Humor

As For Me and My House

Family, Foodie, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Music, Quarantine, Working Mom

I haven’t written in a while for two reasons. Lack of inspiration being one and fear being the other. It is difficult to be inspired when you fear the opinions of others especially in a creative writing space. Something shifted as we listened to an incredible church service yesterday, then last night we got to jam with the trio and the icing on top was watching “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” this morning. The feel good vibes are strong today because I got to feed my soul with all the things. So, I thought I would tell you about them 🙂

Church. The message was simple. “I Believe”. If you are reading this you know that me and my house serve the Lord. He is our center and my children are being raised Christian. If you do not agree I don’t judge. That’s what it’s all about. BELIEVE in your faith, yourself, your family, your friends just believe and do it with conviction. Shut off the news, don’t get involved in the rumors or the arguments on Facebook, don’t waste the precious time we have being caught up in the crap. I believe in being informed and drawing my own conclusions from there. I try and steer clear of any news that is opinion centered. The Pastor yesterday basically said all of these things (except he didn’t say crap) and it was so refreshing to be reminded. So I will continue posting and writing and keeping it light and fun because that is us. I do it in hopes of bringing some smiles to you whether you are wearing a mask or aren’t wearing a mask, whether you are red blue or green, whether you watch Fox or CNN, whether you think Whataburger is better than In and Out. Actually, if you believe that last one you are wrong but I love you anyway. I digress…

Jam sesh. There is nothing better and nothing I love doing more especially with Adam, Craig, Casey, Jenny, Amanda and Kelly. The talent on the porch last night was insurmountable. The conversations and the hearts are so good and kind. The way the music made me feel and the food/drink was perfection. 2020 has really brought to light the importance of being kind and present. I was so present last night in every conversation every laugh and every vocal lick. I am just so grateful for good friends, for this time of stillness, for our health and for the exciting things happening in our life musically. I am trying to focus on the positive otherwise the negative can get so overwhelming I start to drown. I choose to focus on the good and it is a choice I make every morning when I wake up for myself and my family. Having a fun night makes the choice easier and the bad lighter. So get out there you crazy cats and kittens. Go read the book, drink the wine, get the tan… whatever makes you feel good and recharge your sanity battery during the weirdest year of all time.

Finally Mr. Rogers. If you have not yet seen “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” stop reading my blog right now and go watch it on Amazon Video FO FREE. It was totally different then I thought it would be. It’s a reminder that love is always the simpler choice. Covid has made a lot of people really bored, angry and depressed. Give them grace. This is my Corona mantra. When Craig is having a rough day I give him grace. When I am having a bad day he gives me grace. When some dingleberry comments on a picture of our son to cut his hair because he looks like a “sissy” we give him grace. I still call him a dingleberry because I am not a saint. Again, I am working on my Mr. Rogers mentality not quit there yet.

BELIEVE. BE KIND. GIVE YOURSELF GRACE.

Thank you for reading this it’s a reminder for me and if one person finds some comfort in a word or two I will be a happy camper. xo

A MUST DO during Quarantine

Family, Foodie, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Music, Quarantine, Working Mom

We have been getting pretty creative around here during quarantine. Some of our fun activities have included making “spongey soap” (super cool and handy in these times), “Kite Fishing” (using a fishing pole as your kite string), metal detecting, I have mastered the art of french braiding which has been a goal of mine for YEARS, teaching kids under 8 years old to sing harmonies together, potty training a two year old (basically letting him be naked all the time and peepee on plants), playing a pinball video game in the late night hours as a “date night”, Dakota Lynn our 4 year old is officially incredible on a bike with no training wheels, Dakota is now skating too, Jaxon can do skate tricks, Graydon digs for worms that we use to fish…. Guys I could go on with all of the weird pointless but oh so fun things we are doing at the Boyd Bunker. That being said, my ultimate favorite thing we have done since being quarantined is… get ready for it… OTG!

