More house pictures

Here are a few more pictures of the kids' rooms. I need some big rugs, but other than that, they're pretty much done.





Matt made the bed, armoire, and hanging letters in these pictures. Isn't he handy??





This is the Jeb Man's room.... It basically looks exactly the same as it did in the other house! Above is the picture that hangs outside his room. I have loved this picture since I was in high school, and now that I have a little boy, I love it even more. Now THIS is the kind of angel I'm talking about... not the creepy one outside in my yard.

House Pictures and Scariest Thing EVER

Ok. I have a few pictures tonight. Not many, but I can't bring myself to put up pictures of the rooms that aren't done. Like I said, it's a work in progress.

Our bedroom. I LOVE this room. It also has a sitting room attached where my computer and a big comfy chair sit.

Just another view because I love it so much.

This is questionable. I do NOT like the tile stuff on the fireplace, however, it isn't at the top of my list of "fix it" priorities. It will be taken care of sometime in the future. What were they thinking?

Just another living room shot. Actually you can't tell anything about the living room from this picture. Matt made me this armoire several years ago. I love it.

I'm insane over the tub. Matt is mounting our flatscreen on the wall in front of it. Heaven.

Just another bathroom shot. (Keep in mind we are re-doing all of the cabinets at some point.)

This is Matt trying to be funny. I MAY be a little obsessive with my new house. I re-did all the hardware pieces in the bathroom. (By the way, if you have anything that is ugly gold or silver, go to Lowe's and buy a can of Rubbed Oil Bronze spray paint. It's incredible. Cheap, easy fix.) Anyway, so I told Matt to please not hang his wet towels on my newly painted towel hook because it is "pretty" not "functional". Well, I hung my cover up on it this afternoon, and this is the note I found tonight. He's hysterical.

Ok, I feel I must warn you, IF YOU SCARE EASILY, PLEASE STOP READING AND LOOK AWAY NOW! If you know me well, you know I have "issues" with statue faces. I'm not talking Lincoln Memorial or old Civil War hero on the town square kind of statues. I mean like little garden elves or painted Santas and ESPECIALLY scary angel faces. Basically, anything that has a 'human-looking" face just completely freaks me out. So... imagine my reaction when I walk out in my new back yard to find that the previous owners had left us this...

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! You can't look away, can you? You must click on the picture to make it bigger and get the full effect. IS THIS NOT THE SCARIEST THING YOU'VE EVER SEEN? Those eyes! Like it's about to pounce on you! Not a sweet messenger of God. It's like it's just waiting on me to come outside so it can get me. The horror!

Bad Timing

I was all geared up to post some pictures of the house when my USB cable broke, so I have no way to move the pictures from my camera to the computer. Stink! I think I'll have a new one by tomorrow. Hopefully, anyway. It's definitely a work in progress, but things are shaping up and looking more like 'our home.' I finished the girls' and Jeb's room tonight. We still have a fence to put up, wainscoting to do in the dining room, and the cabinets to refinish... not necessarily in that order and not necessarily anytime soon (except for the fence). So, I promise, pictures are on their way.

Exhaustion and Thank You's.

I'm suffering from exhaustion. Exhaustion accompanied by toomanyboxestounpack-itis and toomanykidstogetanythingdone-aphobia. Despite these ailments, I wanted to do a quick post to say we are in our house. It's so awesome, and I'm completely in love with it. Not to mention SO grateful to have been blessed with it. Speaking of blessings, Matt and I have the most incredible friends and family EVER. We had a houseful of people show up to help us move and a ton more call and ask if there was anything they could do. I've had people come get my kids all week (you're the best, Sarah, Erin, and Sara) and people bringing food (Gigi, G-Pops, April, Steve, Robyn) and people painting (Gigi and Zach). And let's not forget the muscle men who braved the monsoon to get all my 'stuff' in the new house (AJ, Ross, Corey, Steve, Wade, Zach, Blake, Tyler, Ryan). (Oh, and Courtney, Ethan, and Annie who dropped by just to bring us a little housewarming gift. So sweet. AND a big shout out to Robyn, Claire, Erin, and Sara who sacrificed their husband and braved extra hours alone with their children while they helped us out. That's huge.) I hope we can return the favor to all of you very soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please know that Matt and I were overwhelmed and so very grateful. You rock.

Pictures to come....

