happy birthday my love~

a mere 5 years ago today this amazing redhead came into our lives and we haven't been the same since!

for today is my joey's birthday....

oh how i love her.

i could go on and on about this one.

so if you don't mind, i will {for just a second}

let me see....

she can add and subtract {in her head and without her fingers}
write anything and everything under the sun
sound out words and write them down
send email
send text
do amazing hair do's
run the direct tv remote
entertain herself for hours on end
make a pretty awesome pb & j sandwich
loves her sisters like no other
loves her mom and dad more
love to play with chuck and trixie
loves home more than anywhere else on earth
she is:
shy
super smart
bossy
redheaded
5 going on 15
so ready for kindergarten
ready for school to end and start
loves her life

as a mother who loves her children dearly, i could go on and on, but hey, you don't have that much free time on your hands.

so thanks for giving me a second or two of your time...

until then, josie says "rock on"!

justin and jacob

justin above her bed

jacob at the foot of her bed

trying it out...

ahh.. heaven!


first of all- i'm sorry i've been such a bad blogger lately. do i even still have any followers?

hello, is this thing on? anyone out there?

okay, back to the business at hand-

i would like you to meet josie's men.....justin and jacob!

so, is it bad that my almost 5 year old buys herself a justin bieber poster at the store and asks me to hang it on the ceiling?

let's not even mention the flag flying on the wall that says "women who behave, rarely make history"!

ha ha ha ha

we are such bad parents!

nah, we just have kids who know what they like,

and it happens to be two really cute boys.

can't say i blame her on the one. {justin}

i've been known to listen to his cd's in the car.. even when i am alone.

i'm a big girl i can admit it :)!

don't look too close to joey's room as it is about to go thru an overhaul in the next week or so...

i'll keep ya posted.

just imagine poka dots, hearts and butterflies-

and jacob and justin, of course!

we have rock!!!

i am so excited i can hardly contain myself!

we have rock on our pillars

and some paint on the house!

mark will make some "top caps" for the rock this weekend

and we are hoping to finish painting the house this weekend too!

i must tell you, i'm in love!

progress!

hard to believe but we have actually made some progress around here! the porch is painted and done, well almost.

the rock guy will be here on tuesday to rock the pillars.

and i need to finish painting above the door.

but, the porch part is done, caulked, painted and adorned with it's very own copper star!

ahhhh, it's sort starting to feel like home.

for today is...

a much, much better day.

so sorry for the woe is me post yesterday, damn hormones!

after some much needed outside time {i cleaned up the garden beds, ready to plant some carrots now},

my attitude was much, much better.

i made up my mind to "not sweat the small stuff" and realize that this is life, my life to be exact.

i've made this bed of mine, {so spoiling the peeps in my house} and now i must lay in it.

to reflect, i live a pretty darn good life, heck, i live a fabulous life.

my girls are great. they make straight A's. they are respectful, responsible and thoughtful {to one another and strangers on the street}.

my husband is wonderful. working ever so hard so i can do my job as a stay at home mom {even though i have days like yesterday, where i would love to find another line of work}. he is a great provider. father. husband. friend.

and i have wonderful friends who say just the right things at just the right time.

and as much as i mumble and complain, i wouldn't trade my life for anything.

we have:
food in our house
a roof over our heads
clothes on our backs
money in the bank
material objects too long to list

but most importantly, we have love and one another. and at the end of the day, when everyone is tired from their own day {be it good or bad} isn't that all you really need?

yeah and maybe a public blog to complain to and have amazing people you know and some you don't lend a voice of support at just the right time. so, thank you to all of you for your sweet words and encouraging thoughts, it means more to me than you even know.

so happy day {or evening} to you.

and i promise, i'll try not to be grumpy again for awhile....

ever just wanna....

give up?

ever want to just run screaming for the hills and never look back?

that is where i am today. and to be honest i was yesterday. and the day before.

i know i am not normally like this. sad. depressed. emotional. tear filled.

but i feel like i am ready to scream.

maybe it's the fact that i-

have an emotional 13 year old in the house.

and a 9 year old with an attitude in the house.

