The older I get, the more confident I am that children are born to love. When encouraged, that love will change the world one day. 

My daughter saw me having a hard day and hid this note on my desk.  She may not have changed the world today, but she absolutely changed my world. 

I’ll be paying it forward soon! Kindness is contagious!

#BornToLove

#PositivityProject

#ChildrenAreABlessing 

#OutrageouslyOrdinary 

(The thanks for Leopard Leaders is her thanking me for starting a club at her school).

Music is a member of our family. It makes this house a home as much as the children do because most days it comes from them.  It is the noise in the background. The sentence I sing instead of say.  The focus as they practice piano. The dancing while we cook. The jam we jump start our day to. It is everywhere.  All the time.

I’ve started a playlist for them on Spotify to rock to whenever they feel groovy (they hate when I call it that).  I want my kids to sing and play music that builds up the character I’m trying to instill in them.  I want it to be a comfort to them when they need a pick-me-up.  And I want them to be able to hear a song 20, 40, 60 years from now and laugh at the memories we made to it.

Music can bring generations together in a way little else can. I’d love for you to add a comment with your/your kid’s favorite songs so I can add to our list!

#GettingGroovy

#MusicMatters

#OutrageouslyOrdinary

PLAYLIST

I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas

Dynamite, Taio Cruz

We Can, LeAnn Rimes

Flashlight (Sweet Life Mix), from “Pitch Perfect 2”, Hailee Steinfeld

The Climb, Miley Cyrus

Don’t Stop Believin’, Journey

Roar, Katy Perry

How Far I’ll Go, from “Moana”, Auli’i Cravalho

Good Life, OneRepublic

Born This Way, Lady Gaga

Set It All Free, from “Sing”, Scarlett Johansson

Road Less Traveled, Lauren Alaina

Stand, Rascal Flatts

I’m Still Standing, from “Sing”, Taron Egerton

Beautiful Day, U2

Fight Song, Rachel Platten

Perfect, Pink (**CLEAN version**)

Shake It Off, from “Sing”, Nick Kroll, Reese Witherspoon

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Aretha Franklin

Man in the Mirror, Michael Jackson

Unstoppable, Sia

Footloose, Kenny Loggins

Take On Me, a-ha

All Star, Smash Mouth

Walking On Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves

Love Is Your Name, Steven Tyler

Rise Up, Andra Day

When You Say Nothing At All, Alison Krauss

My Wish, Rascal Flatts

Cry Out to Jesus,  Third Day

Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers, Coldplay

Never Gonna Let You Down, Colbie Caillat

The Fighter, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood

Current situation: I just saw a spider the size of a quarter crawl behind my headboard.  Easily a crushable size but my arm is way too big to reach behind there, and the king bed is too heavy to move.

My conundrum: Do I wake a child to use their tiny arm to spray something back there to kill the giant spider or do I spend the next 8 hours waking up worried that it’s on me?

I may be on the bottom bunk in the daught’s room tonight. 

#SkinCrawling

#NatureNeedsToStayOutside

#NoSleepTonight

#OutrageouslyOrdinary 

Having a cute moment cuddled up with the kids this morning on our day off, only made better by their little minds…

My little buddy says “Mom, do you ever have playdates with your friends?” “Sometimes.”

The daught says, “Mom I feel bad for you most days. You’re always so busy. Aren’t you tired?” “Sometimes.”

The buddy, “You should find a friend to have a playdate with tonight.” “Yes, sir.”

The daught, “My friend’s mom says you look like you’re still in high school. I told her you were old though.” “Thanks for setting her straight, honey.”

The buddy, “You should be a singer when you grow up.” “I thought about it.”

The daught, “She’s already grown up, it’s too late for her to start all that now.” “It’s never too late to try anything.” 

The buddy, “So you’re going to be a singer?” “No, it’s too late for all that.”

A silent moment of cuddling, then they hit me with…

Daught, “She would make a good race car driver.”

Buddy, “Or a clown.”

Daught, “A baker.”

Buddy, “I’ve got it, she should be a joke book writer.”

And there we sat for the next 15 minutes while my PR team was hard at work building my career when I grow up.