Craig and I went OFF THE GRID for a full day. I am not sure if it was the phone update that tells you how many hours you are using your phone a week OR maybe he had just grown tired of the Tik Tok posts BUT Craig woke up one day last week and said “We are putting our phones on the night stand and not checking them again until 6PM”. Folks… this is HARD. My first thought was we don’t have a land line so what if an emergency happens and no one can reach us (in hind site that was a reasonable fear and we probably should have at least checked them once). Second thought was, what if my three month old says his first word or starts walking or learns to read today and I don’t have my camera to document it??? Then I remembered, he’s three months old.

Once I got over my fear, put down my adult “choopy” (Our family calls pacifiers “choopy’s”… no clue why) aka phone and my eyes adjusted to the real world and not the virtual one, I began to really REALLY enjoy. I did not one, but TWO puzzles with my kids and just FYI the patience it takes to do puzzles with a two year old and four year old is unimaginable. We didn’t talk business, money, pandemic or dumb posts ONE TIME in the day and it was the most beautiful breath of fresh air. During lunch I found myself laughing and flirting with my hubby because I was present. At the end of the day our kids told us it was “the best day” and there is no amount of likes or views in the world that could ever beat that type of reach.

If you can, if you are currently unemployed, if you are feeling the weight of stress pushing down on your shoulders or if you just need a good mental detox, I am telling you now go OTG (off the grid). It is probably one of the few times in our life we are able to without feeling terribly guilty. You won’t be missing out on anything because there is nothing to miss out on. You will absolutely have several moments throughout the day of peace and I guarantee you will smell some flowers you would have normally missed. In fact, I was so inspired by a day without technology that I have decided to become Amish if this thing isn’t over soon. If you need to reach me I will be out in the country churning butter, harvesting my own wine, gardening, and sewing. WTH is happening to me??? #quarantine

Long Hair Do Care

Family, Fashion, hair, Humor, Mommy Blogger

The first time I ever cut my hair pixie short was when I was modeling and I made $2000 doing it. I walked out of that shoot feeling like a much more confident version of myself. I remember getting in the car, looking in the mirrors over and over and running my fingers through my healthy locks. I walked into my boyfriend’s (at the time) house and the confidence was crushed the second his brothers called me Justin Bieber. I vividly remember this incident because if it happened now I would have made a joke about it then dumped the boyfriend on the spot for not sticking up for me (heck yes to that 30 year old woman confidence).

Fast forward to me having children of my own and growing out everyone’s hair whether they are boys or girls. This is not a Craig choice. This is not a Taylor choice. We have babies, they have really great dark hair when they are born until it starts to fall out, then we shave it and let it grow. Jax went through a phase of wanting short hair so Craig and him cut their hair at the same time in similar styles. CWB got a lot of back lash for it from fans but he also got a lot of love. Jax liked the response from his peers at school with short hair but then he went to the BMX track, a ton of the other boys still rocked long hair and he missed his. Jax now loves his man buns and we have taught him to tell kids who react negatively to make light of it or say “You are welcome to your own opinion”. Gray, our two year old son, let us shave the sides because his hair is so thick but he will not let us touch the top long parts. He may throw a fit when I have to brush him but if you ask to cut it he will give you a stern “No!”. Dakota Lynn cries every time we cut anyones hair and wants hers to grow like a princess. We just shaved Boston’s sides this week and once he gets a little fuzz growing back we will buzz the whole thing and see what happens. All of this to say, once they grow into their own preferences we listen and let them do whatever they want to their hair (with the exception of coloring :).

What hurts my heart is when someone assumes wrong. My dad always said assuming typically makes an “Ass” out of “U” and “Me” and there is something to that! We recently had a family situation where Jax was in a class without us for an hour and during the entire class a teacher insisted that he was a girl no matter how many times he corrected her. He had on black cowboy boots, a suit jacket, black jeans and a sweet belt buckle along with a name tag that said “Jaxon”. She called him “her” for an hour in front of kids he was just getting to know. I am so proud of him for standing his ground and continuing to correct her no matter how humiliated he might have felt. When we went to pick him up he immediately told us what happened at the door. Craig addressed it kindly with her and her response was “Whatever works”. Absolutely wasn’t an acceptable response and believe you me they got an email after that. I basically had to quietly pull Craig Wayne Boyd out of there by his long hair and we all calmed down in the car.

