McEwan Musings

One Mommy's musings on raising kids baby's to adults, being a wife, making a large family work on a budget, mental health, and learning my way through this crazy thing we call life.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Girl's trip to MI

Wow!  Not sure how I let almost a month go by without updating the blog and y’all!  Life gets in the way I tell you. So does mental health. It’s been a struggle the last few weeks and sometimes it’s just best to stay off social media and away from the blog for a minute. Do ya get me?  It’s hard for all of us to remember that social media is highlights and not the everyday!  When we are struggling, even knowing those pretty pics and fun vaca’s are other's highlights, can still be hard to swallow. 



Valentine's with the kids=fancy dinner all just for them!

After Valentine’s Day, literally the next day, my oldest, my youngest and I boarded a plane and headed across the country to Michigan. In the winter. Where it’s really freaking cold. But also sort of beautiful and it houses some of my favorite family members. My mom’s brother, wife, my cousin and her sweet little baby girl all call Michigan home.  I don’t have many family members on my mom’s side to begin with but hardly any I’m close with. It’s nice to see them and be reminded there are others who share DNA with me from my moms side. We all have the same hands and I love seeing the similarities between my cousins tiny one and my little Eisley. They have very squishy round faces and we were told multiple times they could be sisters. I don't know about that, but I definitely see cousins in their sweet, little faces. 
My auntie is fighting breast cancer and I love to go see her, love her and help out. I wish she’d let me help more but the truth is she’s just really good at taking care of others!  






Izzy was a tad fussy the first few days. I don’t know why exactly but I’m going with missing her crew. She really thrives at home with all the craziness and her people. We stayed in and visited and napped and it was wonderful!  I actually like going in the winter for that exact reason. Catching up on sleep and rest without having to be mom to so many!  We bundled up one morning and played outside for a little bit. Izzy was loving it but mom could only handle about 20 minutes before my face was frozen. There is something to be said for humid cold weather verses dry winter air. Both are cold but add “lake effect” and humidity and it’s freezing. It feels so much colder sucking in wet, cold air!  We also headed down to Lake Michigan. I wanted to see it with snow on the sand and take some pics. Izzy loved it until the wind hit her in the face! Lol. It was a little breath stealing. Kinzie braved it and we took some fun pics of her and I with the lake in the background. It really was astonishingly beautiful. Even if you can only stand for a few minutes near the water and little ladies who in August swam completely in the water, hated being anywhere close to it in February!














We were able to see a local play production of Momma Mia at the college. It was a fun night and both the tiniest girls did beautifully. Even if the oldest girl didn’t feel so hot. Poor Kinz had a small stomach bug for about 12 hours. We were fed lots of yummy food!  Kinz and l took Izzy  shopping one afternoon which was so much fun. It’s been a hot minute since I got to hang with my busy college, working girl and just shop. I missed it more than I realized. The last day there we went out to get crab legs at the casino buffet. Yep, there’s a giant casino right in the middle of tiny little Manistee, Michigan. It also has a really good buffet and coming from me, a person who usually hates buffet food, well that's saying something! Kinzie had her first ever crab legs and decided that the effort wasn’t exactly worth the amount of meat. Lol. She's not wrong.















It was a great getaway with lost of visiting, downtime and family bonding. Kinzie slept most of the trip away. Apparently her comments of “not needing a lot sleep” the past few months caught up to her!









Izzy was so sweet with Kinzie on the plane home and we lucked out on our longer flight sitting right behind first class with lots of leg and play room. She sat on Kinzles lap and watched Brother Bear, buckled her kitty up in the extra seat we snagged instead of sitting there by herself and hated landing sitting in her own seat and preferred being held!  She was thrilled to see daddy and Ian at the airport even if it was midnight when we arrived!  Daddy was pretty thrilled to see his girls too. I’m not sure but he might’ve been just a tiny bit more thrilled to see his Izzy than his wifey. But it’s cool. I get it. She’s pretty special. 

The week after our trip was spent unpacking, doing laundry and getting the house back together. Even though daddy did a pretty great job of keeping up! 





