Nicole's Blog

oh. my. words. has moved!

2019-03-15T00:48:00.001-04:00

I've moved, and I'm back up and blogging again! SERIOUSLY this time. (I know. How many times can I say "I'm back at it again!). I'd love to have you come join me at NicoleBarczak.com, follow me, and hold me accountable, damn it! Not only did my blog move, but we're getting ready to do a REAL move too... we're building a new home! I hope you'll come

treat her well

2017-09-05T21:56:00.000-04:00

Dear World, I bequeath to you today one tiny little girl...in a crisp new dress...with two big, brown eyes....and a happy laugh that ripples all day long...and a flash of sunskissed brown hair that glitters in the sun when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well.She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning...and skipping off to her first day of school. And never again will she

pug dogs and garbage trucks

2017-09-04T23:46:00.000-04:00

Hudson: "Mom, when I grow up and move out, I'm gonna get a Pug dog and send you videos of it." _____________________________________________________ Ryan and I are discussing the garbage truck that got stuck in the ditch down the road. It's midnight. Amelia is

Kindergarten

2017-09-04T23:31:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow my sweet girl goes off to kindergarten. To say I'm not ready to let her go is an understatement. She is SO ready to go... she's been asking about kindergarten since the last day of preschool! I have joked with her that I'm not letting her go, that she's going to stay home with me one more year, or I'm going to homeschool her. She tells me"NO mom! I want to

she's found her words

2017-05-22T23:41:00.000-04:00

It took a lot longer for you get start saying words that make any sort of sense. You took SO long to say mama, and at 15-18 months old you really only had a couple words you would say. If you were our first child, you'd have a monthly list of words you could say, with phonetic pronunciation. But, alas, you're our sweet caboose and as always I'm devastatingly behind in

goodbye airhead week

2017-03-05T22:55:00.002-05:00

This week was rough. I literally felt like I was "off" all week... I couldn't get my shit together, couldn't remember things, was late continuously, and kids kept getting sick randomly. I'm glad to start a new week over tomorrow. Let me recap my fun for you: Well we can go back to the 21st... which I think was kind of the beginning of a 2 week chaos. We'd just gotten home

sisters

2017-02-28T08:32:00.001-05:00

This morning, the girls have ridden their play broom & mop "horses" around the house... galloping and making adorable horse noises. They've laughed together. Amelia has called Lulu "sweetie" and showed Lulu how to push her stuffed monkey around the house in a laundry basket. I hopped in the shower, leaving them and their stick horses to gallop the main floor of the

iberostar paraiso beach | day 5

2017-02-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

I can't believe we only have 2 days left. As I walked to breakfast with the 3 littles, I realized I'm glad we didn't do say, a 4-5 day trip. I am realizing it takes us a good 2 days to really settle into a groove on vacation. This morning started out chilly so I was thinking a pool day would be out of the question. Ryan and Porter left early to snorkel in the ocean

iberostar paraiso beach | day 4

2017-02-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

-ryan and Porter left early for snorkeling lessons in the pool. I took the other 3 kids to breakfast at the restaurant near our room, and then we walked to the beach for a bit. Hudson rebuilt a sand alligators leg, and we swung in the hammocks for a few minutes. -we went down to the pool around 10am again- it seems to be the typical time we make it down there.

iberostar paraiso beach | day 3

2017-02-07T00:00:00.001-05:00

The short version: Vacation was revived with lots of alcohol all day long and sitting by the side of the pool for 6 hours. Traveling with 4 kids isn’t THAT bad, I guess. The long version: We woke with a renewed sense of…. peace. Wait. What am I writing? Weirdo. Anyhow… the day started pretty good. We headed to breakfast and felt confident in our

iberostar paraiso beach | day 2

2017-02-05T21:44:00.003-05:00

The short of it: -I realized I left my good camera charger and extra battery at home, and that the battery in my camera was almost dead. -unsuccessful attempts at locating a universal battery charger for a canon slr left me nearly in tears. Omg I'm 2 for 2 in crying this vacation. -we are figuring out the paths at the resort and it's not as confusing to get from our

iberostar paraiso beach | day 1

2017-02-04T22:49:00.001-05:00

Last year we went to Disney World for the 2nd year in a row for a mid-winter vacation to escape Michigan winter blahs. By the end of the week, we were all kind of “meh” and ditched the parks on our last day and spent the day at the pool. Seriously the kids were stoked about that and said the next year they wanted to jus tho somewhere warm with a pool. Done. So

speaking spanish

2017-01-08T15:57:00.002-05:00

Amelia (looking at Hudson's Beanie Baby Book): "Mom, look its the cat Hudson has!" Me: "Yep, its Snip the Siamese Cat." Amelia: "Oh neat! Siamese! That means he speaks Spanish!"

