love is in the air…

or is that the smell of cookies and cupcakes baking?

Today we had a playdate at our house with four precious kiddos to decorate Valentine’s cookies and cupcakes.

Ella Kate and I started baking around 7 am. We made a huge mess but had so much fun! There is nothingquite like pouring flour all over the table and rolling out cookie dough to cut shapes. There was flour EVERYWHERE. Our finished product was two batches of sugar cookies, and one batch of strawberry, red velvet, and funfetti cupcakes. Perfect for decorating and cooled by the time friends showed up.

Judging by the state of our house after the playdate was over, I think the children had a BLAST and not at all due to the activity of decorating cookies. These children were wild animals, running through the house and getting out every toy that exists. They were hysterical putting on dress up clothes and pretending to make a band. There was a tiny accident with some finger painting but beyond that it was the “best day ever” according to Miss Ella Kate.

Thanks so much to Chrissie, Jon, and Kiann for letting Jon, Jacob, Paige, Peyton, and baby Julie come over for the afternoon!! We have to do it again soon!

Here I Go Again

A couple of months ago I started hearing one question over and over again: “Why don’t you blog anymore?”. To be honest I’d purposefully quit blogging because I thought I didn’t have anything worthwhile to blog about!

I blogged in college and while dating. I blogged while traveling the world with Up With People International….. but here I am, getting married, settling down, becoming a stepmom. What do I really have to say?

Then a conversation with a co-worker changed my mind. There I was laughing over the daily happenings of what I would consider a fairly normal life and she said “That sounds just like a blog”. It got me thinking. Why not?

As it turns out getting married and settling down to one location could possibly be the most consistent challenge of my life. I’m born of nomads. A Navy family, wherever my parents are has always been my home. I’d never really considered the idea of “a forever home” or “putting down roots” until going on a blind date that let to my new marriage.

But here I am, trudging through as best as I can with a new husband and a brand new stepdaughter….. trying my best to not be the typical stereotype of evil stepmother-hood.