Work is fun.

Most kids, and actually probably most adults, would read that title and disagree. But I think that there is just something satisfying about a hard day's work. Especially when you can see the results. Working hard, and then enjoying the well-deserved rest, is one of the good things in life.
Last Friday we spent the day working in my parents' front yard, getting it all prettied up for my sister's upcoming wedding. I say we, what I mean is my husband, dad, and brother worked while I chased Merrick out of piles of dirt.

My sister is getting married October 2nd. She is the first of the married siblings to brave an outdoor ceremony. And they decided to get married on my parents' land, which made Dad so happy, but also realize how much work needed to be done in the front yard.

Merrick was in his element working out side with the big men. Dirt, tractors, and hanging out with daddy...what more could a little man ask for? Popsicles...which he also had. Pretty much probably the best day of his life I think. (You can just see his little elbow peeking out under Billy's in the shot above...he was loving all the tractor time.)

I think in this case even Merrick would agree with Mom about work being fun. That is something that would make it potentially one of the best days of my life...Merrick actually agreeing with me. ;)

That last shot is my pick for the In a Yellow House challenge.
Also check out more shots over at Communal Global.

The Moment

As much as I try, not all my favorite memories can be captured with my camera. Sometimes I just miss it. Sometimes I take a bad shot. And sometimes? It just needs to be enjoyed. I had the chance to do a senior photo shoot with my younger sister, and I think I realized just how much time flies. I mean, I changed this kid's diapers...and now I'm taking her senior pictures and thinking what a gorgeous lady she's turned out to be.

While I can't exactly always capture everything I love about my family on film, for various reasons. *I cannot convey with a photo just how hilarious my kids' laughing can be, or how ear-piercing their little cranky screams can be, or just how yummy their little faces are...* I'm glad I've got the opportunity to live these moments with them.

Often we arrive just as the sun slips over the horizon of a moment
...only time enough to expose our hearts.
- Minor White

I would never...

One of the things I've learned since having kids is that before you have kids you are the perfect parent. You know it all and have no qualms with telling parents how it should be done. I always snicker when my sibs say things like "Oh I'll never let my kids do that." Oh man...I cannot wait till they have kids. I said plenty of "I'll never's". And now? I am eating my words. Daily.

A few examples of "I Would Nevers" that I am currently eating:

1. They will not have gum, sugary snacks, or soda before they are 20. (Merrick eats 400 popsicles a day, as a potty training tactic, and Tirzah cannot live if she sees a snack and people do not share...sugary ones included. Merrick also eats gum because my mom gives it to him. My Dad? He just feeds them both soda when I'm not looking, or when I'm looking...he's not picky.)

2. My kids will never misbehave in public. Really...did I think I could control how they would act in public? They smell public and start acting like they were raised by wolves. Anyone with kids knows that they just know you will be arrested if you do what you would like to do to them when they act as if they've never heard of civilization.

3. I will never cut the crust off my kids' sandwiches. Yes...I remember judging those moms feeding their kids crust-less sammies, thinking to myself, "Woman show those children who is boss". I remember hating the crust as a kid. And now it's my favorite part. I figure they will get over it. If not? I get to eat the crust and I like it. So there, kids.

4. My kids will never wear ridiculous attire in public. I think I stuck to my guns on this one a little longer than the others. Only recently have I relented and decided my sanity was more important than Merrick wearing snow boots in the middle of August. I will eventually get over the trauma from the stares and giggles we keep getting when we go out in public wearing those very loud boots.
I will have my revenge, though, when I show his first girlfriend how cute he was running around the house in nothing but superman undies and snow boots...in the middle of August. ;)

No summer...don't leave me.

I feel as if possibly, if I ignore all the chatter around me that summer is ending, maybe...just maybe...it won't. It's such a bittersweet time of year. I love summer, all the lazy family time, *I use that term very loosely, for it's rarely lazy around here* the swimming, the sun, the vacations, the cookouts and fun-filled attitudes.

We just returned from a wonderful week long stay at the beach with my very large family. It was wonderful to not have to go anywhere, but to lay in the sun, pick sand out of my kids' ears, fish soggy PB&J sandwiches out of kiddie pools, and chase down seagulls because they are Tirzah's new BFF's. May not sound relaxing, but for some odd reason it was.

