Cherry Blossoms in Tacoma and Beyond

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Cherry Blossoms in Tacoma and Beyond

Isn’t it so wonderful to walk or drive around town and see all the cherry blossoms?! Ahh, I love it!! It’s such a welcome sign after the cold, wet days of winter. I point out every tree as I drive around. I’m sure my family is tired of me doing that, but I can’t help myself.

If you share my love for cherry blossoms, then let me give you a few tips on where to go see them. The season is at peek or on the downward end of the season right now, so jump off your computer and get out there!

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New Moms and Where to Find Them in Tacoma

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New Moms and Where to Find Them in Tacoma

Motherhood. It’s without a doubt, the biggest, most life-changing thing that’s ever happened to me. Your world completely goes upside. You try to prepare for it, and you hear all the advice and stories from others, but there really isn’t any way to know what it’s like until you actually experience it for yourself.

I was working in the corporate world, commuting on a bus, going out to dinner on Saturday nights, staying up on Netflix binges. Then, boom: we had a baby. I decided to be a stay-at-home mom, and life hasn’t been the same since. Honestly, it was such a challenging transition in my life. There were smiles, for sure, but there were definitely tears. The thing that helped me the most was talking to other moms and making friends.

As a new mom, it’s hard to know where to turn to meet other moms and make friends. I get shy and uncertain in new environments where I don’t know anyone. I get nervous texting and calling people. I often re-think every word I say to every person. So how did I do it, you ask, here’s some ways!

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Choose Your Summer Adventure: Raising Tacoma Style 2022

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Choose Your Summer Adventure: Raising Tacoma Style 2022

In typical Heather style, I had a summer bucket list going. Then the list kept growing and growing. When I tried to put together a cute one-page summer bucket list, it didn’t fit. Oops!

Yup, I tend to do that. There was a time when I had to share my list with my husband at the beginning of the weekend with all the things I wanted to get done listed (and guys, this was pre-kids). He would go through and cross off things because I always…ALWAYS…made it too long and ambitious. No human being could possibly get it all done and stay sane.

Instead of crossing things off on this mega summer list, I decided to share it all and have you “choose your own summer bucket list adventure!” Pick a few things from each section to design a summer bucket list catered to your family and kids. Some of these you can piece together to make one totally awesome day…in my over ambitious mind. ;) Perfect, right?!

Take a look - share what you want to do! Or ping me for a summer adventure together…I’m game!

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[Guest Post] WAHMs: It’s Tough With Toddlers, But These Tips Will Help

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[Guest Post] WAHMs: It’s Tough With Toddlers, But These Tips Will Help

Was it around this time last year that we started to hear the little whispers about something called the coronavirus? Wow, I had no idea at the time it would evolve into a worldwide pandemic. So many things have happened and changed…like the use of the acronym WAHM (Work-At-Home-Moms). I would have scratched my head wondering what that acronym was last year.

I fall into the SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom) category, but I feel for all you WAHMs. I don’t know how you do it. Today, I have a guest writer, Janice Russell, to give some tips on working from home as a toddler mom.

Here’s a bit about Janice:

Janice Russell believes the only way to survive parenthood is to find the humor in it. She wants every frazzled parent out there to remember that for every kid stuck in a toilet, there’s another one out there somewhere who’s just graced their parents’ walls with some Sharpie artwork! She created Parenting Disasters so that parents would have a go-to resource whenever they needed a laugh, but also to show parents they aren’t alone.

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[Guest Post] Brr, It's Cold: Indoor Activities for House-Bound Kids

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[Guest Post] Brr, It's Cold: Indoor Activities for House-Bound Kids

Well, we’ve already seen some rainy days here this October, and we all know that this is just the beginning. Eeek, the rainy season is upon us and many of our normal energy release places are still closed. I know rain doesn’t mean outside is out-of-the-question, but there will be a lot more time spent indoors. To help with some indoor ideas, Carrie from The Spencers Adventures is here as a guest to share some ideas!

Here’s a bit about Carrie:

Carrie Spencer created The Spencers Adventures to share her family’s homesteading adventures. On the site, she shares tips on living self-sufficiently, fruit and vegetable gardening, parenting, conservation, and more. Their goal to live as self-sufficiently and environmentally-consciously as possible.

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My Meal Planning Tips and Tools

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My Meal Planning Tips and Tools

What’s for dinner?