My point in saying all of this is we have no problem when people make a mistake and use the wrong pronoun on one of our long haired boys or our daughter dressed in black. There have been countless times at dinner that one of my kids has been called the wrong thing and corrected it themselves or Craig and I have…politely. On social media it happens daily and our #yallers always come to the rescue to clarify. I understand when you go against the grain some might not always approve. I respect that back in the day long hair wasn’t as common on men or might have had a negative connotation. People often come back with “they are just so beautiful” when our son is mistakenly called she and what better a compliment than to hear that! One day when they start growing facial hair it will become a non-issue but until then I would like to kindly suggest that if you are ever unsure just skirt your way around it.

Parenting is so stinking tough. This has been an ongoing situation I have been learning to navigate for the past 5 years and will continue to work on so that my munchies don’t feel wrong for having a personal preference about their appearance AND so they don’t feel ashamed for preferring to be a little different. What are some parenting challenges you have faced???

So tonight I tried to steer clear of Corona and talk about a parenting issue that happened most often when we were out and about. Honestly, for the time being I am trying to find anything to talk about other than Covid-19 . Any “normal” topics we had about being parents before we were confined to our homes with minimal human interaction would be welcome! Love you all, wash yo hands and try and stay as healthy and happy as possible during this crazy madness. I might blog in a week, I might blog tomorrow to be honest some days I am inspired and others I am trying to keep from feeling overwhelmed. If there is anything you want to chat about or hear funny stories about let me know that might be just the inspiration I need. Keeping this blog does more for my personal health than you know and I just thank anyone reading. xoxox

Oh Brother, My Brother…

Family, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Uncategorized

Is the best there ever was. Period. It is his 28th birthday weekend and even though I know he had a blast with friends and family in Mammoth, CA I selfishly wish he was sitting here with me eating all the things. Blake always writes the most thoughtful posts to me on special days so today I thought I would one-up him and write a whole blog dedicated to the baby, boy and now man I have loved and watched over for 28 years.

Blakey aka Bwakey aka Unkie has been my bff since day one. We are two and a half years apart (coincidentally so is Craig and his sister. Also, best friends.) and we couldn’t have a stronger bond. I knew once I started having kids of my own I wanted them to be equally as close in age and friendship. I got exactly that. I see myself in Dakota when she calls Gray her “son” and I see Blake in Gray when he copies her every move including jumping off the playground to near death. I see Blake in Jax when he is the leader of the pack while daddy is away and nothing makes me happier than knowing my three are as close as Blake and I have always been.

It has been so hard being far from him these past five years but we FaceTime weekly and my kids all have a special place for Unkie. We have shared intense late nights of video games, he’s suffered through me singing into my karaoke machine 24/7 as a kid, I have cried with him during his football game losses, we have been through life’s best and worst, and we are now doing everything we can to maintain a close friendship half a country away. I truly believe Blake and my parents prepared me for my marriage and my now family. I will never be able to thank him/them enough for their kind hearts and kindred souls.

So Brother, on your 28th birthday I hope you know how much I respect you, I admire your tenacity and workmanship, your heart for others is insurmountable and so obvious, your humor is ALMOST better than mine, and your love for my loves is something I can’t wait to repay. Enjoy every minute of today and know that we all love you and are counting down the days till we see you once Boss baby gets here!

Fun fact, whenever we would pass over a body of water as kids Blake would always say “Take a bath!!!” Now every time Graydon crosses Percy Priest lake to pick up Jax from school he says “Waaaaayaaaa” knowing he will get laughs from Kota and I. Gray may look like CWB’s twin but I am pretty sure he has a lot-a-bit of Unkie’s personality. Always looking for a laugh.