and let's be honest, a 4 year old who think she runs the place, in the house.

that somehow i have managed to gain 8 pounds.

that the list of "to do's" is so long, i see no end in sight.

a husband who is super busy at work and even busier at home with school.

i hate feeling and acting this way, it's just not me.

i hate that i want to cry at this very moment, in fact there are tears rolling down my face.

i hate that i can't appreciate that fact that i have really, really good girls, yet find fault in all sorts of things they do.

i hate finding messes in each and every room in this house.

i hate that when i say anything to said 13 year old, i am a jerk and picking on her.

i hate that my 9 year old comes up the stairs every single morning with a crappy attitude.

i hate that i feel fat has can be, yet have no motivation to do anything about it.

i love that i ran this weekend and loved how i felt, then monday comes and all hell breaks loose.

and this puts me to where i am at right now..

i just don't have the motivation to want to do anything, at all.

to be honest i just want to throw my hands up, curl up in a ball and cry my ever loving eyes out.

is that an option?

NO.

totally not the type of person i am.

i am however sick and tired of being made to feel like,
a door mat,
jerk,
mean mother,
yeller,
screamer,
rule enforcer,
time manager,
mess cleaner,
butt wiper,
taxi,
maid,
dish doer,
let's be honest, this list for me today could go on and on and on.

i won't make you suffer thru my complaining any longer....

sorry for such a yucky post. felt like maybe saying these things "out loud" would make a difference.

guess i just need to pull my big girl panties up and get on with life.

because sitting her crying over it isn't going to change a single thing.

it's life and as much as i complain about it, i'm thankful for it.

just sometimes, i wish it wasn't so damn overwhelming!

enough said.

sunrise....sunset

first of all i know what you are thinking...

two post in one day? how can this be?

first she goes forever with none, then a couple here and there and now, two in one day?

well, aren't you so lucky?

actually, i have 2.2 seconds to myself so i thought i would actually sit down and upload some pictures.

{as i sit here jordan is yelling at me from the downstairs to come and help her color her project, ignore her- she will stop, eventually}

okay, back to the subject of this post-

this was the sunrise on friday and the sunset that very same evening.

what a gift.

a new day begins.

a day ends.

start. finish.

new. old.

pink. orange.

awesome. great.

so thankful for the vision to see, feel and appreciate the start AND end to each and everyday.

may you find the joy in the beginning. middle. and end of each day.

updates

just a few updates to the ongoing saga of our house redo.

on saturday mark and i hand, {yes you read that correctly}, hand dug out the flowerbed on the right {and left side too} and moved our beloved crap apple to the other side of the yard.

it {that side of the yard}had told us it was feeling really left out of the remodel and needed some attention.

we moved a load of heavy rocks and tried our hardest to clean up the yard.

we are unsure what we are going to do in the now empty bed on the right, but at least it looks better than before.

oh yeah, mark had the concrete guys come over today to give us a quote on doing a matching arch on the left side of the yard.....

and the price was right.

so, just when i thought i was home free of more concrete, mark jumps in and commits to more..

oh well. i'll survive because the end result will rock.. i promise!

and i almost forgot- the mason guy will be here next week to rock our pillars in the front.

i'll start drinking now!

happy easter

Happy Easter to you and yours.

May you have a wonderful, sunny, loved and blessed day.

just a few....

these are not from today, but i must tell you that today is the first time in almost a week a took a picture.

what is wrong with me?

did i forget i have a camera?

did i forget i have a small obsession with taking pictures?

i don't know why i've been so neglectful of my addiction or why i've been so mean to this blog lately.

i'll work on it first thing..... tomorrow. {ha}

we are constantly working around here although it seems as NO progress is EVER made.

it is very frustrating and irritating.

i'm not a "unfinished" project kinda girl and all these unfinished projects are driving me loco!

it's pouring rain here today {my wish after i fertilized yesterday} so i can't complain, but i'm hoping it's gone by tomorrow, so we can do some work around the house....

until then, i leave you with a couple of captures from my beloved nikon.

a sunset the other night and our nectarine tree {which i don't have the heart to prune}.

happy friday to you and yours....