John and I snagged a date night that Tuesday and I took john to his first ever movie  in the reclining seats and he’s hooked. We booked another!  And when you go a Tuesday the luxury seats are still only $5, so how can you beat that!  Plus it has tush warmers!!  He won’t see a movie any other way anymore. Not that we are seeing any these days with the Corona Virus and the quarantine.  I'm glad I got to visit my family before all this went down.  It's changed so many things.  School, work, family vacation.  It's a crazy time and I'm taking it all in stride. I've actually surprised myself.  I think it's because I recognize that it's completely out of my control, so instead of wasting energy on it, I expend my energy here at home doing what I can control.  It's all a little scary but then again I just do what I can to protect us here at home.  We are taking it one day at a time!  Next week I have an idea/activity planned and can't wait.  I'm not sure the older kids will find it all that awesome, but we shall see.  They have the power to make memories with us, and make it a good experience, or to make it a bad one for everyone.  I sure hope they choose to participate and help the younger kids make a really awesome memory during quarantine.  I might just have to remind them of this!  lol

Til next time!  Look for our update coming up on John's 40th Surprise.  We got it in right before quarantine started and I'm so glad!!

Follow along on our Insta for more family crazy! @Mcewancrazies










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at March 27, 2020 No comments:
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Mykin McEwan
Hey! I'm just your average momma with an above average size family. There are 9 of us! Our kids range in age between 1-20 yrs. We started our family when I was barely 20 and I just celebrated the big 40. I will share family stuff, activities, raising kids on a budget, thoughts on raising kids at every age, finding myself, mental health and life in general.

That Corona Quarentine life! It's all OK!

Fast forward about a month and a half.  HOW in the world does time pass so quickly?  In a completely normal world time moves quickly but it seems with all that's happened in the last month it got away from me even more quickly than normal!

Daddy took the kids Target shooting
last week and mommy took a nap!






We are surviving quarantine over here one day at a time.  To tell the truth, this momma likes to hibernate at home in the winter generally so it hasn't changed my life too much.  Don't get me wrong things are different.  I just don't struggle with staying in during the cold months as much.  If it was summer and I was missing pool time and fun activities in the warm weather with the kids, then it would definitely rock my world more!


Haircuts happened
Dancing and playing went down and she might've worn
these jammies for three days straight.  It's fine.

What I miss most is probably date night with my hubby, lunch with friends and fountain drinks from the gas station!  Our biggest adjustment was schooling the kids.  It can be said that throwing out into the universe that you "could never homeschool" will then bite you in the butt at some point.  lol.  So here I am, overseeing their school work and not doing so great at it!  Luckily teachers are the real MVP's and got everything organized and put up online for their students in record time and all I really have to do is make sure they are doing the work and help with a few questions.

The virtual Disney trip we took really wiped these two out!


I am always trying to find ways to make things fun with the kids without making myself go crazy because lets be real, this mom is not into the crafting fun stuff so much with these last 4 as I was with the first 3.  It's fine.  We've been doing movie nights, games and way more screen time than should be had.  In fact, I just told the 10 year old I was pretty sure with the amount of time he's played Fortnite this week he had a full time job.



Classroom time!

You know what I realized during all this?  Well, truthfully, I realized this as a mom of 6 more than a few years ago, but it's definitely come into play this last couple week for sure.  It's ok to just get by sometimes.  Do what NEEDS to get done and wing it.  It's ok to chill and doze and relax in front of the TV one day if you aren't feeling it.  It's ok to nap.  It's ok to pop some popcorn and throw on a movie when you just can't deal with the chaos of the kids for a couple hours.  It's all ok.  The dishes, laundry and schoolwork will be there tomorrow so if you need a break today just take it.  When you are feeling it, well rock it out and then you'll feel less guilty when you need to just sit.  If the toddler won't leave your heels and keeps crying to be cuddled and just be still with you, do it.  Even if the breakfast dishes sit for longer than normal.  Do what works for you!  There is no precedent for being quarantined with your family for days on end.  We are forging a new path here.  For me, it's quiet.  It's simple, routine days.  It's binge watching shows, making yummy treats (if you know me you know that for me this is not normal...cooking is yuck) and feeding my crew good food.  Its taking naps with the toddler and sleeping in in the mornings.  For you it might be routine, crafts, schedules and you know what?  It is all just OK!!


Baby girls still make milestones!  She graduated to the big
table.  She's the one who made this happen!








Hang in there momma's!  This too shall pass.
at March 27, 2020 No comments:
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Labels: childhood, choices, Corona, creating memories, everyday life, family, family time, Lifestyle, memories, momlife, parenting, quarantine, raising kids, regular life
Mykin McEwan
Hey! I'm just your average momma with an above average size family. There are 9 of us! Our kids range in age between 1-20 yrs. We started our family when I was barely 20 and I just celebrated the big 40. I will share family stuff, activities, raising kids on a budget, thoughts on raising kids at every age, finding myself, mental health and life in general.

