Mommy Musings

Reading to Children

2013-06-19T15:20:00.001-04:00

By reading adventurous books to your child daily, you will help your little one build his or her imagination. Studies have shown that parents who read to their children daily will help their children develop a lifelong love for learning. Books promote a child’s cognitive and emotional development.

Books also help children explore their environments and develop a creative outlook on life. Personalized childrens books provide children with a unique method for helping them explore their imagination. By including your child’s name, picture and other images that your child can relate to in a personalized book, your child will use his or her creative abilities and contribute to the creation of an enchanted story. Your child can imagine that he or she is involved in the story as you read the personalized book, and it will also help build your child’s motivation to explore more books and help your child develop an increased level of self confidence.

Many children enjoy developing a connection with some of the popular animated characters. They use their imagination daily to bring their toys to life, and books help children learn more about their favorite characters. A unique and personalized book for your child will certainly promote your child’s passion for many of his or her favorite story book characters.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

Party Details

2013-06-19T10:03:00.000-04:00

"You Are My Sunshine" is Charlie's favorite song. So it was pretty much a no-brainer when it came to thinking of what theme to have for her second birthday.

I browsed for some ideas for Pinterest, but mainly came up with everything by myself. I try and come up with a party theme a few months in advance so I can take my time searching for decorations. For this party I got all the supplies at Michaels, Party City, and Five and Below.

For the food, I made the cupcakes, cookies, and macaroni salad myself. We ordered two 3 ft sandwiches from Stop & Shop. For drinks I made some lemonade and put out bottled water.

Now for all the pictures!!

I made the little signs on PicMonkey and printed them out on stock paper. I taped them onto extra tall toothpicks.

I got these cute little boxes in the dollar section of Michaels and filled them with M&Ms....simple and easy!

I ordered this vinyl online and put it onto this piece of wood I had painted

I made the frames. I painted a piece of cardboard gray and the frames yellow. I ordered the vinyl online and attached it to the glass. It reads "You are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy when skies are gray"

I made this wreath myself. I bought a form at Michaels. I wrapped it in gray ribbon first, then in the yellow and white ribbon. I also got the C and suns at Michaels. I painted the C gray, and then hot glued them onto the wreath. I finished it off by hot gluing the ribbon at the top. I am SO happy with the way this came out.

I created this sign on PicMonkey and printed it out on stock paper.

My Sunshine Girl Turns Two

2013-06-18T04:03:00.000-04:00

Saturday we had a very full day of celebrating the birth of our sweet Charlie. I normally don't have the girls big family party on their actually birthday, but since C turned two on a Saturday, it just made the most sense to have it that day.

Her last night as a one year old!

We started the morning off with balloons, presents, and of course donuts for breakfast!

We then put some finishing touches on her You Are My Sunshine party before our family got there {there will be more details on the actual party tomorrow!} We also waited and watched for the exact moment, 10:56 am that Charlie turned two!

My sunshine girls!

The moment my girl turned 2!

It was a really relaxed party and I think everyone, the birthday girl especially, had a great time!

Snuggling the grandparents

Cupcake time!

Pic taken by my sister....too many people and presents was a little overwhelming for my girl

My sis got a family picture!!

We got the girls down for a nap and everyone went home. After nap, we took the girls to the mall to ride on the carousel and have some Chick-fil-a for dinner!

When we got home we all went outside to play and I got some really great pictures of the girls.

Twirling

More cupcakes!

Sweet Charlie, we had a wonderful day celebrating you...I hope you had a fabulous day too!

Who Am I?

2013-06-17T10:21:00.000-04:00

I'm linking up with Becky to kick off her 52 weeks of blogging with a purpose.

This week's topic is Who I Am.

I could sit here and talk about how I'm a mother, a wife, a former teacher, etc. But then I cam across this picture that Emmy took of me recently.

She was taking a picture of me while I was taking a picture of her.

I think you can learn a lot about me from this simple pictures.

You can see a lot of my physical characteristics, I'm blond, thin, have really bony collar bones. But if you look closer, you can see so much more than that.

You can see that when I'm home I'm a very simple person, no make-up, hair up in a bun, comfy clothes.

You can assume I must really like pink if I'm a 30 year old mom who has a hot pink phone case.

You can see that I'm thrifty and kind of cheap because I bought those pj pants when I was 18 and a freshman in college. So yes I've been wearing them for 12 years.

You can tell I keep my house pretty clean because I have no problem sitting on the floor.

