I am a genius.

At this very moment I am watching our friends three other kids. That plus our two makes 5 and yet I am posting real-time pictures on our blog... HOW?! You ask?



A "Toy Car Wash".

My creativity astounds even me.

Ummm...

We have strange children.

This is what they like to do in the bath.

I don't know where they came up with this game, but it is clearly hilarious to them to pass foam letters to each other using only their teeth.

I suppose there are stranger things children have done for entertainment...

I just can't think of any.

A 'seasoned' mom?

I found this picture when

Life is just weird.

You've been warned

Due to the craziness that is my life right now... posting comes in waves.

Like TIDAL waves.

Happy Mother's Day Mom

I love my mom. And I know that may be the most obvious statement ever; but it's worth saying. I hope that as a grandma I have half as much energy and youth as she's got. She is absolutely incredible; there's really no other way of saying it.

She comes from a line of amazingly strong women. We lost both my Grandma and Great Grandma almost two years ago now; both were forces to be reckoned with. They spoke their minds with conviction, showed determination and I'm in awe of the trials and obstacles they overcame in their lifetimes. They sought the Lord faithfully and worked hard to care for their families; and in the midst of it all they found time to enjoy life... to the fullest. My mom is just like them.

She works hard, she plays hard, she loves with all her heart and she cares about people more than she can even keep a handle on; it just spills out all over the place. In my 27 years of getting to know her; I don't think I've ever seen her quit or even 'sit this one out'. She holds her own amidst my family of boys, way better than I ever learned to; she serves and helps and plays and prays and loves each of us so much I think it is sometimes physically painful for her.

I love watching her with my kids. The woman can play. For hours, upon hours, upon HOURS! What could be cooler to a grandchild? It's some unspeakable magic to be able to watch your parents love on your children, and see your children's eyes light up at the sight of your very own parents. I love how they love her; there really aren't words.

She can bake like you wouldn't believe. I remember countless nights sitting on our counter-tops at 3am watching her finish her 10th boysenberry pie or crisp or sheet cake. She'll also give her left arm for a bargain. I can't even begin to recall how many nights we wandered aisles of whichever store was unlucky enough to be open the latest, just finding the 'coolest stuff' on sale! She is unbelievably athletic and highly competitive; a dangerous combination to say the least. And she is downright determined to seek after the Lord and whatever it is that pleases Him.

My mom is a feisty one alright, I've seen her take my brothers down in wrestling matches, my dad down in tennis matches and she could pretty much kick my butt at anything she wanted to. Not your typical grandma; and like I said at the beginning, I love it. She's raised this family to be one I'm proud to come from...and in 25 years; I hope you can see it all coming out in me; the strength trickling right on down the line.

Oh the glory....

of productive weekends!

Ryan and I were amazingly proactive last weekend and got a ton of little 'projects' done that had been begging to be finished up for oh... EVER!


He found these rocking chairs on someone's driveway with a 'free' sign taped to them and so even though they looked like they were two seconds away from deteriorating, he gathered them up and took them home. After sanding and painting and sealing and repeating over and over...we are getting close, two totally finished, two more just waiting for final paint coats!

They're gonna go on our porch and trust me, you'll see a post of them in all their colorful brilliance when we're totally done!


And I have an office!

Okay, well I have a wall in our bedroom that we've made into an pretty sweet work space! With Bellybou' nipping at our heals I was feeling a desperation to get organized and have somewhere I could actually work that wasn't a stack of random papers next to me and my laptop on the couch. Ah... I love my little wall :-)

FLOWERS!

Since before we even MOVED IN to this house I have had the plan of painting these flowers on Macy's walls that match little sham pillows on her bed. Macy has also been anxiously awaiting them. We moved in last July, promptly painting and bead boarding and decorating everything else; but the flowers required artistic ability I was not ready to dive into alone... so the blank blue walls waited patiently for someone less insecure and timid (aka : Chicken) to come along and permanently mark them up. Fast forward 10 months and that someone was Ellie Grover...(see next post) and Macy was thrilled! Ellie drew the flowers in pencil and then finally last weekend I painted them! Yay! I am so glad this project is done and I'm happy with the outcome. When Macy woke up from her nap to her 'beautiful flowers' she also, was thrilled....

"Oh mommy, I love my flowers!"

"Wow! I love my beautiful room!"

"We should send Ellie a thank you card mommy!"

And my personal favorite... (you can't tell from the pics but I put little gem stone thingys in the middle of the flowers like the ones on her pillows)
"Oh mommy! I didn't know I was gonna have jewels on my walls, I am the luckiest girl in the whole world!"

Gotta love a grateful heart!

Ellie Girl

Meet Ellie.

Sweet friend, wildly talented, shy ...but not really, quiet ...but actually not at all, make you need to pee kinda funny, "artsy fartsy" : Ellie.

A few posts back I mentioned she and her husband Eddie came up for a visit which was super fun. We hung out, took pictures and laughed like crazy. She drew flowers on Macy's walls (that I'll post finished pics of in a minute) and we got to catch up on life since we left Bakersfield. It was a really good weekend...and this post is long over due. Thanks for coming up guys!

Drama drama drama

Macy crying...

"But Mommy, then I'll never be able to play with my bubbles again!"

"Mace, it's gonna be okay, I need you to think about how you're going to act right now."

"But Mommy it's not okay! I'm just sooo sad, I ..."
{after a brief pause up pops her head from it's previously hung position, and a huge smile appears on her face}

"Oop! Nevermind, I'm just being dramatic!"

And off she runs; bouncing down the hall.

Oh; this girl.

Welcome Little One

Wish I had a picture to post. But still, before this day comes to an end I wanted to welcome little miss Natalie Kelly McCarty into the world. A brand new life, a whole and complete new little person, whew; you just never get used to it, ya know?

We love you.