I’ll never forget the Christmas of 1982, that’s because after months of begging and pleading – Santa (aka Mom & Dad) gave my sister and me one of the original home video game systems, an Atari 2600.  The games were blocky and crudely animated, but they kept us mesmerized for hours.  One of my favorite games to play was Pitfall!  Players had to maneuver a character named “Pitfall Harry” through a maze-like jungle and recover various…

When the weather started getting warm earlier this Spring, my son came home from school with a “bird feeder.”  It was a pine cone that had been slathered with peanut butter and bird seed scooped on like sprinkles on ice cream.  We hung it on a tree in the backyard, right next to his swing set/playhouse so he could climb up and look out to and see if any birds had taken a peck at his tasty treat.…

I remember taking our first family vacation when Mason was about 3 months old. I remember thinking "how on earth am I going to travel with 3 kids!" My husband and I were nervous about taking our kids on a flight for the first time and not knowing what to expect. But after traveling both by plane and by car (we have since gone to Indiana twice and to North Carolina), I have…

http://hip2bmom.com/2012/06/01/loaded-croissant-breakfast-or-dinner/

http://hip2bmom.com/2012/05/30/who-says-kids-dont-remember/

We all have defining moments in our lives – days we can proudly pinpoint on calenders or in photo albums that say: “Look, this is who I am now, this is who I have become.” Graduations, jobs, weddings, babies new starts, goals achieved.

For one of my defining moments, there is no photograph and no diary entry but I can feel the shape of it. My daughter would have been around two years old, it was 3am in the morning and I was in the laundry, scraping vomit off…

What Is Family

A Blog Post From Freshly Hatched, The Official Blog of HATCHEDit.com

Over the weekend, I took my first skate lesson. Why would an almost forty year old mother of three start this hobby at this age? I have many reasons. If I don’t learn now, when will I? My future nursing home will doubtfully offer classes. Am I crazy? Completely. Read more at…

Summertime in Michigan is the little slice of great weather we get here in this state. I guess if you like snow and cold, you would enjoy more than a few months here, but being a warm weather girl, I try to soak up summer as much as possible to last me through the rest of the year! So as much as I love to cook, I try to stay out of the kitchen for meal prep as much as possible in the summer. We usually eat every meal out on our front porch and if we can do some or all of the cooking outside…

This weekend at church, a visiting bishop from Kigezi, Uganda, Bishop George Katwesigye, spoke to us about being prepared to move.  “When God moves,” he said, “you too must be prepared to move.“

While this statement may seem obvious from a Christian perspective, I actually find it unsettling.  Moving, as I know well, is a total upheaval of your life.  It means you have to plan ahead, sorting through belongings to decide what is still useful or…

This is inspired by a recent Twitter conversation. With the twelve year age difference in my girls, I have obviously done things differently with Sophie than I did with Emma. Part of this is because I'm older and more confident, but much of the reason is because I just know more now. Resources were available to me the second time that were not there the first time. So, what would I do differently?

Lots of things.…

Those of you who have read me since my old blog know that I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. It's curly, frizzy, tangles easily and is generally a mess no matter what I do with it. The only time it is at all manageable is when I either flat-iron it out, or pile on a ton of products. I usually do the lazy thing and roll it into a bun, because honestly, with an almost 4-month-old baby who has time to flat iron? I don't.

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Since we are coming up on Amalia's 4 month "birthday", I have been paranoid over her extreme hatred of tummy time. Even with the reassurance of her Pediatrician that as long as she wasn't developing flat spots, had great neck control, and straightened her legs back if I picked her up to play "superman" then everything was fine and not to worry - some babies just hate tummy time.



Still, I was paranoid...

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Life is about relationships. It’s about connections to those around you. Connections to people you grew up with, share the same blood with, school friends, and even those you just met 5 minutes ago. Our connections to people on this planet are truly what’s most important in life.

Think about it.

When a celebratory event…

Hello everyone!!! new furniture in the market and now on Facebook at Lina's Market, find me!…

Kindergarten Graduation Pictures

There he is, my little graduate!  The kids…