You can assume I spend a lot of time on Pinterest because I painted the interior of my front door black.

You can tell that I really love my kids and would do anything for them, because this picture represents half an hour of taking pictures with and of Emmy, just because she asked me to.

Never thought you could learn that much from just one picture huh?

My Main Men

2013-06-16T04:03:00.000-04:00

Today is a day for fathers....for men. But somehow, I'm the one feeling blessed. Because in my life, I have no one, but two amazing men to thank today.

First is my dad.

A man who always provided for his family no matter what. There was nothing I ever wanted for in my 22 years living at home, nothing.

A man who supported the dreams of my sisters and I, and encouraged us along the way.

A man who has turned into the most amazing Grandad to my girls.

Dad, we all love you so much and are so lucky to have you!

And Skip, my husband, the father to our girls.

I'll be honest, when Skip and I were dating, and then first married, I didn't really think about what kind of father he'd be.

Little did I know that he would absolutely exceed any expectations I could have ever had.

He's the dad that jumped right in and changed diapers from day one....would take midnight feedings if the girls were taking a bottle.

He jumps right in to feed the girls, take them on "adventures", play for hours outside.

He has no problem letting me go out and run errands by myself whenever he can and does bath and bedtime every night he's home.

He always puts his family first, no matter what.

Skip, the girls and I could not be luckier to have you in our lives. We love you so much!

Happy Second Birthday Charlie Girl

2013-06-15T04:03:00.000-04:00

My sweet sweet Charlie Bear.

Somehow you have gone from this

to this

in only two short years.

You brought a joy into our lives that we didn't know was missing. I love you, I love you more, I love you most my sweet sunshine girl and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Winner!

2013-06-14T09:48:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to thank you all for entering my $50 giveaway from Minted. I'm so happy to announce our winner is Leanne!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's a good month for Leanne as her husband just came home safely from Afghanistan!! Enjoy your gift!

30 Miles in 30 Days

2013-06-13T04:30:00.000-04:00

Another week with Manda linking up our miles for June!

I feel like I've gotten back into my stride a little bit this past week. Skip and I decided to really make an effort for each of us to be able to work out almost every single day. It's good for our health, both physical and mental.

Here's the breakdown:
Thursday June 6 - 2.4 mile walk / 3.2 mile elliptical / 3 mile bike
Friday - none
Saturday - 2 mile walk / 1 mile run
Sunday - 3.5 mile run
Monday - Shred Level 2 {no miles}
Tuesday - 2 mile run
Wednesday - none

Weekly total: 17.1 miles
Monthly total: 22.8 miles

Not too bad for the middle of June! I am hoping to get to 50 miles again this month...we'll see!!

Go link up with Manda and join in the fun!

Summer School - Writing Practice

2013-06-12T04:31:00.000-04:00

As I said yesterday, Emmy is officially on summer break now. And I am all about kids being kids in the summertime. Hot sticky bodies, running barefoot in the grass, days spent in bathing suits, ice cream for dinner. I love the unstructured schedules, sleeping in, staying up late, no where to be but outside.

However, as a former teacher, I also know the importance of continually reviewing the information children learned over the year. Three months is a long time and I don't want Emmy to lose any of the momentum she was gaining in school. I do work with the girls on certain educational activities during the year as it is, but I wanted to do something a little more formal this summer.

Obviously, I turned to Pinterest first. I found this pin and went to go check it out.

This website was exactly the type of thing I was looking for. You can type in any name, word, or sentence that you want, and then print out the sheet. So easy!!

I started Emmy out with her name, Mommy, and Daddy the first day. Then moved on to Charlie's name, our last name, and Shiba. For right now we just do three sheets a day. I'll work through all the family names and our address before working up to other words and sentences.

Writing, letters, and words is what I'm going to focus on in June. July will be numbers and some simple math. Not sure what we're doing in August yet.

What about you? Do you do summer work with your kids? What are your favorite websites?

School's Out for Summer!

2013-06-11T04:03:00.000-04:00

Emmy's last day of school this year was last Thursday, June 6th. I cannot believe how far she has come since September. She has grown so much physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

She got a special horse for having such a great year!

Cannot believe how much she grew from September!

She had such sweet kids in her class this year, and her teacher was truly wonderful. I have worked in a lot of school and with a lot of teachers over the years, and none compares to Mrs. C. I am so sad that she is retiring this year and we won't even see her in the halls.

