I'm a freelance writer that has three step daughters that are the light of my life. Even if that light is a train coming at my face :) I enjoy helping other parents deal with their own threenagers and nonsense in their home! I offer support and solidarity that you are NOT alone! Enjoy reading about my crazy step mama life full of love and caffeine!
The love of a step mother is special because they chose to love when they didn't have to.
Hey guys! So now that it's almost JUNE I'm trying to compile a list of some family fun activities we'll be doing this summer and maybe it will give you some ideas too! Feel free to email me any fun things you guys do so we can check it out! 1. Museum Passes for the Library As far as I know a lot of county libraries have these. Burlington county has so many different places to go including Camden children's garden, PAWS nature farm and even Grounds for Sculpture. We did Grounds for Sculpture last year and it was pretty awesome. We could have easily spent the entire day there! The food was a little pricey but the gardens themselves were pretty awesome. This is a free program and all of the libraries in the counties have their own passes. You keep them for three days and return them like library books! Each individual pass shows how many people get in but it's always good for me, mike and both girls. It's free and makes a great Saturday adventure! 2. THE BEACH! Were such LBI fans we might as well just get a shore house down there! We've been taking Brianna and Ashley there forever. We usually go down around 11am or so and get lunch. Then we hit the beach! It's about an hour and a half drive and you do have to pay for the beaches but it never costs us more than $20 for all of us. We always bring our blankets, toys and a cooler full of food and water :) and don't forget your sun screen! We like to use "ThinkBaby" sun screen. It's a completely organic sunblock so were not filling our kids directly with cancer :) It's SPF 50 so make sure you put it on once an hour. Our kids have Italian in them so they hold a tan really well! We also like to do a trip to Ocean City NJ for the day since it has the boardwalk.Atlantic City is always fun, were actually going this weekend. My uncle got us a room with Brianna and Ashley so we can go down the whole weekend and relax with the boardwalk and the ocean and just enjoy our time together. I love our little family adventures! 3. Vacation Bible School Whichever denomination you are VBS is always such a good experience for kids. Two years ago Leigha was 3 and old enough to attend our church's VBS and I volunteered as a group leader. It was such a fun experience for her. It was the entire week and I picked her up from school and we had dinner at church and then VBS. Minus the awkward moment when Leigha announced to our pastor playing a disciple and the rest of the church that her mom smacks her when she talks about me, it was a pretty fun time! The kids get to learn about Jesus and morals and they usually collect something everyday. Leigha got to see her friends and was super sad when it ended after a week! All the VBS's are free and the age usually starts around 3. Check out your local church and see when yours starts! 4. Lancaster PA Amish country is definitely a must in the summer. We went when I was younger and I ROCKED that bonnet! They have horse buggy rides which are always super exciting even for adults. The towns usually have the Amish working the markets and teach kids how to dye clothes, clean the stables, make bread and butter and all kinds of other things. The kids are always fascinated by their lack of electronics and modern day advances that we live with everyday. It's kind of an eye opener to show them another way of life, and they have SUPER good food. It's kind of a drive but if you go for the day it's totally worth it. 5. Any kind of fruit festival is amazing Like the blueberry festival in Robbinsville. If you google festivals they'll definitely come up. I know Pemberton has a ton of festivals because of whitesbogs. We've been there with the kids and it's kind of awesome. They have different trails you can hike and watch them clear the bogs. The kids always have a blast learning how to separate cranberries! They usually have a band playing some old school music and their little convenience store has some pretty good food! There's fruit festivals all up and down NJ so check out one near you! 6. Nature Centers WE LOVE OUTSIDE! I'm pretty "nazi" like with the kids and electronics and I like to have fun but also make it educational. We have a few nature centers around us including Rancocas Nature center that's open to the public. If you check the website it usually has different dates and times for things for kids and adults. I Know kids have nature hikes where they have to find certain things which is super cute. We love going out and taking pictures of different birds and animals and learning about the babies born in the spring :) Just spray yourself for bugs and check for ticks when you get home! 7. County Fairs Every county has their infamous county fair! We go to the Burlington County Farm Fair every year and we LOVE it. We took Leigha a few years ago and she had a blast! We take Ashley and Brianna and the rides are pretty awesome. Ashley always likes the animals and sometimes the crazy balloon guy shows up! He just happens to be my uncle so we always get really cool balloons ;) They also have tractor rides and all kinds of vendors out there. The food is usually pretty pricey so it depends on how long youll be there but wawa is right down the street so you can always grab sandwiches. It's a pretty neat fair that goes for about five days and it's always always fun with the kids. They have cotton candy, ice cream and rides! Different rides for different ages :) 8. The Circus! Me and my friend Kim took Leigha to the circus a few years ago. She got a free ticket from school so we only paid for adult tickets. They had giraffes that you could feed which Leigha thought was the bees knees! I probably spent $10 on carrots so she could feed the giraffe! And probably another $10 so she could feed every other animal. They also had pony rides that were about $5 a piece so she got to do that. They have some food there and then of course the main event! Leigha made friends with every single clown possible and they loved her too! We made it about halfway through the show before she'd exhausted herself so much we had to take her home! You can usually find groupon deals on tickets also but it really is cute! 9. Johnsons Farm Were huge fans of Johnsons farm throughout the year. We took Ashley strawberry picking last year and she LOVED it. We went with my parents and my brother and we all had a blast. We took the tractor out to the fields and got strawberries and a bunch of veggies my mom ended up cooking for dinner that night. It was fun teaching her how to know when to pick the strawberries and then showing her that we wash them and cook them up to eat all the veggies. It was super educational for her to put all the pieces together of where our food comes from! We also got to see the animal park and play in the kids area. We had ice cream and got some stuff from their super awesome convenience store. They do things like superhero night and the Easter Bunny also! Check their website for updates, they have some great deals! 