Tales of #MOMLIFE

It has truly been a hot minute since I updated this blog. Life, ADHD tendencies and general laziness has pretty much been to blame. Since my last post we've been living it up in Hawaii surrounded by our new "found family" or our "tribe" as you might call it and life has settled into your typical chaotic routine with 3 kids, 2 cats and 1 dog in toe. 

We were so excited to finally hit the weekend and be able to go out and explore some of the island. We had big plans for both Saturday and Sunday but we were so pooped after Saturday, Sunday was pretty low key. I'm hoping to hit up our Sunday plans sometime this week. 

Guys, I don't know about ya'll but I am not all about that quarantine life. I mean, I am a very introverted person who would rather stay in by myself than go out most of the time. I enjoy not having to get dressed up and having nowhere to go. These are things I actually live for. haha But being stuck in a hotel room on a beautiful island with only the balcony to give you fresh air is a whole other level of isolation. 

Well, after almost 6 years the time has finally come for us to move on from Georgia. With 3 kids and a cat in tow we embarked on our newest adventure on Thursday... Hawaii!!! 

This has been a year of set-backs, growth, humbling, and surrender. We have shed tears, laughed, and breathed many sighs of relief. And as I reflect on all of the events of our child's first year of school, I am so grateful for all this year has taught us.

I, like many parents, was a tad nervous about Aria going to school for the first time; but I was certain that, because of her love for learning, she would beast pre-k. I just knew she would go to school, be engaged, soak in knowledge, and show everyone just how smart she really is. I mean, that's how I was. Plus, her mommy is a teacher.

That is not exactly how it went...

As parents we have high hopes for our children but I think that no matter what, most of us just want what is best for our child. We want them to be happy and successful, and if that means adjusting our expectations or the way that we do or handle things, we do it. No matter how difficult it is for us personally. It was hard to hear that my child was not, in fact, beasting pre-k, and it was even harder to adjust my expectations.

As school started we began to realize that Aria struggles with structure and transitioning. As a teacher I know that those things are difficult for a lot of children. Especially a young 4 year old going into a structured environment for the first time. Her meltdowns at school kept getting worse and there were many days when I just dreaded to pick up the phone to hear that she was having another hard day.

We were so blessed this year to have an amazing teacher for Aria. She worked with her daily on how to express herself and she learned exactly what worked for our child. I have worked with a lot of teachers, and I know that sadly not everyone is willing to take this kind of time. For that I am eternally grateful. Her teacher recognized Aria's strengths and we all worked to build on those strengths and work together to overcome her difficulties.

This year Aria had many good days and many bad days. She struggled but she thrived. She is brilliant and knows more than most of the kids I have taught in kindergarten. She works hard and loves learning. She is learning how to cope with situations that make her frustrated and she is learning to follow the directions of the teachers the first time. We ended the year with the meltdowns being few and far between and we thank the Lord so much for that! She had a wonderful last month of school and I'm no longer terrified for her to go to kindergarten.

As I look back on this year I realize that we have all grown. Not just Aria. I'm not exactly the school parent I thought I would be, and that is ok. The office staff know me as well as most of the teachers on her hall. And that is ok! Aria has won them over with her smiles and laughter and her bigger than her body personality. They share smiles with me when I come in for good reasons, and sympathize with me when the reasons aren't so great. Aria has a community around her that loves her and my heart swells with joy when I see her walk down the halls of school and so many students and teachers know her by name.

Did I have to adjust my expectations for the school year? I certainly did. Did I become humbled by the situations surrounding this year? Absolutely. But that is more than ok. I think a lot of times in parenting we want things to go a certain way and when they don't, we just want to throw in the towel. We are tired and we deal with so much and often times that one more thing feels like enough to do us in. But we don't give up. We put on our big girl panties and we adjust and we keep going. We do it for our kids and we do it for ourselves.

We've got this!