sunday

2017-01-08T15:25:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting here in the house... alone... the only noises I hear are the dogs walking on the wood floors and the washer. Ryan is off at a friends house teaching him how to use his essential oils and Ningxia Red he just bought, the boys are at the neighbors house playing, and the girls are upstairs-resting- hopefully. What is happening that I have a free hour or so of quiet

master bathroom: phase 1

2017-01-06T15:57:00.001-05:00

So, our master bathroom is a work in progress. I was tired of it looking SO dated, so we did a "phase 1" update. (mostly cosmetic, only removing countertops and mirrors as major reno parts). If you'd like to see some of my planning and inspiration, check out my Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/nic073/home-master-bathroom/ Here's a quick

hudsons bedroom

2017-01-03T23:38:00.003-05:00

While our house was completely not our style when we moved in (and it is still a continual, slow work in progress), we were pretty lucky that it was in a sense kind of a blank slate for us to work with. Errrrr for me to work with. HAHA! Decorating and all this jazz is 99% of the time my idea. Our home had been built and lived in by one family

amelia's bedroom

2017-01-03T01:41:00.003-05:00

Kids bedrooms are my favorite to decorate... and not even joking, partially why I want my kids to all have separate bedrooms- SO I HAVE MORE KID ROOMS TO DECORATE! Amelia's room is the smallest of the 4 kids rooms (not by much... just because of this jutted out area where the fireplace from downstairs takes up part of her room). When we moved, I didn't change anything about her

Mt. Brighton

2016-12-31T14:07:00.004-05:00

It's been over a decade since I hit the slopes, but this year felt like it was time! We live just 15 minutes from Mt. Brighton, and the 3 bugger kids are all at good ages to start skiing. I wished we'd started the boys earlier but the cost + babies always kept us from going. I signed the kids up for ski school (well, porter wants to learn snowboarding) and we watched some

A brain like Dory

2016-12-06T00:14:00.000-05:00

Hudson is writing an informational paper about the Titanic (his current obsession). He's been reading books at the library for weeks. He's looking up facts online and found one that clearly contradicts something he read in a book and he says "is lying!" Hudson: "No! The Titanic is at 13,123 feet. Because Submarine Alvin could only go down 13124 feet and it reached the Titanic!"Me: "Your

Real Life Homework

2016-12-01T00:15:00.000-05:00

When your 3rd graders math homework is measuring circumference and you check it and realize he measured around your ginormous wine bottle. #winning#13inchesaroundthatbaby #winebythegallon

getting deep

2016-11-17T20:48:00.001-05:00

This week has been one of those weeks where I feel like I'm failing miserably in every area of parenting possible. Do you have those days? Why does this parenting gig have to be so hard? And why does it feel like so many other parents have it all together? My oldest has a temper. He's had a temper from the time he was a baby. I remember as a toddler he would get SO

how'd that get there?

2016-11-11T11:04:00.001-05:00

Lulu was walking around the hotel room with one shoe on her foot, and the other shoe in her hand. (Ryan had put her first shoe on about 10 minutes earlier). Ryan said "Lulu, bring me your shoe andI'll put it on!" She held her shoe close to her chest, and began spinning around, looking all over teh floor and aroudn the room. We laughed, saying "Lulu, just bring your shoe over here and

taking stock

2016-11-04T23:14:00.002-04:00

"In 2007 when I started blogging (yup, it’s been a while) I met women from across the world who had voices to share – some of those women have dusty blogs….that I’m hoping they’ll reset passwords and take stock for themselves." Thanks for the extra nudge Cass and Heather. Blogging... before Facebook... used to be such an amazing community. I remember when I began blogging

Now I remember....

2016-10-25T00:17:00.000-04:00

That time you remember exactly how much you HATE taking pictures of a) your own kids and b) 17 month olds Holy. Hell.

Throwback

2016-09-18T00:19:00.000-04:00

Met my mom tonight for a movie (one of the last people in the world to see Bad Moms, I think) and my mom hands me this..... "Here! You can play this at Halloween!" I pretty much peed my pants right there in the theater. I love the jokes and laughter with yoU mom. Hold on, let me find my cassette player....