Do you get that question a lot? I get it from my hubby, but also now from my older son sometimes. It’s the question of the day. Everyday. We all want it. We all need it. And we all want something we love to eat!

Personally, I enjoy cooking and baking. Although, during the week it’s really not as enjoyable because I’d rather use that time to relax or do something fun. Right? I mean, I love to cook and bake, but more so when it’s not rushed and I feel relaxed about it (which, honestly, isn’t often because you know, kids). I do like the end results of it, though. ;)

When it comes to dinner for me, here’s the deal. I am not the kind of person that can just make up dinner with whatever is in the kitchen at 4pm for dinner that evening. That thought terrifies me. I know I could do it if it came to it, but it would stress me out. I am a planner through and through and that applies to my meals. When my friends find out about this aspect of me, the next question is, “how do you meal plan?” I figured this is everyone’s dilemma, so I thought I’d share.

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Learning at Home during the Coronavirus

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Learning at Home during the Coronavirus

What day is it? How many weeks have we been quarantined at home? When will school start again…if ever this year? This has been rough…are you with me?

Luckily, both my boys are still rather young, so school is more about socialization and learning is more through play, asking questions, doing experiments…basically happening all day. However, spending time on some age-appropriate topics each day helps the day move along is beneficial for my son as it provides some structure, focuses him, and exercises his mind and creativity on other ways. My focus right now is numbers, the alphabet, and learning to spell and write his name. I’ve been using a couple of resources to come up with fun ways for him to learn. First, I use groups on Facebook like 253 Parents Get Resourceful and Too Cool for School. Then there are two awesome Instagram accounts: Busy Toddler and Happy Tot Shelf.

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Coronavirus: Keeping Busy at Home

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Coronavirus: Keeping Busy at Home

I imagine you’re at home right now like me trying to figure out what the heck to do to keep your kids busy since school is closed (and everything else we do is closed like the zoo, YMCA, Children’s Museum, etc). UGH! I feel so much anxiety about what I’m going to do to keep my little guys entertained and learning. And social media is overwhelming me. In fact, I almost feel more anxious after going online - it’s like all this information is being tossed out into the world but I can’t seem to keep track of it all, and not to mention how to deceiver what will actually work for my kid’s age and temperament. On top of that, I’m thinking I need some sort of schedule since everyone is doing it. AHHH.

….. DEEP BREATHE ….

So I started a list since that makes me feel better usually. Below what I’ve gathered. Then as we were on a walk yesterday, I came up with a schedule. It needed to be pretty relaxed and flexible given weather and moods.

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Flying with Kids: A Few Tips

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Flying with Kids: A Few Tips

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty kids on airplanes stuff, did you hear about the Sea-Tac airport rebranding? Yup, they are rebranding Sea-Tac Airport as simply “SEA.” Read all about it here. Interesting, right?! I’m not sure how I feel about this change, although I’ll probably always call it Sea-Tac.

Now, to the kids talk. I recently took a flight with both boys on my own from Sea-Tac (hehe) to San Diego to visit my parents (grandparents trip!). While I’ve flown with just Caleb and me a bunch in the past, I was very anxious about flying on my own with two kids. Two would outnumber me and I honestly can’t remember what I did with Caleb - something I like to call parental amnesia. I knew Caleb (4 yrs old) would be relatively easy since I can basically just hand him an iPad and he’s occupied for a good while. However, Wesley was another story. He’s 14 months, so he’s not watching shows or playing games, yet. He’s also in that very awkward stage between crawling and walking and is very, VERY wiggly. In addition, I remember Caleb being a terrible airplane napper (so I do remember somethings), so I wasn’t banking on that for Wesley either (rightly so, apparently, as he did not nap).

The good news: All the planning paid off because both ways went incredibly smoothly. {insert cheering!} No meltdowns and really not a lot of fussing either. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

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Tacoma Treats for Valentine's Day

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Tacoma Treats for Valentine's Day

Guys, I have the worst sweet tooth. Usually, it’s for something like ice cream, but I can’t say no to a macaron either. And the holiday of sweets is around the corner…Valentine’s Day. Oh yea, I’m excited for a good excuse to eat some sweets. If you don’t get your SO flowers, then a sweet treat to say, “I love you, hun” is always a nice gesture. Here’s a few ideas to get you rolling

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Brick by Brick: RT's Guide to Legoland

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Brick by Brick: RT's Guide to Legoland

I had this plan to post at least once every month. And now I’m looking at the calendar and July has almost come and gone. I started this blog with just one toddler who napped and that gave me time to post. Now I have a toddler that doesn’t nap and an infant. Having two kids is a whole other ballpark, friends. I went to sit down to write this yesterday and popped right back up because I realized I had laundry. I think the time before I had to make dinner. Then before that, the baby woke early crying. So hang with me, I’m sure I’ll get to a time where I post more, but for now bear with me. I love writing and sharing but this phase in life is a busy one.

