20 Questions: 5 years old

[SIDENOTE: these are Jerek's karate clothes from when he was this age!!!]

December is almost over and I've pretty much failed at my vlogmas/blogmas goal [such is life!]
Tracen turned 5 on the 21st and it was such a fun day, minus when I got a migraine that didn't go away for almost a week.

Last year I started a 20 questions post I saw on Pinterest so to keep up with traditions here is this years 20 questions answered by my most favorite 5 year old, Tracen!

[You can read last years 20 questions here]

December 21, 2015 || 5 years old

1. What's your favorite color? GREEN

2. What's your favorite toy? GOOD QUESTION, HMM, I LIKE MY STUFFED ANIMAL GEORGE THE MOST

3. What's your favorite fruit? BLUEBERRIES, I LOVE THOSE THINGS, THEY'RE AWESOME!

4. What's your favorite TV show? MAX AND RUBY, I JUST LOVE THOSE GUYS!

5. What's your favorite thing to eat for lunch? LUNCHABLES ON BRING YOUR ON LUNCH TO SCHOOL

6. What's your favorite outfit? A GREEN SHIRT WITH LONG SLEEVES

7. What's your favorite game? I SPY

8. What's your favorite snack? PRETZELS 

9. What's your favorite animal? MONKEY

10. What's your favorite song? TWINKLE TWINKLE

11. What's your favorite book? "WHAT MAKES A RAINBOW?"- I LIKE IT BECAUSE I LIKE RAINBOWS AND COLORS, COLORS ARE PRETTY, THEY ARE DIFFERENT JUST LIKE ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!

12. Who's your best friend? SKY!

13. What's your favorite cereal? CHEERIOS , NO MILK 

14. What's your favorite thing to do outside? SWING ON THE SWINGS 

15. What's your favorite drink? APPLE JUICE AND LEMONADE

16. What's your favorite holiday? THANKSGIVING-CAUSE WE GIVE THANKS TO EVERYBODY WE LOVE

17. What do you take to bed with you at night? BLUE BLANKEY- BUT YOU LEFT IT AT SCHOOL

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  PLAIN WAFFLE

19. What do you want to eat for dinner for your birthday?  MACARONI 

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A GROWN UP KID, CAUSE I WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU BUT STILL HAVE FUN

If you read last years responses you'll see some things haven't change! His sweetness is still there and his love for his family is stronger than ever! Hug those kids man, they grow up wayyy too fast!

Printable 2016 Calendar

With 2016 almost here I knew I needed to find a new calendar for my dressing room/office wall. The one I was using was a printable that I found on Pinterest last year. I liked the simplicity of it but for this year I wanted to try my hand at making my own. I was so happy with how they turned out so I figured I would add to my Etsy shop for anyone interested in it as well.

I have mine hung by a clipboard on my wall so it's easy to change out every month but you could easily frame it and use a dry erase marker to cross off the days. The boxes are not really big enough to write notes but that is not what this calendar is for. I have a planner in my purse for that, this one is for quick references on what day it is and as a decoration to my gallery wall. It is not meant to be written on but if you would like to, go for it!

You could also attach this to your cabinet at work or fridge by a magnet. One of my favorite months is April. No it's not my birthday, it's our wedding month! I thought the couple under the umbrella was cute and had a wedding feel since we are getting married in April so I thought it was fitting. Printables are great because you can print them on regular basic paper or take the PDF files and have them printed at Kinkos, Staples, etc on nice card stock, the option is up to you!

Don't forget to follow along on Instagram because I plan on adding more printables along the way. From time to time I'm going to have 'free printable days' where for 24 hours I open them up to print for free and you don't want to miss out on that do ya!

Happy 5th Birthday Tracen

Keeping it short and simple today because I have a birthday boy I need to eat ice cream with!

5 years old, how is that even possible! I've been feeling really emotional lately about this number so you can just watch the short video I made for his birthday instead of listening to me cry about how grown up he is! If you haven't read his early arrival birth story you can read that here, an unexpected but much anticipated early Christmas gift!

I also suggest watching his 4th birthday video maybe first for a bunch of throw backs as well! You can watch it here.

If you share a December 21st birthday with Trace, happy birthday!

Motherhood and Friendships

High school is different than college and college is different than parenthood.

Acquaintances are nice to have but friends are even better. 

I've had a wide range of friends in my life for as long as I can remember. In high school I never felt clumped into a category. I had friends I played soccer with, friends in band, theater, choir and cheer. Friends that didn't play a single sport, friends that liked to stay in and not go out on a Friday night. I had friends still from elementary, friends from other schools and friends that went too church.

In college I still held onto some friendships from high school, but as some started to fade new ones grew and blossomed. There were many times friendships started over, rekindled and revived simply by a course of events, a communication barrier that was broken and then fixed.

Then there are others that faded further into the realm of darkness. There's been a few times where I wish I would have stepped back, and fought harder for friendships because like all things in life, some things are worth fighting for. Without dwelling on the past I've learned that like high school and college, life after parenthood will change too. 

After graduation you are faced with the ever revolving question of "so what's next?"

It's a question I consciously have to make sure I don't ask others, that one question haunted me for many years. As I slaved away at a tanning booth, office job and a restaurant, all at once, I saw friends landing "real jobs" and it was a constant reminder that I still felt lost in the post college tornado; desperately wanting out.

I've since landed a job that I currently call my career so that question no longer weighs on me.

Having kids before majority of my friends did though. You will find many meme's that say things like "want to know who your true friends are, have kids." While I believe this is semi true I think it really depends on where you are in life.

When I had Tracen I was 25 and most of my friends were either single, just getting engaged and still going out a ton. It was lonely on my end. I was at home most nights, not making great money and if people called it was 10 minutes before they were doing it.

I needed things to be scheduled, a time frame to follow, to allow me to coordinate who will watch Tracen. No one understood that, no one but Jerek. I remember many nights crying to him, wondering if things would ever change. Then one day things just got better. I started understanding that some nights people weren't calling me not because I had a baby but because they too were just staying at home watching Netflix. I started making sure I reached out as well, planned things and kept in touch.

Friendship is a two way street. You are not allowed to each give 50%, you must both give 100%.

Now at 29 with two kids Jerek and I do our best to each go out with friends while the other stays home. We rely on family 100% for date nights so we make those count. Our friends stop by and hang out for a bit to see us and the boys and catch up. While they may never realize how much it means to us, it truly does. We may be wiping someones ass but your 30 minute stop ins are like a breath of fresh air!  We try and make trips to friends house when we can, we plan brunches, cider mill and shopping trips. We put in the effort to see each other and while some months are harder for me to keep in touch than others, I know that my girlfriends understand and thats why my friendships I have currently are strong.

Perhaps you just had a baby and are feeling stressed, remind yourself that it's better to have 4 quarters rather than 100 pennies when it comes to friends. Find your people and put in the effort, no matter how busy you think you are, no matter where you are in your life, make the effort, find your village.