Lola, our love, it was an absolute honor having you in our lives for the past 15 years. You always taught us that age is just a number, even at 105 years old. You’ve seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly, made cross-state moves with us, warmly welcomed home 3 babies and fearlessly road shotgun on countless road trips.

You let us all unload on you, whatever was bothering us that day and always had nothing but unconditional love for each of us, no matter what. You gave the best snuggles, was always up for a walk and never turned down a game of fetch. Saying goodbye is the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do but we’re so grateful you held on as long as you did.

We have no doubt you’ll be able to happily run again, go after every tennis ball you see and enjoy all the pup cups your sensitive tummy can handle. We know Sparky and Siena will welcome you with open arms as you cross over that rainbow bridge. You were loved beyond words and we will never forget you and all the incredible memories you gave us. Rest easy now, our pup angel.🩷

Noon-12:30 pick up Noah, get him home to wash hands thoroughly, change clothes, diaper and read him a book before naptime. From 12:30-2, I can grab myself some lunch, get Lola out again, organize any afternoon activity logistics, make sure I haven’t missed any emails or calls from school saying I have a sick child that needs to be picked up early and on a good day, I put dinner on the crockpot by 2 so cooking on low for 3-4 hours will have it ready by 6. 

2 start to wake up Noah from his nap, grab him a snack and get him in the stroller if we’re walking to pick up at 2:30 

2:45 back home from pick up, girls grab a snack, hear about their day, empty their school folders and see what homework they have and what needs to be done before activities start 

3:30 second pick up of the day as my oldest has rehearsals for her spring musical coming up in May and has both singing and dancing parts 

3-4 if it’s nice outside, kids will usually play outside on the court 

4-5 pull out any clothes required for sports in the evenings like jerseys or shorts and make sure both are clean and if not, put in the dryer with a dryer sheet and hope for the best

5 get dinner on the table for the child who has to leave the soonest 

5:45 during a busy sports season, one child usually gets picked up for their sport at this time

6:45 the second child usually gets picked up for their sport

7 dinner cleaned up and noah is upstairs for bath and bedtime process 

7:30 ideally, when noah goes down for bedtime but depending who needs ride, it can get pushed to 8:30 

8 usually when the first child is home from their activity and might grab a quick bedtime snack depending on how early they ate dinner

9:30 if the oldest has a late practice, this is when theirs can end so they’re home by 9:45 for a quick shower and bedtime and if our dog, Lola, who turned 15 this year hasn’t eaten for the day sometimes we need to hand feed her at this time

10:30pm when the house is finally quiet and my husband I wrap up any last minute things for work, take Lola out for the night and sit down to watch a show or two 

Then, some days, I somehow manage to get to a cousin’s wedding in Florida, for example, arrive on a Thursday, attend the wedding on Friday, fly home Saturday morning and still arrive with a minute to spare to catch my child’s basketball game, get the family home, settled, jump in the shower, grab dinner for the babysitter and head back out for a black-tie Christmas party that evening. I may or may not have still been wearing my wedding makeup from the wedding on Friday but I’ll neither confirm or deny that fun fact. Like I said, never dull but wouldn’t change it for the world.

With how hectic life has been lately, I still prayed so hard for this life and I feel the need to slow down and document it. It’s not to brag about how busy we are or anything like that, because everybody is, it’s that I simply know myself and I know these are exactly the days I will look back on with fondness and miss once they are gone, even though they were overwhelming at the time. The thing I think I like best is that no two days are the same which works well with my personality because the second something starts to feel mundane, I need something to change and parenthood is the epitome of the saying, “never a dull moment.”  This is a morning (afternoon to come) in the life on a random day, mid-week, with 3-, 9- and 11-year-olds: 

6:30 – 7:30am mike is downstairs prepping breakfasts and lunches, and I am upstairs changing noah’s diaper, doing the girls hair (if they want my help that morning, that is which might include curls or straightening or bangs management for my middle child) and getting myself ready for the day

7:40 – after breaking up a few sibling spats and the several reminders to eat vitamins, grab lunches, waters, snacks, homework, coats and strings (aka capri’s violin) and we’re out the door for school drop off 

8:00 – back home to clean up breakfast, get our dog lola out and get noah dressed for school including making sure he has all the things in his backpack (change of clothes, extra diapers/wipes, hats and gloves for these colder months) 

9:00 – back to a quiet house where I take a minute to warm up my now cold coffee and soak up the silence or put on my favorite tunes or play a podcast 

9:30 – take our dog, Lola, on a nice long walk if time allows, catch up on work/school/general emails, run to the grocery if we’re running low, volunteer at school as either a media volunteer, guest reader, yearbook contributor, ice cream science experiment supervisor OR co-lead on t-shirt production for the cast and crew for my daughter’s spring musical show at her school and get in a workout 

10 – on the days I think to schedule it far enough in advance, there is the rare occasion where I will schedule coffee with a friend to catch up on life or if anything along the lines of my health needs to be scheduled like a doctor’s appointment or a work call or an assignment for my continuing education certification on certain days 

11 – when it hits this time, I’m usually scrambling to purge anything I can while the kids are away at school like old clothes we may want to donate, books that can go to another home or toys that are on their last leg

11:30 – leave to go pick up Noah but not before I make a stop at Dunkin for his favorite glazed munchkins