Family « The Everyday Warrior

We Are Moving!

by Betsy

If you saw this post from yesterday then you have probably already guessed that Little B and I are moving. And that is correct! But what you may not have guessed is that we are moving in with Chris!

That’s some big news, right!?!

We are both super excited about it and all of our kids are too! (Chris has two boys.) As you can imagine we have lots and lots of things to get done before the move. Chris has to make room for two more people, I need to pack, move things that we won’t immediately be needing to a storage unit and many more things I am probably not even realizing right now! Eeeek! The plan is for us to move into Chris’s house for a few months while we save up some money to get a house that will better accommodate our new blended family. In the mean time we will all have to adjust to our new life together which includes making small sacrifices to make our new living arrangement work. I am sure that there will be bumps along the way but we are ready to face them and are confident that we are making the right decision for everyone involved.

Despite our current excitement about the changes, I do have to be honest about something. A week ago or so, I stressed myself out unnecessarily by playing the what if game. You know what I am talking about right? The what if game goes a little something like this:

- What if we don’t like living together?

- What if the kids don’t get along?

- What if Chris drives me crazy?

- What if I miss my personal space / me time?

- What if Little B doesn’t adjust?

- What if it turns out to be a bad decision?

You get the idea.

I am a worrier by nature and have a tendency to over think things. (Poor Chris!) But the reality of the situation is that the issues that I was worrying about don’t currently exist and may not ever exist. I would be short changing myself to allow those fears and any other fears to guide my decisions. If any of my worries come true, we will just deal with them when they do. Life is all about taking chances and this feels too right to not take a chance on it!

We are going to be like The Brady Bunch! Now how do I get an Alice?? (source)

Any moving tips for me or tips on successfully merging two families together? I would appreciate both!

Dating Family Kids Life Parenting

21 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday #41

by Betsy

Dating Family Life

7 Comments »

Wordy Wednesday #5

by Betsy

Family Fun Kids Little B Parenting

5 Comments »

My Thoughts on Boston

by Betsy

I haven’t blogged about Boston until now. I have been wanting to but I have been at a loss of what to say. Even now while typing this I am still struggling with coming up with words to describe how I feel about it.

In addition to that, I am not sure if I can say anything that hasn’t already been said by others. Not much can top this awesome letter or this post that sparked a global movement.

Despite all of that, I can’t not write a post about Boston.

When I first heard about the what happened at the Marathon my emotions were all over the board. I was shocked, sad, upset, disgusted, heart broken, angry, afraid and many many more.

For a brief fleeting moment I even thought to myself, “Maybe I shouldn’t run big races anymore.” That was a thought out of fear and it was immediately replaced with “Hell no, I am going to run whatever sized race wherever and whenever I want to. End of story.” I refuse to make decisions that are based on fear. I will not allow myself to be controlled by others.

I almost forgot to mention another emotion that I felt and still feel in light of these events. Proud. I have never been more proud to be part of the running community. I have always known that runners are generous and supportive people and the stories that are coming out of this tragedy are amazing. Like the runners who finished the marathon and then continued to run to the hospital to donate blood, or those who ran towards the bombing area instead of away from it to see what they could do to help and the person who finished the race and gave his medal to someone who wasn’t able to finish it.

I may not be able to help in the ways that the runners I mentioned were able to help. But I am going to help in my own way.

1. I purchased one of these shirts in which all of the proceeds go to The One Fund Boston, Inc.

source

They are now sold out but you can also donate directly to the fund if you wish.

2. I am going to run. I can’t think of a better way to honor those that lost their lives or were injured than to put on my running shoes and log some miles. There are many group runs being planned for today all over the world!

Here are a couple that I know of that are happening in the Detroit area.

1. The New Balance store in Farmington Hills is hosting a Runners for Boston run. Click here for more info.

2. The Hanson’s Running Shop in Royal Oak will be hosting a group run at 6:30pm.

Let me know what you are doing to honor Boston. Did you blog about it? Leave your link in the comments! Did you plan an event? Leave that link below as well.

Family Friends Running

12 Comments »

Happy Birthday Little B!

by Betsy

That’s right, today is Little B’s Birthday! And it is not just any birthday, it is his 5th birthday!

We celebrated his special day over the weekend with a party at Pump It Up! Nothing says Happy Birthday like bouncing and sliding with the people who mean the most to you, right? We had so MUCH fun!

Little B and I on the slide!

Little B tackling the obstacle course!

Most of the party people!

After wearing ourselves out in the bounce house room we moved to the party room where we devoured pizza, a giant cookie and ice cream.

