our favorite posts of all time

it's hard to believe that it's been four years since we started this blog. what began as a place for our close friends to share recipes or see what to register for when having a baby has grown into a thriving community of people worldwide that we consider an extension of our own families.

the past four years in each of our lives have brought about many stories.....some make us laugh and others have made us cry....but all have made us grow and learn.

here are our favorite posts of all time. thank you for coming along on this journey with us. we are thankful for each of you and look forward to sharing many more stories to come. 

xoxo-
heather and genelle


genelle's favorites:

the third boob: the story that started it all
all great things in life have to start somewhere. our list wouldn't be complete without this post. it gave us our name and has been the story we re-tell over and over again everywhere we go. why "the third boob?" this is why.

never-had-a-baby-body
this was our first post to be featured on "scary mommy" and it stirred up a ton of conversation and controversy. we hand never been called "fat slobs who sit on the couch eating french fries all day" before this post was published. you've gotta love a good discussion starter!

failing as a mother
there are certain posts that are so vulnerable that it is like getting a snap shot of our lives at a given moment. this was one of those posts for us. it was extremely hard to write, painful still to read and it touches moms everywhere who are walking through this journey of parenthood.

the day my boobs betrayed me
there are some #reallife moments that are just hysterical. they are too good not to share. this was one of those moments. it still makes me laugh every time i read it.

my days are numbered
even with all the funny stories and very difficult moments, there are days when it hits you. time moves way too quickly. when one of our 20 something guy readers said this post made him cry, we know we had something that resounded with many.



heather's favorites:

my sparkling truth: confessions, a single mama and the road trip
if we decide to do a sponsored post, we do so only if we love the product already and if it fits within a story we want to tell. this product fit both and was the first time heather wrote about the changes that were taking place in her family. it was scary, and the support you all showed her will never be forgotten.

why i killed my ex-husband
you can't get more raw or honest then this. it's still hard for us to read but in truth there is beauty and a future. 

heather's 40 things i've learned in 40 years
genelle's 40 things i've learned in 40 years

we both turned 40 this past december and wrote these posts. we have been friends for 20 years and although we are so alike in so many ways we are also so different. if you want to get to know us, we think these posts give a great insight to who we are and how we think. 

grief, loss, acceptance and love

sadly, at this stage of life, we don't think we even know one person whose life hasn't been touched by cancer. this is one story of how it changed heather's life. 

my 20th high school reunion: to go or not to go....that was the question

did you go to your high school reunion? heather had the hardest time deciding if she should go or not. find out what she decided and how it turned out. 

diy-- photo canvas alarm panel cover

we can't think of a post that makes us laugh more. no, diy projects are not funny. what is hilarious is that heather had put zero thought into this post. she snapped a couple photos of something she had done in her house and put it up on this place called pinterest.....and it exploded. to date, this is the single most read post on our blog of all time and gets hits daily even now. it's the gift that just keep giving? apparently, if you want a post to go viral you put in zero though and slap it up onto pinterest. hilarious, but we love the love and appreciate it so much. 

grief, loss, acceptance and love.

i spent two weeks on vacation this summer with my two little men. me. a single mama, thought it would be a good idea to embark on an ambitious itinerary that involved multiple states, plane flights, stays at friends and families houses, long car rides, and a hotel stay. did i mention i have 4 & 6 year old boys? yep. crazy town. on top of that, it was an emotionally charged trip in so many ways. one of the legs of the trip was to see my friends megan's family.  

a little over two years ago, i lost my childhood friend to cancer. we grew up the best of buddies and although, as we grew older, our lives took us in different directions and locations, we stayed close. it's funny how friends that have been a part of your life for so long transition, without you even realizing into family. that was my megs. a common love of theater is what brought us together as kids, and even though we both changed and grew in so many different ways, we loved one another the way sisters would and loved each other through the best and the worst of times. 

at the same time my friend was losing her battle with melanoma, i had lost my marriage. it was an unbearable time of life for me. the loss of it all was, at times, suffocating. i remember the calls from her husband and mom the day we lost her like a movie that you have watched so many times, you can recite it word-for-word. just thinking of that night causes me to catch my breath. it plays, at times, in my head on a loop....as if it will somehow all feel real at some point. she is gone. 

the trip was an opportunity for me to fulfill my promise to my friend that our children would know each other as they grew, but also a quest for me to find some closure and peace in her passing..... it had all happened so suddenly and in the midst of my own grief and processing of my own marriage failing. although I flew to be there for the funeral, I never had been back in their home. i went to the funeral and then tucked away that grief in a corner of my mind for a day when I was ready. when I could give it the attention and respect that it deserved. 

it has been said that the difference between what you want or need and what you fear is sometimes the width of an eyelash. i wanted to go back to her home. i wanted to spend time with her wonderful legacy of a family she had left....but it was scary. it was real. 

