Step-Mother Hat

One of the hardest but most rewarding opportunity I have had on this planet is to wear the hat of "step-mom." I have had the chance to call Toby, my 10 year old step-son, and Staci, my 5 almost 6 year old step-daughter, "our children," with my husband since we married in October 2011. I felt like their step-mother way before that, but that was the date I officially became their step-mother.

Being that I have been around them for almost the past 3 years I have found it much easier to be a step-mother than if I had come into their universe at a later stage in their life. Kids are really resilient. I feel lucky.

My step-son has a hard time with getting to know people. I will leave it at that. My step-daughter is a magnet. She falls right onto my hip with no muss no fuss. She tells me she loves me, she hugs me, we do a lot of fun girly stuff together.....She is a girly girl.  With my step-son I have had to take it really slow and let him set the pace. It took about a year in the beginning to really feel connected and there is a lot allegiance to his mother. (WHICH HE SHOULD HAVE,) I believe there are some moments that he even feels disloyal to her by liking me. Sad but true.  Right now we mostly have unguarded moments where I can truly tell that he loves and cares for me. He loves to talk my ear off because I listen, he loves to be read to, or read to me, and he loves to play games. (Mostly games where he knows I have NOT one clue how they work so he has the upper hand.) Mwwwwhahahahaha. But then he stops to show me how to play and patiently teaches me the double flips, up and down arrows, and all around craziness of any computer system where he has a game to play.

My daughter has really taken to Staci. I believe Toby to have more of a far away awe of his older step-sibling. Sam will sit down with him and play a game and Toby is over the moon that she did this with him. I am proud of Sam. It's hard to go from being an only child and then at age 14...BAM!!!! Step-siblings. I caught her several times in the last two months saying to one or another of her friends, "This is my brother," and or "this is my sister." It's a rocky road, but it's a beginning.

It's so important to have a loving, caring and supportive spouse at your side. Please enjoy the candid moments of the pictures your about to see.

Spring Break Fun

Working hard on her flower garden, painting her pots, labeling them and planting the seeds. 

Recycling Paper for art projects! AWESOME!

Brother and sister cooperation on crafts. 

Prizes from Wunderland. 

Bowling anyone?

Knowing I was starting school soon he made me envelopes for my school folders!

Many pretty things for mommy and me. 

Easter Stories at our friends farm. 

EASTER EGG HUNT IS ON!

Dying Eggs

Diva in Training. 

Such a Poser.

Just in case you can't read what it says: To Dawn, I love you. From, Staci. 

After dinner with our good friends Toby and Staci wanted to each take turns sitting in my lap and falling through to the ground. They said I was giving birth to them. They were having such a good time. Let me say giving birth this way is much more fun, and guess what? Their already talking and potty-trained too!

Toby has definitely "warmed" up to me. 

The gift they gave me for Mothers Day. It says, "Step-Mom."

Little Hat's

There's nothing better in this world, besides being a mommy, then being an AUNT! My brother took an intensive 15 month course to finish his Masters degree. My brother and sister-in-law needed a little extra help several times a month with my niece and nephew. I was happy to oblige.

Being an Aunt has been a great experience. I get to play and be goofy. I get to re-watch movies I haven't seen since my daughter was a little girl, (and I don't fall asleep because I am so tired from raising my own little one), so I get to really enjoy their reactions to the movies. Crafts and play-doh are fun and I don't care about the mess because the clean-up can be just as much fun as the creating. I don't second guess everything I do with them like I did when I was a first time mother. I can sit back, relax, and enjoy being related and then I go home at night. Sometimes I get to do it all over again the next day.

One thing I get to see my sister do with my daughter, now that my daughter is older, is be an older wiser confidant. She can sometimes give the same advice that I give, but coming from your Aunt..... It's a little different then hearing it from your parent(s). It's something I look forward to happening with my niece and nephew!

Big Boy's still have hats.

What a great way to celebrate being a boy, than with comic books. I didn't do  that as a kid, but my husband shares with me how much this means to him. He is so glad to be sharing it with Toby! 

Can we all get a little excited about a little AVENGERS midnight screening action? Errin is out taking our son to the screening of this movie as part of his birthday gift. He will be 10 years old, I met him when he was 8, so this is a very big boy thing to do! So excited for you Toby!

Blend Chaos and Bliss

It's been a few dark and light years with a divorce, a teenage daughter and the love of my life marrying me last October. I just want to start from here and go from here on. This is the new beginning of my story!

Tech Hat

It looked so easy to start a blog. I watch as friends and family have links on facebook to these beautifully crafted wonderfully written pieces of wisdom and I so badly wanted to create one for myself. Darn if they don't look easy to do. I guess I got what was coming to me. It has taken me several sessions of sitting down with this blog site to create my masterpiece. If you don't think it's a masterpiece then you are in good company. I still haven't figured out everything and it's driving me nuts! I am a determined tenacious woman. I always have been and I will figure this out. I love what tenacity brings me; a sense of accomplishment that I did something that probably several hundred people before me have done. But.... it also teaches me that I have done what I set out to do. I did it. It also teaches me a lot of humility. You know humility right? It's lowliness, meekness, submissiveness....Yeah, me neither. This was probably God's ultimate goal for my small victory in the first place. Oh to learn the first time. But where is the fun in that?