Kansas City Mom Collective

Hi there! I’m Britni and I am a mama to three feisty daughters ages 10, 7 and 3 and wife to my high school sweetheart and king of dad jokes.  I live in northwest Olathe where I start my days with coffee and end them with wine after teaching part-time and chauffeuring around our daughters to approximately 1 million activities.  Three years ago my husband and I started a small business “on the side” and it has quickly morphed into more of full time gig than we originally thought, but it’s oh so fun! Writing for Kansas City Collective has been such a joy and a fun creative outlet for me.  I also enjoy running and wine club dinners.   

Britt is a former nomad, who happily put down roots in the Kansas City suburbs to start her own family close to her parents and siblings. After three professional degrees and a brief stint as an elementary teacher with Teach for America, Britt now spends 40 hours a week working in the legal world. In what little free time she has left over, she pretends to do yoga, installs toilets, cans vegetables, quilts, entertains family and friends, and seeks adventure around KC and beyond with her two favorite boys. Though she and her husband, David, are new to parenting their 8 month old son, Benja, they already agree that they love him more than coffee. They just not-so-secretly hope that no one ever makes them choose between the two.

Claire made her way to Kansas City after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She met her husband Scott (a KC native and Mizzou grad) her second year here. Both are high school educators; she teaches English while he often schools her in history. After living in Waldo and then Overland Park, they decided to move south to Olathe with their two small children -- Evan 4 & Abbie 2. Claire regularly spends time advocating for early childhood education/intervention and is always looking for ways to become more civically engaged. She loves cheering on the Huskers and the Royals, date nights, reading five books at once, writing, contemplating the deeper issues of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and listening to her kids giggle together. Catch some of those giggles on Instagram @clairebear_kc.

Hi! I’m Denise; wife to Doug for 36 years, mom to Kate who lives in DC and works at NASA, Caroline who became our angel at four months old and Ryan who is a junior at KState majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Physics and two fantastic felines, Walter and Arthur. I love to take pictures, cook and bake, watch sports, dabble in most any type of crafting and hang out with my family. Mostly out of necessity, I have become fascinated with social media and have a false sense of pride that I am better at it than most people my age. I have a constantly changing bucket list, mostly revolving around things I can do with friends or family and that doesn’t require me to address my solid fear of heights!

Jen was born and raised in Overland Park. After going to Indiana University for college, then living in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, she grew exhausted of circling for a parking spot and headed back home to be near family. She and her husband Matt are parents to a 10 year-old boy and a 8 year-old girl. Jen teaches kindergarten and her husband teaches high school, so they wonder how they’ll relate to their kids during the middle school years. She spends her free time cheering on the Chiefs, Royals, and Hoosiers, hanging out with family, laughing with her teacher friends, and fostering a love/hate relationship with boxing. She also loves traveling, Target, coffee, wine, sunflowers and all things pop culture.

I’m Jessica! Married to my best friend and mother to some pretty wonderful little people. My family makes this life pretty exciting and I strive to do my best to make this world better for them. I grew up in rural Colorado but decided to trade it all in for a life changing move to the Caribbean islands. After 3.5 years of world traveling and beach bumming, I decided to plant roots in Kansas City. We now call the charming city of Lee’s Summit home and couldn’t be happier with this amazing community. I am the owner of Lee's Summit PLAY and work hard to promote learning and adventure in youth. I love to shop small and support all of our wonderful local business owners. My favorite parts of this area of Missouri are the fantastic local breweries, beautiful parks and outdoor spaces, and the passion behind all of the welcoming people. You can usually find me sipping a local brew, working on a community project to spread love and kindness, and experiencing all the Lee’s Summit and the Kansas City area have to offer.

 

I'm Julia and I live in Olathe with my husband of 13 years, my 7 and 2.5 year old daughters, and a sweet old blind pug we call Boopers. I’m a social worker turned SAHM (at least til my youngest starts school). I love Dr. Pepper, thunderstorms, and talking to other adults. I hate coffee, diet culture, and washing dishes. I'll talk your ear off about the best local parks and which restaurants have wronged me by changing their long-standing menu items. I try to walk the line between knowing a lot of stuff and not being a know-it-all. Some days I'm better than others.