The class put on a little end-of-the-year presentation on the last day. Sadly Skip had to work and my mom stayed home with Charlie since she was sick, but I was so happy to be there. I made sure to take as many pictures and videos as possible!!

After they sang some of the most adorable songs ever, each child was presented with a certificate and their very own year book {and then I died of cuteness}

her page in the year book!

We ended the day with a nice long run down the big hill outside...the kids favorite thing to do at the end of each day.

Most of the kids will be in her class next year, and Emmy already can't wait to see them!

Pre-k 3 is in the books...onward to pre-k 4...and a full day at that!!

Take the Trip

2013-06-10T09:57:00.000-04:00

As we all know, I was a little nervous before Skip and I went to CA. I imagined all the worst case scenarios. I came close to cancelling the trip more than once.

I am SO glad I didn't. Because obviously my worrying was for nothing. Skip and I didn't die in a fiery plane crash and the girls didn't get sick and have to be hospitalized.

But we more than just survived. We thrived with the experience, all of us. The girls {while they did get sad} have some wonderful memories of just being with my parents....ice cream desserts, early morning snuggles, silly dinner conversations. Precious moments for the four of them. The girls also learned that it's okay if Mommy and Daddy go away for a little while, they'll always come back.

And Skip and I? We had one of the best weekends in years. While it was so awesome to spend some real quality time with family and friends, it was the little things that meant more. The eating meals without anyone stealing food off my plate or whining about needed more juice. Sleeping in as late as we wanted. Waking up without tiny hands poking me in the eye. Taking my sweet time showering and getting ready. Getting in the car and taking a drive, just because we wanted it. It truly was amazing. We came back so relaxed and refreshed.

I'm not sure about Skip, but I also came back from the trip with a new perspective. Being taken out of my life for a few days gave me the opportunity to really analyze it. There are some things I've been doing, and not doing that were really brought to life while I was away. And now that I'm home I've been able to make a plan on how to change those things.

So if you're given an opportunity to go away with your husband for a few days, TAKE IT. Throw some things in a bag, kiss those kids, and run right out the door. And don't look back until the trip is over. Your kids will be fine, you will be fine, and you'll all come out a little better on the other end.

$50 Minted Giveaway!

2013-06-08T00:30:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to be bringing you this giveaway today for Minted. Minted is a company that I'm sure you have heard rave reviews about for years. In case for some reason you haven't heard about them already, "Minted is a global community of independent graphic designers and an online store that prints and sells the best of their designs in the form of paper goods."

That statement puts it simply. But Minted is so much more than that. It has some of the most quality work I have ever seen. And they are not just Christmas cards and birth announcements. You can also buy journals, art work, and even party decor. I've been drooling this princess crown set for days now.

Emmy's fifth birthday party anyone?

I love how Minted really stays on top of what customers are looking for. And the quality of their products is far beyond what you would expect.

But the best part? Minted is giving YOU a chance to win a $50 credit to their site. Just enter with Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will run from June 8, 2013-June 14, 2013. This giveaway is open to both US and international contestants.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored giveaway. However all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Skip and Mandy - The Tourists of California

2013-06-07T09:37:00.001-04:00

Skip and I were taking the red eye home Wednesday night, so while everyone else was leaving in the morning, we had the whole day to do some more exploring.

I didn't feel that great when I woke up in the morning, so I went back to bed while Skip got some breakfast at the hotel. I finally got up and we were packed up and checked out by 11:00. Our flight wasn't for another 12 hours...now what?

First things first, we had to check out the Pacific Coast Highway. Skip and I have been talking about driving it in a convertible, for years. I was so excited to finally do it!

Let me tell you, it is worth all the hype. I have never seen a more beautiful drive.

There is something so captivating about the mountains and ocean being so close together.

We obviously had to get out and snap some pictures along the side of the road.

We made it to Malibu around lunchtime, so we stopped and ate there.

Then it was back to the car. It was time to hit Hollywood! I had dreamed about wandering around Hollywood for years and was so excited to finally get there.

We saw the Hollywood sign, drove around Rodeo Drive, and searched for celebrities along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and their hand prints in the cement.

I wish I could say that it all lived up to my expectations and more, but sadly it didn't. I definitely think this is the first and last time I'll be in Hollywood. Now living so close to NYC I'm used to traffic and tons of people {some more unsightly than others} but this was a whole new ball game. And while it was fun to wander around searching for all the famous names, it's definitely not something i feel the need to do again.

