She would tell me about what was happening with her husband, children and grand children and I would send pictures of my new baby. She grew up in the mountains of Kentucky and only had a 3rd grade education so but her letters  were the best gifts. My favorite letters from her included her recipes for pumpkin cookies & rhubarb pie...two of my favorites of hers as a child. Every fall I make the pumpkin cookies just like she did and I am reminded of my dear old friend and how much she meant to me. Since moving to the country I can't help but wonder if one of our neighbors will become my boys' 'Alice'. Thank you Alice for being such an important part of my childhood. ❤️ 

Gifts...

My mom has been reading 'One Thousand Gifts' by Ann Voskamp and has been posting gifts on Facebook this week for Advent. It's really been making me think about what gifts I've been given and that has helped me to feel more focused on the current season of life that I'm in. 

So this is my gift today 

This makes everything feel new and fresh no matter what's happened before. Thank you God for fresh starts & this amazing reminder every day. 

Trying this yet again

Well, here I am again, starting over...this seems to be a recurrent theme of mine ;) this time I'm starting school...again... For the 4th(?) time. Praying this time I'll really finish and reach my goal. I think I'm more accountable this time thanks to these three great guys ...

I really want them to see that I can do this. I want them to be proud of me. I especially want to be proud of myself. So, to new beginnings... Again! ;) 

Blog design help!

Because I'm still so new to this I would LOVE some help with the design and layout of this blog. I should probably watch some YouTube videos or have my 13 year old do it ;-) How to add pictures the right way, etc. There are so many great blogs that I follow that look so professional I really need help so that mine doesn't stay looking like a 12 year old girl did it (that was the last time I remember being really creative) So...tips & advice are totally welcome!

Picture Book 10 for 10

I LOVE picture books and trying to pick just 10 is so hard! But for today I'm going to go with the 10 best that I've read so far this year, even though I'm sure there will be duplicates from others, but so far the ones pictured below are my favorites. They are my 4/5 ⭐️ books due to theme, humor, illustrations, if they made me laugh or cry or if it taught me something. Some are new and some are older but all are books I will be sharing this school year :) 

momsense...like Spidey sense, but for moms

I haven't written in a long time because I'm still trying to figure out the perfect balance for this blog...home, work, school, etc... but today when I wanted to write out a rambling  post on Facebook, I decided this would be a better outlet for it...so here it is...

momsense...like spidey sense but for moms :-) 
my 'little big boy' aka my 12 year old, complained of a sore throat this morning...by noon I could tell it wasn't just the usual allergies... so without even thinking we went to the urgent care and he has strep throat. So glad we went! He hasn't been 'sick' in a long time and I could just tell... but now I'm a bit nervous...he has a horribly severe allergy to penicillin... so what do they give him? Keflex...which states right in the warnings that if you have an allergy to penicillin, etc that you probably shouldn't take it... and the Dr knew this, and went ahead and prescribed it anyway! Well, I had him take it...because they went to school for a LOT longer than I did right? Now I feel like I  need to keep an even closer eye on him to watch for itchy throat, swelling, a rash, etc. without making him feel creeped out and annoyed with me any more than normal. So, is my momsense wrong this time? It was this summer when I thought he had secondary drowning and took him to the ER while on vacation.  I am praying it is... going to make up for it by feeding him pudding and Popsicles while snuggling up on the couch watching X-Men Days of Future Past. 

It's June already?!

Ok, so as much as I want to, I really don't do very well with this blogging thing. The app just didn't work out the way I wanted it to... It never saved! How frustrating! I'm getting better with the book reviews though...they don't need to be an actual blog post, I can just use goodreads or the form on netgalley. Speaking of which...I have read some really fantastic kids books lately! 'under the egg', 'A Snicker of Magic' , 'We were Liars' were the two most recent...wow! I mentioned some on twitter and then their authors favorited, retweeted and then followed me! Me! (That's me shrieking like a little girl) So twitter...I think I'm a bit obsessed, or maybe just enamored with the amazing people you can follow and learn from... Or just follow for fun like Jimmy Fallon ;) anyway... I follow some amazing people on twitter and they have fantastic blogs too! I want to be able to write like that some day...for now it's just my random ramblings... I'm super excited because in about a month I will actually get to meet them! It will be like meeting a celebrity! But they are teachers, educators & school librarians (hey, they can still be celebrities!) So...it's June! Only 17 more school days left! 5, 3, 4, 5 I think we can do it! Oh and there's a wedding in there! Better get shopping for the boys & hubby's dress clothes! ;) enough randomness for tonight...until next time!