When I can't sleep

... I bake. Apparently. 

A few months ago my kids and I roadtripped to Amish Country, Pa with my mother-in-law. We didn't get to do half of the things we wanted (basically because the kids were demanding). One if the things that my MIL kept talking about was getting strawberry pie. It was the beginning of strawberry season. 

Well pie we did not get. Bummer. Danny hasn't let me forget about it. I swear, one day that kid will forget something. 

We finally decided to buy a ton of strawberries and make a pie. I love pies, but I love making them even more. I have always wanted to make a strawberry pie. 

This was my first time making a crust from scratch. 

I have never been great at shaping a crust or getting it in the pie plate. But really, who cares about the crust?

After making the crust I cleaned and cut the strawberries. Then I baked the crust, it took a lot longer than the directions I found online. I think it may have been because I used whole wheat flour, but I am not really sure about that. 

Then it was time to make the strawberry filling. I boiled half of the strawberries with sugar. 

My house smells amazing.  

Half if the strawberries went in the crust, and the other half was boiled into the delicious gooey filling and poured on too of the raw strawberries. The beautiful concoction is "chilling" in the fridge as I type. I am not sure if I can wait until tomorrow night to try/serve it. We might have strawberry pie for breakfast. That should help the kids do well at swim lessons 😜. 

Hello lover.

I got the pie recipe here: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/15836/strawberry-pie-ii

And the crust recipe here: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/m/recipe/basic-pie-dough.html

I always improvise a little when I bake. I can't wait to see if this recipe is as good as it smells! 

Saturday night

My Saturday night looks like this:

Folding cloth diapers and watching While You Were Sleeping. It isn't one of my favorite movies, but I do love it! 

I remember when my Saturday night would consist of bar hopping and dancing. That was great. But this is better. I wouldn't change anything. 

That is not true. I would love it if my husband was home watching the movie with me and helping me fold diapers. That is the one thing that I would love to change about life. I wish he were home every night like so many if my friends husbands. I miss when our life was simpler, when we had all the time in the world together. 

Sometimes being married to a police officer is hard. Not as hard as being a police officer, but still hard. It gets lonely. But I am super proud of him for working so hard and being so brave. 

Even if it does mean I give 90% of the baths, cook 100% of the dinners, and wipe 85% of the butts. 

So if you are bar hopping or dancing, enjoy it, this season of life will not last. 

If your husband comes home every night,  count yourself lucky and enjoy your time together. 

If your husband is deployed and you have been on your own for months, tell me to stop whining and give yourself a pat on the back. 

Welcome back

Why hello!! Long time no see.

Welcome to my world. It revolves around these two:

Layla and Danny May 2014

Danny and Layla. What can I say? They really are my wold. They keep me busy, but we have a lot of fun. They challenge me in ways only a mother could ever know, but this is exactly what I want to me doing with my time. Sometimes I can't believe how right our life is. For all the struggles we face, there are a thousand smiles, silly phrases, hugs and beautiful moments that I will cherish forever.

Danny and me laying in Layla's big girl bed.

This one is four now. How did that happen? He is incredibly handsome, his eyes alone will break hearts one day. He loves Pixar's CARS, Planes and batman. He still loves to read; he actually was the first child in our county to complete the 500 by five reading program. He completed it before he turned four. I am so proud. He is learning to read on his own. Although we have decided to homeschool him for his prek year he is very excited for kindergarten next fall. He loves his sister and wants to be a police officer when he grows up, just like his dad.

Layla and Danny's Batman doll.

This beautiful girl is 1 1/2 and as sweet as can be. She gave me a run for my money in the beginning, but what a perfect piece to our family puzzle she became. I can't get over how much she is loved and how much her presence enriches our lives. She looks like her dad, but has my sensitive soul. She has a spit-fire personality like her aunts, and is very dramatic. She loves ladybugs, puppies, Disney princesses and books. She also loves babies, but we are thinking if we ever brought one home to keep she wouldn't be so happy.

This guy is what makes our family possible:

Our family, June 4th, 2014

Stephen works hard (so hard) for our family and community. He is a kick-butt police officer. He works tons of PT hours after his regular shifts to provide for our family, and to allow me to stay home with our children, something that we decided would be the right decision not long after we married. He is an amazing father to our two kids, they adore him. I couldn't be more proud of my Marine turned cop!

We recently relocated to be closer to his work, which happens to be the city where we both grew up. It was a decision we felt very unsure of until we were here, and now we realize we have found our forever home (just not the house yet). Never say never, because we did, and here we are as happy as we have ever been.

As for me, I am doing great! I had a really hard time with postpartum depression after Layla was born. I don't think I felt like me again until well after her first birthday. Luckily I had my husband and kids keeping me going, even when things got really dark. Moving back to our hometown has been such a blessing! We get to see our friends so often now! My BFF moved back to the area a few weeks after we did and it is so much fun spending time together.

A few weeks ago my two besties and I had a girls night and met this chick:

Michelle, Rachel, Emily Giffen and me. June 10th, 2014

If you don't know her then shame on you ;). Emily Giffin is my favorite living author. We met her in DC, had a lovely conversation with her and had books signed. It was a night I will never forget! Read any and all of her books when you get a chance, you will not regret it!

My family has been through a lot in the past four years since turning into a family from a couple. We have had good times and bad, really bad, but the good always comes back and makes everything beautiful. We have learned how to handle difficult situations, and people. We know who matters in the big scheme of things and who doesn't. We have learned how to let things roll of our shoulders and focus on the good in our lives. 

We are doing our best to raise our kids to be kind and to think of others. We teach them respect others and try to instill in them traditional values. None of us are perfect, but we are doing our best every day to do the right thing.