A place where I document our way of living! Being a stay at home mom/photographer, we have lots of time to try out crafts and projects all day! We unschool our children and we love it!!! Having a web designer as a husband has given me the opportunity to document our fun on the internet! Check out our "against the grain" family as we pave our own path through life!
Against The Grain
Elf on the Shelf Ideas Elf on the Shelf with Bible Verses: We have been doing elf on the shelf for years now. My original problem with elf on the shelf was telling my kids that an elf was watching them to be sure they are good. I want to teach my kids that Jesus is watching so be good all year! So, I use my elf on the shelf as a messenger for Jesus instead of Santa! The elf comes in December because we want to celebrate the birth of Jesus all month long. This is how I decided to integrate the Read More
A Single Moms Never Ending Fight Imagine hearing the words, "You will never have kids" when you are only 22 years old. Those are the words Cynthia had to digest at a very young age. But not just that, she also had to understand that at 22 years old she had 2 massive tumors and ovarian cancer. She was scheduled to have a full hysterectomy before she even had the chance to think about having children. The following weekend she began throwing up. She assumed it was due to the cancer Read More
Happy Fathers Day To My Husband To my amazing husband, We may not share any biological children together but you deserve an amazing fathers day! You put your daughter above your feelings, your money, your pride and your world. Through the very stressful situation we have gone through getting to a place where you are able to be a father to your daughter, you have continued to put my two children on your list of priorities just as high as your own daughter. You financially and emotionally Read More
An Open Letter To My Ex Husband We got married to fast and had a perfect little baby together. We weren't meant for each other, we are complete opposites, hence the word, Ex Husband. We made each other miserable most of the time... Naturally it all ended with a divorce, but we did it like pros! We stayed positive and friendly. I filled out all of the paperwork for the divorce and the parenting time schedule for our child. You came over, read it and signed it. No lawyers, no mediators, no Read More
How NOT To Act This Fathers Day Fair warning here...this is a rant. This is me telling you about something that pisses me off! Soo I'm scrolling through Pinterest checking out some step dad gifts for the kids to make for my husband....can I just say: If a child has a step dad it doesn't automatically mean they don't have a good real dad. Even if the child's real dad sucks at being a dad...making a craft stating that step dad is way better than real dad or thanking step dad for stepping Read More
Fathers Day Crafts It is time to get busy on your fathers day crafts! In our home we have 4 dads to make crafts for! I have Aaron's dad, Josh's dad, My husband who is also McKenzie's dad and McKenzie's step dad....so, we will be busy! We are big believers in celebrating every male who acts like daddy in their life! Yes, my husband will be involved in helping his daughter make a fathers day craft for her step father! Her step father raises her as if she was his own when my husband isn't there, Read More
My Second First Date With My Husband and The Things We So Often Forget I knew my husband was planning to take me on a date tonight but I had no idea what we are doing. I knew that we would have to take separate cars so that had me baffled! Then around 10 am today, he sends me a text. "Hey, I'm wondering if we can finally meet tonight. I love talking to you on the phone but want to take it to the next level so bad. I was thinking that if you come pick me up at my house we can go grab dinner Read More
I turned for one second and...Gorilla Shot Dead at the Cincinnati Zoo after a child falls into the enclosure! Can we just talk about the dead Gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo for a minute? I LOVE animals. I have to many animals actually because I love them so much. However, I love my kids more than my animals, I love your kids more than my animals and I even love you more than my animals. Okay so here is the story. O'Connor who filmed the incident, said she heard the 4-year-old (later we learn Read More
My Son Is A Model I am using today's blog post to brag! I admit, every once in a while I like to brag on my babies. My son is a model! I mean, he hasn't booked any jobs yet, but look at this guy! // Seriously, he is absolutely gorgeous! This kid has had a rough last year. He was diagnosed with epilepsy last April which caused somewhat of an anxiety disorder and a mild depression. If I was diagnosed with epilepsy I feel like I would have severe depression and anxiety! But not him, he Read More
Daytime vs Nighttime Parenting Can we talk about children and their bi-polar disposition for a minute! I have to use this moment to vent. Lets talk about parenting our kids in the daytime versus parenting our kids at night time... Daytime Vs Nighttime Parenting Struggles Water: At any point in the day, it can be a serious struggle to get water into my children. "It's gross", "Its plain", "I need milk", "I need juice", "It makes my mouth dry"(yes I have actually heard this many times), Read More