Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: DONUTS!!! And, We're Back!

I admit it, my blogging has been lacking lately. In fact, I even made it private for a while because I felt like there was no point in having it anyway. Life has just become so busy!! One kid is busy, two kids is insane, and I don't even want to know what three kids entails! At least not right now ;). Anyway, this blog has always been my journal, or our family's journal. I started it when Josh and I got married and since then it has been a happy place for me, almost like a therapist. I've happily written about the good times, and I've cried while I wrote down the bad times. So why did it stop? Simple, pure exhaustion on my part and just too much to do! (also on my part haha).

Then I called my Grandma Wiegel (my Mom's mom) on Mother's Day and had a nice little chat. We both giggled while I told her all about our latest adventures and all the silly things the kids are doing lately. It was then that she told me, "Ashly, you need to be writing all this down!! Someday you will be old like me and you will wish that you did...."

For some reason those words really stuck with me. She's right. I do need to be writing more. Because let's be honest, someday these little moments are going to disappear and I will find myself an empty nester, wishing I could remember my little boy's favorite thing to do while his sister took her morning nap, or the exact moment my baby girl took her first steps!

So here it goes! I am making a promise to myself today to start writing more about our days, the exciting and the mundane. Because the little moments are the ones that matter most, and yet in a sea of memories they seem to be the hardest to retrieve!

I figured a fresh start should come with a fresh title, and what better way to describe our life than the great Jack Nicholson film: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! We are, after all, a little crazy and a whole lotta laughs! :)

DONUTS!!!

I have always had a love for baking, and I am so lucky to have a son who shares in that love! It is our thing. You know how some people have baseball and other people have shopping? Well we have cooking and I treasure the memories we make (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Yes, not every sweet tasting treat comes along with a sweet memory. There is almost always a lecture or a time-out, or sometimes both! But I guess that's the point! How are our kids supposed to learn if they aren't allowed to try, and how are they supposed to learn properly if they aren't instructed with rules and consequences? Without rules, all chaos ensues and NOBODY wants to remember that....

So today we made homemade donuts!

Austin: 2 years & 10 months old

Every month Austin receives a surprise box in the mail with a recipe and fun child sized kitchen tools from Baby Boy Bakery and we choose a special day to try it out together! We have been super busy lately so we have some catching up to do, starting with what is possibly the greatest treat to ever grace this planet! (besides ice cream)

There was only one melt down today (praise the Lord) when Austin didn't listen and then spit in my face after I chided him... oh yeah, this two year old stage is LOADS of fun...grrrrr! But after a time out and a forced apology he was right back at it, the sprinkle master of all donuts! In between each donut he uniquely decorated, he shoved a whole handful of sprinkles into his mouth. What's the point in baking if you can't eat all the good stuff along the way?! :)