** 'Tis the season to feel like a walking ATM.

** If you're a fan of torturing yourself, I highly recommend going to the mall two weekends before Christmas.…

Have you ever come across a post on social media that changed the way you see your world? I did, just this week. I came across a post on my newsfeed that showed dirty, rough hands. It had a story attached, that always piques my interest, so I read it and it hit me hard. My husband and I do so much for our kids so they never go without,…

To me, today is my "official" start to the holidays! I am so excited!



Thanksgiving on Thursday.



Shopping on Friday. Oh and getting my house all decked out for Christmas...



Christmas is in a month!



I have been waiting for…

** Santa needs to be A LOT more organized next year.

** I may never see my son again now that Wii U is hooked up in the basement.

** Goatdog REALLY likes to open presents.  Especially ones that don't belong to him.

** When it snows, everyone seems to have forgotten how to drive.

** Teepeeing the inside of your house…

Ah, it's the holiday season -- that magical time of the year when you wanna sip hot cocoa by the fire and shove people outta the way for a deal on a flat-screened t.v.  Cause let's be real, y'all.  December tends to turn the very best of us into giant assholes.

Every year I tell myself I'm not gonna get swept up into all the hoopla of running here, there and…

** 'Tis the season to be an asshole.  Apparently.

** I am not the Energizer Bunny.

** The Elf on the Shelf might very well be my nemesis.

** Anything that's lost is very likely at the bottom of my son's backpack.

** I should really write a country song cause I've got the homework blues.

** Leaving your…

As a kid, it's hard to see the big, wide world outside your own tiny bubble of existence.  (Heck, it's not easy even as an adult sometimes!)  That's why I've made it my mission to try to teach my kids to help out people in need.  And one of my favorite holiday traditions for our family is to help fulfill the Christmas wish list of a child in need.

For the past…

Remember that story a few weeks ago when we lost the mother fucking Elf on the Shelf, and I was all panicked that it might be the last Christmas for believing in Santa in my household?  Well, it saddens me beyond words, but I'm pretty sure the jig is up (at…

Again…why do we buy toys?

I know I have said this before but I still am trying to figure our why my hubby and I buy toys for or kids.

Seriously!…

Need Gift Ideas for Mom on Mothers Day 2011?  This is the day to step back and fully appreciate your Mother and all she has done for you.  Appreciate her with a gift that will make her feel loved. A good way to do this is to consider what is her Love Language.  Author Gary Chapman has detailed the 5 Love Languages in several books and on his website.  

Rather than getting the usual flowers and…

Yes, these were actually words shouted in my home at 4:30 Christmas morning, by my 8 year old. The story is just too funny not to share.



This year, Santa got the kids a Nintendo Wii and 2 games each. When he came down the chimney Christmas Eve, he just filled the stockings right there at the fireplace, left the wrapped games in front of the kids'…

Christmas is for the memories.  Christmas is for the anticipation.  Christmas, at least when you're the parent of two year olds, is not for the day, itself.



On Christmas Eve, I excitedly brought down my horribly wrapped presents and placed them carefully under the tree in the most eye-pleasing manner I could manage.  I stepped back to view my work, envisioning the happy day that was surely awaiting us.…

Christmas has been so hectic.  Dragging babies across the country, presents, presents, different foods, different people, presents, a massive snow storm, and, well, presents.

It's amazing how quickly the girls took to the idea of Santa.  We hadn't prepared them for it throughout the season.  We mentioned Christmas.  We told them about presents.  But we…

Most people have holiday rituals that they do every year (omg, is she blogging about sacrificing goats again?). For some, it's Black Friday, for others it's a certain movie that they watch every year, complete with a cup of hot chocolate and some Christmas cookies. I, too, have a ritual that I do every holiday season, several times during this time of year, that I never thought was bizarre... until this year. Now that my kids are older, and with the introduction of Z this year, I seem…

I am the worst wrapper in the history of present wrapping. I always start out with such good intentions. I'm going to cut my lines straight and even. I'm going to line the corners up and crease my folds. I'm going to use very little tape so that you can't even see it. I'm going to put ribbons and bows on every present. They are going to be beautiful.



These ideals last only until I lose the scissors the first time, which is to say, the first time I put them down. They're scissors.…

Christmas can be the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but it can also be the Most Stressful Time of the Year. All that shopping, planning, decorating, baking and traveling can turn a lovely holiday season into an anxiety-filled nightmare.



I'm as guilty as the next perfectionist. I want everything to look, smell, and feel just as it did when I was growing up. And when it doesn't, it means I am a failure. I have failed to "do" Christmas well.



I can't tell you how many times I…