Tag me in your sibling posts and stories and be sure to go show @BlakeBorland some love on his big B-Day!

5 Things That Changed When I Became a Mom

Family, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Uncategorized, Working Mom

How did I pick only 5 things that changed when I became a mom you ask? Well, for the sake of my reader I chose mostly entertaining topics and snuck in a sentimental. In reality my life did a Sean White 360 degree frontside rewind backflip ally woop corkscrew with a 1080 in there. Basically a million things changed… most for the better, a LOT made me stronger, some I think God throws in for a good laugh but ALL contribute to my general happiness.

Body

I will start by saying I became pregnant at 117 lbs with my daughter Dakota. I am 5’6 on a good day so that is the least I should ever weigh and then with my tiny baby girl I gained 35 pounds. I had a c-section with her and my only real problems during pregnancy were loss of stomach muscles, acid reflux and fatigue. Aside from that… easy. My son Graydon on the other hand, I experienced exhaustion (probably because I had a 5 year old son, a 1.5 year old daughter, a musician for a husband and a full time job), bloody gums (you have no idea how painful this is until you have it) muscle cramping, strep of the eye (didn’t know this was a thing) and hemorrhage of the belly button. For anyone wanting to have their first baby or baby number two… do it, but your body will never be the same. You won’t be able to do crunches the way you used to and you will get gray hair soon after. My husband likes to say he gave me baby bearing hips and thank goodness he likes them.

Mind

This is a really interesting one. My mind before kids was consumed by how I was going to feed MYself, when I was going to do MY laundry, how I was going to dress MYself, and how I was going to be sure I got home at a decent hour. Thank God for my chef of a husband that feeds me and our munchies. When he is gone I make a carb (mac and cheese or spaghetti with butter) a green and a protein (chicken nuggets) if I am feeling ambitious. Laundry is something I do at 10PM when I am drinking a good glass of red and think I can stay up until midnight waiting for it to be done. But then I typically don’t stay up, wait five days and rewash and dry on Sunday so it doesn’t smell like mildew… again. We obviously love to match so we start with baby girl Dakota’s closet and work our way up. The boys have a lot of matching clothes, Craig has amazing pieces still that he got from The Voice, and I usually rock some leggings with a fun T and jacket (I used to buy designer jeans now I hope Target has my dream plaid pants). My hours of sleep went from 3AM-8AM to 12AM-7AM really fast. We are still night owls but now we snore harder and sleep less comfortably. If we are going to have adult time or date night, 9PM and after is it so we make it work the best we can.

Heart

There are no words for how my heart changed. I wanted to be a boy mom my whole life and I got that with Jax. He made me a stepmom, he made me a better person the second I met him and he changed my whole world. I have always been a tomboy with feminine qualities so, all of the sudden when little Dakota came around she was an eye opener. Jax is so easy for me (we bro down on video games, Pokemon and sports) and Dakota is sometimes not. When I look at her it is like looking in a mirror. We clash because we are the same. But we love each other so hard because we get each other. I cannot wait to see who she becomes and I am so glad she is my middle because no matter the sass, the late nights, or the crazy $h!t she says… she is our girl and we love her for it/ through it. The verdict is out with Graydon but so far he is everyones favorite baby that we never had. He has been a man child from day one so we are going back and forth on having one more. Stay tuned because it may or may not happen (praying hard about it because we love our sleep we are finally getting but we also have some more space in our hearts for one more).

Fears

Is it weird that when I am home alone with the kids I hear one noise and immediately sit up in bed and think about which lamp or belt I am going to use to slap an intruder with? I used to get into Uber’s with strangers alone and now if I hear anything at 1AM in our house I turn into Wonder Woman. The mom instincts are SO NUTS. I consider myself a very easy, happy go lucky kind of person but there are times driving when I see a river next to us on a bridge and plan my best escape route to save all three of my kids if, God forbid, we got hit by a truck. WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? It is so morbid but it is so real. I don’t walk on egg shells but rather I run on mom craze. I am in a constant state of “mama bear”.