Once we felt like we had seen enough, we high-tailed it out of there and headed back up the PCH. It was so nice to just feel the sun on our faces and wind in our hair as we admired the gorgeous view.

We needed to kill time, and I had yet to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean on this trip, so we stopped for a while to sit on the beach.

The beach is my happy place...I swear the breeze cleanses the soul. It was the perfect way to end our trip!

After that Skip and I spend the next few hours in traffic before getting to the airport. It had been a long day, and we were sad to leave our vacation. But it was time to head back to Jersey and see our sweet girls!!!!

30 Miles in 30 Days

2013-06-06T08:51:00.002-04:00

Manda is taking over the 30 miles in 30 days link-up, and I'm excited to be joining in!

I'm working on not being too hard on myself when I don't get in as many miles/workouts as possible. It's all about consistency and celebrating my accomplishments. So while I didn't workout as much as I wanted to the past week, it was better than nothing!!

Here's the breakdown:
Saturday June 1 - nothing
Sunday - 2.7 run/walk
Monday - Nothing
Tuesday - 3 mile run/walk
Wednesday - nothing

Weekly total: 5.7 miles

Again, not my greatest week, but we're still adjusting to being home, both girls have been sick, and I haven't been feeling well either. So not too bad considering.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm heading out for a nice long walk with Charlie!

Go link up with Manda and join in the fun!

Wedding Day California Style!

2013-06-05T04:03:00.000-04:00

Tuesday morning dawned {and by dawned Skip and I slept in till 9} and it was wedding day!! Skip and I didn't have to be ready till 2, so we spent another relaxing morning together. We drove around a bit more and stopped at a cute little bagel place for an early lunch.

Sadly the bagel was not quite up to Jersey standards, but it got the job done.

We headed back to the hotel to take our time getting ready. Finally it was time to meet up with some family and caravan down to Malibu for the ceremony and reception!

The ride down took about 45 minutes and was absolutely beautiful...

...but it was nothing compared to the gorgeous wedding site! It truly was breathtaking. Skip and I had some time before we were needed for pictures, so we just wandered around and snapped some pics for ourselves.

Cousins!

My own personal secret service

Me and the groom!

I made Skip do this, haha

The groom and his sister!

Then it was time to jump in some professional pictures!

The wedding started at 6:00pm. The ceremony was outside and just perfectly my cousin and his new wife.

We then headed right inside for the reception. It was such a fun time! There was eating, drinking, toasting, and lots and lots of dancing!! My kind of wedding! It is so nice that Skip is so close with my family and what were once my friends, are now his friends too. This enable us time to spend together at the wedding, but also the freedom to go off and mingle with others as well.

After the reception we helped get the bride and groom to their hotel and then made a very necessary stop at In N Out Burger! I'll be honest, I only had the fries, but I was not all that impressed. Skip did get a burger off the "super secret menu" though, which he really liked!

We brought it back to the condos and hung out with some of the boys. It was a nice way to end our family/friend time in California. We still had a whole day left in CA, but we wouldn't be hanging out with anyone else again. And it was definitely sad to say goodbye:( We keep trying to convince my cousin to get all of us together again every two years!

Memorial Day - California Style

2013-06-04T13:57:00.000-04:00

Our first full day in California was Memorial Day. Skip and I kicked it off the best way possible....with sleeping in nice and late:) I woke up around 10:00 and took my time getting ready. Skip finally rolled out of bed at 11:00. It was glorious.

We had the morning to ourselves, so we headed out to do some exploring. First we stopped to snap some pictures around the hotel.

Obviously sporting my red, white, and blue for Memorial Day!

It was about noon by this point, so we drove around looking for a place to eat. We found a chain-type pizza place on the water that looked perfect.

Once we were good and stuffed, we hopped back in the convertible and just drove around Oxnard for a while, admiring the scenery...we even stumbled across a Navy base!

It was so fun to just relax and take a drive with my man {without having to put on Disney songs on the radio!}

Around 3:00 we headed over to the condos my cousin and his friends were renting. There was a pool area in the middle of all the condos, and we set up camp there for the rest of the afternoon. It was pretty warm in the sun, but definitely not hot, so I spent most of the time sunning myself in the hot tub.....not a bad way to spend an afternoon:)

And this is totally shameless {and I already posted this on IG} but I was super excited that I was able to confidently rock a bikini;-)

We had to head over to the house some of my family was renting for a little family dinner at 6:00. They had a rooftop deck and the view was simply amazing.

