PRO!

I have officially become a pro at taking in the waist of my pants/shorts. I think I sewed 5-7 pairs yesterday! It works. with a shirt untucked, you can't even tell. Ya'lls comments were hillarious! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has problems shopping...so if clothes don't fit us, who in the world are they made for? If you find a brand that fits real women, please pass it on!!! Have a safe, dry weekend.
Bryson officially took his first TAKS test. He came in the first day and said "Mom I smoked it!" meaning he did great. Please keep in mind that this is the same kid who during last summer was in tears, literally in tears, about going into 3rd grade bc of the TAKS test! Keldyn, had a field trip today to Jefferson to ride the train. David and I couldn't go bc of TAKS and driving another field trip, so Pappy stepped up!!! hope their having fun.

Shopping!

I made the mistake of taking my 3 kids shopping with me yesterday. My mission, khaki shorts. Old navy was having a sale on theirs so I thought perfect! I love hanging out with my babies but when shopping they are honest, brutally honest. The boys especially! So I try not to take them with me when I can. Anyway, after nothing, and I do mean nothing, we left empty handed. Once we got into the car I said "why is it that when clothes don't fit, we think something is wrong with our bodies...heaven forbid it should be the clothes that are messed up." The kids agreed. Then the next store, I took Rielyn in with me to try some shorts on...again. and in frustration I said "Why don't they fit!" to which Rileyn replied...mom - your body's messed up! I stopped being frustrated and ventured on to the next store in which i was successful. I have beocme handy at sewing up the waist of pants. It is very difficult to dress a size 4 waist but a size 6/8 butt and thighs! (working on not being insecure about that)
on a side note - David caught this fish monday night...he was so pumped! Biggest one he's EVER caught on our lake! Then, Tiff and Marla went walking and Jayden wanted to stay with us so he did. They decided to watch a movie - it's pretty neat when the little ones start growing up and can hang out with the big kids!

See ya later Insecurity!

We made it back! We had a good time; besides Sarah bing the WORST hostess EVER! Just kidding - Charlie did do a good job though! Great breakfast of eggs, biscuits and sausage! Thanks Charlie! I'm attaching a few photos of other things that have gone on this spring, just random pics of the family! The main point I got from this weekend was that by us being insecure (about anything) is basically saying to God, i don't believe you are who you say you are and that you didn't really create me the way I was meant to be! Boy is that a slap in the face or what? Makes me re-evaluate ALOT of things! We had a blast and need to do girl trips more often!
The one picture of Keldyn on the couch is how I found him one morning, after I'd already gotten him up and what I thought was ready for school!

Tuesday night we went and saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid...it was cute, no oscars or anything but cute...whatever it is about those books, it has Bryson's interest. He reads them in about a day...he's very smart...at school there is a waiting list to check out the books, well Bryson outsmarted the system...he trades books with whichever kid has the book he wants, so he doesn't wait on the list, the list is meaningless to him...in essence, he cuts in line. Smart little booger!
Rielyn is having a rough week, after the whole crossing the road incident, she took it upon herself to tell a mom that her daughter was NOT invited to another girls bday party. She was being down right tacky and mean (the girl actually WAS invited to the party)
I have agreed to run a 5K with Tiffany June 5 at the Ally Fest. What in the world have I gotten myself into. I've always said before i'm 35 i want to run a marathon, maybe this is the start. I don't know how i'm going to do this and not be competetive! i'm going to be sooo mad if i don't win.
We, me and the other two sisters, are going to Sarah's for a Beth Moore conference.. Should be good, can't wait to drive Charlie CRAZY!!!

Oh Boy!

Rielyn is going to wear me out...I have two stories about her today...yesterday morning she came in while I was getting ready in the bathroom and said "Mommy, Daddy just changed my channel (TV)" to which I resonded "well, daddy's can do that" R "and mommy's too" Me "well not really, bc Daddy changes my channels too." To which she said, "Well, Colby won't want to watch tv so i'm not worried" Apparently she is going to marry one of our coaches kids - Colby - who is in kindergarten. She has said from about the first month of knowing him that she was going to marry him. Won't that be funny if they do!

Yesterday afternoon, we were eating a snack after school and she looked out side and saw our neighbor Dub and his great grand-daughter playing baseball in Dub's yard...Dub lives across the street. She asked if she could go over there and i said no. plan, simple, no. The next thing i know i see her in Dub's yard playing baseball. Needless to say, she was quickly retrieved and was spanked. I asked her what would have happened if a car had been coming and she said she'd been smushed like a pancake and started crying. She said she "forgot" that i'd said no. ARGH!!!