Speaking of busy, summer has been busy for us. We went down to Cali for almost two weeks during June for my sister’s wedding in Pasadena and then some time with my parents in San Diego area. Fun fact: I’m born and raised in North County San Diego. My home was in Encinitas and I loved living there. My parents have since moved to a neighboring town called San Marcos and we get to visit frequently, which is awesome. Yes yes, I know you might be wondering this very moment why I ever moved away. I agree it’s heavenly there, but that’s a story for another day. Right now I want to share how great a place San Diego is to visit with kids.

So yea, San Diego rocks for kids. There is just so much to do there - San Diego Zoo, Old Town, Sea World, Seaport Village, Safari Park (formerly, Wild Animal Park), Balboa Park, and….LEGOLAND. The only thing I will say, is that all these places are not necessary located close together. But no problem, who really can (and wants) to do everything everyday with kids. For instance, you could do Legoland and beaches and that would be a fabulous vacation. And that’s what we did. Spent time with the family, spent time at the beach, and then went to Legoland. Besides the scary stridor (croup) that landed us in an ambulance and ER for the night, it was an awesome trip.

Gosh, I might be boring you with all this jibber jabber. You probably just want me to get to the nitty gritty of Legoland. You saw the title, and just really want the deets. I get it. Let’s do it.

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Make the Grade: Thank Your Teachers with a Local Gift

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Make the Grade: Thank Your Teachers with a Local Gift

We just had our last day of beginner’s preschool on Tuesday. How did that happen? I feel like the school year just started not that long ago and poof, here we are. But then I looked at our first and last day photos and you can clearly see time has past and my little guy has grown so much. Not to mention, that when the school year started, Wesley wasn’t even a thing in this universe yet.

With the school year coming to a close, it’s time to thank the teachers that took care the kids during the school year. My mom was a fourth grade teacher and I know how much time, effort, and love teachers pour into their students. The parents of our class ended up putting together a basket, but I had some ideas in my back pocket that I thought I’d share.

You know what’s nice, to buy locally! For one, you support all our local small businesses which help make Tacoma awesome. And two, they are near by and don’t require the time (and sometimes cost) of shipping. And let’s face it, the last day of school is nye so we gotta get things ASAP.

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Fashion Tips from an Everyday Mom

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Fashion Tips from an Everyday Mom

I did a little poll not too long ago to see what you, my lovely blog followers, would be interested in reading. One of my mom friends mentioned she wanted to hear how I maintain my makeup and keep up my style with a young child. My immediate reaction to myself was, "Me, really...for fashion advice?" I never really thought of myself as stylish and definitely not whom someone would think of to ask for fashion advice. (thank you, friend, you give me confidence!)

When I think of myself and fashion, all I can think of was how I was the girl in high school wearing vests and oversized sweatshirts. Although, as an adult looking back now, who actually was totally confident and cool as a teenager? And weren't we all wearing scrunchies?

Perhaps in college, I was slightly improved. Heck, I snagged my husband while there somehow. But, I don't think I really caught on to what fits and looks good on me until some years after college.

One of my best fashion experiences came when I moved to Seattle and got a new job in online marketing. I was in desperate need of clothes to fit the job. I decided to try the Nordstrom Personal Stylist. To say it was life-changing is maybe giving it too much credit, but it was a eye-opener. The stylist really helped me understand what would look good on me and to put some outfits together.

I'm still not going to say I'm uber stylish, but at least I look decent. I feel kind of awkward writing this post, like an imposer, as if I'm some sort of expert on the manner. I am DEFINITELY NOT an expert or really even that stylish. But, ask and you shall receive, my friends. So, I'll stop jabbering on about myself and share some things that I do to keep Stacy and Clinton away (please tell me you know them...hint: What Not to Wear).

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