Happy 6 Years Little Blog

Six years ago today, I sat at our kitchen table and decided to give this thing a try.  I had decided to stay home as a new wife, and not return to school as a teacher that year, but to stay home and be a housewife. We were incredibly happy with that decision and although some people couldn't understand why, Joe and I did what was best for us.  Looking back I 'busied' myself, but really it was a nice little reprieve from the daily grind and the hard work that was to come.

By 2012, we found out I was pregnant and this sweet little blog became my online pregnancy journal.  I shared my monthly/weekly updates and all news baby.

In 2013, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into this world.  In typical fashion, my blog turned into a mommy blog where I shared her monthly stats, what I enjoyed doing with her as a now stay at home mom, and life.

Enter 2014 and I now became pregnant with our second, and learned how to manage a home, take care of a one year old and still be a happy wife.

2015 brought us our amazing son and now I had two kids, two and under! I often say I miss that baby phase, only because it goes by so incredibly fast and usually mom, you're in a fog.  Sleep deprived and heart full, you run on what little sleep you get and before you know, your youngest is one.

The year 2016 my family almost lost my sister, but she was saved.  Our oldest daughter started preschool and Joe and I were able to get back to Vegas one more time.

Now?  Here we are in 2017.  I haven't had nearly enough time to share my thoughts, stories, photos, etc. here on the blog, but I do what I can.  I also feel a shift in me, my writing and where I'd like to go.  What started out as a fun little hobby, turned into so much more.  I connected and bonded with likeminded ladies when I first made my blog.  It was mostly women who were happily married to their husbands.

Some of my closest women friends were made from blogging.  Women that I would have never ever knew existed unless I chose to put myself out there and create this silly little thing.  For that, I am eternally grateful.

It's kind of funny to think back to where I was 6 years ago---old blog posts are a little more than old time hops. To see what I felt, what I said, how I was spending my time...it's eye opening! I suppose the best part is to see how much I've grown.  I have so much further that I want to go, but the Jenn from 2011 and the Jenn now in 2017 are quite different.  Isn't that the point though?  We have so much to learn and soak up in this great big world, I can't wait to see where the next 6 years take me.

So thank you, readers.  Maybe you've read every blog since I started back in 2011, or perhaps you just stumbled onto my post today.

Stay with me, as I have big plans.  They'll be different, but different is good.

Happy Birthday Bliss to Bean.

2016: It's a Wrap

2016

What. A. Year.

It was a year that truly made me grow.

I learned so much about myself, my husband, my children as well as my family.

It was a year that I've learned less is more, and I want to continue that into next year.

It's a year that I've truly found a beautiful path I'm walking on with my faith.

2016 shook me to the core at the thought of losing my youngest sister.

I know so many people who hate 2016, but as my husband and I reflected on our year, we could only see the good.

Our sweet babes turned 1 & 3.

I took a day off.

We focused on some house goals.

I wrote about being a mom.

Hubby & I snuck off to Toronto

I asked for prayers; it worked. Thank you.

We celebrated 6 years of marriage

August was amazing.

Our girl started school.

I blogged 31 days in a row.

Viva las Vegas

Enjoying December

While I don't bare my entire soul here on the blog, I share what I feel is right and what needs to be put out there into the universe.  I'm constantly working on myself and certainly don't have all of the answers, but I feel so much better as a person going into this new year than I have ever felt.

I don't feel lost, scared, helpless hopeless or unsure.

Instead I feel confident, protected, secure, excited, hopeful and ready for all that is yet to come.

Relationships have always been a part of my life that I have struggled with.  I get so emotionally invested or worked up, that it can make me sick.  I believe that with the new year upon us, I will have a much better stance on them, as I walk with God.

The more I let him take control, the less guilt, frustration, sadness, what have you...I feel.

It is not my place to fix others; my only job here on earth is to be happy.

Stay safe & stylish friends and happy new year's eve!!

Best Childhood Memories

...playing with my sisters indoors on rainy Saturdays; singing, dancing, making up plays and performing them in front of my parents.

...coming home to freshly baked cookies after school.

...spending the night at my Grandma Owl's house and having tea with cream & sugar, watching QVC

...playing with our dog Bacca out back in the yard

...baking Christmas cookies with my mom and some of her friends

...lip synching Tiffany with my hairbrush while standing on a unicorn toy box...maybe singing The Bangles too

...dressing up our cats in baby doll clothes

...Sunday nights after a big family steak dinner, we'd take our baths/showers and settle in for a family TV night.  We'd watch Life Goes On and America's Funniest Videos.

...taking trips to Charleston SC

...my mom making us hot cocoa after playing outside in the snow

...my dad making me my lunch and always adding a little note

...swimming in the pool for hours on end, probably annoying the daylights out of my mom.

...walking in the woods with my grandparents on their 100 acres of land.

...going to dance class on cool Autumn nights.

...visiting relatives at the lake in the Summer

...making playdough and finger painting with my mom

...dressing up for Halloween and trick-or-treating with my family

...going to see Sesame Street Live in the city

...writing in my Hello Kitty journal

...pumpkin carving

...s'mores on Labor Day at the lake

...sitting at the table doing my homework while my mom cooked dinner (yes, I do think fondly of that!)

...pretending we were gymnasts, my sisters and I

...making homemade taco shells for taco night

...Christmas eves at my Grandma Owl's and my mom's side of the family

...Christmas mornings

...Christmas dinner with my grandparents, my dad's side.

...driving home from Grandma and Grandpa's singing Christmas carols, all five of us

...going to work with my dad on his late nights

...getting a big 6 CD changer for my 13th birthday and loving All-4-One songs

...snuggling with our dog Tillie most nights

...playing barbies for hours in our basement, along with my little pony...



I'm pretty grateful for having such a wonderful childhood. It wasn't always perfect, but it was beautiful and loving.  My sisters and I were really close, in fact all five of us were very close.  While things have changed and evolved, and my parents are divorced, I have hope that we can in our own ways get back to some sort of closeness that currently does not exist.  I have huge hope that my sisters and I can reconnect, I guess you could say that would be top on my Christmas wish list this year.