Bryson and Keldyn returned from College Station safely. They went with one of our coaches and his two boys to the A&M/Texas baseball game Sunday... they had a blast, except Keldyn ran into a metal bar Saturday morning and now he looks a little like a klingon (SP?)
Still going off the WE WIN attitude!

We Win!

This is totally taken from my book "when wallflowers dance" so I am not taking any of the credit....I really needed this lesson, it was actually meant for last Friday but somehow I missed it, so I got it today and it totally hit me. When the things of this world get you down, I've been down a lot lately, just remember one thing..."WE WIN! At the end, we win, The victory belongs to God. Evil will be punished. Righteousness will be rewarded. Every knee will bow before the king of heaven and Earth. Bitterness fades in the bright light of celebration. Let me give forgivenss. Let me give mercy. Let me give joy. Make me a radiant woman . A woman who dances in your arms. A woman who is wrapped in your glory. A woman who is learning to lay down her very life so that you might be glorified in mine!"
The book of Revelation basically says one thing....when it all comes to an end...WE WIN! How awesome is that!!!! None of the struggles really matter, none of the drama really has an affect, all becasue the battle has already been fought, Satan has already been defeated, the price has already been paid!!! WE WIN!

DUH!

Miss Rileyn picks up everything she hears...good and bad. We had to have a little conversation the other day about how saying DUH! to people was not nice. She actually said it to me and I got onto her about talking ugly to me. She said what does it mean? I told her it meant that you thought the other person was stupid. She didn't even realize it! She also was asking me about going to a party and I told her probably, to which she replied...I want you to say yes! not probably. She is a mess!

Funny story about David - well funny to me and anyone else who doesn't fish like its going out of style...He was telling me how he and his fishing partner ordered baby blue hoodies. I thought ok - not wierd - they fish tournaments only natural that they'd want to match and look like a team - the rest of his comment is what had me on the ground rolling....he said they ordered baby blue so that it would match the sky so that when the fish looked up they wouldn't see them! I can't remember the last time I saw a fish looking up out of the water! Funny to me - not so much to him...he wasn't too happy that I was on the ground laughing! I love him! He cracks me up! Have a great weekend...maybe that could go on Big Mama's fashion friday blog!HEHE

We Choose Tulips & Roses

Ok - I'm taking a bit off Rhonda - while reading my wallflower book, that is the next thing we are going to be discussing - I choose. This concept is really big...becasue in essence we all choose everything....there's nothing that just happens to us (with the exception of health issues maybe and even that can be questionable) You choose your career, you choose who to marry, you choose to have goals or not, etc, etc. David actually used this saying with his bball boys this year and even had bracelets made...ND Hoops... I Choose...his thing was you choose not to do homework, you choose to misbehave in class, you choose to not work hard in practice, you choose to have a bad attitude. The same goes for our lives as well.... I choose to get frustrated or stressed out, I choose to not do housework and then stress when my house is a hot mess, I choose to take walks with my kids and then are frustrated when they don't get into bed until 9:00....I choose to be shy and be a wallflower...my excuse, that's just how I am, its the way I've always been....like I said excuse...I personally struggle however when I have to be one way in order to get results for my job and am torn with the contradiciton of how I should be in my walk with God....there are days when I'm not nice and I have to rip girls and not allow them to settle for less, or half-way doing something. God did not call us to be good, he calls us to be GREAT. Good is the enemy of GREAT! Are we all called to be polite, gentle and ladylike all the time? (like a tupilp?) or is it ok that I have thorns and sometimes those thorns prick people the wrong way! I am aware of the things I choose - and want to make better choices - it is hard when I have soooo many "hats" that I have to wear in order to function in my life! (please don't misinterpret this as me saying my life is hard...its not...by any means...i am so amazingly blessed its ridiculous!)

you can't take the country out of the girl!

We had an amazing afternoon yesterday. The boys were dying to swim in the lake so we let them. It only took about 5 minutes though before they were freezing...can't wait until we can actually swim and play without getting frost bite:) Me and the kids spent time in the sprinklers, playing with our lone duck (yes he's still alive...he sleeps in the garage every night - mission complete...so far) Keldyn and I went for a run and then we watched the princess and the frog. We were having so much fun that Keldyn and I both forgot he had homework - oops - he did get up and finished it this morning with little to no complaining! While we were playing in the sprinklers, Rielyn had to pee...she was already soaking wet so I told her to just pee...she looked at me like I was crazy and said but mom my pants will get wet!! Needless to say, she ended up striping half naked and pee-ed in my flower bed (there's no flowers just leaves in it) It was hilarious...I have to remind myself that we don't live in the country and that more than likely my 80+ year old neighbor saw the whole thing!!! David is eatin up with the fishing bug so he won't be mentioned much:):)!Rielyn's arm is doing great, bruising and swelling are both gone and she's back to normal...
Funny story...we were sitting in church and the preacher mentioned something about Jerusalem (SP??) and Rielyn in the only not so whisper voice she has asked me "is Jerusalem real? and I said yes and she smiled really big and said "i want to go there!" that is her thing right now, if things (places and people) are real (Taylor Swift, Toby Mac, Hannah Montana, the backyarigans, ETC) she's a nut.

have a blessed week - love to all!

