10 Great Things to Remember About 2013

With the dawning of 2014, we realize once again just how quickly time flies when you are riding the jet plane of fun known as parenthood.  Looking in the rear view mirror, we are gratified that much of it was more than good, it was great. But lest we forget, we are recording for Auld Lang Syne:

10 Great Things to Remember About 2013

1. We Partied Like Rock Stars

Well, that might be overstating it a bit, but we did have a darn good time every time we got together. Whether we were climbing mountains, kayaking down rivers, or squiring our girls to the theater, we really did know how to get our fun on. And we can throw a party like nobody’s business. But, we just miiiiiight be over baby showers at this point. Don’t hold it against us.

Taste Testers

Taste Testers

But it wasn’t all fun and games. . .

2. We Gained Some Perspective

Blogging really does encourage us to slow down and appreciate our kids, ourselves, and our friends. Whether we were learning from the mouths of babes after a neighborhood fire, watching teens helping a friend with autism, or realizing that this whole Mom gig works much better when you rustle up a posse, we expanded our points of view. This helped us greatly come to grips with some of the thornier aspects of our lives.

 

3. We Called a Truce

We have a love/hate relationship with kids’ sports. We love the exercise and discipline, but we kinda hate the driving and the sideline politics.  A fresh outlook gave us just the attitude adjustment needed to bury the hatchet with organized sports after some small travel team fiascoes. We were able to focus on all the positive things sports bring into our lives.

That's right, baby! A healthy diet of soccer's gonna make you a star!

Penalty! Illegal use of hands . . . and gums.

 

4. We Were Published!

We were so excited to be a part of the anthology, You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth. We got the thrill of seeing our names in print–in a for real book–and scored the cyber honor of our own Amazon authors’ pages. Here is Ellen’s and here is Erin’s.  But what really made our hearts happy was meeting many of our co-authors and even going to our very first book signing! And then there was a second book signing! With cupcakes.

Want to know about the penguin? Come to a book signing.

Beware the penguin. Respect The Sisterhood.

5. We Were a BlogHer Humor Voice of the Year!

We were beyond stoked when were chosen as a BlogHer Humor Voice of the Year for The Sensible Sisterhood Summer Camp. We just felt acknowledged. We even made a video so everyone could recognize us. (Good thing we had name tags.)

Imagine our level of metaphorical apoplexy when we ended up within teacup toasting distance with the Queen . . . Queen Latifah, that is. Our takeaway from the conference? Bloggers need to stop giving the blog juice away for free.

Queen Latifah and the Sisterhood

6. We skirmished in the Mommy Wars–Sort of

Judging women’s adequate appreciation of motherhood is a plague upon the internet. But instead of choosing sides, we picked humor because, well, to quote our own piece: “Kids can be narcissistic Napoleonic assholes.” We might not have been as playful when  Ellen took a writer and mother to task for “pinkwashing” Harry Potter. Let’s all just be sensible, m’kay?

Mommy Wars You Are Not Cherishing Correctly

7. We Read A Ton!

Almost nothing brings us as much joy as a good book.  Our families, Cheez-its, and Sour Patch Kids are pretty great too, but books, well, we girls have no words. Who are we kidding? We’re nothing if not verbose and here are all of the book lists we made to prove it:

book stacksisterhoodguide

5 Books We are Thankful For

5 Books For the Carpool Line

Better Books for the Botttom of Your Beach Bag

Mo’ Better Books for the Bottom of Your Beach Bag

10 Books for Your Teens and Tweens Summer Reading List

More Summer Books for your Tweens

Books by Our Blogger Friends

10 Books for Your Summer Reading List

8. We Discovered Blogging is Better by the Pool

This was the year Ellen’s family put in a pool. They saved and they planned ahead and it should have been been completed by the beginning of May. Should have been. Mother Nature didn’t understand that we wanted our water fun with a side of sun, NOT in the form of endless rain. (Are you now singing Purple Rain in your head? No? You are now.)

Track the progress from us trying to pass off the excavation as a “fun summer camp activity” to the “Ghetto Chic Stage” it was forever stuck in, to the big reveal. It even served as our blogging office. Bring a cooler full of drinks and food and Ellen might even unlock the gate for you.

Pool Fun

9. We Sent Up a Flare For the Teen Years

By February, we will have five teenagers between the two of us. Before you start passing around a collection plate to pay for our Sour Patch Kids and chocolate therapy, listen to this: it’s not so bad on this side of the border. Sure, teens can remind you an awful lot of  their tyrant two year old selves (it’s amazing how much they are alike). But they can also be sweet and funny and generous when they let their true spirits seep out from under the cloud of Axe and angst they tote around. And yes, the teen years can be scary, but we believe firmly that duct tape, kisses, and prayers really do help.

prayer

10. We Got By With a Little Help From Our Friends

We had fantastic fun imagining how great our lives would be if we could just rent a Sister Wife. Actually that is not entirely true because we know the joys of Sisterly help. Don’t go signing us up for a reality show (unless of course, you have actual connections because we have some ideas for you). We’re talking about the all mom/all kid Big Love Camping Trip we take every year with our three other friends. No really, it’s fun.

Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Our Sisterhood is what it’s all about.

We also doled out some helpful advice. We don’t do this from a pedestal of judgment, but rather from the trenches in the spirit of “We Step in the Doo So You Don’t Have To.” We gave helicopter parents, hand-wringing parents of adolescents, and perfect toddler parents a nudge to the ribs because we believe we’re all in this parenting thing together and we all can learn and lean on one another.

But one of our greatest joys was meeting the friends inside of our computer. Lines were blurred and blogging friends became real life friends. True friends, no matter where they live, make life more rich and joyous.

Here’s to another great year full of friendship, love, and good enough parenting!

Happy New Year from Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

(Ellen promises not to toast you with this monstrosity.)

-Ellen and Erin

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Share it real good . . .
Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on Google+Share on StumbleUponShare on RedditEmail this to someonePrint this page

Comments

comments

8 thoughts on “10 Great Things to Remember About 2013

  1. JD @ Honest Mom

    I love you ladies. So thankful we are friends and I can’t wait to hang out in person this summer. Thank you for all the fabulous posts, laughter, and wisdom. xoxo

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge