Erin Tinsman
@erinjoy
Just an Erin married to an Aaron with a beautiful blended family across 2 states. Follow if you like nerdery, emotional honesty, parenting stories, thoughts on co-parenting long distance after divorce, politics, and exvangelical takes. 🪴
And yes I once again made him wear an on-theme shirt and it's GONGER and it says "Let him cook". The man grilled for us all and killed it 💪🏻
Not pictured: 3 great grandparents (!), a granddad, a neighbor, all of baby's siblings, and 3 baby besties + their moms, whom I met through the library's weekly baby time event. My heart is full and my back hurts!
I won't share other babies' faces out of turn online, but trust that it was a truly special, wonderful party for our little magic glue baby tonight. Here he is admiring his big sister's handiwork on the "Foodie Truck". 🤩
I found this exact dollhouse with all furniture present but the rugs and one pillow at Goodwill today. I paid $15. It's in immaculate shape. 😱 Any thought of saving it for Christmas was quashed by my sons (7 and 10) who eagerly helped me clean each piece and dust it off. They're enamored. 🥰
This is that 10yo, moments before this thoughtful musing. Wearing his halfdad's sunglasses, rocking the polo, lookin like a little bitty preteen.
About to try to turn this photo prop into Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck for the toddler's birthday, wish me well 🫣🫣
Right???? If you want the real how it started, and not the wedding day, here:
He's more of a standard-issue small beetle than anything. Maybe he's a female, in which case I think Stagatha is lovely and on theme. Either way - we've got last summer & now this summer. We learned about the importance of keeping things v v moist in the terrarium. Lord help us all.
Guys Mitch McConnell has been snuggling with my dog, all is well and he's definitely fine
Any time a player is hurt ("hurt") in these World Cup games, all I can hear in my head is Jurgend saying "Oo, my leg, my leg, it hurts so bad" in Early Man. If you haven't seen that Aardman jewel, you must!
2yo's birthday party is now less than a week away, and Things are coming together 🥰 This street boutta be Sesame'd
Me: Hey Pal do you want to sign up for the summer reading program here? 10yo: Naw, I'm good. 7yo: Wow mom! I got a free Jimmy John's sandwich coupon just for signing up for the summer reading program! 10yo: 👀... Okay fine. I present exhibits A&B of said 10yo. Big Literacy got to him again. 😏
Sure helps that my youngest is nothing like his 4 older brothers as toddlers (esp my 2 sons!) and would rather be swinging or just sitting with me on a blanket watching everyone else go wild. 😅 I EARNED this kid.
Fourth of July, rainy car at night edition. One hour left til we're home!
Ope! Forgot hatchery pictures! Wolf Lake State Hatchery near Kalamazoo is the coolest place. The boys especially like examining a feather through a powerful microscope.
We also caught a bit of the earlier parts of the air show from a movie theater parking lot near the airfield in my former hometown. It felt so good to share things that my kids and I have done for years with Aaron, his two boys, and the sweet toddler who belongs to us all. I'm feeling thankful 🥹
We're headed HOME as a full family! But first we expanded my kids' tradition of visiting the fish hatchery and picking up a box of blueberries from a nearby farm just outside of Kalamazoo. 🥹 This 5lb box was full about 2.5 hours before I took this photo. Every kid has eaten their fill!
We made! We're all together at the hotel. Have y'all ever heard of 2 bedroom suites?? Sleeps 8! (Perf!!) This joint has 2 bathrooms which is great for our Brady Bunch situation. We absolutely filled up the pool and had it all to ourselves. Now may the water work its magic so we all get some rest. 🙏🏻
License plate pages & the bingo sheets (10 sheets total, all showing things like landscape features, restaurant or coffee chain names, car brands, etc) were Etsy downloads. I have a laminator and sheets from my homeschooling days and had some fun after kid bedtime last night! 🤭
Each of the non-toddler kids got this little setup: clipboard with blank paper, 2 license plate pages (one map, one words-only), laminated bingo sheets, and stickers to mark the spaces; a fresh box of 24 crayons; a pack of bubble gum; and from Aaron's mom, a personalized homemade sketch pad.
Mama Summer is less than a week away. This weekend has been full of prep and organizing and making rooms fresh and ready 🥹
The majority are for my daughter (12). I'm the most excited about these!