Sunday, February 9, 2020

McEwan Crazies Chronicles Feb 2-Feb 9

Hello all!!  This week our kids got to experience their first EVER snow day off school.  Yep, you read that right.  In the 16 years we've had kids in school our school district has never declared a snow day.  I'm pretty sure it started from parents complaints over a certain snow storm last year.  It was pretty crazy with the amount of parents driving kids to and from school but I'm still not certain it should've required a day off.  It certainly didn't require them to declare Monday a no school day. Literally there wasn't any snow on my road when I looked out the window but then again we can go ahead and blame the weather people.  They were sure we were going to be all snowed in.  Luckily, it didn't hit near as bad as they were predicting!  The kids of course spent the day inside with all the devices running and causing general chaos.  Izzy, the baby, and I are used to our quiet days with all the kids gone. Lol.  Of course they had a few battles and the kids luckily had some friends come ask for some sledding buddies so they did end up out the door for a little while!


Snow Day looks like every other day around here!

Most of this week was spent out of the elements and in the house where it's cozy and warm.  I like those kind of days sometimes where I just get to chill under blankets, watch Grey's Anatomy and cuddle my baby girl.  I mean who else is obsessed with Grey's???  I swear it never gets old...I htought for sure when McDreamy got killed off it'd go downhill but, nope!  



It's rare she falls asleep on me anymore, so I had to document it!



We did take the kids to swim again.  It seems to be becoming a thing for us on the weekends.  We sure love reaping the perks of Kinzie's job!  It's almost like being in warm weather, besides the lack of sun.  The 83 degree temp in the pool room sure does a good job of helping us pretend though!  Pretty soon mom is gonna need a getaway to an actual warm weather climate!  I miss sun and heat.  Sure the sun comes out once in awhile but it just doesn't help my mood much.  I need 80 degree sun dang it!

Bryce got to go to a Wolverine basketball game and UVU on Saturday with dad and his team.  He got to talk to the players and coaches afterward and thought that was just so awesome!  The dads posed the boys so nicely with all the team members and the UVU players.  Turns out the one snapping the pic captured all blurry photos!  I swear, if it were us mommas we'd have all been taking the kids pics simultaneously, probably capturing kids looking all different directions trying to figure out which phone to actually smile for.  Maybe the guys have the right idea?!?  If the guy snapping the pic makes sure he's actually gotten one he can use!  Ha, Ha.  They kids did get free food at the stadium so either way it was a win in their book! 






This coming week is looking a tad busier than the last couple.  We have a couple doctor appointments, just checkups, a girls movie night (thanks $5 Tuesdays and with recliner chairs), and celebrating our Ian's 16th this weekend plus Valentines.  Kinzie and I are also heading to see some of our favorite people for a little peace and quiet and time together!  I can't wait.  Packing for myself and my little toddler plus all the gear for the plane ride doesn't sound near as exciting!  Travelling with a toddler should really get you an award of some sort.  Maybe a free vaca on a beach somewhere.  Just sayin'!


Love, 

Mykin



This week we learned:

Snow days will be spent the same as every other day on video games indoors.  If we'd skipped the snow day it would've been spent as one more day on spring break.

Young love is pretty special and I love seeing my son so happy.

Mom it seems, need a little getaway in February to decompress and remind her why she loves being a mom to all these kids.

Some weeks you cook 5 times and some weeks you have pizza twice.  It's fine.



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at February 09, 2020 No comments:
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Labels: activities, childhood, creating memories, family time, kid activities, kids, Lifestyle, little kids, messes, mom, momlife, parenting, raising kids, snow, snow day, winter
Mykin McEwan
Hey! I'm just your average momma with an above average size family. There are 9 of us! Our kids range in age between 1-20 yrs. We started our family when I was barely 20 and I just celebrated the big 40. I will share family stuff, activities, raising kids on a budget, thoughts on raising kids at every age, finding myself, mental health and life in general.
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Hey! I'm just your average momma with an above average size family. There are 9 of us! Our kids range in age between 1-20 yrs. We started our family when I was barely 20 and I just celebrated the big 40. I will share family stuff, activities, raising kids on a budget, thoughts on raising kids at every age, finding myself, mental health and life in general.
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Mykin McEwan
Hey! I'm just your average momma with an above average size family. There are 9 of us! Our kids range in age between 1-20 yrs. We started our family when I was barely 20 and I just celebrated the big 40. I will share family stuff, activities, raising kids on a budget, thoughts on raising kids at every age, finding myself, mental health and life in general.
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