10. Cape May Zoo We LOVE the Cape May Zoo. It's a free zoo and we usually give a donation at the gate. This zoo is HUGE and Brianna and Ashley loved it last year. We went down for the day and it took us probably three hours to walk the entire zoo. We got the girls a few things from the little shop and of course Uncle Matt bought them popcorn! They also have this huge park in front of the zoo so we packed sandwiches and had a picnic lunch after the zoo. Then the girls went to play on their age appropriate playground. It was a little bit of a drive but totally worth spending the entire day down there. The kids got to learn about different animals and pick out there favorites. This is an awesome free activity we'll definitely do this year. There's our top ten things to do in the summer! Of course on those rainy days we take the girls to the movies or stay in and read books and play games. The library also offers a lot of free stuff such as book and craft days. Ashley went there last year and made a craft for fourth of july and got to read a few books with their reader. It was really neat and got her out on a rainy day! We also take the girls for mani's and pedi's a few times to get pampered! Let me know what your fave things to do in summer are so I can add them to our list!
Happy Sunday!! This weekend has been CRAZY! We had a family reunion weekend with my dads side of the family. So much fun! Friday we went to dinner with everyone when they got in which was super chill and relaxing. Saturday was an all day event with games and drinks and awesome people. Ashley of course was the light of the party with her well behaved self and independent attitude haha. It was great to hang out at my parents and really enjoy being around family we don't get to see often. I feel really blessed that nobody kept me from that out of spite. I've always had access to my family because they loved me. That's how it should be. And you know I've gotten to a point where I just released all of my forgiveness. I don't have a choice. I was so engulfed with hate because of the attacks on me, my job and my family. Between the harassing phone calls to my job which did absolutely nothing but give me security protection and a bunch of blocked numbers to the cheating rumors little girls wanted to start. There's SO MUCH ANGER AND HATE with people sometimes. Being a step mom is hard enough, but then being a step mom that's attacked constantly. I don't have to pretend to be a victim because all of the unprovoked attacks proves I'm a victim. Which is a card I'm not willing to play unlike some people. At this point all I can do is forgive and hope one day people will want to act like adults. Stop the lying and the cheating and the addictions. I'm appreciating the relationships I have with other people to be able to form a family relationship. The only ones that suffer are the kids. Raise your kids to love people and not hate them. Especially under false pretenses. Unfortunately we have to just self preserve now. We have ashley and Brianna that are actively allowed to be a part of our family. So they will do family pictures with us and vacations this summer. They won't miss out on the memories and the crazy amount of love from everyone. They're ALLOWED to call my parents nana and pop because those are also their grandparents. And why not? Blood is the least of what makes someone family believe that. These girls are swarmed with love and gifts and fun activities because that's what they deserve. You shouldn't have to follow the law to allow Time with a parent. For example when Leighas mom was barely in the picture I wanted to give her that chance to step up and be Leighas mom. After all I'm the reason she stared to call her mom. You're welcome. I invited her to school events like field trips. I gave her the paper to order school pictures. I tried to keep everything kosher so Leigha didn't have to deal with the stress of people not getting along because that isn't fair to HER. Unfortunately reality hit when me and Michael got engaged to be married and it all went out the window. I'm tired of sitting by and not living my life because of anger and hostility. Step parents, just leave it be. You have your family and babies to take care of. I'll soon have a baby of my own to take care of. Preserve your family. If someone is with holding a child with lies and deceit then let it happen. Because nothing you do will make this better. And in the end you can honestly say you and your husband did not screw that child up because you only had a small insignificant amount of time with them. Take care of your family and your babies and one day the kids will be old enough to explain the situation to them and hopefully they'll want to hear the truth behind the story. Until then just keep praying and loving and wanting the best for all of your kids. Let them see both of their parents and shower everyone in love and kindness. Be kind to be happy. Because being angry isn't worth it. Does my husband actually cheat? Hahah!!! Nope. I know he works hard for me everyday and comes home to our bed with me. And that's what matters. Did I lose my job? Absolutely not. I'm flourishing at my job. I'm a marketing rep at the number one hospital in New Jersey and I rock at my job. Nothing happened. Just a bunch of people laughing at the craziness. Which seems to be a typical thing. Don't let angry bitter people ruin your life. Keep working hard and providing for your children. Keep your screen shots for when you need them and just enjoy life. As for me I'm going to get ready for brunch with my wonderful family and kids because I want my girls to grow up knowing ALL of their family. Enjoy your long weekend and don't forget to remember our fallen soldiers!
