The great punkins

I've resorted to calling pumpkins punkins since almost everyone else in my house does.



The great thing about punkins this year is that they bring instant happiness.



Everybody wants to hold them and carry them and I'm okay with that. I've found that punkins are pretty durable.



My little punkins have lots to look forward to this weekend.



The Fall parties at school,


The Fall festival at church,


And trick-or-treating. Happy weekend and happy Halloween

What I wore Wednesday

Well things weren't exciting around here this week unless you count the DoorBuster sale at Old Navy where I got 11 things for $.23 each. Not button-less or full-of-holes rejects but a few normal, and a few off-season finds. I'm gonna show you one of them that I already started wearing.



The jeans-$.23.





The tag says .47 but they were on sale. Ha

I've needed skinny jeans for boots and these fit the bill. The dress/tunic is from Marshalls last year. $12.99. I found the boots at Ross over the summer. My only black boots were too dressy for everyday and if I remember correctly these cost $20.

I'll do better at taking pictures next week. Anybody else joined the WIWW (what I wore Wednesday) fun? Here's a link to Lisa Leonard's WIWW post. Post a link to your blog in the comments!

Prayers welcomed

Remember praying for Joy in utero and then leading up to her surgery? We've gone from that to this



Prayers still welcomed. It took her about ten seconds, (long enough for me to walk into the laundry room and back) to get onto the table. She has no fear.

Which, in her case, has served her well up until now.

It was time

Y'all know how I get when I've been in the house too long.


I told Sean I was thinking of dyeing (sp?) it black in honor of Halloween but just did bangs instead.

A Birthday Poem

In honor of Sean's birthday today I wrote a poem for him. But you get to enjoy (a relative term,) it too since I share the good, bad, ugly, and bad poetry with you.

For Sean on his birthday

There's no one like you, babe

I know this to be true

You're different from me in many ways

and yet we're similar too.

I love the way you make me laugh

and the way you love our kids

The way you say, "I love you,"

and your knack for finding tupperware lids

You can find anything in the house

whether you put it there or not,

and you can fix anything, you handyman

hitting nails right on the dot.

I catch you reading sometimes

even though you say you don't

Either photography magazines or your Bible,

and by that you're teaching me a lot.

When I complain that things are hard

you always say, "but give it time...

They're growing, they're learning, and changing

it's really flying by."

Your perspective is so very welcome

even when it makes me mad

I hate that you can be so patient

in the midst of something bad.

You're a great shot (expert marksman!)

Love to hunt dove and deer,

though before this past September

you hadn't been in 4 years.

You sacrifice things for us

and try to always put us first

There's a million reasons to love you

but sharing the main one is a must.

When you smile at me from across a room

or take me by the hand

There's a stillness in my heart

that may be hard to understand.

Whatever worry or pain I've felt

and even the meanness of this world

Can't compete with how you love me,

so I'm a happy girl.

Happy Birthday babe. I love you. We love you. Call us soon because the kids have been practicing singing, "Happy Birthday" all morning and it's wearing me down.

Okay bye.

There's a time to say "no"

Well.

I denied a showing at my house just now. First time to do it. Some might say if I have time to blog then I have time to clean. Those people probably stopped reading this here blog a while back though.

Last night I had the kids in the car for over an hour and since we have to bring Max during every showing, (dog for sale-$1) doing that two nights in a row was just too much. I apologized to the woman from the showing agency and she was all, "It's fine. It's not me that is affected!" Then I thought, well, that's true. Okay then. I stand by my decision.

To be honest I'm not thoroughly enjoying the selling the house process. I'm trying to be positive. To believe that someone will buy it soon and we will be amazed at how smoothly it all goes. I'm trying to keep the faith like I told Joy to. Maybe denying a showing is my way of controlling a situation that is so far far out of my control.

K thanks for the counseling session y'all. You're the BEST.

I want you to meet a new friend of ours. His name is dog.









Hi dog.










Dog does what any good pet does: plays whatever you're playing.








He slides








You still there, dog? You coming?








Yep he is. There's a string attached to his neck. He has no choice.