Break

If you can't tell, I always have a camera somewhere close. Today we are packing again, and I've had a few photo opportunities that I had to take advantage of. If you studied with me in college, you would know that anytime I seriously write or study, I have to wear a do-rag. Yes, I'm well aware how ridiculous it is. In school we would say we were "keeping the brain cells in" and "distractions out." (Even more ridiculous.) Anyway, that ritual has extended into anytime I do anything "projecty" or somewhat "strenuous" indoors, of course, (ie paint or PACK MY ENTIRE HOUSE) I always tie one on. Again, stupid, I know. But today when I put one on, the whole family wanted to join in. I didn't get a shot of Drusy (who ran and hid) but I got Photo Queen Belle and the Jebster. It was a nice break for me. Short-lived, but nice. Back to packing...

Packing Stinks

End of packing, Day One. We're exhausted but progress was made. Here's a quick look.

View of half of our garage. Other half looks worse.

Instrument of Satan. Evil, evil contraption!!!!

A very, very tired husband

Who needs a sitter?

I was worried about packing an entire house with three kids. I shouldn't have been. Who needs a sitter when you've got boxes?

Heart Kitty Blasty

This, Everyone, is Heart Kitty Blasty. My girls always seem to come up with extremely unique names for their dolls, stuffed animals, etc.. In particular, Estella Dru has had some interesting ones lately. The most recent is Heart Kitty Blasty who was purchased for her by her sweet daddy in Florida. Now... Drusy has difficulty pronouncing certain sounds associated with letters. For instance, her k's and c's sound like t's, and she can't make the 'r' sound yet. So, when she goes through the house calling for "Heart Kitty" it sounds as though she is yelling "Hot" (Heart with no 'r') and instead of Kitty, remember she uses the 't' sound for her 'k's'. That's right. You should also know she takes him most places we go and introduces him to strangers. It's a miracle of God that no one has turned me in to the Department of Human Services. (It should be noted, that since last week's Pizza Hut incident, I have successfully remembered to exit the car with all my children in tow. Back off, DHS!)

Sight for Sore Eyes

Today

Today was a good day. A very typical Slaughterhouse day. We were so glad just to be chilling at home, although, I definitely don't need to be "chilling" with our moving date just a week away. (Yea, God!) But here's a little re-cap of some of my day's activities. (I know you're waiting with bated breath.)

Managed to get all these dishes into dishwasher. (And for those of you who really know me, that in itself is monumental.)

Everything, that is, except for this sippy cup lip who has now been laid to rest in the trashcan. Yep. That's mold.

Made a healthy lunch for my girls. This is Belle eating cheese puffs and ketchup. (...and all the mothers just gasped. They had peanut butter sandwiches and apples, too! And no she isn't naked. She's wearing shorts. My kids are sort of anti-clothes in the summer.)

Almost had a heart attack when I rounded the corner and saw this in the floor. I literally had to catch my breath. Even after I realized it was just a doll, it still freaked me out. Maybe it was the bunny.

And finally... when Matt got home we ate dinner and went to Braum's for dessert. 'Stella insisted on wearing her flower girl halo inside. It was a good day.

Wedding Weekend

This weekend was a whirlwind of wedding festivities for our sweet cousin, Suzy, and her fiance' (now husband) Aaron. Belle, Dru, and Lynlee were little flower girls, and did a great job--we were all a little nervous about everyone actually making it down the aisle, but they did! The wedding was at the little glass chapel in Bella Vista and was just beautiful. Afterwards, the reception was at the Embassy Suites in Rogers where my girls transformed into miniature dancing queens. Seriously, they never left the dance floor, and I hate to say, at least one has her daddy's rhythm... not good.

Girls with beautiful Suzy.


Precious little flower girls.

I love this one... the little girls watching Suzy and Aaron's first dance.

Daddy and Dru burning up the dance floor.

Baby Jeb at the wedding.

Got Baby?

Who could forget a face like this?

Short answer. Me. And Matt. And the girls. That's right. Tonight we all went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We walk in, got seated, and suddenly realize... ummm, aren't we missing someone? Oh yes... Jeb was still in his carseat in the Jeep. Matt ran to get him and said he was happy as can be playing with his toys. I was mortified. But let it be known that this is my THIRD child and my FIRST time to actually forget a baby. I don't think he's holding a grudge. That kid will forgive anything for a bottle. (Above is an actual picture immediately following the incident. He looks like he has a forgiving spirit, don't you think?)