Day to Day

The moment I wake up I hear Graydon usually around 7:30-8AM. I run downstairs grab his bottle, get a diaper and wipes ready and open the door to the cutest morning hair and sleepy eyes. Game on from that point. Dakota and Jax usually get up around the same time. We tag team teeth brushing and hair brushing (so much hair in the Boyd house) and make our way down stairs for breakfast. Craig cooks it, we eat it then we head back upstairs, match as best we can and start our day. By 10:30AM I already want a nap. Work starts for me at 11AM and it’s a pattern of laundry, dishes, diapers, going up and down the stairs four hundred times, squats to pick up toys and clean up messes and playing with/teaching the littles as best I can with the time I have to spare. It is incredible the gifts God gives you when you become a mom. I never had the multi tasking ability I have now. I may not be able to iron a shirt properly but I can sure as hell pick up 10 pairs of shoes and 4 baby dolls with two arms.

After reading this through 2-3 times this sounds a little “complain-y” but I hope you know it’s not meant to be. These are the changes that happened in my life in the past four years. These are the changes I think a lot of moms go through and I want to hear about them. Share your stories, your body changes, your mind changes, your heart changes, your weird fears and your day to day so I know I am not alone and we can spread the mom craze together! Mombie Apocalypse 2019.

Boyd Babes

Family, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Uncategorized

I want to remember every little thing. I joke about the crazy school pick ups and drop offs with three, the shopping sprees from hell, the sleepless nights and the chaos that comes with being a working mom but I love every second of it. I didn’t know my purpose in life until I had my littles and now I know. This family is going to try their best to spread love, humor and hope through our actions through our faith, through our love for each other and others, and through our music. This is a selfish post about where my babies are at right now in this phase of life so that it gets immortalized on the internet.

Jax got his report card this week and all “E’s” except in grammar but let’s be honest all men typically have trouble in this department. He is a genius and a leader in school. He comes home every day he is with us, gives his siblings some love and heads straight to the keyboard. Right now he has written two beautiful songs, he knows how to play the Indiana Jones themes, and he knows 2-3 classical songs that he is OBSESSED with. This kid is something else on a BMX bike. His mama and Craig are really into BMX so it is looking like that might be his thing. He has been riding since he was 1.5 years old and it’s crazy to see him flying on a bike down a track at 6 years old. We call Jax “Bubba”, Bud”, and “Action Jaxon” because this kid has athleticism and balance in his bones.

Kota Lynn aka “Babydoll” aka “Stinkerbelle” aka “SassMcGee” is all of these things and then some. Her most recent accomplishment is joining us other humans in peepeeing on the potty! We still do “dipe dipes” at night but honestly she probably doesn’t need them (Side note: I hope everyone finds that special someone that looks you deep in the eyes… the same way my toddler stares into my soul when she is sitting on the pot pooping). Her most fav characters are Mickey and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Her funniest phrases are “I’m dum” (I’m DONE), when she reads me books they always end with “Amen”, every baby is baby Jesus, and she LOVES “im-skee” (ice cream). She sings everything everywhere and LOUD. She is very opinionated on what she does and doesn’t like when shopping and her favorite things to play are doctor and makeup. She is really coming into her own at 3 years old and it. is. terrifying.