Poor dog









He plays house








He plays "Keep Out," Joy's new made-up game where she slams the door to the playhouse.








"Keep Out!"
He even plays with the sandbox








He's a loyal dog that's for sure








Good dog.









She'll love you forever, dog.

Dog can be purchased at your neighborhood Target by the way. For a Christmas present or maybe purchased with the intent of giving it as a Christmas present but in our case it ended up being a teething present instead.

Santa approved the transaction.

That is it!

Mommy I can't take it anymore! I'm all done "helping" you get the house ready for showings! You keep putting things up that I'm in the middle of playing with and you're limiting my mac-n-cheese since it takes a sweet forever to clean up, you are putting me in the bath at weird times and you're trapping me in the car when I'd prefer to be at home. Please stop. Love, Joy

Mommy's answer: I'm tired of it too, baby girl. Keep the faith! It will be worth it one day!

I now pronounce them husband and wife

We just got home from the sweetest, most fun wedding. I'd like to say 'funnest' and guess I will since it's late and I can say what I want to...

My lifelong, (from in the womb) friend Maggie got married today. Thanks to Sarah, we both got to go.


















Doesn't she look lovely?








Her dress was beautiful and it had pockets. Ah if I had it to do over again I'd have gotten a dress with pockets.








Maggie has been there through each life-changing step. School, high school, college, wedding, when each kid was born she came to the hospital and fended off visitors when I asked her to. She's a nurse so people listen to her, even when she's not at her hospital...she has always been sweeter, more helpful, less directionally-challenged, more responsible and gracious than I've been. I'm so happy for her and I'm so thankful for who she has been to me: a constant person in the midst of chaos.








Obligatory "Gig 'em" picture. If you went to A & M, feel free to join in and if you didn't, feel free to make fun.

On a side note, I wore red lipstick for the first time in, oh, ten years tonight. Made me feel kinda sassy. Interesting how changing one thing can change your attitude.

Another side note: it is really fun to be with my husband without the kids once in a while. I learned like ten things about him I didn't know on the road between home and the wedding.

Now it's way past my bedtime. Night night.

What do these three things have in common?

A shower

Ty

And bruised gums showcasing possibly dead teeth

Your answer: what we did last night. Poor guy. Here's the best picture I got.




You're welcome. Looks like we might be saying goodbye to his two front teeth...just in time to move to the country.

Just call him Tyger

Maybe you have to be related to Ty to appreciate these but I think anyone who has had a stressful day might benefit from watching them. A little background: Ty is a perfectionist so if the ball doesn't go in the hole on the first try then he "missed." This is a kid who gets frustrated if he doesn't do something right, yet he is having fun so he keeps at it. This is also a kid who was born to a daddy who doesn't play golf much anymore but Ty's daddy has a daddy that plays as often as he possibly can. That daddy, (Ty's grandaddy Gene,) was pinching himself that he could finally take Ty to the driving range. This trip meant as much to Gene as Ty playing the violin means to my Dad. Between golf lessons and music lessons he should be well-rounded, don't you think?

My favorite parts of this next video are: how hard he is trying, how he manages to hit Gene's golf club with his full-throttle, and how close he gets to hitting Gene. Keep in mind that Gene has had BOTH knees replaced in recent years. No wonder he's jumpy!

This ain't for sissies

Well I've been MIA again for a few days. No reason. Well, actually there is one. I'm finding more and more that my children fight over things. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Holla.

It seems that once we were sleeping all night and eating real meals instead of bottles we were coasting. Sure, each day was scarily similar and I struggled with keeping everybody safe and keeping myself from getting frustrated/bored/envious/etc. but there weren't knock-down-drag-outs over toys that are neither new nor exciting. What exactly changed? Well, all I can figure is that baby Joy developed an opinion and she likes exactly what Ty likes at any given moment. Big brother Ty, (the Ty that we encourage him to embrace,) doesn't like Joy or her antics one bit. I'm sure he loves her.

I'm sure of it.