Hey! My name is Julie and I use too many exclamation points! My husband Grady and I are attempting to raise two wild women, Mia and Reese. We live in Shawnee where our faux bulldog Marge rules the roost. My hobbies include driveway drinking, going to parks and desperately trying to have date nights. My likes include the Jayhawks, coffee, craft beer and ChapStick. My dislikes include samesiders (people who sit on the same side of the booth when no one is on the other side), jerks and grocery shopping.

Katie is a SAHM mom of three, a bad driver of a heavily dented minivan, a KC native, and an owner of a messy house in Overland Park (and not in a cute “Look at my kids playing in unfolded laundry!” way, but more in a “Don’t stick your hands under the couch until we’ve investigated that smell!” way). She loves long family road trips, dogs with people names, and using her rare kid-free time to go to concerts and movies. She hates speaking in third person and people with dog names. She is most proud of her children when they sing David Bowie songs in public and express independence in ways that cause strangers concern.

Kelly is a wife, teacher, and mom of three. She has a very active 4 year old son, Banks, and 2 year old twin girls, Kate and Hayden. Originally a Wichita, KS native, she moved to Kansas City in 2010. After marrying her husband, Shaun, in 2013, they wasted no time starting a family. Having three kids in 2 years takes quite the amount of patience and task mastering. In between picking up toys, chasing monsters, playing in the dirt, potty training, singing songs and changing diapers, she loves planning, organizing, coffee, wine, and exercising. The busy-ness of life is what keeps her going, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. When life calms down and a date night ensues, Kelly and Shaun enjoy trying new restaurants or drinking wine with neighborhood friends!

Kim has been married to her husband, Jeff for 26 years and they have two grown children. Jacob (their Christmas day baby) is 23 and their daughter Shelby is 20. Kim was born and raised in the NW suburbs of Chicago where she developed her love for Lake Michigan and all things 80's. Kim has her degrees in El. Ed. and E.C. Special Education from KU (Rock Chalk) and for the past 24 years, she has served as a Preschool Director in the K.C area. With grown children, Kim's mom gig has changed a bit. Less laundry and fewer carpools, but more impromptu shopping trips and travel. "Kids sure grow up fast, but the journey only gets sweeter. I still love being called, "mom."

Kristin is a Lee’s Summit suburb transplant, after living in the Brookside and Plaza areas for over eight years. Raising three young boys with her husband, Jake, has helped her to embrace the messy, wild side of life where love is expressed in bear hugs and body slams. Professionally, she can be found teaching classes as an adjunct professor in the areas of Business, Marketing and PR. She is able to provide her students with applicable, real-life knowledge as she draws from several years working in the corporate sector. “Free time” (ha!, what's that again?) is spent on an occasional date night to favorite local restaurants, reading blogs on everything from home design to politics, riding her sweet beach cruiser bike and thinking of ways to convince her husband to do yet another home improvement project.

A Michigan native, Lauren has lived in the Kansas City area since 2014. She is now settled in Overland Park with her husband Taylor, 2-year-old son Silas, and their three fur babies—and come October, a baby girl will join the madness! Professionally, Lauren is a writer/PR professional for a PR firm in NYC. Always struggling to balance work, life, and motherhood, Lauren’s survival strategy is to look for humor and joy amidst the chaos. Her best advice for relieving stress is to bake a batch of cookies (works every time).

Hi, I’m Lizzie and you could say…I’m just a little wild at heart. I’ve tried on a lot of different lives before finding the one that fit. This meant many jobs, 9 different towns, 3 marriages-but now I’m home. I’ve been in Kansas City since my son was 6 weeks old and he’s now 7, so this is a record for me. I absolutely love KC. I’ve been in the nonprofit industry the majority of my career and this is a special sector of KC, unmatched in spirit and connections. I’ve just recently started my own business, Lizzie Scribbles LLC, where I offer a complete range of writing and editing services. My partner, Greg, and I live in North Kansas City with our 3 children – Grayson (8), Kase (7) and Adria (6). We love music more than most things and our kids are allowed to swear if it’s within solid music choices (sometimes the kids get too metal for me, but what can you do). We have family date night every Saturday, love road trips, but also find happiness just staying in the backyard while the kids use the slip n’ slide or having movie night snuggled up with popcorn and chocolates.