Prayers for Grandpa

I am incredibly frustrated tonight. No, I’m very upset—sad, mad... sad. And yes, I realize that it’s not a good idea to blog when I’m emotional, but if I don’t get this out, I may literally explode. I will not go into details because that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I will say that over the past few months my Grandpa (my adoptive father for those who don’t know) has found himself in the middle of a battle that isn’t his. It involves his sister, my sweet great-aunt who has endured more in the past several years of her life than anyone ever should have to. (I fully believe that God’s plan is perfect, but in my great-aunt’s case, I have to ask, “Why her, Lord?”) In Grandpa’s sincere efforts to take care of his sister, he has found himself in great disfavor with others who disagree with him on the proper way to handle her affairs. And that’s ok. We are all entitled to our opinions, and in this particular situation, emotions run high. That others disagree with Grandpa is understandable… thoroughly acceptable. What is not acceptable, however, is when certain individuals who are a great deal younger than him, call and verbally mistreat him.

Here’s the thing…. There is something that people seem to forget that absolutely astounds me. It’s something called respect, and it’s what you extend to your elders. It is never acceptable to speak unkindly or disrespectfully to an elder, especially a lonely, 86 year old man who sits in his house day after day missing his precious wife who went to Heaven 3 years ago and who is a GOOD MAN—that is worth repeating—a GOOD MAN who only wants to do what is right. Whether he is right or wrong in his endeavors is irrelevant. At 86, I'd say he has earned his right to an opinion. To put it as simply as possible—it’s just wrong—inappropriate, sinful, wicked, bad bad WRONG. In Leviticus 19:32, it says, “Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.” There’s no addendum that says, “…unless they do something you disagree with. At that point, you may speak to them as brazenly as you choose.”

Bottom line. I love my Grandpa. I would do anything to protect him, to make him happy. But I can’t make someone do the right thing. I can’t make someone who should know better, act better. I can only pray for them and pray for Grandpa’s protection until this storm blows away. And it is such a storm. And I can ask you… If you happen to read this post, please pray for Grandpa. Pray for his protection, for strength and courage, and most of all for his peace. He protected me all my life. It’s the least I can do to covet your prayers for him.

"How far you go in life," George Washington Carver taught, "depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life, you will have been all of these."

Zach and Josh are SO cool...

http://www.betweensundays.com/

Undeserving

I've been going through some pictures tonight and have come to the sad realization that my baby girls aren't baby girls anymore. Even sadder... I will blink and Jeb will be starting kindergarten just like Belle will be doing next month. Where in the world did the time go? So, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

First, Ava Isabelle

About 6 months at Arkansas Tech campus

8 months at Memaw and Pawpaw's

3 years old in Siloam

Finally, Estella Dru

8 months in Pawpaw's field

At 1 year in Siloam

2 years old, again in Siloam

And my fav of them together...


I am aware every single day that I am completely undeserving of the miracles of my life, but so profoundly thankful that God somehow saw it fitting to make me Mommy to these precious little girls. Amazing.

Happy Birthday, Lynlee and Slobber Game

Today is our sweet niece, Lynlee's, 2nd birthday. It seems like she was born just yesterday. Here are some pictures of Belle and Dru with her after her grand debut and also a recent one. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOP! We love you, Smart Girl!




On a different note, we played the slobber game this morning just like we do every morning, and just like every morning, I laugh till it hurts. The rules are simple. The girls lay on either side of me on the bed and cannot move. (Even a slight move can mean disqualification.) I hold Jeb in the airplane position and move him from side to side over everyone very slowly. Whoever the slobber drips on is the loser. And since I'm the one actually holding the slobberer, I almost never lose. It is hilarious, and the girls actually ask to play every morning. This morning I gave Belle the camera and asked her to take his picture from her perspective. If you'll look closely at the first one, you can actually see the slobber falling. Gross, yes, but SO much fun.

Picnic and Pictures

The girls and Jeb and I went to the park today during our home appraisal. We had to be out of the house for an hour, so I used the opportunity to try and get a few more good pictures. We did much better today. We ate McDonalds first, and then I threatened them with keeping their Happy Meal toys unless they cooperated. Nothing like a threat. Here are some of the better ones.

I'll let you guess what drink belongs with who.

Belle loves her some Happy Meal.

Stella with a cheek full of chicken nugget. (P.S. She dips her nuggets and fries in caramel dip. I can't even watch.)



Happy Sisters.

And last but not least... the Jebster, who, I might add was extremely uncooperative and cared nothing for Happy Meal toys. My threat was lost on him.