PheMOMena

Oh, sigh. I try to keep things on THIS blog fairly light, right? I mean, I tell you all about my daughter and the new stages we are going through (BTW, we are all still assigned rotating characters from random ass Nick Jr. shows, just in case you we wondering). But, I find that what we did as a family today, along with some news stories, will take the levity out of this post. What can I say? We will be back to shits and giggles in the next post. Today, Luke Perry died. If you didn't know, he grew up a short car ride (think 35 minutes or so) from our neighborhood. In the early 90s, when I was barely a teenager, he was like the end all be all on 90210. He was hot and his hair was perfect and I loved him. (Didn't love the show, but Dylan... I totally loved Dylan). Last week Luke had a massive stroke. He died today, while I was in a meeting, at the age of 52. A few reasons why this freaked me out: 1. Hubs is 51, 2. Luke seemed to be in great health (and I am sooooo not curren...

After Baby K was born I struggled with how I was going to introduce myself to her. I mean, I spent months talking to her while she punted my internal organs around, but once she was born, how would I let her know who I am? How could I make sure that she knew that I look a little different on the outside, but it was my heart that she was hearing beat for all those months? Most importantly, how could I ensure that her first word would be...mama? (It is a thing I have... don't judge me). As soon as we knew she was paying attention (and able to follow our fingers), we started pointing to our noses and saying our names. Round a bouts of "mama, dada, Kenzie" were heard over and over again. She seemed to love it. Laughs were had. After a month or so, she joined in. She would point to my nose and it was my job to say "mama" so I did. About 8,000 times. I didn't care. Have you ever heard a six month old giggle? Heaven. Plus, when we got past the cooing stage, Ba...

Who remembers the theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter? That is totally playing over and over again in my head. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back. Now it is totally running through your mind-- you're welcome.  Welcome back, to me!! I took a little self imposed hiatus from blogging this summer, so I could enjoy quality time with my little pumpkin eater. It has been outrageously satisfying watching her grow, taking her on trips to museums and farmers markets, letting her try new foods and watching her interact with new people. It has been a blast! Now there is a chill in the air and we are getting into a more home bound schedule, freeing up more time for me to type about our adventures. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back!  Let's get after it, y'all! 

Summertime in the city! The weather is fantastic and here in the Midwest everything is in bloom. Our garden is growing like gang busters and we are loving the life of fresh fruits and veggies that we planted and watered. A few years ago we planted berries (strawberries and raspberries). This year the raspberries have done so well. We can get a couple handfuls every other day. The strawberries have not fared as well-- the ants are eating them before we can pick them and the size of the berries have declined. What is a girl to do? Put everyone in the car and drive an hour west to Troy for everything strawberry!! A few weekends ago we did just that. June is a weird month for us. The weather is wacky (either too hot or too rainy), my mom's birthday is a week before Father's Day, my brothers and sisters are getting out of school and summertime activities are kicking off. We are crazy busy. So, even though it has been 5 years since I moved back to Columbus, we have not ventured out...