Down South

Missing this little ranch hand and her brother and especially her daddy


Flashlights=a lifetime of happiness


We've walked around the neighborhood and fed ducks and seen turtles


I love the humidity here. Never thought those words would come out of my mouth but at home it's so dry that only my hair is thriving. Everything else is so dry it hurts. Here the moisture is thick and steamy, just like this Texas girl needs for a winter break.


Henry has lots of trains.


The End.


Daytime view of the duck pond


Charlie: Mom look it's ducks and turtles and a parrot!"
Me: huh
Charlie: yeah mom there's a parrot!
Me: where
Charlie: over there
Me: honey that's a duck
Charlie: well


Sally and Popeye chillin


Graham's fish tank that consumes his living room.


It's pretty cool really but he says it's so time consuming nobody should try it at home. I didn't argue with the fact that I can't handle more animals.

Okay we're off for whatever adventure today holds. Y'all have a happy new year's eve!

Best buds and a burrito to go

The best buds


The burrito to go

Road trip

We made it to south Texas where my brother and sister-in-law live after a long car ride. It's the longest trip Charlie has been on (8 1/2 hours) and she did as well as I thought she would! Of course it helped tremendously to have Nattie and Popeye in the car with us. Um that's actually the only reason it went so well I'm sure.



"Mom, where's Joy? Where's Ty? Where's Daddy?" What can I say she likes us to all be together.


Ahhhhh cozy


Dude road trips rock


Snacking on road trips are Momma's favorite part too.

I'm excited because my nephew doesn't normally warm up to me during the short visits we see him but tonight he wanted to show me around his house. He showed me his room and where he likes to work out with his daddy. And he sat on my lap. In other words, I'M IN.

Night night y'all.

Merry Christmas part 2

Well like you we've been going a little crazy this Christmas. If you're of the .01 % of people who doesn't go crazy then you probably ought to find a new blog to read because we're not going to get along.

Now that that's settled, let's get to the Christmas re-cap, shall we?

Last week, we started potty-training Charlie while also training Ty at night. (no pull-ups anymore.) We survived. So did the kids! In fact I'd venture to say we're all better people for the process, because like any spiritually pruning process, it ain't fun until you get to the other side and see what God was doing that whole time when you thought He'd gone on vacation. It's like that really--we lost sleep, cried, worried, got peed on, pooped on, and our lives revolved around who'd had enough apple juice that day and so help you if you gave the wrong kid, (the one who doesn't need juice or any added fiber,) the apple juice. Sean can tell you that I crossed over to the controlling side of things last week but I happily returned to my normal state just in time for Christmas celebrations. Thankfully the attention turned to the kids and toys and playful excitement instead of what we'd been focusing on. Just in time, the birth of Jesus reminded me that even the tiring days and nights of parenting pale in comparison to the gift that raising kids really is. Sometimes I um...need the reminder. Christmas was wonderful. The days leading up to it and the days after it were too.

Life is slowing down again and looking back, we are grateful that we have had family so close to us to celebrate with. We laughed and hugged and sang, (well, Ty sang thanks to his karaoke machine that Santa gave him,) we made fun of each other, we watched movies, got sucked into watching Minute to Win It, and soaked up lots of help from grandparents. We came home today after burning up I35 between Nattie's house and Mimi's house, unpacked bags, put the girls to bed and got a call from the showing service that there were two different agents wanting to view the house with clients. It was an action-packed day since we'd already started taking down decorations and dragging the very dead tree out when we got the call. Since we are home the day seemed relaxed too.

Since I'm all about adding chaos once something slows down I'm gearing up to go visit my brother and his family for a few days. I'm taking Charlie and since her longest car ride so far was from Denton to Waxahachie--normally an hour but that day was 3 due to bad traffic--this will be her first true road trip. I'm sure she will love it and she'll especially love getting lots of playtime in with her cousins that she rarely gets to see. Let's hope she does as well as I think she will!

I'll be in touch throughout the week but I'm not promising anything of substance.

Oh who are we kidding.

Has there ever been substance here?

Good night.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the boys, (I promise the house is vacant they're looking at,)


And the girls





No really here is a group shot



From our family to yours, we hope you know and feel the love of Christ today and every day!

What I wore Wednesday

Its been a huge week around here. I'm so tired of potty training but I'm so excited that Charlie is doing so well. I'm even more excited that we have not put any diapers or pull-ups on Ty in five days. The weekend and first part of this week I found myself thisclose to a breakdown because Ty kept asking me for a pull-up which means: he's ready to not use one. I'm thankful we could go to Waxahachie for help and reinforcements so I didn't cave. Anyway. I'm so happy with the outcome.

So on to the outfits


As usual I'm not sure of the days with certain outfits but y'all don't care.