at first it was hard. everything seemed just as she had left it. it was as if she was going to walk in the door at any moment and the whole thing was just one awful bad dream. but it was was so real. she was gone. she wasn't coming back. i sought out ways to help. i wanted to support my friend by being there for her husband and kids. despite my own intense grief, i tried to be present for each moment. it was hard being there, occupying my dead best friends life. experiencing things that she should be there experiencing. i was surprised by the guilt I felt. that I was alive and she was not to be able to experience all of these moments. there were so many wonderful memories that i will treasure forever: experiences like going to the pool together, introducing the kids to movies her and i had watched together as kids, water fights, lip syncing with her sweet daughter, building forts, painting nails, painting rocks to bring to her gravesite and her sweet little girl picking out matching outfits for us to wear.

i left that trip with a sense of calm. these unbelievably amazing little kiddos are such a perfect reflection of her and although megs is gone, she is living on through them in so many ways. the people that love them and her are keeping her alive through stories and pictures and memory-making moments, like the few i was able to share with them. i know that even though megan isn't able to be psysically able to be there, she has an amazing front row seat to all the action from heaven. i look forward to many more memory-making moments ahead.

in a two week vacation with the littles, i learned a lot. i grew as a person. i accepted realities and have moved through them. i bit off a lot when i decided to take on a trip of this magnitude solo....but i pushed past my fear and i did it! was it perfect? nope. were there some bumps in the road? certainly. but we did it. and *that* is a huge accomplishment....a major turning point, in my book of life. 

my sparkling truth: confessions, a single mama and the road trip

this is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of glaceau fruitwater®.

to say that life has thrown me a few curve balls in the past couple years would be an understatement. since our sites popularity has grown, i struggle with how much of my private life i am willing to talk about. it scares me a little lot to open myself up to criticism or simple opinions. when glaceau approached me to write about my "sparkling truth" (a moment when you sparkle through unexpected challenges, brushing yourself off in a bubbly style) , i knew i would have to be brave and let you all into more of the reality of my life. 

let's just say that i am not where i thought i would be in my life at 38. i never thought i would be a single mama. just saying the words makes me want to cringe. don't get me wrong, i always admired single moms....i just never was going to be one. i remember seeing a single mother and thinking "wow---i could never do that".....and then that is exactly where i found myself. alone with two little boys. i would have thought i would be more bitter than i am...even angry perhaps. that's not to say that i haven't had my moments, but my natural instinct was one that i didn't expect. i put a smile on my face and make life seem as "normal" as i can for my two boys (now 3 and 5). my "i could never do that" turned into a reality and the awesome news/silver lining/ sparkling truth is that i found out that i am a whole lot stronger than i thought i was.

a week ago was my wedding anniversary. not the first since our separation, but it was the first since the divorce became final. i didn't know how much it would affect me-- what a painful reminder it would be to me of the failure of our marriage. it hit me like a ton of bricks.

i decided to do something i *never* thought i could do and i packed up the boys and headed out on a road trip to visit my sister and her family. 8+ hours in a car. alone with the littles. the idea was daunting, but i didn't allow myself much time to think about it. we made it from san diego to sacramento and then i practically held my breath for a week hoping that we would survive the return trip. we did. the boys were truly amazing and i returned feeling like i could take on the world. i, for a moment, allowed myself to acknowledge this very big accomplishment and give myself a pat on the back. i did it. 

life may have thrown me a few curve balls, but i now know what my sparkling truth is: not only will i survive, i will thrive. i really *can* do this! it may not have been my "dream"---- this life i have now is not one that is tied up with a big red bow and a white picket fence....but i am so very thankful for it. i am blessed with two unbelievable boys and have also learned that i have some pretty amazing friends and family that i can depend on and trust in more than i ever knew. dare i say that in spite of all the heartache i am actually happy? maybe not as happy as i could be....but i am finding the blessings in each day and know that life is only going to get better from here. i have my days that are hard, but overall i am now a happier, healthier and stronger version of myself.

the awesome people at glaceau were kind enough to send me some of their fruitwater. glaceau fruitwater® is a great tasting, naturally flavored sparkling water beverage that contains no juice. i brought them with me on the trip and the sweet, sparkling water gave me all the energy i needed to make the voyage there and back. my favorite is the orange mango, with the lemon lime a close second. glaceau fruitwater® is available in the following flavors: black raspberry + other natural flavors, orange mango flavored + other natural flavors, strawberry kiwi flavored + other natural flavors, lemon-lime flavored + other natural flavors and watermelon punch flavored + other natural flavors.

glaceau fruitwater® is a great tasting, naturally flavored sparkling water beverage that contains no juice.

now that you’ve read about my “sparkling truth”, it’s time to share yours! a sparkling truth is a moment when you sparkle through unexpected challenges, brushing yourself off in a bubbly style. how do you sparkle on when life throws you a curve ball? leave a comment on this post or jump in the conversation on social media by tagging your amplification with the hashtag, #sparklingtruth.

visit http://fruitwater.com for more information and to help you discover your favorite sparkling truths.

this is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of glaceau fruitwater® but all opinions are all my own.

have kids, will travel: the road trip

with five kids, the very phrase "road trip" makes my blood pressure rise. spending hours upon hours confined in a very small space with all of those restless little people can be a recipe for disaster. still, taking an airplane doesn't make sense in some cases because of the time frame and the cost so lengthy car rides are a part of the "nellie" family vacation framework.

