family – Page 17 – Sunshine and Holly

The Day I Buried My Last F***

By sunshineandholly on January 22, 2018

One of my friends recently posted this hilarious meme on Facebook and tagged me and a few other friends in it. (It’s the cover of an old Nancy Drew novel with three girls burying something outside at night. The title on the book is “The Mysterious Night We Buried Our Last F***.”) I cracked up when I saw it! You see, the group of moms that she tagged in the meme are notorious for getting together to ~~complain~~ commiserate about motherhood. If I’m going to be completely honest here, we really get together to let our kids wear each other out, sip on some ~~wine~~ coffee, and have a major b****fest.

Now, I know, a lot of moms would completely shame us for this. They’d say we need to be grateful, we’re so blessed, we’re privileged. Our children are precious gifts from God. (They are – really! I do believe this.) We have nothing really to whine about.

But I’ve been a stay-at-home-mom for 5 plus years now. And sometimes, I need to complain. A lot. If you’re the type of mom that does feel blessed all the time – that’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you. But I wouldn’t suggest hanging out with my group of girlfriends any time soon. We’re still in the trenches of motherhood. The sleepless nights, shoveling our lunch into our mouths while we pass out goldfish and load the dishwasher, inadvertently training our bodies to poop at 9pm because it’s the only time we get a free minute to ourselves. This is our life. Our exhausting, mentally-taxing, beautiful, love-filled life.

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Easy Kid’s Valentine’s Day Thumbprint Craft

By sunshineandholly on January 10, 2018

You know me – this #lazymom is always looking for quick and simple crafts to do with the kiddos. And this easy kid’s Valentine’s Day thumbprint craft was perfect to kill some time one cold and rainy afternoon. The kids loved it, it was easy to make (and clean up), and the finished product is cute enough to use as decor around the house! The most difficult part of the whole craft was getting Maddie to pose for a picture with the finished product. Girlfriend hates having her picture taken these days…

Easy Kid’s Valentine’s Day Thumbprint Craft

All you’ll need is a white canvas or some cardstock, scissors, tape (double-sided would probably work better), paint, and some extra paper to use for the hearts.

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family | love | parenting

When Maddie Cut her Foot and Why We Should Always Offer to Help

By sunshineandholly on January 4, 2018

I’ve had this post in my drafts for months. I’ve never hit publish on it because it’s super negative. And while Maddie and her foot are fine, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. I still get riled up when I think about that day. It still hurts my heart that I had to go through all of this without one single person offering to help…

But I’m going to publish it now and hope that by sharing this story, it’ll make us all think twice when we see another mom in public, struggling. We need to help each other. Because moms get it – we can tell when another mom has had it. When she’s in over her head. When she needs help. What stops us from offering a hand? What stops us from offering to help? The worst that can happen is that she’ll say no…

We were at the pool one day this summer, trying to beat the heat and pass some time since those long summer days seem to go on forever. It wasn’t too crowded that day, just about 4-5 other moms or grandmothers that I didn’t know with their kids or grandchildren.

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family | motherhood | Motherhood Humor | parenting

Our Trip to the Emergency Room

By sunshineandholly on January 2, 2018

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One morning a few weeks ago I was busy packing lunches in the kitchen and the kids we’re playing together in our playroom. Just as I finish zipping up the lunch boxes, Graham comes running in the kitchen and tells me that Maddie has a ring stuck on her finger.

When she walks in, I see that it’s not a ring, but a grommet (like a washer for a bolt) that’s stuck tight on her pinkie finger.

I roll my eyes, and tell her not to put things like that on her finger. I sit down, and try to pull it off. No-go. She screams like a feral cat when I pull. So I grab some Vaseline and try again. Nope. More screaming – like I’m cutting off her finger. And the grommet doesn’t budge. It’s stuck.

I try to keep my cool, but I can feel the anxiety building in my chest. It was the last day of a long week. I had a manicure planned for the morning, and a lunch with friends scheduled for 11am. But I knew none of that was going to happen that morning.

I called Josh, and asked him what I should do. He said to try to wrap some floss around the finger, as close to the grommet as possible so I could make the finger smaller and be able to pull the grommet off. It worked once on YouTube! I tried that, but it was a huge, peppermint scented mess. It didn’t work at all, and Maddie was screaming and crying even more.

I called the pediatrician, and the conversation went like this:

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Disney | family | fun | happiness

My Favorite Things from 2017

By sunshineandholly on December 29, 2017

2017 was a pretty good year for us. The kids are getting older and easier, we were able to take some fun trips, and we spent lots of time with family and friends. Overall it was a great year!

However, we did have some low moments. We lost two family members this year and the sorrow is still fresh for those who were closest to them. I know Christmas was especially hard for them, and I’ve been praying for peace for heavy hearts.

Maddie the daredevil had a couple of injuries this year as well. Each one gave me a few (hundred) new gray hairs!

I’ve also been missing some friends this year that have either moved away or moved on. Which is tough, since I’m finally at a point in motherhood where I’d be able to devote more time to those relationships.

But with the new year right around the corner, I’d love to focus on the good things from 2017. Here are my favorite things from 2017:

1. Our Disney World Trip

Our trip to Disney World back in February was probably my favorite trip this year. It was Maddie’s first visit, and Graham was finally old enough to really enjoy it. It certainly was magical seeing everything through their eyes and experiencing everything with them. I love Disney so much!

My Favorite Things from 2017 | sunshineandholly.com — Maddie’s first trip to Disney!