The Blonde Egyptian

I'd like to say Summer was great to me. For the most part, it was ok but there were some serious lessons learned in the past few months. 1. Summer bucket lists should be well thought out. My child wasn't even with me for half the summer as he goes to his bio-Dad's and my parent's farm for a lot of it. So when he created a summer bucket list that was longer than Santa's list of names, I pretty much knew we were setting ourselves up for failure. 2. "A" started his dream job as a pilot for Republic Airlines in July. If you fly anywhere in North America or Brazil on United, American or Delta, chances are you're flying on a Republic flight. Check your ticket stub and if it says Embraer under your flight number, it's a Republic flight. Training has been stressful for all and he has studied more in the past 3 months than I did in an entire 5 years and 9 majors of college. Yes, I changed my major 9 times- 5 officially, 4 others unofficially. The lesson

For those of you who don't follow me on all the socials or aren't related to us, "A" is officially living his dream! He's been hired to fly commercially for Republic Airlines! We are so proud of him we could just burst. It's been weeks of him locking himself in our bedroom studying a poster that looks like a replica of the control panel in a plane. It's been me quizzing him on emergency situations and the protocol, quizzing him on the millions of acronyms he has to memorize, etc. His first leg of training included a 2 week stint at his home base in Indianapolis. That wasn't terrible because Mason was at his biological dad's for summer. I got a LOT done at that time! Tons of signs, some acrylic pours, all kinds of fun! Then "A", came home for 2 weeks, Mason came home to finish summer and go on some adventures here (I'll post more on that later), and start school. Then "A" started his next level of training. Anoth

My first year of teaching, I had a raspy voiced, blonde headed, blue eyed with the cutest pink glasses, dancing queen of a girl in my class. Her parents were divorced but after that initial two weeks of crying every day, Rylie was the absolute happiest child I could've asked for! She talked about her parents in the most positive manner all the time, even referring to her bonus mom and dad as if they were her favorite people on the planet. In October, both parents came to parent teacher conferences together. Meanwhile, Rylie's bonus mom stayed in the hall with her bonus dad and older brother- also always seen with the cutest smile on his face. I got to know her mom, Mandy, quite well that year and learned that while it wasn't always easy, for the sake of the kids, every single adult in this circle worked together to stay involved and fulfill their roles as parents in the most successful way possible. The kids were always the first priority, no matter what. Now that Rylie has

Well we made it. We survived the school year, the holidays, the days that were a bit like the song that never ends called January through March. And now, it's SUMMER! It's the time we all live for, right? Sadly, we're only about 8 days in but I'm already on a rant. I have had a kid beating on my front door so many times that I finally answered it saying "Buddy, are you bored? Do you have NOTHING to do? And where is your mother? I need to meet her." Poor child looked like a deer in the headlights.  I mean, c'mon lady! It's not even 9:30 in the morning yet. I get it. You looked forward to your kids not having to go to school but you weren't completely prepared for them to be home ALL. DANG. DAY. Now, they're bored. They're needy. They're eating like a billion snacks a day and you've heard "MOM!" so many times, you're fantasizing about beach towels, ocean waves and mai tais and it's only 9 AM; totally get it. But t

The boy has been asking for "different fruit" in his lunch box for weeks. "All the other kids" get the fun little squeeze packs of applesauce in their lunchbox and he gets cutie oranges or bananas. His life is so hard and he's incredibly mistreated y'all. The bananas end up as more of a mush finger painting from him having elephants sit on his backpack or maybe using said backpack as a shield in sumo wrestling before the bell? I'm not really sure what this child does after he leaves the car in the morning and walks into that school. All I know is that the stories that play out in my head answering "What the Christmas happened here?!" simply by looking at his lunchbox are incredible. So in an attempt to say "yes" more this year, I figured I'd make fun mixtures of applesauce. Surprisingly, out of 1 bag of organic apples I got at Aldi for $5- I made a lot and it only took me about 30 minutes of time to make it! First, I peeled al

I'm going to tell you all a little bedtime story this evening.... Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, lived Santa Clause and his little wife who was not old. Together, they had an adorable little elf prince who had great hearing but only during the months of September and December because those are the only two months a year that the little elf got presents of his own. So all year long Mrs. Clause would think and plan, scheme and plan, work her cookie lovin' butt off to plan the most perfect gifts for Santa, the little elf and her family. Santa's parents lived in Egypt because they hated the cold. So they didn't need presents or even celebrate Christmas. *Gasp* The horror. I know.  Anyway, during the month of December, Mrs. Clause, who could also work for the FBI is on her A game, hiding toys that came from special elves at Headquarters (aka Amazon), planning, preparing and CONSTANTLY SHUSHING SANTA'S big, fat, Ho HO Ho mouth because, I'll let