a couple of weeks ago, we packed up the five kiddos (oldest: age 9 and youngest age 1) and headed to disney world. orlando is a seven and a half hour drive (without stops) from our home and we were going to be gone for a week. packing five kids (four in either car seats or boosters) and all the luggage required a degree in engineering all on its own. keeping the kids happy on the trip was close to impossible. still, we managed to get there and back in good spirits so i thought i'd pass on what worked well for my clan.

if you are taking a road trip with your kids, here are my tips for survival:

• pack as many items as possible out of the way. we borrowed a travel metal grate that attached to our towing hitch. we used that to carry the big luggage and two strollers. we wrapped it all in a large tarp in case of rain and secured it with bungee cords. we looked like the "clampetts" but the kids had enough leg room to wiggle a little bit. we have previously made the mistake of packing the car so full that no one could move. this was miserable for our kids and miserable for us as we listened to their complaints. it is better to swallow our pride and look like a hillbilly than to have anyone suffering.

we may need a bigger car...

• dvd players are a gift from heaven.  i am all for family bonding. i love playing the alphabet game and other road trip adventures. they really do create great family memories. i'm also for a couple of hours of peace and quiet while everyone watches a movie. if you have the means, invest in a dvd player for your car, especially for your younger kids. we had two separate players...one for the older kids and one for the younger. we had "mickey mouse clubhouse" and "narnia" playing at the same time and everyone was happy. 

dvd players...strapped in and ready to roll

• buy headphones and other attachments in advance. for easter this year, each child found new headphones in their baskets. these gifts were really for me but the kids never figured it out. when you have more than one child watching more than one dvd, you want the sound isolated. head sets are a life saver. purchase other travel attachments as well. you can purchase a splitter so that two kids can watch the same dvd player at the same time when there is only one headphone jack. set this up and have it functioning properly days before your trip. if you need more power outlets, purchase adapters for this as well. our car is painfully short of power outlets so we lived by extra adapters. make sure all electronics have the proper car adapter as well before the trip begins.

a much needed car adapter...

everyone is happily in their own little world...

• pack each child a "car bag" before the trip. my kids actually helped me with this process to make it easier. each child had a new coloring book or puzzle book, sufficient crayons and pencils, a new book to read (also an easter basket treat), school work they needed to complete, and an electronic game like a nintendo ds or a leapster or leap pad. their games were also organized and divided by child so everyone had their own items to use on the trip. we also had no video games for a couple of weeks before the trip to make the game time a little more enticing. it might seem cruel but it did work well. having everything divided by child made them responsible for their own activities and ensured there would not be any fighting over items. it worked like a charm.

seats ready with bags, pillows and water bottles

• bring a pillow for each child and at least one blanket for the trip. this may seem excessive but one of them was always cold. there was also a brief, blissful moment when all of the kids fell asleep for about a half an hour. yes..even the nine year old. that is proof that miracles do happen. 

• bring enough snacks and drinks to feed a small foreign country. our motto has always been, "when nothing else works, give them something to snack on." this proved especially the case with our one year old. he pretty much ate or threw food on the ground for the entire trip. we could have lived for days on the food remnants on our floor. still, it was worth it for the entertainment factor alone. when kids are bored, they often think they are hungry. they will ask for snacks. they will be grumpy if they are not fed. have more than enough food to feed them. you won't be sorry. 

this was only part of it...and we stopped for meals...

• plan your trip around stops you plan to make. it might sound crazy, but we planned to leave at a certain time so we could drive for a couple of hours before we stopped for lunch. meals always included a place to run and play (usually a fast food playground) in order to burn off some of the pent up energy. after lunch we planned on nap time for the little ones and figured we could go a couple more hours after they woke up. that put us at a good place for an out-of-the-car snack break (and another potty stop). then it was a couple more hours before dinner. you get the idea. you will have to stop for bathroom breaks and meals. we wanted to minimize those as much as we could and coordinate them with the kids normal schedules as well. we also planned specific times for activities. there was movie time but there was also reading time, school work time, game time, etc. keeping things to designated time kept the kids entertained and happy.

• most of all, remember your sense of humor and adventure. i'm going to be really honest. these tips may not work for you. you could plan like crazy and everything could fall apart in that car. it could be carmageddon. three years ago when we did this same trip, my now three year old spent the entire trip...all 7.5 hours of driving time...baaing like a lamb...loudly...without stopping. i can't tell you how many friends i called to have them listen. he didn't nap. he didn't want to play. he just made that sound, over and over again. it was the longest trip i have ever taken. if everything goes wrong, it's okay. it will not define your vacation...it's just a small part of the whole. keep a sense of humor and keep your chin up. with each mile that goes by, this too shall pass. you might as well make the most of it. 

wherever your travels take you, i hope these suggestions help. my kids are all still alive and they remember the trip with happy memories so that has to count for something. if you have any other great suggestions, i'd love to hear them. if you see us traveling this summer or any other family with baggage strapped to every inch of their vehicle, smile and wave. we all just might need a life line. happy trails!