AnchorMom

I'm not a shopper. But this time of year is different. I have to do a LOT of shopping. And I cram it all into one month. I know, I know... I should look for things throughout the year and pick them up as I go along, but who really does that? (My mom, actually...) It is absolutely worth it to see their little faces light up when they come down the stairs Christmas morning to see what Santa brought them. Well, they are usually happy about it... Last year, my 5-year-old daughter asked for a unicorn... a unicorn that "pooped cupcakes." So, this happened: So I know everyone has their own way of doing "Santa," but I certainly don't plan to wrap more gifts than I have to, so Santa lays all of his toys out on Christmas Eve. I wrap individual gifts from each family member to the other and in my extended (large) family, we draw names every Christmas. I love that my girls at least are old enough to start picking out gifts for each other lik...

{Waiting to come downstairs to see what Santa brought. Christmas 2017} I knew it would happen. I knew it would happen soon. In fact, I have thought the last two Christmases that it would probably be the last all of my kids believed in Santa Claus. I felt like I was on borrowed time. I asked the dreaded question to several babysitters before I had the courage to ask my mom when I was 9. My mom told me the truth. I was devastated. There were tears and more questions: "The Easter Bunny?" Nope. "The Tooth Fairy??"  Not possible. I remember it well. I was truly broken hearted. I was also one of the last to 'believe' in my class. So when my oldest daughter turned 8, I prepared. Then she was 9. And this year in October she turned 10. She wrote a letter to Santa and I thanked God I had one more year of magic. Then I was cornered. The other night... in the bathtub. Yes, I had everyone in bed and had settled in for a nice warm bubble bath when she cam...

Well, that was a fast decade! My baby girl... my first baby... just blew out ten candles on her cake. She was wearing lipgloss and earrings.😭 I've never been a super sentimental mom about milestones. When she was a baby, screaming with colic, I just wished for the phase to end. When she was bossing me around as a sassy 3-year-old, I just hoped it would pass soon. I guess since we had another baby when she was 3... and another when she was 7, it just slipped by. I was never sad about her growing up. I was happy to move on to the next stage. This birthday feels different. I am sentimental about it because she's calling herself a "tween" and all she wanted for her birthday was to have her ears pierced. I've been blessed to have such a sweet, caring, clever and fun girl. I don't want her next phase to be the most difficult of all... We've all heard stories about the teenage years. Heck, I feel like I was one just a few years ago. I know there will be d...

My daughter, Riess, is quite the writer. She wrote about our summer trip to New York City for her personal narrative at school. If you want to know what stood out to her (a 9-year-old) ... here's her version of events:  

Fast passes at Disney World. I've got a little beef with them. They are absolutely great to have, but hard to get. I know, I know - we aren't Disney pros and we didn't stay at a Disney property (hello, Marriott points!), so our experience might not be like most. But I did do a lot of research and got some hacks online that I used pretty successfully. However, I found (and my family found too) that I was buried in my WDW app the entire trip - trying to get new fast passes, modify existing ones, get better times, etc. the entire time. We spent one day at Universal this trip - I'll post more on that too - but they have a fast pass experience that's good for most all rides, for $100 extra. Yes, we spent the extra $500 to get it. The problem at Disney is that everyone would probably get that option there and then the fast pass lines would be longer than the regular lines! It was super crowded when we went too. It is always crowded at Disney, but 4.5 hour waits?? Th...

Okay, let's talk about Disney World. We are not particularly Disney people. We are likely more Disney than some people since we have been three times now in the last ten years. We took my oldest daughter alone when she turned five. We brought both girls right before my middle daughter turned three (mostly because kids are free at Disney until they turn 3!) And then we decided we should take our 2-year-old before his 3rd birthday too. Probably a bad idea.  Let me just say it. Girls are easier than boys. This is my experience and I'll likely change my mind by middle school. But for now - my 2-year-old boy is MUCH more difficult than either of my girls at this age.  For instance -- It rained on us in Disney one day (well, a few days) We were prepared for afternoon showers with ponchos and rain coast. John was in the best shape of all of us because he was in a covered stroller. (Don't even get me started on strollers. I never want to see another one again!) ...

So I'm going to start with traveling with kids to New York City. I'm starting there because I just returned from there and my poor momma brain doesn't retain information well from more than about two weeks ago.  I lived in New York City when I was a wee lass directly out of college. I was 22 -- ambitious, naive and a little stupid about life. But what better way to learn than to move to the largest city in the country without knowing a soul? I did learn a lot. That's another post... The point is that I love visiting! My mom was right (something I'm sure I'll write about often. She's ALWAYS right. So annoying!). She told me once when I was eating peanut butter out of a jar for dinner, "You know, if you left New York you might actually be able to afford to visit and see the plays you love and eat at the nice restaurants and do all the things you love about New York..."  Well, at the time I thought she was an idiot - who wouldn't ...