I miss the sound of the waves already, although I could do without the sand. I'm not much of a fan of sand. I'm more of the pool type, but this week at the beach Merrick only had eyes for "the BIG pool", which was the Atlantic. So we spent the last "official" week of our summer covered in sand down at the big pool.
Even though I will miss summer, when it goes...cuz I'm not admitting to that at least until the pool closes, I am glad for the change of seasons, and love so much about fall. We have a busy one coming up, with another sister getting married, and new opportunities that haven't quite materialized yet but could lead to big changes around here.

I'm glad for the time I was able to spend with our huge extended family this week. As I look around me at all my cousins who are growing up and getting married, having kids, I realize how fast time can fly by. I guess there isn't a way to officially slow it down, and not admitting to summer leaving will probably not help my cause. But I guess it's worth a try.

So I think the only option is to do the best I can to make the most of the last little bit of my favorite season. I'm going to get in the kiddie pool with the kids. ;)

Back to the Grind.

Today I am being peppered with questions about "when we go to the beach, mommy?" "We go to our other house?" I think the kids are missing last week's vacay as much as I am. Merrick is in denial that we don't actually live in the beach house we rented, and Tirzah is missing having 25 extra people in her house to spoil her rotten.

We're almost all settled back in over here, and I'm trying to catch up on blogging again. I didn't realize how much I'd miss having somewhere to dump extra "grown up" thoughts. (During the day my conversation consists of "no you cannot jump off the car" and "please don't drink out of the toilet".) Hope you guys don't mind. ;)

Check out more shots at Communal Global and
Rambling and Photos.
*The theme over there was trees.
Sorry I was at the beach, and this was as "tree" as it got. ;)*

Sandy Piggies

There were 40 pairs of those this week at the beach. Toes, that is. I was worried that there would only be maybe ten, or twenty...but both kids loved the sand. Merrick liked playing in it, and kicking it onto whatever it was I was trying to lay out on. Tirzah liked wallowing in it and dipping her sandwiches and cheez-its in it. Gross, but I guess as long as they're happy and not hurting themselves...why not? I gave up very early trying to keep the sand out of my hair and clothing. As in the first 5 minutes. I think I still have sand in my ears...
We had a blast laying around *as much laying around as you can do with these children of mine...* together and enjoying the beach. But it's good to be home again, too. I'm still a little in denial that summer is ending. *If I don't admit it...maybe it won't happen. I love summer.* It's ok though, I can relive a little bit of summer in the piles of sandy laundry that I need to wash. ;)

Sweet Sauce

I started up blogging in July of 2008. I wasn't sure if I would stick with it, thinking at first it was really kind of silly. And who really cares what I think anyways, ya know? I've since fallen in love with blogging, and love most that I can share our life in pictures as well as with words.

Sometimes, though, it stresses me out. It doesn't take a lot to stress me out...I'm that kinda girl. So I decided that I would take my first ever blog-vacay. My husband is going to be off work for a week, so I decided to be off work for a week. Um, except for the kids, and the laundry, and cooking meals, and the not-sleeping-enough thing. So maybe what I meant was I'm taking a week off from blogging. Yeah, that's what I meant. So...see y'all in about a week! ;)

"Rest: the sweet sauce of labor." - Plutarch

Don't eat pennies on Friday the 13th.

I've never really paid much attention to Friday the 13th, which is today, actually. I mean, I probably wouldn't have gotten married on one or anything, but I don't have anything against it either. I am not much of a superstitious person. I was kind of excited when I thought our son was going to be born on Halloween. Not that I am all into ghosties or creepies, but how many people can say that the entire United States stuffs their faces with candy to celebrate their birthday? *He ended up being born on Halloween Eve, actually.*


While I was doing a little research about Friday the 13th for this post, I realized that there is an actual phobia, which is named friggatriskaidekaphobia. If I could figure out how to say that, my mother would probably say "watch your mouth". I also realized that there are lots of crazy things that are considered "lucky" or "unlucky". Like crickets, for example, are lucky. I don't know about you, but I would prefer they take their lucky behinds outside. And a penny that is face down? That's bad luck...don't you dare pick it up. I don't pick up pennies anyway unless I'm afraid Tirzah is going to eat them. Which I suppose would be pretty unlucky for her.

