Jungle

When they aren't antagonizing each other, or plotting to dismantle the house when I'm not looking...the kids have been getting caught actually playing together in a manner than could be called civil. ;)

Merrick usually doesn't let it last but so long. He tends to go all UFC on Tirzah, and she lets out a few of her opera quality notes to let him know that is a game girlfriend doesn't wanna play. She prefers things like eating random items off the floor and turning over my trashcans so that my house looks like a dump.

After a few peaceful minutes...enough to lure my attention to other places...Merrick usually waits until I'm not looking to practice his wrestling moves on Tirzah, but she's pretty good about letting me know what he's up to, even without speaking any English. She's already tattling...that will drive him crazy later. ;)

Now that she's moving around...he is also using it as an opportunity to encourage her to get into a bit of trouble. Like a little splash in the toilet, or sitting by her and laughing while she dumps out all the diapers in the basket, or, ahem, helping her when she pulls all the cd's off of the shelf. He's seemingly enjoying not being the only person who gets mommy flustered with a hand-crafted mess.

All kidding aside, it's great to see the two of them playing together and laughing at each other. Sometimes they are in their own little world and totally cracking themselves up. I hope they get to be great friends as they grow...and I hope that I survive the current jungle to see it. ;)

See more shots over at Household 6 Diva's blog!

While you were not sleeping...

I blogged recently about how well Merrick has been doing in his big bed. People warned me that there was some kind of honeymoon phase with moving your kids to a big bed. They were right.

Honeymoon's over. I think Merrick is becoming an insomniac. He likes to spend his time-formerly-known-as-naptime dismantling furniture and ridding the toy box of its clutter.

It doesn't seem to matter what I say or do, (or lets just be honest, threaten), he still treats nap time, and occasionally bedtime, as optional. I cannot comprehend this, since I would kiss the person who stuck me in a room, alone, and told me to sleep until I woke up. I would kiss them and nominate them for the Nobel Peace Prize or something.

I know that naps are wasted on the young and destructive, however. What I would kill for makes Merrick cry and whine. I have resigned myself to letting him stay up, wandering and playing, as long as he is IN his room with the door closed so I can put back what he has put asunder in the rest of the house, and wash all the dishes and clothes that he has covered in food. Oh, and take a shower if I happen to have a second. ;)

That's another thing...I would love someone to force me to take baths before bed every night also, but I guess when you are 2 it's much cooler to wear your dirt like war paint.

I'm no fool.

I kind of have this love/hate relationship with Carrie Underwood. I think it's just one-sided, however, because I'm pretty sure she has no idea who I am. I am a bit jealous of her, since she is gorgeous and talented and all that, but love her music and her voice and would, just for one day, like to have all that blond hair.
The point of that little confession is because I was driving down the road today with my kiddos and crying. For anyone who has children you understand that crying and riding in the car are like peanut butter and jelly. I wasn't crying, though, because of all that. I was listening to my arch-enemy, Carrie's, song "Change". I am such a cry-baby...and this song does it to me every time. If you've never listened to it...you should.

She says in the chorus "don't listen to 'em when they say, you're just a fool to believe you can change the world." While the lyrics may sound a little cliche, I think that today it was just what I needed to be reminded about what matters. It's not that Tirzah threw a fit in CFA, or Merrick just finished accidentally vandalizing our local library...it's about a whole lot more.

It's about investing in my kids, and other people as well, like my life and theirs depend on it. It's about taking advantage of every second that I'm given, and using all my resources, to make a ripple in my surroundings. You never know who that ripple is going to get to.

It also reminded me that life is good. Rich and full and loaded with opportunities. Opportunities to grow, share, give, love. We've been trying to take advantage of those opportunities lately. My man is tired, stressed from working two jobs and lots of weekly job-related travel. There was a job opportunity that would have taken us far, far away and seemingly made things simpler in a way. As much as we are looking for just that something, we are going to have to say no, and wait for what's right for us.

So this song, playing in my little "bubble" of the world, reminded me that as tired and ready for something fresh and new as we may be...we are handed that very thing each morning by our Savior. Each minute, even. Love, grace, opportunities right where we are. God may have closed that door, but we've got a great view from our window.