It's been a little bit since my last post, life's been a little overwhelming. I wanted to make a point about social media and how screen shots are the best proof in the world. I don't waste much time with nonsense or drama but unfortunately when your name is being dragged through the mud it tends to come back to you. So for everyone struggling with a vindictive person just wait for them to hang themselves. It happens. Trust me. The only thing people try to do is lie about me and my husband and my kids. That's insane. Anyone who isn't on drugs and knows our family knows the truth. and THAT'S what matters. now, moving on, We had to get acclimated back from vacation! I'm finally back into my groove at work and getting everything taken care of. This weekend coming up we have a family reunion with my family all weekend and it's our year with Ashley which is exciting! We have a dinner Friday, then Saturday and Sunday is the party all weekend and Monday is relaxing. This past weekend we went out to visit my In Laws and hang out for dinner on Saturday. It's pretty crazy watching all the kids grow up together. Ashley and Sofia are the same age which is nice when they're playing together. Junior is getting ridiculous big! He's the sweetest baby you could ever ask for, they make good babies! Mel made some insanely good empanadas with rice and beans. Ugh, so losing weight this weekend didn't actually occur LMAO. Sunday we went to an open house event at Endeavor Emergency Squad in Burlington. My friend Kim, her husband John ran the entire event. Ashley had SO MUCH FUN. She got her face painted and got a my little pony from the balloon lady. She also got to see the K-9 Unit from Burlington City and pet the dogs (which is obviously the best thing ever). They also had two bouncy house slides and she got to sit in the Emergency Bus and listen to the scanner. She informed us she was "doing work" hahaha. She also got to find the pulse on a puppy dog which was pretty cool. Then we got hot dogs and snow cones to top off the day! We spent a few hours with them and Ashley loves spending time with Mr. John and Ms. Kim :) Kim also took Leigha to the circus a few years ago, Leigha loved her too. Then we did dinner at my moms house and Ashley passed out in the car on the way to drop her off to her mom. She was SOOOOO tired when Tammy got her she was still in REM sleep and kept saying "where's my mom?" lmao We were all cracking up. Anyway so I got some emails with some great ideas for summer activities for the family! Were definitely doing Ocean City with the kids this year and we also have it in the works to go to storybook land since we have our tickets from last year and it rained. Were also looking into going back to the Cape May Zoo. that was a load of fun last year. So much to do! Me and Michael are celebrating three years of being together which is great! Were really excited about where our lives and our family is going right now and it's nice to have Brianna and Ashley for the ride :) I've finally got all of our stuff together for Family pictures on June 4th! Our photographer is booked and I can finally update Brianna and Ashleys pictures from the wedding! They looked so little! I also bought them "daddy" shirts to take pictures with Mike during that time so I can put it in a frame and update the pictures with the girls. Now that it's nice weather it's nice being able to take the kids outside to do stuff, so any ideas for events in the area are always welcome! Time to start my Monday and wait for our three day weekend! Before I forget I also wanted to thank everyone for reaching out to me about the rumors that were yet again started about my poor husband. I appreciate your kind words and encouragement. Unfortunately people are in those kinds of positions tend to make up lies and cannot provide "proof" to back themselves up. I know my husband, I know my family. I know every night I lay with him on our couch with our cats or on our back porch and that we go to bed together every night. I don't have to question everything, especially when those rumors are started by people with no credibility and no proof. I just shrug it off and pray one day they realize that the "destruction" theyre trying to cause only makes people realize how crazy they really are. Thanks again for your support guys! Have a great week!