Right? Okay.

Sweater: Forever 21
Tank: Target
Jeans: Old Navy $.47
Boots: same as every day and I'm not one bit sick of them but I bet you are.



Tunic: ShopRuche.com. Big Mama had this on her Fashion Friday list a few weeks ago and I ordered it. I really like it because it's linen but has wintertime colors so you can layer things under it and it works all year.

T shirt: Target no lie 10 years ago
Leggings: Walmart
Boots: Marshalls


Ahaaaaa same tunic. This was in Waxahachie in my parents' bathroom. It was 84 degrees that day. (yesterday)

Jeans: same Old Navy $.47
Flats: DSW

Hope someone else has a WIWW post! Leave a link in the comments if you do.

Please.

The weekend in pictures

Well...with captions


Party time at school Friday afternoon


Reward for pooping in the potty-mini gumball machine, (Dollar Tree-a huge hit with both big kids! Go get one!) This girl has done so well. I'm so proud of her. And I'm a little in shock honestly. I thought she wouldn't care about having mess in her panties. Quite the opposite. She's been accident-free for three full days and gone pee and poop in the potty.

Just so you know I'm not taking credit, big brother has done well at night-perfectly dry the first two nights then last night woke us up at 4 am yelling for help because he was wet and needed new pjs. Overall a success but he has held off on pooping for going on four days. Today we had to intervene and help him (fiber overload and a glycerine suppository) since clearly he's able to hold it for longer than the dr suggested we let him. He has been able to wait until he got his pull-up on at night to go. People told us he'd stop when he was ready but I think he would keep on holding it until he had a pull-up on until he was 20. We knew it would be a battle but finally today he's relaxing enough to go on the potty. A huge sigh of relief after a long time using pull-ups! Those things are expensive.

It's been a busy, taxing stretch of days but thankfully since Sean has been off of work it's been possible to go for it. We're thinking about taking the rail off Charlie's crib this week too. (Her crib converts to a big girl bed) I know, overkill.

We are looking at the money we will save on diapers and pinching ourselves. Saving about $90 a month is huge! I told Sean we should use that money for date nights if we survive this week.

So that was a really long caption.


Watching bulldozers for entertainment


Going to Dallas with me to meet Nattie and Popeye at Fuzzy's


Wearing whichever pants momma can find. Gender doesn't matter when bodily fluids are flying...AKA potty training.

Sean was not impressed with his son's capri pants with pink detailing.


Opened a care package from Nattie and found lots of new panties with Charlie's name on them.


That Nattie is loving her embroidery machine. We are benefitting the most from it for sure!


"Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie!" LOL. Please tell me somebody else thinks that when they see this picture. Any time I bundle the kids up I think of that movie.

The End.

Little elves

Have a great weekend!

What motivates you?

Is it new fuzzy slippers?


Um I meant princess fuzzy slippers?


Or getting to drive by "the really cool house" down the street?

These two things are really working for Charlie. So far I'm an advocate of waiting til 3 to potty train, only because both of my kids have done better then-early attempts were a big FAIL. Waiting is not for everyone but I'm pretty pleased with how she's doing. Big changes coming next week for Ty too...no nighttime diapers. I know he's old to still be using them but we just now feel like we can handle the extra work that...um...might come with underwear at bedtime. Ahem.

And since I've needed a little motivation of my own during potty training, mom gave me this


Ahhh it really helps me!


I can almost see it from where I sit waiting for Charlie to go potty. Isn't it cute? She made the green one and I got the other two last year.

Okay back to the grindstone. Y'all have a great evening!

What I Wore Wednesday

Oh y'all, the outfits this week were nothing to write home about. Mainly because I didn't care at all in the midst of my kids being so sick. I know you'll agree that that was the bigger concern :)

First one is a self portrait and clearly I missed the target.







Basically you can't see anything that I'm wearing. You're welcome.

Top: Marc Jacobs (on sale) Christmas present last year.
Sweater: Sams






I took this yesterday at my dads office. I took the potty-training princess with me to pick up some presents for the kids' teachers that mom made. We had a fun day "just us girls," as Charlie says.

Shirt: Anthropologie sale
Skirt: Old Navy

From now on I'm gonna wear that shirt with jeans or black pants. It's helpful seeing pictures of an outfit even when it shows you what DIDN'T go together. Ahem.

Here is what Mom made the teachers.






So cute, right? Yep so cute.





Today I had lunch with Carley and wore this shirt that I really love from last winter. It's silk, (I know what you're thinking...) but it washes and dries with normal laundry! Genius! Thank you, Gap for your awesome sales last year. I had on some jeans from Forever 21 that were $9.90. And they're stretchy. If that's not hitting the jackpot I don't know what is.