Lori grew up in Olathe and graduated from Kansas State University. Sick of cold weather, she left Kansas and headed to Phoenix. Turns out the heat can be just of hard to take as the cold, so she and her husband, Bill, moved back to Kansas after the birth of their second child. They settled in Overland Park so they could be close to both of their families. Lori is mom to a tween (Aubree who is 10) and a teen (Hana who is 14). She is the director of training for a large construction company based on the East Coast and her husband is an air ambulance helicopter pilot. Living close to family helps them manage their crazy life that takes them both away from home regularly. Despite the challenges of raising two strong-willed girls who have way too many extracurricular activities, Lori loves having daughters who binge watch Charmed and Gilmore Girls with her while making clay dragons. She is passionate about photography, traveling, exploring around Kansas City and dragons.

I’m Marsha, the devoted wife of a Nebraska Husker fan, mother to a sweet laid back 7-year-old boy named Kellen and a 5-year-old spunky know-it-all named Rowen. I am a Kansas City native, proud Northwest Bearcat Alumni, and enthusiastic 4th grade teacher! I enjoy stolen moments where I can read in peace, indulging in chocolate chip cookies whenever possible, tending to my vegetable garden and finding new ways to annoy my daughter! My goal in life is to be my authentic self, follow the motto of ‘She did what she could,’ and share that with other moms!

 

Natalie is a Lee’s Summit freelance writer and mom to a sweet girl, Adelyn, and a spicy boy, Gage. She’s married to David, a dermatologist. This means she's that mom at the park in the wide-brimmed hat with nine bottles of sunscreen in her oversized purse. Natalie’s first job out of journalism school was as a health and cuisine reporter for a small-town newspaper. Today, her continued love for food, fitness, and family adventures are manifested on her lifestyle blog, Lovely Inside Out. Making healthy food from scratch is her jam, and you’ll often find her trashing her kitchen while making cashew butter, protein balls or plantain tortillas.

A KCK born and raised "Dotte Girl," living in KCK until moving away to our beloved Manhattan. It is there that I met a nice young man that I would attach my ball and chain to, and make my husband.  After college we moved to the Shawnee / Lenexa area, where we've put down roots and call home.  Together my hunky fireman husband, Shane, and I are raising two of the coolest kids ever.  Ella is 13, and Jackson is 10.  They are the light of my life and the pain in my neck. By day I work for a local banking software provider coordinating a team of Technical Business Analysts.  By night I do basically the same thing, but it's called being a Mom.  Essentially my life is organized chaos every moment of every day, and I would not have it any other way!

Robyn grew up in Overland Park and has been a Kansas City Northlander for almost fifteen years now. She and her husband Brad live near Parkville with their three year old daughter Claire and their rescue dog Mario. When she’s not working full time in the legal world on the Plaza, she is either at home losing a continuous battle with the laundry and the clutter, exploring all of Kansas City with the family, reading a good book in the backyard hammock, or looking for a good excuse to bake ridiculously lavish desserts. She is a diehard sports fan who loves cheering on the Jayhawks, Royals, and her alma mater Drake University Bulldogs, and loves playing kickball, softball and attempting to do yoga at home with Claire.

I'm Sherita! I am married to my BFF Scott and we have 5 awesome kiddos. We are a blended family, and every day is an adventure in our home. I was born in Kansas City and raised in Colorado Springs for part of my childhood. After some moving around and life changes. I decided to come back home, best decision I have made! We call North Kansas City home and we absolutely love it. Its the small-town feel within the big city. When I am not taking my kids somewhere, or knee-deep in laundry I enjoy crafting, bible journaling, being involved in my kids' schools, and thrift store shopping! So basically I am busy crafting, momma who loves God and a good deal! Nice to meet y'all.

 

Victoria is a wife and mom of two. Her firstborn, Joshua passed away shortly after birth in 2013. Her rainbow daughter, Madeline just started kindergarten. Victoria and her husband, Patrick, were both born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri and love spending time exploring the city with their daughter. Victoria is a full-time working mom, dance mom, soccer mom, t-ball mom, PTA mom, slightly over-scheduled mom. Victoria has a passion for creating and spends way too much time pinning new crafts, recipes, and party ideas on Pinterest. She sometimes blogs over at Life with Madeline.