Author: Mackayla Turley

Everyone is Screaming(sung to the tune of Lego’s Everything is Awesome) Everyone is screaminnnnng,Everyone is loud when you’re with family!Everyone is screamingwhen you’re living the dream! Everyone is louder when we are together,Side by side, you and I are gonna play forever!Let’s play foreverrrrrr.We’re the same,I’m like you, you’re like meyou & me we are playing in harmony. Everything is Awesome,Everything is cool when you’re with family,Everything is Awesome when you’re living the dream. The original song has randomly popped in my head daily since our trip to Legoland in October. These re-made lyrics are now what I hum to…

Before I wish the Mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day, let me first say thank you for the many, many roles y’all play when wearing your various hats. Thank you for the driving you do while wearing your family chauffeur cap. Thank you for the cooking you do while wearing your family chef toque. Thank you for the caring you do while wearing your family nurse cap. Thank you for the cleaning you do while wearing your family maid apron. Thank you for the educating you do while wearing your family teaching badge. Thank you for the encouraging you…

We followed up our Disneyland day with a day at California Adventure, and as usual, my planning personality took over. If you’re planning a trip soon, here’s the result of all my research. Get to the park 15 minutes before the turnstiles open, already eat breakfast before getting there. Bag packed with granola bars, apples, cuties, and uncrustables. Early Morning Attractions: Cars Land – start the morning in Cars Land; it gets packed as the day goes on. Start with Radiator Springs Racers. Follow that with Luigi’s Roadsters, then Mater’s Jamboree. The other must-do here for the morning is grabbing a family picture…

If you give a mom a garden bed, she’s going to want a second one. Once she has two garden beds, she’s going to look at the gap in the middle and want a trellis. Once she sees how fun it is to grow things vertically, she’s going to want a bigger trellis for a flowering vine. After she falls in love with a wall of living green, she’ll dream up a full wall of different grape varieties. Thinking of how many grapes her kids eat in a typical summer will lead to her thinking of how much they love…

We followed up our Disneyland day with a day at California Adventure, and as usual, my planning personality took over. If you’re planning a trip soon, here’s the result of all my research. Get to the park 15 minutes before the turnstiles open, already eat breakfast before getting there. Bag packed with granola bars, apples, cuties, and uncrustables. Early Morning Attractions: Cars Land – start the morning in Cars Land; it gets packed as the day goes on. Start with Radiator Springs Racers. Follow that with Luigi’s Roadsters, then Mater’s Jamboree. The other must-do here for the morning is grabbing a family picture…

For my birthday last year, I attempted to do 33 of my ordinary favorite things. I was going to do the same thing with 34 this year, but instead we’re going to take a family vacation and make some memories. I’ve successfully done Disney with each of my kiddos for their third birthdays, but this will be the first time we’ve gone as family together. As such, my Type A personality has taken over and the level of research and planning I’ve done is insane. Keep in mind I have little kids, we don’t really like parades or character greetings…

First off, let me preface this with the fact that our family isn’t religious. We do Easter in the fun-joy holiday sense, not for anything deeper. Our traditions would probably be different if that was different, but I’m typing this out in the hopes that some mama out there is able to get an idea or two to make her family’s Easter a bit more easygoing and enjoyable – religious or not. I have three young kiddos (7, 5, & 3 years old). Each will get an Easter basket from the Easter Bunny, but they won’t look anything like the…

We’ve all heard it… you’re out having a perfectly good moment with your kids are someone feels the need to interject with a sly “just wait ’til…”. I’m here to loudly, rudely interrupt that with a flat out no. Not a timid laugh and shrug, not a polite “oh, we’ll see”, not even a thank you tacked onto the no. A dead-eyed stare, flat out glare of a no. What exactly am I supposed to being waiting ’til? My youngest is old enough to sleep through the night and therefore so do I? All three of my kiddos are competent…

I’m not going to add to the endless parade of horrific facts in your feed. I think it’s safe to say that at this point, we’ve all heard enough to hesitate before handing our kiddos another piece of candy or drive-thru burger. However, knowing there’s danger in most processed food doesn’t answer the questions moms face everyday. What food am I going to feed my family and how am I going to have time to make that food? At first glance, switching to a mainly whole food diet seems daunting. It sounds overwhelming, time-consuming, and expensive, but it doesn’t have…

The concept of absence has been rolling around in the back of my mind lately. My thoughts on it are still a bit abstract, and heavens knows my mind has 90’s pop hits blaring and useless to-do lists getting in the way. Essentially, my theory is in a world full of more, more, more, absence is the secret ingredient to a happier, more fulfilling life. I’m not talking about just things, either. I mean, yes, clearing out the junk drawer and all your unneeded stuff is a hot topic for me. And obviously, if you can curb your consumption, you…