Okay I'm off to fill more prescriptions. Everybody is on the mend. Woohoo!

I can't keep my eyes open

Last night I felt relieved that yesterday was over. I washed and dried my hair and felt more like a girl. A shower fixes a lot of things for me. I'm not sure why but I feel more in control if I'm clean. Weird. But anyway, not the point. My point-the day came to an end and we put the kids to bed. Before that Emmy came to help us and Sean and I both nearly cried when she told us she was coming. I mean, really, we were wiped out. So Emmy left and we sat down to watch the Cowboy game and I went to bed at 8:30. At 11 Sean woke me up telling me Joy couldn't breathe. Croup came out of the blue like it usually does. Poor Joy was so scared but thankfully we knew how to help her. Sean took her outside into the cold then into a hot shower...three times. It was about 1 am when we all went to bed. The cough didn't get worse through the night thankfully but she didn't sleep soundly so we didn't either.









This morning we went to the Dr and she got a steroid shot to open her airway. Then, against all steroid odds she took a two hour nap. She was worn out from the night and so was I. The nap did her good and then she seemed to improve this afternoon.

And with that I'm heading to bed. Last night, 8:30. Tonight, 7:00 sharp.

It's a glamorous life I lead.

The Joy of the Lord is my strength

Well it could be an interesting day around here. I've got one man down with nausea, one potty-training (again,) girl, one boy with an ear infection AND a sinus infection, and a teething toddler. As I wrote on FB this morning, it's gonna be a JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH kind of day. I'm up for the challenge. I hope that feeling lasts!

How to make a crazy wreath

Anything that doesn't look mainstream is "crazy" to my kids. Well, and my husband but whatever. I saw a wreath on a blog a few weeks ago-don't you wish I remembered which one? Me too-but I made one like it a few days ago and thought I'd give you a tutorial. A picture tutorial to be exact.







Get your trusty hot glue gun. Mine is a mini-me but that's all I really need. It was like $5 at Hobby Lobby approximately 10 years ago.





I found these "crazy" pom poms at Hobby Lobby earlier this week.





I ripped open the bags and kind of separated the sizes to see what I had to work with. I needed three bags to finish my wreath.





Then start sticking them on the floral wreath. Oops, you'll need a floral wreath. It was $4.99 at Walmart but they also had them at Hobby Lobby. So basically just keep putting the pom poms on there in no particular order. Or place them in a pattern if you want to-remember, it's a crazy wreath so get crazy.





And here you have it.





A crazy wreath to add to your decorations! I love it but I know I'm prone to liking things that are a little out-there.

What I Wore Wednesday

Before launch into pictures of clothes I want to show you a more meaningful picture. This is Owen, my nephew on Sean's side that I asked you to pray for last week. He was born with a defect called imperforate anus and last week was his third surgery to correct everything. His mom sent this picture out to tell us he was released from the hospital! Things went very well and his surgery was a great success. Thanks so much for praying!






He's the 13th cousin on that side of the family. As Sean's mom said during Thanksgiving lunch, "Who'd have thought that one day there'd be THIS many people in our family?" Owen is a happy baby and he's home doing well. Thank You, Lord.

And now onto more menial things. What I Wore Wednesday.





Shirt: Walmart last week for $3.00.
Jeans: True Religion from EBay last year for $39.99
Boots: Frye





I added the sweater that morning until it heated up outside. Sweater: Buckle. I admit I felt a little bit like a crayon and that factored into my decision to lose the sweater as soon as it was remotely warm.






Shirt: Banana Republic outlet about 5 years ago
Dress: Target
Boots: (the faves) Anthropologie





I love this picture that mom took while we were taking our Christmas card pictures.





Um, the same boots. Again. I didn't take a full shot of this outfit but I'm wearing a black sweater that Carley gave me when it didn't fit her. Sarah gave it to her before that I think...the sweater has frequent flier miles! Thanks girls for sharing!





Tank: Target
Sweater: Sams
Jeans: Yanuk is the brand-got them at Restyle right after Ty was born
Flip flops: can't remember






Shirt: Walmart
Sweater: Anthropologie on sale for $29.99
Jeans: Old Navy from my senior year in college.
Boots that you can't see: Frye

I pretty much wear these two pairs of boots every day that it's cold. If I need heels I wear the Frye ones, (my Christmas gift from Nattie and Popeye four years ago,) and when I need flat boots I wear the other ones.

Okay that's all for this week's clothes. I'm off to find more Diet Cherry Dr Pepper, my favorite drink...yesterday two different stores told me they weren't selling it anymore but I'm not giving up yet. I'm kinda (really very) dependent on it. Anyone else have a What I Wore Wednesday post? Leave a link in the comments!

Bye!