2017 Challenged me in many ways both personally and professionally. While I didn’t mention many of my personal challenges on here last year – I was in the thick of it.
January started off well as we hosted an art party in our small house for Emma’s 9th birthday. 20+ kids all learned how to paint their own beautiful horse and got to take it home with them.
We also had lots of snow in January, which made for a few fun snow days at home with the kids.
I’m not going to lie – there’s been a few crickets around here lately. It’s not because I’ve wanted to neglect this website, it’s just that I haven’t had the time to sit and find the right words to say. The holiday season is a busy time for all of us, and while I don’t believe that I’ve been particularly any more busy than prior years, I seemed to have lost my creativity somewhere down the road. It frustrates me.
Hey everyone! It’s been a few since I’ve personally said hello on here. How did your Halloween go? I can’t believe we are already well into our first week of November! Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it.
I wanted to share a bit about my Halloween on here with you, because there’s just something special about documenting my own personal holidays on here. I love looking back throughout the past 5 and a half years and seeing some of my own memories.
My Halloween adventures began in the early afternoon when I helped participate in Noah and Emma’s classroom Halloween parties. It was just my luck that they weren’t at the same time! In fact they were just about back to back, which made it ideal for me.
Why hello my long-lost friends. Some time has slipped by and I found my summertime schedule so busy that I didn’t have time to hang out on the internet very much, let alone share anything with you. That will soon change though as we roll into the fall. I have a lot of fun and exciting things happening on the website soon!
Last month was the Yamhill County Fair, and, for the past four years it’s been a place where we spend a lot of time. Anika once again showed a lamb during the fair, which entails a whole lotta work. If you don’t know anything about it (like me before she started) check out the post I wrote about it after our first adventure there.
Anyways needless to say I spend the majority of my days and nights running back and forth to the fairgrounds. We got extra lucky this year with 107 degree weather two of the days, which is almost unheard of for Oregon.
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BoxTopsHero #CollectiveBias
School. It seems like from the moment the last bell rings to the morning of the return flies by ever-so-quickly. The lazy days of summer will be gone before you know it and you’ll find yourself scrambling to get the kids back into some sort of routine so that those first few weeks back aren’t too stressful.
Yes, I speak from past experience. It’s hard not to let the kids stay up late and sleep in; it’s even more challenging to make sure they don’t forget everything that they had learned over the summer. However, the back to school season is an exciting one – one filled with new friends, new teachers, and new field trip adventures.
Hey everyone! Today was the day! National Macaroni and Cheese Day! Did you enjoy some for dinner?
I just wanted to share with you my television debut! 😉 The other week I shared with you a post with a recipe I developed called Hazelnut Mac ‘Cran’ Cheese for Reser’s Main St. Bistro Signature Macaroni and Cheese. I then participated in a contest with two other local bloggers and KPTV Fox 12 filmed it all!
Welcome! I’ve been busy here behinds the scenes this week at Melissa Kaylene. In case you hadn’t noticed – this site has had a major facelift over the past few days! I’ve been trying to create a more user-friendly page here for quite a while now, ( starting with the jump from Blogger to WordPress a year ago) and, well, this week is one step closer to achieving that goal. Be on the lookout for more fun new things happening around here.
Switching to a different topic, how was everyone’s Easter? We spent the Saturday before Easter out on the fields for soccer games and Easter egg hunts and then we attended church on Sunday morning. I wound up having a bad headache Sunday afternoon but managed to get a homemade dinner on the table for 12 people. We enjoyed everyone’s company and reminisced about Easter’s past.
I have never really acknowledged an/or celebrated this website’s anniversary before. I think it’s probably because I’m normally in such a hurry all of the time that I don’t look back and reflect on how far this website has come over the course of 5 years.
Just over 5 years ago I realized that many of the website’s I saw and sought out for information and inspiration weren’t just big company sites, but they were actually created and managed by a real person. Having always loved to write and share ideas the wheels in my head began turning and I soon began searching up ways to create my own website and on April 13th 2012 the rough draft for this site was born. It’s been quite a journey over the past 5 years. I have researched and learned so much from mainly trial and error. From site design to photography and editing, it’s been 5 years of fun and constant growth – and I don’t forsee that changing anytime soon, because there is so much more for me to learn.
A whole week has passed by since I’ve said hello to you on here. I’ve found it such a challenge lately to balance all of the hats that I wear. I’ve been planning and brainstorming like crazy behind the scenes, but it’s left me no time to share the creative process on here.
I’m hoping that’s going to change soon. When I was a kid I never really had a direct calling of what or who, I wanted to be when I grew up. I remember when I was very little I had stereotypical aspirations of becoming a ballerina or a figure skater (please tell me I’m not the only one here). A little later on I thought it might be fun to become a pastry chef.
I love writing about making memories and celebrating life – you know that. Unfortunately though, not all memories are fond.
These last 4 weeks have been tough. Real tough. Last month one of my best friend’s brother whom also became my Sister’s significant other passed away suddenly. He was 29. Many events have happened over the past 32 days, but without going into any details, my Sister has been staying with me and trying to grasp her head around not being able to save her boyfriend.
