A Thorn Among Roses

do you smell the brick dust? hear the screams from over zealous parents in the stands? well, we sure do here bc it's varsity softball time, baby...and paige is a playing!! based on the look on her face, i'm going with her loving it... we're so proud of her...she's such a great kid on and off the field. what a slapper!! woo hoooo! {{look close at the ball behind the 3rd baseman...and the score from 3rd}} way to go, paige...good kid. wow...now there's only 3 more! any chance that i can get all 4 girlies to be such great kids? i sure hope so! oh...and for those of you that don't know my friend, tabitha , from a 5 oh 4 uplifting , well you have to meet her. she's one of the most inspiring women in the world...someone that doesn't let the loss of an arm and leg and any thing else ever get in her way of showing and giving love. go see her interview HERE and then visit her blog HERE to help her make someone smile!

remember peeps...crack kills.

from a senior shoot i did last week...

a few things me and the fam DID NOT do this week... brooke DID NOT run yelling "jada bit me!!"  when we asked what they were doing, brooke DID NOT say, "playing a fun and simple game called 'you gotta run or the bee will sting you'." i bet you can NOT guess that brooke was the bee and tried to sting jada. sofia DID NOT turn her baby doll over in the car, butt up and spread eagle and say, "stinky yuck. baby made a nasty poo. stinky poo.  it's bad. it's bad." brooke DID NOT go to her first softball clinic for pitching and catching on friday night with the high school varisty team, including her big sis, paige.  when ryan went to pick brooke up, he noticed the girls were all huddled up with the coach listening.  he DID NOT see brooke on the sideline by the dug out spinning in circles and singing away. an entire gallon of freshly brewed ice tea DID NOT fall off the top shelf of the refrig (remembering i'm NOT 4'10") and spill fr...

it's the big 5 today for my 3rd girlie...miss jada. as you can see by the look on ryan's face, she was an early gift...but a really cute one! she was this little precious bundle of chocolate joy...sweet and cuddly.  a special little gift. so today, it's happy bday to jada...our 3rd little gift...our big 5 year old!  ...our one and only brown princess. {remember THIS post about how she couldn't be a princess bc she didn't have white skin?  well, NO more!} happy bday jada!!!

teach your children well...or let the old genes do it for you! all that because hubs gave sofia her very first cup of coffee...he says it's the same look i have in the morn when i get my first cup.  you totally can't prove it by me.

nana and papa are STILL i florida {stinking snow birds}...the girlies are really missing them.  ok, i am really missing them too.  but sofia has discovered a new technique...i call it the "talk on the phone and make faces at the picture" tactic.  seems to work for her... while chatting on the phone with nana and papa {or neee-naaaa and papppp--ooo in her case}, she sits at her little table, looks at the fam shot and chatters away. so when we get this face bc we miss nana... we do this...{do you love the diaper butt hanging out or what??!!} and then we get this... seems to work out fairly well, but there's nothing like a good spoiling in person from nana and papa...which comes very soon bc we're heading to florida!  woo hooo!

jon and meg came into town...and was it fun!!! and uncle ryan gave into the baby loving with rowan.  still not budging on the one more kid thing for us, though...even with this perfect 3 month old!! and the cousins had a blast together!  there was fun to spare.  jada and jack are 9 days apart... ...and finn and sofia are 10 days apart... the rest of us adults, the boys did some work on the car and me and meg did our normal "project" thing!  and if you wanna see what we did, well, you'll have to come back, because i'm still finishing up details, but it is awesome! there's green apple paint, thrift stores, hobby lobby and spray paint involved and a basement redecorate for under $50!!! by the way, did i mention how awesome it is to have fab fam?  love you jon and meg!

a few things me and the fam DID NOT do this last week... i have NOT been icky sicky for what seems like a month.  i DID NOT lay down to take a 30 minute nap and sleep 5 hours one afternoon.  only a lazy mother or a sick one would do that! sofia DID NOT sit on the potty and fart...then she DID NOT giggle and say ' funny sound'! she DID NOT proceed to pee for the first time on the potty with absolutely no training from me.  i am NOT the mother of the year for not doing any training! brooke DID NOT say to sofia in the car wash line while she was scared, 'every time u get scared, remember god is always with you.'  i DID NOT get a little teary thinking about how sweet that was. paige DID NOT play in her first varsity softball game...she DID NOT bat 1000 and we are NOT proud of her. jada DID NOT convince her teachers at school to do a half birthday celebration because she wanted the birthday crown for two weeks in a row. jon, meg, jack, finn, and rowan DID NOT c...

sometimes you just have to "go"...you know, like you can't wait!  if you have to go, well, you have to go!  the problem is, the natives run wild whilst i "go". so when i came downstairs to find this...i thought, uh oh. and then i heard screaming from the basement...this is NOT good.  so i head down to find utter destruction of the toy room in like 5 minutes flat! i call out to the girlies...all i hear is giggling.  i turn and i see this... ...which totally spells trouble. so i decided that in spite of my needing to potty, silly and crazy were at least having fun. well, when you gotta go, you gotta go.  at least there was no blood!! Hosted by Cecily

why yes...i am still here! i'm recovering from the icky sickies...and it has not been good. i am trying to function at normal capacity today...so blogging is ON!! i have the uber HATE for cords...i mean, i know we need them for powering things, but i can't stand how they look!  you can buy fairly expensive cord covers but if you are lucky like me and have a hubs that has a TON of cords, those don't even work. {aren't they just gorgeous? and don't you love how hubs put the bright orange tie cords on them to keep them tight together...such a nice touch, don't you think?} so me and my little head got to thinking...why not make one out of scrap material?  so that's what i did. how you ask? easy peasy...trust me! figure out 2 things, how wide of a cover you need and how long. width =size of the wires * 2, plus seam allowance of 1 inch length of fabric should be 1.5 or 2 times the length of your cords to be covered length. {i like the scrunchy look, so mine is...

a few things me and the fam DID NOT do the last  TWO weeks... sofia DID NOT find her inner self and streak in the front yard, giggling and screaming "i nakey-pony! naked butt! naked butt!" we DID NOT have lunch at applebee's on saturday starting with b sobbing bc of a missing DS game...it was NOT quickly followed by jada sobbing bc we all giggle when she raised her hand and ordered her entire meal in a very sweet, adult-like fashion. i DO NOT have the worst cold of the year...and i DO NOT feel like i want to crawl in a bed and sleep for a very long time. paige and i DID NOT get uber excited when we saw a beacon of hope on the horizon...a new payless store open in the neighborhood. hubs DID NOT fix the dash on the hooptie and i DO NOT have a gas gauge and a fuel gauge!!!  i DO NOT feel like i have a new car!! jon, meg, jack, finn, and rowan are here from colorado for a visit...and we are NOT thrilled to hangout and visit!  the girls DID NOT go out on a little boutiqu...

brooke was in the 3 piggy opera at school...ok, so all the kindergartners were in the opera, but she was def the best little piggy ever!! but a star must take their time...eat and relax...before their performance. and then there's the "outfit" that had to be chosen. one of the best things about brooke is that she tells a total story in her facial expressions...and that made for a great program, at least for us!  there was a lot of waving and giggling...and really, it was one of the funniest programs i've been to...and i'd like to think so bc of a fab little piggy named brooke. in case you didn't know...the 3 little piggies make it fine from the big, bad wolf...and go home every sunday night to have dinner and coffee with their moms after they moved out. have a great weekend!