In his own way, he loves her. But he doesn't like her a whole lot and I can't say that I blame him since all she does (in his eyes, but also in real life,) is steal what he's working on. What he's poured himself into. And what he'd give his left arm to keep working on. She has no respect for his artwork. She has no respect for his car garage. She drags his blankets off his bed and then yells at him like, "LOOK AT THAT! LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO! AND YOU'RE WELCOME!"

Basically when I would have normally taken pictures of something or thought of what I'd like to write about here, I'm running interference so no one gets hurt. At least not hurt bad. For the record, we don't let them hit or scream or kick or yell "NO" at the top of their lungs. But each of those things happens every day. It's one of the joys of motherhood.

Basically my life lesson in today's post is: This ain't for sissies. Let's go get 'em girls.

Ty's first golf lesson

Today we went to Mimi and Pop's house, (Sean's parents) and then the boys went on a surprise field trip. Pops gave Ty his first golf lesson. I don't know who had more fun-Ty, who is still talking about how many golf balls he saw, "They were everywhere!!", Gene, so proud of his grandson, or Sean, watching his dad and his son together.

Apparently there were a few swings and misses.

Oh y'all, I have videos too. I'll try to post one tomorrow in between all of the showings we may or may not have.

Leaning toward 'may not' since I'm going shopping with the girls. I told Sean he gets to decide if we say yes or no and the Cowboys play at 3.

Sorry I can't help it

Pictures are all I have energy for after the last few days. I'm afraid showing the house might be the end of me. But I'm praying for endurance. And eating lots of suckers. That seems to help.

Fall happiness

$1 + little sister napping=








Fall happiness

What I Wore Wednesday

Meet my new favorite pair of shoes.


Hello.



Oh there you are. Red ruffled cuteness. Courtesy of CSNstores, the company behind most of my giveaways. My first What I Wore Wednesday post is two-fold. I challenged myself to wear these shoes every day for a week so that I could show you how versatile they are.

Technically outfit #1 was taken without showing you the shirt.

So at the risk of being really redundant and boring, last Wednesday I wore this.



Shoes: CSNstores.com.
Jeans: JCrew clearance (14.99)
Shirt: Does it matter? Ok plain black tank top (really old)


Thursday
Top: Nordstrom BP clearance (12.99)
Shorts: no tag, bought at Restyle, my favorite consignment store. Can't remember how much



Friday
Dress: Old Navy maternity (ha! No I don't NEED it) but it's really comfy. It's the only size Small maternity thing I ever owned.




Saturday
Top: same from earlier in the week (keepin it real)
Jeans: JCrew sale during summer (19.99)

Sunday
No outfit. Church then the ranch with Amy and I can't remember either outfit. That's evidence of what the last two days have been like!

Monday
I wore workout clothes to the pediatrician's office because Sean and I took the kids to get flu vaccines. And it was Ty's four yr checkup. Goes without saying but that's never stopped me before...it was a workout. But later that day after a shower, (there was sweating involved in that appt) I changed into this


Girls night:
Top: JCrew final sale (14.99) online.
Pants: Anthropologie sale last year (29.99)
Shoes: Roxy from Ross four years ago



Tuesday:
Top: Forever 21
Leggings: Marshalls

See, that wasn't so bad. Hopefully y'all played along too!

Walk with horses

On Sunday we met Amy (Sean's sister) and her family on a ranch to take their pictures. Amy is on top of things, taking her Christmas card picture before Halloween. Can you imagine being that prepared?

Y'all know I can't.

Anyway.





There was a wide open pasture full of calm horses. We were in heaven.





This is Cole, one of the twins who gives us his clothes so that Ty doesn't have to go naked. Every stitch of clothes in Ty's closet came from the boys. Minus the things he got for his birthday from Emmy.





Caroline (where most of Charlie's clothes come from) and Luke (the other twin)





Amy and Charlie





Awww





Saying the pledge of allegiance





"Wook Mommy it's anudder horse!"





Chilling back at Amy's and their cool toys





It was a beautiful day, full of treats and animals. And the temperature-perfect. It's not often we get to say that 'round here.

Happy day!