This week's theme at YouCapture was "sky". Check out the link for more shots!

Reliable

I can always count on my kids to do this...

...as soon as we get home and pull into the driveway. ;)

Good to the last...slurp.

"Nothing is particularly hard if you break it down into small jobs"

- Henry Ford

I think that Merrick has the right idea. Little man can drag out a popsicle for what seems like hours, enjoying every drip and slurp. I think if I learned from his great, ahem, wisdom, and took this approach with my week, I might enjoy the week a little more since I'm not rushing right past all the good stuff that's included. Hope everyone takes the time to enjoy this week! The whole drippy, slurpy mess. :)

This week at i♥faces the theme was "yellow". Check out their site for more shots!

My Inner Oscar

So usually, I think I do a pretty good job of finding the humor in things. I think it keeps me sane. There are days, however, when I really think my sense of humor says..."Lady, it ain't funny anymore." Like today, for example. It was one of those days where I had finally...had it...up to...HERE. And back again. Ya wanna know what made me so mad? Well, let me tell you...;)

Exhibit A: THIS STUFF makes me mad: Let me rephrase that...the NEED for that stuff makes me mad. Germs are really getting on my nerves. If one more person pukes in their bed I'm gonna...what AM I going to do? Nothing! I think that's what makes me so mad. What do you do? You clean it up and breathe through your mouth. Germs don't fight fair.

Exhibit B: Things that are supposed to be working...NOT working. My sun roof for example. I got in my car the other day and the screen on the sun roof decided NOT to open, while the actual sun roof did. Lovely. So I rode down the road with the sun roof open, the shade closed over it, wondering just how cool I would feel riding around with a trash bag taped on my roof until we could get it fixed. On a positive note *are those allowed in this post?* it was a gorgeous day with no rain. And I have a hubby with bigger muscles than my scrawny guns who pretty much just punched it I think and fixed it. No trash bag. I am still cool...sort of.

Exhibit C: Cutting Merrick's hair. I really don't know what is wrong with me. The child can't see where he is going. But I get SO tired of cutting his hair. It's so blond and precious and shaggy and I want to let it grow, but alas I succumb to peer pressure and cut it...again. Or maybe I'm just mad because I'm still itching from his hair being all over me because I have to practice my steer wrestling skills to keep him from losing an ear while he gets it cut.

I do realize, in the grand scheme of things, that a broken sun roof, a haircut, and a puddle of puke are not the end of the world. Sometimes, though, I forget this and my inner Oscar the Grouch seems to get the better of me. But I sprayed him with the Lysol that has taken up permanent residence on my nightstand.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
- Psalm 51:12 -

Why, yes...I do.

But leave me a little love,

A voice to speak to me in the day end,

A hand to touch me in the dark room

Breaking the long loneliness.

In the dusk of day-shapes

Blurring the sunset,

One little wandering, western star

Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.

Let me go to the window,

Watch there the day-shapes of dusk

And wait and know the coming

Of a little love.

// At a Window, Carl Sandburg

Congratulations to my cousin Brad, and new cousin in law Rachel...who tied the knot this weekend. :)

This week at YouCapture the theme was Depth of Field...check out the link for more shots and blogs!

Rebel with an SUV

Today I realized that there are family car-decals for everyone...even the rebel at heart. These are quite possibly the only family stickers my husband would ever consider attaching to our family-mobile. At least they made me laugh. A tough job when you've just completed grocery shopping with my kids.

Also...don't report me to Oprah's No Phone Zone. We were dead stopped in a 4 car traffic jam...backwoods style.


Check out more "today I learned" shots at Communal Global...:)

Mostly just pomp...

My sister...finally....graduated. Not finally as in it took her a long time. She did it in the run-of-the-mill 4 years. Finally as in, thank goodness she is done and we all don't have to give her candy, flowers, and money to make her go back for another semester. ;) She was much like I was...not the biggest fan of college. I honestly didn't care for it. I didn't like class, didn't like the cafeteria, didn't like living in a dorm. Ugh. I did better once I moved off campus, but started really feeling "in my niche" once I was married and working full-time. Our brother was a totally different story...I am pretty sure he would do his bachelor's all over again if he could. *shivering* But to each his own.