He’s about to make a wish!

I have to pat myself on the back because I MADE the giant birthday cookie! From SCRATCH! It was so tasty and now I feel all domestic-like! Click here for the recipe, you will love it!

You know you wanted a close up of the giant cookie!

Little B got a lot of great gifts. Most of them were some sort of Power Ranger type toy as that is his current obsession. He will be getting his present from me later today so that one will still have to remain a secret. Maybe I will post the present as the tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday post!

The best part of Little B’s Birthday Party? He hasn’t stopped talking about how much fun he had!

Family Fun Kids Parenting

13 Comments »

Christmas 2012

by Betsy

On Christmas night I laid in bed unable to sleep because I was lost in thought about all the wonderfulness that I got to experience.

I got some wonderful gifts.

Like this bracelet and bead from Mr. Sarcastic’s family.

I love the running shoe!

And these goodies from Mr. Sarcastic himself.

Does he know me, or what?!

But that wasn’t the main reason behind my inability to sleep.

Little B also got some great presents.

He got a Kindle from Santa. (Technically Santa got it for me AND Little B.)

He’s such a techie!

And lots of Spiderman goodies.

Spiderman Shooters?!?! Score!

And even some musical instruments.

Those headphones are a blessing!

But again, that wasn’t the reason behind my sleeplessness.

Why couldn’t I fall asleep?

Because I was in awe of the happiness and contentedness I was feeling.

I got to wake up on Christmas morning and feel and see the magic of the holiday through Little B as he excitedly sat up in bed and said “I wanna see if Santa ate the cookies!!!” I got to see the amazement in his eyes when he saw that Santa did in fact, eat the cookies! I got to watch him open all of his presents and see how excited he was about each and every one of them.

All that was left was cookie & carrot crumbs!

I got to spend some time with Mr. Sarcastic who a year ago was someone I didn’t even know existed but has since made me a happier and better person for knowing him.

Aren’t we cute?

I also got the pleasure of spending Christmas Eve with Mr. Sarcastic’s family who has always been so warm and welcoming of Little B and I. We both left their house on Christmas Eve with wonderful gifts but most importantly a feeling of happiness and belonging.

Christmas was definitely very magical this year and I have to say that it’s an amazing feeling to lie in bed unable to sleep because of happiness.

How was your Christmas?

Family Fun Kids Parenting

10 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday #29

by Betsy

Family Fun Kids

4 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday #26

by Betsy

Family Life

8 Comments »

A Day Fit for a Superhero

by Betsy

Halloween had the potential to be a disaster this year.

The weather was forecasted to be cold, rainy and windy. And despite my best efforts to find an indoor alternative to traditional trick of treating, I didn’t find anything. All of the malls had already had their trick or treating the weekend before Halloween. And the icing on the cake or perhaps the eyeball in the witches brew is that Little B’s Dad and I planned to take Little B out trick or treating together. One week after we got divorced. (Insert spooky music here.)

As you know from my Wordless Wednesday post, Little B was going as Spiderman!

Cutest Spiderman ever!

When Little B puts on the Spiderman costume a magical and fun thing happens. He truly believe he is Spiderman! And perhaps some of that innocent child like magic spilled over onto his Dad and I that night because Halloween could not have been better! His Dad and I got along, we both focused on making sure that Little B had the best time possible and Little B got to enjoy a carefree night with both of us.

This year Little B was not afraid of the scary costumes or of going up to the doors of people’s houses. In face, he was quite excited about all of it. I couldn’t even get him to stay still long enough for me to get a good pic!

That blur is Little B, I swear!

At every house we went to, Little B was very vocal about his love of the candy he received. “All right! A Reese’s! High-five! or “Sweet! This is awesome!” Thankfully he never got anything that he didn’t like so my fear of him exclaiming his dissatisfaction was unfounded. Phew!

Little B’s excitement waned pretty quickly as it was cold and drizzly outside. (We only did half of a street!) So once he had a few of his coveted Reese’s in his bucket he wanted to go home.

Showing off his loot!

At the end of the night Little B asked us for a group hug and we obliged. He was smiling from ear to ear and I headed home (Little B was at his Dad’s for the night) with a renewed sense of what life after divorce can be like for Little B. Were there parts of the night that were awkward and uncomfortable? Of course, but our superhero got to enjoy his Halloween, just like every kid should.

How was your Halloween? Want to find out what superhero you are most like? Take this quiz (it’s long but fun) and leave a comment with your results. According to the quiz I am The Flash!