All posts tagged: family

love and dinosaur cards

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I confess, I’ve never been a fan of Valentine’s Day. One might call me a Valentine’s Day Curmudgeon.  I always thought of it as a cheesy Hallmark holiday loaded with materialism geared to women.  I know…I sound like the Grinch. A few things happened this week to change my tune, however. It started with a conversation with a co-worker–who is a strong, independent woman–discussing her lack of understanding of the Valentine’s Day haters that are all over social media right now.  Why not celebrate love?  Why not have a day to remind us all to share love, because in the busy day-to-day, it is so easy to forget?  She had a point. Next, another dear friend of mine gave to me a Valentine and a little box of chocolates.  She gave this with no expectation of receiving anything back.  She just took the time to say, “Hey friend, I love you.”  The chocolates didn’t even last five minutes, by the way. Suddenly, I started to think about sweet confections I could make for my husband …

Weekly Photo Challenge: Family

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I just discovered the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, which promotes inspiration and creativity to all of us in the WordPress Community.  I love assignments. This week’s challenge is Family, which is easy for me.  I’m an obsessive photo taker when it comes to family because my family is everything to me. These photos are all from the month of January, the most recent being from this past weekend when I had the honor of celebrating my 35th birthday with Grammy Alice, who turns 92 this year. There are also many family members out there that I’m missing very much. XO

out with the old and in with the new

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I’ve missed this blog so much and I apologize for not saying hi.  There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think to myself, “I have to write about that,” or “That would make a great blog post.”  However, the last few months really put me in a state of survival.  When life is like that, for me, the things that bring joy tend to get buried under an oppressive pile of things that need happen just to stay afloat. When life gets THAT crazy, I forget to be thankful and I instead start to feel really bitter.  I don’t sleep enough.  I snap at my poor husband.  I don’t free up any time for joy. Until something happens–or a series of things happen–that turns it all around and reminds me just how much I have to be thankful for. Like Anderson randomly blurting out the word “happy” for the first time really loudly at Thanksgiving dinner, nearly making me cry.  My husband reminding me that he gets frustrated, too, with various life …

Ten on Ten August 2013

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The 10th of the month hasn’t been cooperative the last few months, so what a joy when the 10th of August happened to fall on a day when Anderson and I decided to hop in the car to meet Grammy and Papa in Ogunquit, ME.  Ogunquit has so many good memories for us.  The first real “weekend away” for Chris and I happened to be in Ogunquit eight years ago.  It is a beautiful place with the Marginal Way walk and Perkins Cove and the BEST coffee shop on the planet.  Where else on earth can you have a really great cup of coffee while sitting on the beach? So, here is our little day in Ogunquit on the 10th of August. For more information about Ten on Ten, visit my inaugural Ten on Ten post or the creator of Ten on Ten, Rebekah Gough. It was a good day. Related articles Traveling to Ogunquit, Maine (livinglifejoyfully.wordpress.com) The Leaning Tree in Ogunquit, Maine (iseebeautyallaround.com)

how does our garden grow?

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There are spots of our little yard that are totally overgrown.  I have a forsythia and a blackberry bush ready to take over one side of my house and a grapevine that blows my mind whenever I pull in my driveway.  How can one vine coming up out of the ground take up 15-20 feet of fence?   I love looking at it!  There are also spots that are loaded with weeds that I just can’t get to right now and I’ve found peace with it for now.  That said, I’m pretty proud of what we do have growing and that things are in relatively decent shape.  I’ll never know how Chris and I fit so much into one little yard. I had the opportunity to borrow a lens (Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime) and play with it a bit.  It isn’t a macro lens, but I couldn’t resist running around my yard to capture botanical details and the beautiful bokeh (blurred background) that happens with an aperture of 1.8.  All photos in this post were …

raising a child in this crazy, beautiful world

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Before our babies are born, we agonize over what to eat and what not to eat.  We spend days pondering over what crib is safest and what kind of swaddle will prevent SIDS.  We then feed our children pesticide-free food and surround them with things labeled “organic” because we only want the best for them.  We spend the majority of our time making sure our children are safe in the car, at daycare, at school, in our homes with high end car seats and well-researched schools and gates to keep them away from stairs. These  pure little beings are our world and they depend on us to protect them. All we want is create a beautiful life for our families in this usually beautiful world. The  Sandy Hook parents sent their children to school in December last year in mittens and hats to keep them warm.  They fed them breakfast and packed lunches for them.  They made sure they got enough sleep the night before.  Yet, they couldn’t keep their babies safe. The day of …

change is good

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A close friend sent me this text message recently and it brought tears to my eyes. I have always loved you sweet friend, but I like this Cara who is slowed down.  Your job was killing you.  It’s so nice to see you in this space. I haven’t yet mentioned a huge change in my life that took place two months ago. After nearly nine years of blood, sweat, and tears at my last job, I decided to leave.  2012 was a dramatic year for me in terms of my career.   I left for my maternity leave extremely stressed and unhappy at one company, working 10-12 hour days preparing the division I managed for an acquisition.  I returned from maternity leave to a brand new company that provided a much happier, healthier experience.  Returning from maternity leave is, however, an emotional and tumultuous experience in itself and probably one of the most stressful things a new mom can go through.  One day, you are a full time mom with the important job of caring …

so much to be thankful for and a veggie Thanksgiving

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The list of ALL the things I have to be thankful for is simply too long to write.  So, let me just tell you where I was at in life one year ago today. I was in the midst of a high risk pregnancy and wondering every day if it would really work out. I was taking my mom to chemo and watching her suffer. I was trying to cover the work of about three people at my job while worrying about the above two things. Life will always have challenges.  It is easy to forget what to be thankful for and instead, focus on new stresses or troubles. This year, things are very different. I was given the honor of being the mother of a little boy that is so incredible that it sometimes seams surreal that he is mine. My mother is now strong and healthy.  She was also recently introduced to a doctor that, in one day, gave her hope and a plan. My work situation has dramatically changed for the positive …

my two favorite dads

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This year, I’m extra lucky. I get to wish a happy day to TWO great dads in my life. I have an incredible super-dad and I married a man that is also quite a top-notch daddy as well. It was just twelve weeks ago that Chris became a dad. What a wonderful dad Chris is.  He can get a bottle ready while holding the peanut.  He has shaved some serious time off his diaper change time.  He gives a bath like no other.  He even taught Anderson how to stick out his tongue (though he may be regretting that in the future – ha!). Just this morning, he even had Anderson actually full-on laughing.  Seeing the two of them together melts my heart. Plus he is just plain good looking. I love our little family.  There is so much joy in every single day. I also get to wish MY awesome dad a very happy Father’s Day too.  He doesn’t believe in these holidays per se, but I think it is OK to remind him …

happiness and one sweet baby moon

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After my last post, I thought I had lots of time until le petite bebe would join the world.  I had all of these posts I planned to write during my week at home pre-baby life wrap-up. Pair that with the work (like actual “at my job” work) tasks that weren’t yet complete, the car that wasn’t yet cleaned out, the few last baby tasks that weren’t done, the seeds I was going to start (still haven’t), the clothes I was going to unpack in anticipation of having my body back right away (ha!), those extra hours of sleep to stockpile, the thank-you notes that I still haven’t finished, and the list goes on.  Um…yeah.  Right. Well, nature had much better plans for me and taught me a great lesson: some things are simply far more important than a to-do list; some things are completely impossible to plan perfectly. This I couldn’t possibly have know until my child took his first breath and stole my heart. How quickly I went from this just a week before the big birthday. And this, on my last …