BABY GRAY. I need to do a whole blog on this kid because he has done some exceptionally insane things recently. He is the great dane puppy I never had and always wanted. He has no idea of his strength or size. He walks around like a bow-legged cowboy thats been riding a horse for 37 years with his hands on his gun holsters. He loves giving open mouth kisses but then he will give you a sweet little head butt right after. His nicknames include “BamBam”, “Mr.” and “Gray Gray”. This little ball of man has been walking since 8.5 months old and really didn’t want to be a baby. I think having older siblings will do that to a kid. His most recent accomplishments include eating 2-3 bananas a day (if anyone knows anything about potassium over load text me, it’s a real concern), he climbs tables chairs and our pantry, and his first real actual words were “Tank Tou” (Thank you). One of my top 5 proudest parent moments 🙂

Update on the parents: We are now sleeping much much better. We learned Gray didn’t like co-sleeping/cuddling and does MUCH better in his crib all night with a sleep schedule. Jaxon is now rocking in his big boy room and most of the time Kota likes to sleep in there with him. We try and spend individual special time with each kiddo throughout the week and will keep that going forever. Now that everyone is older and we have the best babysitters we have been able to do a few recent date nights. So fun but always ready to come home to my babies by the end of the night. Right now Craig and I are slammed in business but our kids are the inspiration to keep it going and our love keeps this house sane. Kinda.

#TOYFAIL

Humor, Mommy Blogger

I am going to excuse my below comments by saying it’s been a long freaking week and TGIF!!! Now yes, sometimes I do have the mind of a 13 year old boy BUT in my defense the toys I am about to share were really asking for it. I would love nothing more for you to read this blog and share your #toyfail with me anyway possible. I get the biggest kick out of these things. Here are some of our best!

This little beauty was my inspiration. Daddy is a sucker for his babygirl and whenever they do “dates” while I am working she comes home with a fun new surprise (one time it was an American Girl Baby don’t get me started on that one). Craig has learned to go a little simpler with the “prizes” and came home with this Minnie Mouse gem the other day. I am a fan of Lip Smacker. I have loved them since I took my first bite out of a Dr. Pepper one. In fact, Bonne Belle started Lip Smacker in 1973 launching the flavors strawberry, green apple, and orange chocolate and really reinventing the whole lip protection game! So my question is… Bonne… WTH were you thinking with this packaging? Don’t get me wrong the flavor and smell are still amazing but really? REALLY??? I won’t go any further but I do know a chihuahua that has a very similar “chapstick”. #TOYFAIL

Being a 90’s kid, all I wanted in life was a Teddy Ruxpin. A talking bear??!! That was just about the coolest thing around. My parents were awesome enough to get me one and he was my best friend for a while ( I may or may not still have mine). He batted his sweet little eyes and shared the most outlandish fairytales as I read along with him. So naturally, when the remake came out two years ago and it was the hot Christmas ticket, I fought my way through rabid parents and grandparents to get my hands on one (JK I bought it on Amazon). Christmas morning came and that was MY gift. The golden gift I couldn’t wait to see the kids open and fall in love with just like I had so many years ago. Well, below is what they opened and if you would like a TERRIFYING robot bear that scowls at you and has dead eyes when you turn it off… you can have it. For $80.00. #TOYFAIL

Fingerlings. Everyone loves them. Who wouldn’t love a multi colored burping, tooting little monkey?! We have about 57 in our house and sometimes they make unexpected noises in the middle of the night that are quit shocking. Well my mama aka Glamma bought us a special special present on one of her trips called the “Fingerling Tail Ring Fling”. I WISH you all could have seen mine and Craig’s face as we pulled the parts out of the box. It includes a bald cap with a tuft of hair on it, rings for tossing, and a multi colored curved strap o…. I mean velcro on tail. Another example of not a lot of thought going into this one. You’re welcome for the visual. #TOYFAIL

Yes our family has tattoos and yes our kids know they are real. I won’t be the mom going to take my kiddos to get tattoos before they are 18. I waited and they will have to too. HOWEVER, during a diaper change with Dakota’s Cabbage Patch doll she discovered a “butt tootoo”. Why??? You could have signed your doll ANYWHERE why did it have to be the bum. It is her most favorite doll and every time she shows someone you get to hear about the “butt tootoo”. If my daughter comes home one day with a “tattoo on her tooshy” (Sorry Craig borrowed lyrics from “Half a Halo Angel”. That line might not be so funny one day babe…) I am making a complaint. Thank you Cabbage Patch. #TOYFAIL

And the grand finale… MR. STRETCH ARMSTRONG. This guy is another classic and when they came out with little mini ones I had to get him for Jax. He loved it, played with it, stretched it for maybe an hour and then this happened. Was there no product testing done? Was there not a better ink that could have been used? This was quit possibly the hardest I have ever laughed at anything. Cheers to #TOYFAIL s!

