5 Games You Need At Your Next Game Night

1. Telestrations: This has to be one of the funniest games to date. There has not been a time that I haven't played it where my cheeks and stomach don't hurt. This game combines drawing and the game Telephone ( remember you would whisper something into someone's ear, then they would whisper it in their partners, and by the time that you got around the whole circle it was not what you had said). Well this is that but drawing. You start with a word, and depending on how many people are playing, you either write the word down and then hand it off, or write the word down and then draw your word. The person next to you will then either draw your word or guess what you have drawn. The hilarity comes from the pictures and guess that people produce. It is a lot more fun when you play with people that can't draw. You send your drawing boards around the circle and when it gets back to you, you are able to see what word you started with and what word you ended up with (ex: I had started with the word ice cream and the last word one of my friends wrote was surfboard). You can then share your drawing boards with everyone and see where the word went wrong.

Time To Play: 45 minutes (Also depends on size of group)
Age Range: 8-99
# of Players: 4-6 or f you get the party size 4-12

Happy Marriage

Hug, Hold Hands, High Five- Do anything to be able to share a touch with your spouse. A simple hug in the morning or before bed can do wonders for the relationship. Don't get caught up in everyday chaos and forget to give your spouse some loving.

Appreciate What the Other Does for You- even if it is a small gesture, appreciate everything. Make sure that you let them know it doesn't go unnoticed. If they help with the dishes let them know how much it means to you and helps you out for the night. Maybe they bathe the baby for the night and let you relax, tell them thank you. Something as simple as making a cup of coffee in the morning for you, don't let it go unnoticed. 

Place Your Spouse Before Anyone Else- When you took your vows, you promised to love each other, and be there through hard times and good. Your spouse should be the one that you make all your decisions with. They should be the first one to hear big news. If you are going through something tough or need someone to talk to, your spouse should be the one that you talk it out with. Do not make your spouse feel like they are not your number one person. This becomes tricky when kids are involved, we often put our kids before our spouses. Remember your spouses were there before the kids. 

It's a Pilot's Wife Life For Me

When I first met my husband I was intrigued with his job title...he is a Pilot. I had never met a Pilot before and it was like meeting a unicorn. Pilot's are considered one of those rare job titles that you don't meet a lot of. I had a ton of questions for him...now knowing it was questions he had answered over and over...which he gladly answered for me. When people find out that he is a Pilot they too have the same fascination  I had when I first met him...we will then usually spend the next hour talking about his job and him answering the same questions I once asked him. Being a Pilot's wife I have come to find out that I get asked the same questions over and over...so I have resorted to saying my husband works at the airport...that usually diverts anymore questions. I have taken to Pinterest to show some Meme's that describe my life as a Pilot Wife to a T.

1. This explains my life exactly, wherever we go and people find out that my husband is a Pilot, the conversation very quickly turns to him and his job. There have even been instances where I am introduced and then followed by " her husband is a Pilot". It seems like whenever we meet new people there is really no way to get around the job description. We have learned to go with it and be as vague as possible...sometimes it works...and sometimes we find ourselves talking about flying for the night.

2. The best feeling is when you know that your husband is coming home from a few days of being gone. You are counting down the minutes until you can give him a big hug, and then you get the phone call or text that they have added on another overnight to his trip. That is the worst feeling knowing that you will then have to wait another day to see him. Pilot Wives have to be independent, we can't live by a set schedule because it is bound to change day by day. Our pilot may be scheduled to get home that evening, but ends up getting stuck where he is due to weather, or a plane malfunction. It is also hard to make plans in advance, because we have no idea what his schedule will look like for the next month. If we are invited somewhere I usually find myself saying: " I will have to check with my husbands schedule".  The great news is when he has 4-5 days off in a row!

Mother

I wasn't sure what type of Mother's Day post I was going to write today...should I write a funny one or should I write a more serious one? As the day went on I became more tired and exhausted, as I sit here now trying to come up with a post my brain is just mush. The simple and true fact is I am a mother, and I took care of my kids today. I understand mother's who like

The Q-Tip Accident

Being a parent these days is tough work. With Social Media everywhere Mom's get attacked for the littlest of mistakes. I don't know about you, but I feel like I have to be the perfect parent. I feel like if my child isn't where someone else's child is then I am doing something wrong, I am failing as a parent. I am here to tell you to relax and take a deep breath. You are doing a great job, your child is progressing as they should, and as far as being a great parent, you are rocking it. I am going to share one of the times that I felt like the worst parent in the world, because of a simple mistake. I learned from the mistake and after being hard on myself for so long, I made sure that it wouldn't happen again.

My son who is now 10, was 2 years old at the time. He had gotten into the q-tips and was playing with them in his ears. He had removed the q-tip from his left ear, but still had a q-tip in the right ear. I did not see the q-tip and came up behind him and scared him. He jumped and in doing so jammed the q-tip in his right ear further down. He started crying and his ear started bleeding. I of course freaked out and called the on call nurse at the time. It was the weekend and his doctors office wasn't open. She asked what had happened and if the ear was still bleeding. I told her the story and said that it had stopped bleeding and my son wasn't crying anymore. She told me to keep an eye on it and bring him in first thing Monday morning. On Monday morning we go in to see his doctor. I told her what had happened, told her that he hadn't complained about it since and it never bled again. She looked in his ear and said that everything looked normal. She told me that she could see a little bit of dry blood, but other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary. She said if he complained about it, to bring him back in. We went home and that was that, or at least I thought. 