#PlaydatesAndProfessions

#KidsSayTheDarndestThings 

#CuddleTimeWithMyKids

#OutrageouslyOrdinary 

I don’t want to break any hearts out there, but a 6 year old told me at work yesterday that I was his girlfriend. He’s going to ask his mom if I can come over to meet his turtle.

I think he said the same thing to another teacher though, so apparently we’re seeing other people.

Isn’t that just like a man. 

#SeeingOtherPeople

#BoysWillBeBoys

#TheDatingPoolIsNowABucket

#OutrageouslyOrdinary 

Only the daught and I could have this much fun going to the dentist.  She kept me laughing all morning yesterday!  

After the check up, the dentist asked her if she had any questions. The conversation went something like this…

Dr: Got any questions for me?

Daught: Just one.  

Dr: Shoot.

Daught: You know how people say police officers like donuts?

Dr: (a little thrown by the question) I have heard that. 

Daught: Yeah, this has nothing to do with my teeth.

Dr: Alright, but you’re making me hungry.

Daught: What is a dentist’s thing? 

Dr: Our thing?

Daught: What are you guys known for doing that makes no sense?

Dr: (he laughed out loud and looked at me like I was the fruitcake in the situation,  but thought for a second) I guess it would have to be asking people questions when they have their mouths full.

Daught: Yeah, you all do that a lot. Did they teach you how to understand us in school or do you just get used to it?

Dr: I guess we just get used to it, or we like talking to ourselves.

Daught: Huh… alright. See you next time.

The dentist shook my hand and said “I’m really looking forward to seeing you at the follow up in a few weeks.  She’s something else.”

Yes sir. Yes she is.

#DentalComedy

#BestDaughterEver 

#KidsSayTheDarndestThings

#OutrageouslyOrdinary 

I donated 12 bags of toys, clothes, books, movies, shoes, etc this weekend.  There was so much stuff in my car that the sweet volunteer at North Raleigh Ministries (http://www.northraleighministries.com/thrift-shoppe) asked if we were moving.  Nope, being a hoarder is one more thing I found in my closet today.

After the weekend liquidation, the kids and I got their rooms clean.  Not the usual stuff-under-the-bed-and-junk-collected-in-the-corner “clean”, we’re talking Clorox clean.

When I got home from work yesterday, I peeked in the daught’s room to enjoy the view before it gets torn up again.  She has a bunk bed and sleeps on the top bunk, of course.  The young love to climb into bed, the old prefer to fall into it.

Her covers were thrown all over the bed like she had been salsa dancing in her sleep so I climbed the ladder to straighten them up a bit.  I was leaning over the bed at the hip, cussing under my breath at the tight sheet corners when I felt the ladder slide away from the bunk and hit the floor, leaving me hanging like a tea bag over the edge.

One deep breath and a leg swing later, I rolled over on my back, no longer just muttering the cussing.  I looked over the bed and wondered, again, why double-decker sleeping appeals to children.

I sat up and had the conscious thought not to jump off the bed because I would hit my head on the ceiling.  So I tried to hop-slide off, smacking my tail bone on the ledge, sending a lightning bolt up my spine and taking my attention off a Mary Lou Retton landing, causing me to fall even further to hit the floor on my wounded toushy.

Please try not to choke on your coffee from laughing at the old lady doughnut I’ll be sitting on today.

Lesson here – kids need to make their own beds and grown ups belong on the bottom bunk.

#HangingLikeATeaBag

#TailboneTorture

#CloroxClean

@NorthRalMin

#OutrageouslyOrdinary

 

Irma may have been on our minds today, but 9/11 will always be in our hearts.

Prayers to the families who lost their loved ones that awful day, as well as the families affected by Irma.  

The disasters are worlds apart but the humanity, kindness and unity they bring out in each of us proves that even in the darkest of days there is always hope, because in the face of it all rise the true heroes.

God bless…

#OutrageouslyOrdinary 

I am making bbq chicken in the crockpot for dinner tonight. As I’m adding the brown sugar and bourbon, the kids walk in the kitchen and get a whiff of the strong stuff. 

Daught: “What is THAT?!”

“Bourbon.”

Daught: “Why are you putting it in our food?”

Without missing a beat, my boy says.. “Cause it’s gonna be a party later!”

I’m raising a future frat boy.

#WildTurkeyTime

#CrockPotLover

#KALegacy

#OutrageouslyOrdinary