Fancy seeing you here...

Long time no see, am I right? 

For over seven years, I blogged about 3 times a week. I used this blog to keep my family up to date, as a place for me to journal/vent and as a baby book. Keeping track of all milestones, the cute moments and the ''oh my gosh'' did that really just happen incidents with the kids.

Well, let's fast-forward about 6 years, it's now 2020. For most people this year has been a colossal dumpster fire. We have dealt with pandemics, riots, race wars, elections, killer hornets, not 1, not 2 but 3 tropical storms, and a slew of other...crap (to put it nicely). 

So you might be wondering...yeah this year has sucked, what do you possibly have to write about? What sunshine and rainbow cuteness are you going to throw this way? 

Well, while I am blogging again, let me be the first to say...it's not that kind of blog anymore. Have you heard the expression "shits about to get real?" Y'all it has been over six years since my last post....six YEARS people. A lot has changed. Life, like it has a tendency to do, didn't go the way I had planned. If you read any post on this blog prior to 2020, you'll notice:

• I had a husband (I am no longer married)
• I was a stay-at-home-mom (I went back to school, now have my BS in Elem. Education and I teach 1st grade)
• My kids were little (they tend to grow up...they're now 14, 13, 12, and 10)
• We moved...a lot! (We have now lived in the same house for 7 years!)
• I had a lot of time for crafting, blogging, tutorials, and photography (not so much anymore...)

I will be the first to admit: there have been a LOT of changes in my life. And wanna know the really crazy part? Most of those changes happened in just the past year. 

But you know what hasn't changed? The loveable chaos that is my life. My life is still loud, fun, messy, hectic, loveable and chaotic. These four kids still keep me on my toes! If you read this blog from 2007-2014 and you thought things seemed crazy with four kids under the age of four...well buckle up and wait until you read about what life is like as a single mom with four kids ages 10-14. Those "munchkins" that I used to blog about...the ones that couldn't pronounce their "r" sound, that loved to hug each other and pose for pictures? Well, two of them are taller than me, one of them is for sure smarter than me and the littlest one...she's exactly like me. 

I know, I know it's a little terrifying. Time moves so quickly. 

So yes, it's 2020 and this year has pretty much been a shit-show of epic proportions but as I was sitting there this morning looking at the Christmas tree, thinking about this past year while drinking a cup of coffee that I couldn't taste because oh yeah, I have Covid, I realized that while this isn't the life I planned, I absolutely love it. This past year has shown me just how strong I can be. 

For real, if you want to really test your own strength...go ahead and decide to go back to school full-time at age 33, while raising 4 kids and then in the middle of your last term of school (while spending 12 weeks student teaching) go ahead and get a divorce. Make sure none of your family lives in the state and then for good measure...right after you graduate (Dec 2019) have a global pandemic hit that keeps you out of work for 6 months. 

Seriously, not planned. But guess what? I did it! We survived. Not only did I live through it but I got a job, my dream job, teaching first grade at the same school my kids attended for first grade (in the very same classroom as two of them!). These past 2-3 years, I have made new friendships and strengthened old ones. I have learned to ask for help. I have learned to make mistakes (sometimes I make them twice, just to make sure) and I have learned to be myself. To embrace my quirks and my flaws and to accept myself for who I am. 

These past six years have been a trip and I wouldn't change a thing. Okay, okay, maybe I wouldn't have caught Covid but even that (so far) is manageable and it's shown me: my kids are amazingly self-sufficient, my friends are the kindest humans on earth and I have the best parents possible. 

So yes, I'm going to try blogging again. (Does anyone even still do this?). But this time, it's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. This time it's going to be real because while my life is usually loveable chaos...sometimes, it's just total chaos.

Welcome back.