Teamwork makes the Dream Work

Birthdays, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Working Mom

Birthday parties. To most, two birthdays in three days doesn’t sound like that big of a deal but two birthday parties with THREE KIDS… it’s like herding cats. Craig was home this weekend so it was MUCH easier because he is amazing but there are still so many obstacles and circumstances that can affect family outings. This post will be the most relatable one yet whether you have one munch or six.

The first was Friday night at a gymnastics place for Jaxon’s buddy Wyatt. I planned my day out perfectly so that I could utilize the most of my morning/afternoon working. But then my one year old puked in his bed because he picked up the “crud” that everyone has had this winter which includes a wet, snotty cough. Then a model had a scheduling conflict and I had to scramble to replace her. Then my daughter peed her pants 2 times (potty training=THE. WORST). Then my husband had some excellent opportunities come through that we had to work on (Stay tuned!) THEN we had to pick up Jax from school (45 minutes there 45 minutes back) and pick up a gift for the party because I like to procrastinate. All the while we have to dress (matching always) the family, crank out dishes between emails and calls, run the barf sheets through the wash so my house didn’t smell like sour milk and feed these little humans decent meals so they don’t get hangry (a very real thing in my house). And I haven’t even gotten to the party part yet…

Make it to the party with work wrapped, present in hand and my babes looking like rockstars. I feel confident, I feel that fourth cup of cold coffee kicking in and I feel ready to take on this rainbow room of amazingness. Jaxon is six and pretty self sufficient. He is incredible on trampolines so I try and keep eyes on him in fear of missing the sweet flips. Craig stays with him so he can get video and pictures. I take the two littles to the other end of the gym for bounce house and foam pit fun. You would think that a one year old isn’t that difficult and that my precious three year old is a perfect angel that stays by my side. HA. Dakota is a tiny independent monkey and this is her Mecca. She starts jumping into every pit, running from one obstacle to another trying to keep up with the big kids, all the while my “baby” is climbing the third row of a rope net. At this point we have lost a shoe, a hair bow, my sanity and I am now visibly sweating. That’s when the “team” stepped in. My girlfriends came to the rescue tag teaming, busting out baby wipes while a teething baby Gray was leaving a trail of drool on the mats, and one jumped into a germ infested bounce house to rescue the rogue bow. AND it’s not just mommys. Our super dad friend took Kota around with the big kids so she could feel included and made sure she got a piece of pizza and cake. Overall, kiddos had the best time, we made special memories with special friends and we all slept like babies that night.

Party number two tonight was “Sabannah’s” bowling birthday! Again, we leave the house confident, everyone’s dressed in purple and we are ready to party. It started at 3:00PM so naturally Graydon fell asleep at 2:50PM just in time to be woken up and forced to stay awake because mommy forgot the stroller. Strike one (and not the good kind of bowling strike). We walk in knowing daddy and Jax were bowling and Kota, Gray and I would be cheerleaders. As the guys are getting their shoes Kota throws a miniature fit because she wants to wear clown shoes too. We spend the $4.00 on the damn shoes because I am not about to get into an argument with a three year old boss lady in public. Strike two. Fortunately there wasn’t actually a strike three except that daddy ended up getting three strikes!!! The Henson family knows the hectic that comes with a musician’s life because their daddy is one too. That and they have been around our babes since they were born. So when my thighs are burning trying to bounce baby Gray to sleep Allie tags me out so I can take a break and she can smell his baby breath. When my glass of wine is down to it’s last sip Amanda is right there with the refill or something stronger depending on the stress level she can read on my face. When Jaxon needs more quarters to play arcade games Josh is already putting them into his hand. People like this are gold and when you find them KEEP THEM.