So while I don't really believe in luck and superstitions, I figured I could still wish you all a great Friday the 13th! Don't eat any face-down pennies, k? Or crickets for that matter.

Tough Crowd

This past week was a busy one. Not like one of our normal weeks consists of me sitting around twiddling my thumbs or anything. Even before I had kids I like to stay busy, now it's not an option. ;)

It was the normal stuff...everyday running around and cleaning, playing on the floor and breaking up fights between my two enthusiastic and vocal munchkins, church activities and working at my mom's. But we also had a little extra excitement thrown in there.

Tirzah has very pointedly decided she is going to walk now. I came around the corner the other day to find her walking down the hall. What?

I was excited for her to start walking...but she could have at least warned me a little. My sister is getting married in two months, and Tizzy is the flower girl. I think she knew she had a gig coming up and wanted to be sure she put all past flower girls to shame.

Another thing this week is that, after a week of running around in underwear and eating reward popsicles, Merrick is officially (most of the time and on sometimes on weekends) potty trained. I feel like I can do anything if I can teach a kid to pee in the toilet.

I'm totally serious. That was probably harder than actually giving birth. These kids know how to keep a girl busy.

Passenger Seat

My mom would cringe if she could see this shot. She always used to rant about me putting my feet up in the dashboard and leaving smudges on her windshield. Not classy, she said. Sorry, Mom.

I realized there is a lesson to be learned from the passenger seat, though, and my smudge-leaving toes. I'm much more relaxed when I can sit over there, playing with my camera, jabbering with my kiddos, retrieving dumped toys and juice cups, while Billy does the driving.

It's the same with God and me. If I'd just let Him do the driving, let go and put my feet up, put my time and attention less on where I'm going and more on the people I'm going there with...I'd be a lot better off. I'm not so good with directions, anyway. ;)

Check out more shots at Ramblings and Photos & Communal Global :)

Church Kids

Growing up we pretty much lived in church. We went to Sunday school, Bible school, youth camp, youth group, big church, kid's church, stayed late after church, waiting for my well-meaning but chronically late mother to pick us up.

It got to be a big joke...which I and my siblings were the butt of. How late would Austin-Lee's mom be this week? I still have nightmares about being the last student in the parking lot. Not really...but I do try really hard never to be late. On another note, thanks mom, for making an effort to take me. ;)

Now that I have 2 kids of my own, I'm loving the chance to raise them practically in our church. My husband is the student minister of a small country church part time, and our kids have both been born since he started working there. They've grown up around a lot of these students we work with, and love them like extra aunts and uncles. The extra hands don't really bother me either.

I was thinking, looking back on when I was growing up, that sometimes church was just a thing to go to, for me. It was where most of my friends were, so why not go? I didn't always think about it...it's just what you do. My parents did their part, lived it out, but everyone has to make this decision for themselves.

Church cuz you got to is no fun, for lack of better words. It's not what I want for my kids, or myself. I want them to know that church is more about who you are than where you are. Less about what you're wearing, and more about Who put you together. More about loving those people that just make you cringe, (you know the ones...) and less about being a pew-occupying mean girl.

I am grateful for the times I've run from the building of church, and glad that in that detour God is His grace (He uses lots of that stuff on me) showed me that it's not a building anyway. It's people who love Him. So even if I move somewhere they don't have "churches"...I will still be able to show my kids what it's like to be raised in one.

Check out more shots at Household6Diva!

Oh...THAT makes sense.

We recently made an interesting discovery. We never would have realized it on our own, I don’t think. Billy was diagnosed as having ADHD. Really surprised us both, until we learned more about it. Then we were like, oh…duh. Of course you have ADHD. That explains…well, a lot.

Billy is one heck of a stud. He’s sweet and caring, and really gets it about loving a wife and family. He changes diapers, does dishes, wrestles with 2yo’s, tells our little girl he’s the only man she’s allowed to speak to until she’s 30, and gives great foot rubs. And no, he’s not whipped…he just loves God and does what it takes to love his family too. He is, however, also the most frustratingly forgetful individual I have ever met. We get along really well…except for all things that are apparently related to his ADHD. The ADHD we didn’t know he had.

