Magic House Fun

We went to the magic house... okay it has been a while.. but we went with some friends and we had a super fun time.

Curious George was on exhibit there and it was kinda cool that we went cause now we are members there and we can go for free all year! Which a trip may be in the works for next week sometime cause this momma is ready to not be contained to the house for an afternoon. Bring on spring... sorry got a little off track.

Back to the Magic House.

Heather invited us. This is Craig pretending to be the Bellman.

Hudson is so like his Daddy he could have spent all day working on this car.

Owen was there with his mommy too. He is sooo cute.

The static electricity ball of awesomeness. Leanna however (sadly) doesn't really need the ball for her hair to look like this. But it was a lot of fun!

Hudson was having fun sorting vegetables and fruits at the market.

Leanna could have played in the grocery area for DAYS. She checked me out at least 3 times and then put it all back and wanted to do it again!


I am so thankful to live in an area where there are options (learning options to boot) for the kids to play. I like the next momma love an energy using trip to the playground. However a trip to use muscles and BRAINS!?!?!? Priceless.

Man is it Heavy in here?

Sorry about the last couple of posts. Man it sounded depressing didn't it? It wasn't I promise. Crazy? Yes. Unscheduled? Yup and it still is. Hard? Absolutely. Depressing? Nope.

So in the interests of my 3 readers (love you guys) I wanted to let you all know I am okay. Just working on some stuff. It may get heavy every once in awhile. But sometimes I have to get it out. Or it gets really heavy on the inside...ya know?

So to lighten the mood I present you with pictures of the small people that make this mommy possible...

Nolan...whose smiles make me laugh.


Hudson my monkey... this pictures is ironic justice... my monkey with THE monkey.


Mommy and Leanna getting electric (boogie oogie oogie)


More fun stuff to come I promise :)

Keepin It Real
*Shay B*

Laughter...

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache." ~ Marjorie Pay Hinkley

I attended a baby shower a week or two ago. I got settled in and playing some games and the note cards came around. You know the ones. The "Please write a special piece of advice to the new mother" note cards. Instant panic and pressure. Rubbing of temples. How in the world do you cram an awesome piece of advice onto a small little note card. Can you even be original in 5" of space?

I had nothing. They kept coming by with the basket and asking are you finished yet. We would like to put it in a book before the end of the shower. Pressure. Heart pounding. Must finish. What do I say.

Finally I write it down. I say a little prayer that it is just funny enough, original enough, real enough and sympathetic enough. You know what. It doesn't matter. She will probably read and love the book. Don't get me wrong. It is a lovely present. But motherhood is what it is. It is crazy, busy and overwhelming.

Oh and my advice....

It you can laugh at it later then you can laugh at it now.

Hopefully she understands what I meant. If not she will soon enough.

Keepin' It Real,

*Shay B*

Holland instead of Italy? Sure why not...

I have been reading ALOT lately. Books on parenting, books on living, books on schedules (see previous post), books on children, books on hearing impairment and on disabilities.

'Cause while I don't see Nolan as disabled the world does... The school district does, his audiologist does, the kids do, my parents do hell the whole family does. They may not say it that way (or they just may) and they may not want to discuss it with me (which hurts almost as bad) but they do. It is a fine line to walk and I am crossing back and forth on a daily basis... I read this the other day and I had to share it. It pretty much sums up alot of the way I am feeling here lately.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability — to try to help people who have not shared the unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this …
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip — to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. Michelangelo’s “David.” The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!” you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. You must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.


I think the passage speaks for itself. I'm not missing out on Holland but I want people to realize that Italy just isn't going to happen. No matter how badly I want it to.

Keepin' It Real,
*Shay B*

I have no theme...

I have realized my blog has no real theme to it. I blog about everything and anything I am thinking, feeling, talking about, eating, playing whatever. I have no direction or focus.

Which is fun sometimes and others is a little infuriating. Right now my life feels like that no direction or focus or anything. It is distracting and well... infuriating (to reuse a word).

We are working on that here. It seems/feels like that is all we are working on right now. I am not sure how to not work on it. Any advice other stay at home moms? Am I missing the SAHM schedule train? Everyone else seems to be riding it but me? Which for me is weird because up until this last 3.5 months I was the most scheduled and disciplined person I know. Now... you might as well call me willy nilly. 'Cause that is how we are living life here in the "B" casa.

Keepin' It Real,

*Shay B*

Keepin' It Real...

Yeah so about that...

Today was bad.

I had to just shut the kids in their room for a little while today so I could cry.

No pictures.

No excuses.

Just a sad and tired mommy.

Good night.

*Shay B*

Accountability by Picture

This is my bedroom.... Yeah I know crazy right. It will not look like this by the end of today. Picture proof by midnight tonight I promise.



This is my laundry room. I am afraid of the monster that is hiding beneath the disaster. Proof again by midnight of my awesome homemaking skills. (*crosses fingers and prays*)



This is our chore chart. Obviously we have been bad about keeping it up. Our new normal has messed some things up. That all changes this week. Promise.



This is my kitchen. Not to shabby but could be better. It is part of the great cleanup of February 1st.



This is my living room. With two really cute if not messy small people that live in it. Man are they in for a surprise this week... or maybe it is mom. We will be finding out.



I invite you back at midnight tonight to see if progress was made. Accountability by picture I am thoroughly disgusted that I just posted those pictures. But hey at least I am keepin' it real folks. Just keepin' it real.

Pray for me would ya?

Thanks,
*Shay B*