Author: Mackayla Turley

“They’re so difficult.” You hear it sighed at playdates, grumbled at family outings, and lamented after bedtime. Instead of just accepting that, let’s try looking at it from a kid’s perspective – specifically my four year old’s perspective. I wake up excited about the day, as usual. Alongside that excitement is a grumbling tummy – the recent growth spurt is using as many nutrients and calories as I can shove down. Hustling to Mama’s room, I exclaim “Maaaamaaaa, its morning! Tet up, tet up! Moooorning!” Mama grumbles and rolls over. “Tet UP! Oatmeal pweeeease!!” Mama’s moving too slowly – who…

I’m going to be deactivating my Facebook account in less than a month. I’m only waiting for the next swap I’m hosting to pass so the event doesn’t get deleted. I already don’t have Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram. Full transparency – I’m keeping Pinterest. Facebook is the last standing social media I have, mainly because I have run a mothers group, Pahrump Mother’s Corner, on it for the past few years. If it weren’t for that group, I would have left Facebook months ago. Instead, I have struggled with this decision for the better part of a year. On…

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…