I am the type of control freak, type A, first born individual who likes all things neat, tidy, organized, planned, and labeled according to color. I forget pretty much nothing, except for birthdays and my sunglasses. That is a hopeless case. Thank the Lord for facebook to remind me when someone has a birthday. So it drives me insane that Billy forgets, well…everything. He is a stinking genius actually, but cannot remember where he put his wallet…every single day.

Now that he’s been diagnosed…we are interested to see what our next step is. He is going to the Dr. today to talk about some options, and see if there is something to help. I know there is medication, but some medications kinda scare me, although I’m not at all opposed to that if he needs it. I do feel for him, and know he’s really glad to know there is a reason behind a lot of the stuff that’s been bugging him. I know it drives him crazy to forget stuff, and he has trouble finishing things he starts because he gets SO distracted, and he is a fabulous interrupter. ;) This has not let to any arguments, however. Ahem. ;)

We are also keeping an eye on Merrick. We’ve been told that if you have ADHD, you got it from a parent…it doesn’t skip generations. Merrick is only 2, and it cannot be diagnosed until 5 years, but if ever there was ADHD, we think he may have it also. And just in case he does, I want to know as much about it as I can to help him out at a young age, especially since I plan on homeschooling and will need all the help I can get. ;)

Anyone have any experience with ADHD, treatment options, or methods/ideas that have helped you out? I’d love to hear from you!

I like it hot.

I am grateful that I live in a place where we have seasons. Some places do not. I do think my favorite is definitely summer, however. I don't think I would totally mind if we skipped winter, either. Winter I like for about 5 minutes. I pretty much only tolerate it because it contains Christmas.

Recently I've noticed a lot of whining about the hot weather, and I am reminded of what I sound like during the winter. Ok, anytime the temperature drops below about 65. So at least you guys who are whining now will have no room to tell me to shut up when temperatures lower than 65 roll around. Continue whining...I'm going to need a lot of grace. ;)

I may have just a little bit of my father's Texan blood running in my veins. My dad is one crazy Texan. He doesn't start sweating until its about 150 degrees. And even then he is laughing at all the rest of us who are hospitalized for heat stroke. He can work outside in this heat and not blink. As long as he has a Dr. Pepper in hand.

I think this enjoyment of the hot weather is also stemming from the fact that I don't feel it necessary to take a jacket everywhere I go. I freeze in every restaurant or store I step into, so usually I take a jacket everywhere I go...from about September to April.

I've been enjoying this summer, and the sweltering temps, so much this year. As you can see from the pictures, we've pretty much turned to raisins in the pool. My kiddos are both at an age where the pool is fun. Last year I was pregnant, and then had a newborn. Newborns do not seem to appreciate sweltering heat. Neither do pregnant ladies. The kids are also doing more playing together this summer, which is good about half the time. The other half I'm having to restrain them.

As much as I hate to see it...the back to school signs are already up in stores. I would like to take them down, but that is probably frowned upon. This reminds me though, that as much as I love summer, and all the fun times I'm having with my family...each season is important. Some may not be as appealing to me, but they all serve their purpose. (I think winter has a purpose...?) Now if I can just remember this in February...

All I got.

Sometimes I feel like I have the right to keep some of myself back, not to totally invest in my husband or my kids. I am woman, hear me roar. Right? I'm all for some relaxing, and taking care of me. I think it's way important to rest, and relax. And I'm the poster child for introverts. I need my space, and I grow fangs and horns if I don't get people-less time at home. But at the same time, I am realizing that it's not an excuse to be selfish.

My life, and the time I have with these precious people, is over in a blink. I don't want to waste it. I want to take care of me...for them and me. But at the same time? Show them what giving it all I've got looks like. It's a crazy balance...maybe one day I'll get it right. Till then? Here goes nothing...

Check out more shots over at Communal Global, and SIDAC.

Two peas...

When they were born I thought my kids couldn't be more different. Merrick arrived early and with all the flair of a 20-hr labor and week long hospital stay. Tirzah arrived promptly on her due date and almost before I realized she was on the way. She was quiet and sweet and chubby, even calm while I was pregnant with her. Merrick was a tiny little wild man from when I first started feeling him kick at 15 weeks. It was like UFC in my belly. As they get older, though...they are starting to look, ahem act, a lot more alike.

Merrick at almost 1 year, above. Tirzah at 1 year, below.

I'm really in for it. Speaking of, I need to go. They are in the kitchen and I hear things crashing and children giggling.