I got to spend some quality time with my cousin, and she, Skip, and I ate our dinner up there. The rest of the family all wandered up eventually and we were able to take some awesome pictures.

He said the sun was setting on his single-hood

After dinner Skip and I headed back to the pool area to hang out with some of the military guys. It was a little chilly, but so nice to just sit, relax, and catch up with our lives.

Next up tomorrow....wedding day!!

Cali Day One

2013-06-03T05:58:00.000-04:00

I won't lie, I'm a little overwhelmed thinking about how to blog about our trip to Cali. I mean how do you put into words a vacation that was so wonderful for so many reasons without droning on and on? Well I will attempt that this week. Easiest way for me is break the trip down into days {or possibly more than one post for each day}. So get ready for at least a week's worth of vacation posts!

We got up at 5:00 am on Sunday, ouch {and something I will really only do for vacation}, and got ready.

Layers are key when flying!

We woke Emmy up at 5:30 when my mom got there so we could have some last minute snuggles and give her the "Sunday" present I had set aside. We let Charlie sleep since she normally sleeps much later than Emmy. We also couldn't explain the whole thing to her and we thought she would just cry and scream when we left. Best for everyone to let her sleep. So we got in our last snuggles with Emmy and she drew a picture of me on my arm to look down at whenever I missed her.

Then with tears streaming down my face, we headed off to Newark.

We dropped off the car and got through security with plenty of time to spare. Before I knew it, it was time to board and off we went!

Our flight really went so smoothly. I haven't flown in almost five years, so I was a little nervous. But I slept for most of the ride, which was definitely the best thing.

Officially in Cali!

We quick got our bags before heading over to the rental car place. Skip had already reserved a convertible before leaving, and I could not wait to get in it! I mean come on, it's California, you need a convertible. And this one was definitely the icing on the cake for the trip.

Once settled, we headed up from LAX to Oxnard, where we were saying. Though I was less than pleased with the amount of traffic we hit, the scenery surrounding me was so beautiful.

We definitely don't have mountains like this by me in Jersey!

We drove straight to the beach and met up with my family and some of our friends for a little welcome on the beach.

It was so good to see some of my cousin's old military buddies...guys I hadn't seen since they graduated and guys I had written to in my cousin's unit when they were deployed, but never met.

Skip and I checked into our amazing hotel {more on that later} and got ready for the rehearsal dinner. There was good food, great conversation, and lots of pictures taken by all!

The groom and best man

My cousin and I!

Love the way he is looking at her

Opening the joint gift we got them with the best man

We then went to hang out at the condo where a few of them were staying. We managed to hang out till around 12:30 am before crashing back at our place...what time change?

It was a really great way to kick off the wedding weekend festivities....more to come tomorrow!!

We've Come Back Back Back from Cali, Cali, Cali

2013-05-31T10:22:00.001-04:00

We're home!! Skip and I landed safely in Newark early yesterday morning, after what was one of the best vacations I've ever been on.

We laughed, talked, cried, drove, ate too much, and danced the night away. Skip and I managed to find the perfect balance of spending time with our friends and family, and taking time for just ourselves.

And while we missed the girls, it was so amazing to sit and enjoy each of our meals, and of course, sleep in!!

I'll be back next week with a full recap of our trip to Cali once I get over my jet lag and readjust to life on the East Coast!

30 Miles in 30 Days

2013-05-30T17:30:00.001-04:00

Time for the final week of May with Nikki for 30 miles in 30 days!!

I don't even need to break down this week by day because in the past week, I worked out a big fat 0 times. Nothing...nada...not even an ab workouts. Though I was on vacation for most of it;-) {and ignore the fact that people I went on vacation with were actually working out}

Weekly total: 0
Monthly total: 39.1

I am really disappointed with this month. I was really hoping to at least get back to 50, but oh well. Not every month can be great. Here's to a mile-filled June!!

Hope you've all logging lots of miles this month! Go link up with Nikki and boast your stats!

Wordless Wednesday

2013-05-29T04:03:00.000-04:00

Today We are Blessed

2013-05-28T04:03:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to be spending the day in Malibu today witnessing the marriage of my oldest cousin and his fiance.

Almost 11 years ago to the day, I sat in the hot beating sun and my cousin's West Point graduation. President Bush was the speaker that day. He spoke of the current war in Afghanistan, and the pending war in Iraq. A war these men and women would be spearheading.

I looked out over the cadets, tears in my eyes, wondering who would come home and who would not. Who would get to live a long full life? Who would get married, have kids, and grow old with the one they loved?