I don't Know

When I was teaching, we had to go to training's every summer. It was the summer of my fourth year and I had signed up for a Science training that was going to talk about how kids use their brain and learn. I was intrigued because I loved my Psychology  classes in college.  One of the topics that the instructors talked about in that training, that changed my teaching and the way I parent, was the saying "I don't know".

As a parent we have heard the saying " I don't know". Whether we are asking our child why they did something, or why did they say that. Their response usually is " I don't know". Now before the training I thought that my child knew what he was doing, he had thought it out and understood consequences that would come of his decision. During the training the instructors referenced- The Parents Guide to the Teenage Brain (I have included a link down below), this article states : " From early adolescence through their mid-20's, a teen's brain develops somewhat unevenly, from back to front. This may help explain their endearingly quirky behavior but also makes them prone to risk taking." 

On This Day

One thing that I like about Facebook is that it has ON THIS DAY application. This shows you what you were doing on this day exactly in the past. Sometimes they pop up and I can remember the memory like it was yesterday. Sometimes I don't remember posting or writing the update at all. I do remember though after reading them a feeling of accomplishment and seeing where I was then to where I am today.

Relaxing on the beach

On this Day: April 26, 2009-   " Had a Very Relaxing Weekend!!"

I am assuming that I had a nice weekend. I am not sure why I thought it would be something to post for everyone to see. Maybe extra detail why it was relaxing...Did I get a massage? Was I able to just lay in my pajama's all day and cuddle with Tytus? Did I not have any work to do for college?...whatever the reason, I need another one of those.

On this Day April 26, 2011- " Work out or Lay Out...Hmmm decisions decisions"

Today there would be an easy choice, lay out will always win. Especially now that it is warmer and I
could probably blend into my white blanket. Better yet put me next to a pool or the ocean and I could lay out all day long.

Another favorite part of summer
is this one's birthday.

Choose Wisely

I have always loved this quote. I essentially looked it up when I was teaching 5th grade and placed it over our signature book. I love the message that it sends. I talked to my students about making wise choices and how those choices might affect people around them. We discussed that they are able to choose whatever they want to do, but to be prepared for the consequences whether good or bad. I have also shown this quote to my 10 year old son and have spoken the importance of making positive choices rather than negative ones.  We spoke about how easy it is to make a bad choice and not think about the consequences until they are in front of us. I told him that some consequences we can't see, for example if he said something mean to someone, he may not see how that hurt their feelings, but the negative consequence is now that he will be considered hurtful in their eyes.

Chloe "The Cat"

My Spotlight Saturday is focused on a member of our family, Chloe (AKA Cat). She has been a member of our family for a year now. She is a very unique cat with a unique personality. She doesn't meow rather chirps and will talk back to you when asked a question. She loves to sit and stare out the windows, and loves anything to do with fish. We adopted her from a Animal Shelter and fell in love with her the moment we saw her. I have included pictures to show off Chloe.

The day we adopted her from the Shelter.
She was 3 months old.

Getting to know us and the house. She made herself right
at home right off the bat.

5 Signs that You May be Superstitious

Today is Friday the 13! I don't know about you but I am always extra careful on a Friday the 13th. Weird things tend to happen, and being a former teacher I can tell you teachers always know when it is Friday 13th, the students have an edge about them. I have come up with a list of Superstitions that I have believed over the years.  Enjoy and feel free to comment with any superstitions you find yourself doing daily.

1. Knock on Wood: Do you find yourself saying something and then knocking on wood so it doesn't come true. If you do this, you might be superstitious. I knock on wood and tell others they better knock on wood as well. This comes from a thought that if you say something to jinx yourself ( It better not rain while we are at the beach) then knocking on the wood should save you from it actually happening. Now if it is true or not, I am not going to take that chance and usually find the nearest piece of wood.

2. Don't walk under a Ladder: Do you walk under ladders or avoid walking under them for fear of bad luck. If you don't walk under them you may be superstitious. I have never walked

under a ladder to this day. I will walk around the ladder or if it is in the entrance of a doorway will find another way into the room. The superstition I have heard is that if you walk under a ladder something will fall on you, it will also bring you bad luck.

Thankful Thursday

Thursday is on the back end of the weekend. The day where the weekend is in sight and we only have Friday left. I am going to take Thursday to reflect on the week and say what I am thankful for.

Top 5 things that I am Thankful for this week:

1. I am thankful that the STAAR test is done for my 10 year old son (for now). There is way too much pressure put onto kids and teachers these days over that test. Being a former 5th grade teacher I know all the preparation that goes into teaching the students and the stress that the students feel from it. Shout out to all the Teachers today, ya'll are doing a WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, FABULOUS job!

Enjoying the nice weather

2. I am thankful for my husband. He has been a Rock Star throughout these last three months with the new baby and working. He has helped around the house and has really taken on a load while I care or our little one. Watching him with her is the best thing imaginable.

Spotlight Saturday

I have decided to have a fun theme for each day of the week. Spotlight Saturday will be about quotes that have inspired me, made me laugh, helped me grow, etc... Today I am starting off with one of my favorite quotes from a book. If you read my review of "Miss Maple's Seeds" by Eliza Wheeler, than you would notice the quote above.

" Take Care my Little ones for the word is big and you are small. But never forget that even the grandest of trees once had to grow up from the smallest of seeds."-Eliza Wheeler

The Lesson

I am just going to start out by saying that this is not a happy story,this will be the only deep part of my life that  will share.  I don't want you to feel bad for me, because of it, it made me a stronger person. Some of the details below may be unsettling. I want you to know that if you are in a similar situation there is always a way to get out. You do have family and friends who care about you. I will tell the following part of my life in parts.