Teamwork truly does make the dream work. My dream has always been to have a big family but once you have more than two, you are outnumbered. You need to be sure you have a foundation of friends that know the secret SOS parent code. I thank GOD we do. Parent or single, friend or stranger, lover of kids or lover of cats… I hope you all know that when you pick up that bottle that my baby threw, when you open that door for my giant stroller, when you compliment us on our twinning efforts or my kids manners… you have made my day. You give us parents the courage to conquer the next birthday party, the next restaurant or the next movie. Just kidding about the movie… I have three kids under six years old I’m brave but hell I’m not stupid.

Mr. Boyd

Foodie, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Music

Last night I took babe out for the big 40th birthday to the Fairlane Hotel and ate at Ellington’s Midway Bar and Grill. For our Nashvillian friends…Best. Food. Ever. Being from the west coast I’m always apprehensive about eating seafood in the middle of the country but their scallops were a gift from heaven. We started with the tastiest truffle fries, fried pork strips with Alabama white sauce (this is slowly becoming my favorite condiment), baked cauliflower drizzled in ponzu, then a wedge salad that could have fed Craig’s whole band, bread (there’s nothing more to say than “bread” because bread is my best friend) and ended with the sexy scallops. At the beginning of this binge feast we came in confident and ready to conquer the entire menu. By the end of the appetizers we called off an entree and dessert. Amazing food, incredible view and ambience (anyone that plays smooth jazz and Brian McKnight in Nashville is a friend of mine) and the sweetest waitress of all time named Kathryn. She was the one that really made the night. Well, her and the two Manhattan’s I drank.

Kathryn was truly the sweetest waitress of all time. She was professional, informative and all around a cool person. She is from Brooklyn so we got to chat about my knowledge of New York and Long Island being that my dad and stepmom live out there, and she also lived in California which is where I’m from. She was a big fan of The Voice and told Craig “You were probably the last season I watched because I figured after you there wasn’t much better”. Apparently the entire staff googled him and watched his blind audition on The Voice before we got there because she knew his name from the reservation. (A. I love that she told us that B. If you ever see someone you love in person go say hi and take the picture. If they get upset they shouldn’t have chose entertainment as a career) It was special that she knew who he was and was a fan because Craig’s order of loves goes GOD, Family and friends/fans… oh and the Cowboys.

Annnddd this is where my post probably should have started before I shamelessly promoted an incredible restaurant and gave a shout out to an awesome friend we made… my husband. His heart is his most attractive quality. I will never make fun of him but I will let you in on jokes I have that I’ve told him to his face so here’s one. He’s like living with a super hot Grandma. He loves fancy dishes, cooking, flower arrangements and matching BUT he also cheers on the Cowboys every Sunday (Yay Sports!!!), works on cars, loves a fine whiskey and eats steak like a caveman. So really I’ve got the best of everything.

40 is a big birthday and last night was a beautiful night of reflection. As we sat chatting with Kathryn about his career and experiences it really hit me just how incredible his life and now our life is. He went from scraping money to pay for diapers and cans of tuna (he still eats canned tuna weekly but by choice now) to playing a residency at The Hard Rock with Rascal Flatts in a years span. You can tell in his humble and soft spoken personality where he came from but when he’s on stage he becomes CWB. Guitar in hand he commands everything around him like the pro he is. And his voice…. I know I’m bias but it’s just the best.

Baby, you are a force to be reckoned with. Own 40 like you do everything else and I’m just so very proud of you. Thank you for the perfect dinner, thank you for always getting up on stage when I ask you to on our date nights, and mostly thank you for loving me and our kiddos with all your might. Oh, and NO thank you for my pounding headache today. Topshelf baby topshelf.