Anyway, enough unhappy thoughts...;) I am so proud of my little sis, who actually just got married in March also, busy girl. She was so relieved and excited after the ceremony that, much to mom's dismay and cries of unlady-like behavior, this is how she posed for pictures:

Congrats, Pookey! *Oh the nicknames you give people you grow up with...* We love you!

This week at i♥faces the theme was "flowers and faces". Not exactly sure if this passes...but I was feeling like a rebel this week *ok...when is that NOT the case* and I pretty much just wanted everyone to see my fab little sis being her unconventional self on graduation day. Check out the link below for more great shots!

Don't be fooled...

...I know that she looks all cute and innocent in this picture. And the cute part is true, at least in our opinion. *I know other people's kids are never nearly as cute as your own. Pretty sure that's some kind of defense mechanism so that kids survive their early years. ;)* But we've learned that this is the calm before...

...she starts spitting. I mean, she has it down to an art. You'd think we would see it coming...

But she is so fast that we always manage to get it in the eye, or find ourselves suddenly covered in baby food. *The latter usually happens when you are dressed and ready to leave the house.*

She's so good at this spitting thing that we get spit on from the backseat of the car, while we are driving. Nice. Every time we think that she has moved on and retired the spitting hobby, she notices we've let down our guard and, you guessed it, spits right in someone's face. It's gross.

But like I said...since she's our own DNA, we actually laugh and even think it's kinda cute. I know...parents are so weird. ;)

Work for it

We figured growing up, we didn't make mom work quite hard enough. We decided this year, we were going to make her work for her Mother's Day gifts. ;) Kidding, but we did send her on a scavenger hunt for her presents.

Over the years, we have totally spoiled Mom *which she totally deserves* on Mother's day. We have kind of gotten ourselves into a hole. We've done mother's day up bigger and better every year, until we are running short on dramatic ideas and funds. One year we made t-shirts and sang in church, another year we had everyone we could think of write her notes and put them in a scrapbook, another year we spray painted the front yard...you get the idea. In this family we go big. We can't even eat dinner without it being competitive.

But it is fun, and it's fun to see Mom get so excited about the day. She tries to be all sneaky and pretend she isn't looking for her big surprise...but we aren't fooled. I just hope we can keep up with the precedent we've set for ourselves over the years.

Also...I'm hoping maybe one day my kids will follow in my footsteps and I'll be the victim of Mother's Day scavenger hunts. I won't mind. What are some ways you've celebrated Mother's Day? At the rate we are going over here...I've gotta get started on next year soon. ;)

Flying Cows and Cousins

Technically there weren't any flying cousins...but last Saturday at the airport my parents manage there were flying cows. From Chick-Fil-A...even better. :)

They hold an annual "Cow Drop" at the airport...which is a festival they put on with Chick-Fil-A where they drop an airplane-ful of stuffed CFA cows out at a target. People buy the cows like raffle tickets and if your cow is closest to the target...you win all kinds of goodies. Fun stuff.

They have various festival food *this year they had fried oreos...I need a triple bypass just typing that* and blow-up stuff for the kids to fight over, face painting, balloon animals and free cake. *Who in their right mind doesn't love some free cake?* So we used it as a good opportunity to catch up with my cousins who are here from out of town.

Merrick and Avery, my cousin's little girl, had a great time playing with each other. Not sure about Avery, but I successfully sunburned Merrick for the first time. I felt so bad. I know he will have many more sunburns...but I was sad that this one was totally my fault. He's such a good redneck though...with his little farmer tan. ;)

Other than the sunburn, and a few of those people that show up at festivals wearing things that should not be worn anywhere *much less in public where there are children and adults who now need counseling for goodness sakes* we had a great afternoon of hanging out in the sun, ducking falling cows, and ya know...eating free cake. :)



This week at YouCapture the theme was "yellow". Check out the link for more shots...that are probably more yellow than mine. Cuz I think I failed at yellow. ;)