Mission: Save the duck!

Tragedy again last night!!! we totally covered the cage, but somehow our predator found its way through and captured one of the two remainind. so now we are down to one. Bryson came in from checking this morning if they survived the night and he came back in saying "one left and a bunch of guts!" they are taking it surprisingly well, i am beginning to think they are fascinated with the guts part of it. We are going to do our best to save the one remaining duck. it will be easy to name this one! Mission: Save the Duck -he or she will be sleeping in the garage for a while.

And Then there were two

ok - so the baby ducks haven't made it. Started out with 6. let them sleep in the garage a couple of nights until the smell got too bad. Put them outside with a blanket over the cage hopefully preventing predators from getting them. Night 1 - Success. Night 2 - not so much. There are only two remaining. We went out this morning and it looked like a scene from the Alamo. Blood was everywhere and there were ducks remains in the yard. Maybe a raccoon, or an otter are the culprits. Not sure, but were down to two again.

Rielyn is doing great. She was fine yesterday afternoon, back to her normal , wild and rambunctious self. thanks for the prayers.

My baby's arm

Here's Rielyn's arm. we still don't think its broken but it doesn't look nice. I'm very proud of her, she's being very tough!

Easter & Rielyn

We had a great Easter weekend. Friday we got out of school early so we came home and worked in the yard, then fried some fish David had caught. No offense David Beard, but my David's got you beat!! I'll take his anyday of the week. On Saturday, David went fishing with our baseball coach and me and the kids cleaned house. We opened up all the windows and screen doors bc it was SO beautiful outside. Downside, at about 4:00 after a day of cleaning, I looked out across my living room and there was a small layer of green pollen EVERYWHERE! It took 3 swiffer pads to get it cleaned up and I had to redust all the furniture. We had some friends over for dinner, David grilled chicken and steak, I made my famous cheesy potatoes and our guest brought bananna pudding for dessert. Afterwards, we made a fire in our fire pit and just sat outside visiting! Coach Newsom bought the kids ducks for Easter so we have 6 black baby ducks running around as well!!! They are super cute!
Sunday the kiddos got up and opened their baskets, we went to church and then came home and David grilled fajitas - they were sooo good. Then we hunted eggs and took a nap - what a day!!
Last night, Rielyn got her wrist caught in a gate at the softball game. It took off the top layer of skin and it is pretty swollen. It doesn't look broken but it still hurts. She got to sleep with her "Daddy" last night so that helped! Daddy's girl - he makes everything better for her!! We are doing great other than Rielyn's ordeal. Getting things ready for summer (camps- hosting and going - aau, summer leagues, etc) and finding time for a mini vaca!
And yes, I am getting a haircut - TODAY! That one pic of me and David doesn't even look like me. I did however grow my hair out much to everyones doubts from high school - don't like it but I did it!!:)

Being Feminine

Yesterday at church, I wore just regular dress pants with a purple top. Sleeveless, plain, nothing too fancy. One of the older women in our congregation said "Wow I like that shirt, it's so feminine just like you!" I almost fell over right then and there. I honestly don't know that feminine has EVER been used to describe me. When I got to the pew, I told David what had happened and he said "Does she not know that your a man!" I am 100% tomboy. I'd rather be outside in the dirt, mowing the grass then doing anything else. I actually even enjoyed shoveling the poop! Outside stuff is right up my ally. Even in high school playing basketball, I would've rather gone to a park and been outside than in a gym! It was just too funny!

Ok - so reading my wallflower book and a whole week study had nothing to do with me. It was about saying no and not doing too many things. The only things I do are for work and then what I do with my family. I don't take on other projects for other people and I don't mind saying no, so I felt like it was a waste.

Wishing I was at Toby Mac with my boys!

BLLLLAAAAHHH! Tonight is the Toby Mac concert in Tyler. I wish me and the boys could have gone. They LOVE TOby MAc. He rocks to them. My sister and coaching friend are there so I am hoping they are taking great pictures for us. His newest album is so good. Our favorites are 1, 4 and 8 (they love hearing TruDog rap/sing) Tonight and City on our Knees are great songs. Hope you guys are having fun!!!