Sadly, I know that not everyone from that class came home. Not everyone will get to live out their dreams.

But today...today I get to watch my cousin live out his. And for that I am blessed.

We Remember

2013-05-27T04:03:00.000-04:00

I feel so blessed to be spending this Memorial Day with my husband, cousin, and several other friends who are decorated military Veterans. But while I'm thanking God that these boys came home to me, I will be remembering all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be free. Today and every day, I remember you...

Photo taken from Google.com

Jersey Strong

2013-05-26T04:03:00.000-04:00

Seven months ago, New Jersey and New York were devastated by Hurricane Sandy. A whole town was engulfed in flames, houses and boardwalks destroyed, lives lost.

But one thing Jersey doesn't do is sit around and cry and ask others to help us. No, Jersey got up, dusted itself off and began to rebuild. We {and by we I mean others, since I didn't actually help with the rebuilding...I mean my shed is still in pieces in the back yard} cleaned up, tore down, and built back up again. All while in the midst of of the the coldest, longest, winters ever. But we, along with our Governor Christ Christie were determined to rebuild the Jersey shore.

And you know what? We did. No, not completely, but this weekend most of the shore towns are open for business. Unfortunately the weather is totally crappy and cold, so I'm not sure how much business is being done, but still, they're open.

I have always been proud of my state, proud to say I'm from Jersey. But this weekend, I'm even more proud.

We are JERSEY STRONG. And not even a hurricane can tear us down.

But Still I Worry

2013-05-25T04:03:00.000-04:00

Skip and I are leaving tomorrow {on a jet plane!} for California. My cousin is getting married on Tuesday and I could not be more excited to celebrate his special day with him.

But if I'm being honest with you all. I'm freakin' out a little. I've never been away from the girls for this long....and I've never been this far away from them. You know, a whole plane ride away...like thousands of miles away.

I'm not worried about them...my parents are watching them here. So I know they'll be safe, happy, and very well taken care of. They'll miss me, though I hope not too much. They love my parents and I'm happy for all of them to have this special time together.

But don't worry, I'm leaving them little presents to open every day we're gone, just in case.

And I really am excited, thrilled to be taking this time away with Skip. We haven't been on a vacation alone together since we went to Paris together...in 2008...when I was 10 weeks pregnant with Emmy.

I think it's so important to spend time with your husband, especially once you have kids. I'm excited to just be with Skip, laughing and having time together. We're getting to spend some time with family and really great friends. AND WE CAN SLEEP IN:) It will be so fun, relaxing, and we'll come home refreshed and rejuvenated.

So what's the problem? Why am I stressing this all so much? It all sounds like a win/win for everyone. But still I'm nervous. It probably has a little to do with the slight anxiety problem I have. But still, I'm nervous. I'm worried I won't get all the packing, cleaning, note-writing done that I have to do. I'm worried I'll forget to do something big. I'm worried I'll miss the girls too much and won't be able to handle being away from them for that long. I'm worried our travelling won't go smoothly. I'm worried our flight will get cancelled, our rental car reservation will get messed up, or our hotel won't be ready for us.

But most of all, and this I don't even want to think about, I'm worried something will happen to Skip and I. It's a scary, scary world we live in. Bad things happen to good people all the time. And I really, really don't want something bad to happen to us.

I know this is all silly. I'll get everything done. Our travelling may not go smoothly, but we'll figure it out. We'll miss the girls and they'll miss us, but we'll all get through it. I'm sure nothing bad will happen to us. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful, amazing time.

But still I worry.

Is this normal or am I a total freak?

Also, I've got a few posts scheduled for while I'm gone, so make sure to keep checking back as I doubt I'll be on social media much at all!

Mommy Musings

Reading to Children

Party Details

My Sunshine Girl Turns Two

Who Am I?

My Main Men

Happy Second Birthday Charlie Girl

Winner!

30 Miles in 30 Days

Summer School - Writing Practice

School's Out for Summer!

Take the Trip

Sponsored: How Do I Get My Carpers Super Clean?

$50 Minted Giveaway!

Skip and Mandy - The Tourists of California

30 Miles in 30 Days

Wedding Day California Style!

Memorial Day - California Style

Cali Day One

We've Come Back Back Back from Cali, Cali, Cali

30 Miles in 30 Days

Wordless Wednesday

Today We are Blessed

We Remember

Jersey Strong

But Still I Worry