Something kind of miraculous hit me this morning. The dang peanut gallery! It's so hard to realize that sometimes if you don't fire back, people tend to calm down. Which is really hard because you really just want to knock some peoples dentures right out! Excuse my hostility haha. But the good thing is I've just moved on with life and really focused on my family and my kids. I'm so excited to spend time with them and watch them grow everyday. The little stuff I just can't let get to me anymore you know? The harassment, the nonsense. I just go to work, come home and take care of me and mines. That's the most anyone can do right? I appreciate the relationships I have with the moms involved in my life, I appreciate that lack of hostility during exchanges and text messages. It's nice to know that hostility is not normal, at least to the extent it's gone. I still don't want to talk about anything regarding court because of the steps being taken right now so I'm not actively ignoring your emails and questions I'm just trying to keep some things private right now so when they do blow up people are like "oh crap. they weren't joking". no. we weren't. We also have a family reunion coming up at the end of May that I'm super excited for! I love family get togethers. I'm also running for Crohns in Philly on May 21st which is super important to me. Brianna's mom has battled with this almost her entire life and I see her struggle every single day and running in this makes me feel like someone can make a difference to help someone suffering. It's a terrible disease and really painful! So if you don't have anything to do come and hang out! We've finally hammered down details for our family photo shoot which is exciting, all of our dresses are bought and ready to go! Can't wait to see how they turn out and update all of the pictures in the house :)So now it's time to really focus on being silent and not responding to the negativity. Eventually whoever is hating realizes they're not going to ruin your life and that's enough from the peanut gallery! If you give no response, if you move on with your life and ignore it, they really do stop! And that's kind of enlightening. If you don't like my blog, stop googling me! duh! Nobody is forcing anyone to read anything that I'm writing. My followers enjoy my life and what's happening in it. When everything is set with a publisher it will all eventually come out in my book. Life seems to be settling down and relaxing a bit, no more drama or nonsense :) So now it's off to work to enjoy hump day and get to Friday quicker! Everyone enjoy your day!
Good afternoon my faves! I have to start by telling you Deborah won three awards for it's Marketing/Media and PR department (which is MY department!) in the 34th annual healthcare advertising awards. We gt a gold award for community outreach (which i'm always a part of), Medical Information Cards and a bronze award for the Chris Leighton video that we posted a while back. If you haven't seen it check us out on Facebook! It's a really emotional video and gives a real look at how important your health is. So proud of my department and the work we do there, were so busy but it's so rewarding. So excited to make this department home for a VERY LONG TIME :) Some more exciting news! We booked our family pictures for June 4th! Me, Michael and the girls have hired our family photographer to take some family pictures at a local garden so we can update all of our pictures for this year :) I love that we have our family that we can photograph and have memories forever. We didn't do any last year so the girls last pictures are from the wedding so we definitely need an update. Me and the girls are in blue maxi dresses and mike will be in a nice blue button up shirt. so excited to share this experience with the girls! Our anniversary is coming up in a few days and sort of can't believe it's been three years! I still remember the day so vividly that i met him. It was definitely love at first sight and i'm so glad i found the person I was supposed to marry and spend forever with. I was with someone who cheated for six years and honestly I cheated most of that time also. We were really only cohabitatiting, we were more friends than anything. So the signs of cheating are super obvious and I could pick them out in a heart beat. I talk to girlfriends all the time about whether or not their spouses are cheating. Mike leaves his phone alone constantly, honestly i probably answer it more than he does! That's why the girls moms text me more than him! There's never been a password on it, I can look at it at any point and never see anything surprising. I've never seen a weird text message, or picture, or video. nothing. He literally texts the same people all the time and everything on his phone is me, the kids, the cats and political memes! haha. He's a pretty boring dude. We have the iPhone friend tracker also not for cheating purposes but safety Because i drive further to work now so he can tell when I'm at work safe :) But by any means I can always tell where he is and pretty much what he's doing. I don't think he's ever not answered the phone when I called unless he's at work and physically can't answer. I really feel blessed to have this husband who I don't have to ever second guess. He actually dated someone who lied about where they worked all the time! That's terrible! To not know the truth about someone must be devastating. To not know what was on their phone or Facebook and having to lose that trust really is a terrible feeling. I'm glad we have that trust and it has never been broken. Three years and going strong! Everyone has their ups and downs but we have to learn to work through them and fight these battles together as a married couple. That's what marriage is all about, discussing everything. I feel like were at a good point in our marriage focusing on our family, and the kids and all of the upcoming events we have going on. I feel blessed at my job, I feel blessed with my husband and kids. No matter what happens that's what we have at the end of the day and I feel pretty lucky to have that. So now onto May! I'm ready for the summer and the beach and family pictures! Now it's time to let you guys go and answer some of your emails, also pop some dinner in the over for my husband to come home to and have a nice relaxing night together :) Because at the end of the day he comes home to ME and that's what matters right ladies!? you all have a great night and enjoy your families! Kristen