I have recently become a YouTube watcher (in all of my "free" time.) I never really used YouTube to do anything but watch music videos or pull up kiddie songs for my classes, but I have recently started doing a lot of research and learning more about make-up and beauty techniques. During my searches I became an adamant follower of quite a few beauty vloggers. And I have learned a ton!!

So without further ado, here are my favorite Youtubers! Let me know who your favorites are. I would love to check um out!



Just click the names to head on over to their channels!

1. Molly Burke
  I had to put Molly first on this list! She is such an inspiration and her personality is just the best! Molly is blind and an inspirational speaker. I first ran across her channel when she did a video with another of my favorite Youtubers, Kandee Johnson. They did a blind girl makeup challenge and I had to check her out.

  Even though she is blind, Molly loves fashion and makeup and is WAY better at it all than me! Her channel is worthy of some serious binge watching for sure!

2. Kelly Strack
   Kelly is hands down my favorite when it comes to makeup tutorials. She and I have similar skin types and her advice and techniques have really helped me. I have also bought quite a few products that she has recommended. She has new videos up each week, so be sure to check her out!

3. What Would Lizzy Do
  I love this channel! Lizzy's personality just cracks me up and she is super positive but super honest in her videos. She has a really good mix of makeup and lifestyle videos. You'll love her!

4. Kandee Johnson
  Kandee is pretty well known in the beauty world, so you may have already heard of her. Most of her makeup tutorials are a little out of my league, but I still love to watch them. She also has a good mix of video types and she is hilarious! Plus, she does some really cool makeovers.  She just radiates positivity and fun.

I hope you get a chance to check these amazing ladies out! Comment below with your favs!

My husband will be the first to tell you that I am not much of a cook. And that is a huge problem here lately, because his schedule has changed and now guess who is stuck holding the cooking bag. That's right... this untalented cook right here.

And lets face it, most days this Momma is super duper wiped after work and handling the kiddos. I'm sure you can relate. But never fear! I have 5 supremely awesome recipes for those days when you just can't. You can't adult. You can't cook. And you just wanna phone it in.

I, of course, found most of these on Pinterest. So just click on the pin to head on over to the recipes!



1. Chicken Alfredo Baked Ziti from Gimme Some Oven
  This one is my all time favorite and does include some prep. But with my trusty George Foreman, it takes no time at all. And it is extremely delicious and gives us plenty of leftovers for the next day. A plus is that the kids actually like it!


2. Hickory Brown Sugar  BBQ Chicken from The Frugal Girls 
  Crockpots. Are. Magic. Unless, of course, you are Jack Pearson. But I digress. This is one of those easy peasy crockpot recipes that really are a hit and is also great for parties. This one also provides for leftovers. I love to serve these up for get togethers and parties. Prep is no time at all!

*Note: Instead of the Hickory Brown Sugar BBQ we usually use just regular BBQ sauce. The hickory brown sugar is just a bit too sweet for us with the added brown sugar.



3. Mini make your own pizzas
   I don't have a link for this one because this is something that Ethan just started doing. (My hubs is the best!) This one is a go-to even when the hubs is home. I absolutely love the taste of these little mini pizzas.

Just grab yourself some flatbreads (we use Naan bread), marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Preheat the oven to 400. We spread the marinara on one side of each piece of Naan, then cover with mozzarella and top with pepperoni. Cook for 12-15 minutes. Easy as that!

4. Green Bean, Potato, and Chicken Bake
  Another super easy recipe with little prep time, just make sure you give yourself the time it needs to cook. This has to bake for an entire hour. There's never any leftovers of this yumminess in our house!


5. Alice Springs Chicken Quesadillas
  I love how quick this recipe is. And I'm going to be real with ya'll, I don't even cook bacon for this. I use bacon bits! Why do the extra work?? I'm sure you will love this one as well!
Well I hope that I was able to give you some new and easy recipes to try out! Let me know in the comments if you tried any of these recipes and let me know what you think!

Happy Momlife ya'll!!