In spite of all the sickness swirling around in our house we managed to have a wonderful weekend. We dyed eggs and Austyn drew photos of me and Makenna…..



McCall tried to eat everything in site including hard boiled eggs……

The little girls hunted eggs until Savanah figured out that some were full of chocolate…..








Makenna was not impressed that she had to get a ladder to get her basket down

More of the little mister….


the little girls loved their new glasses…… so cute!!!!

We missed everyone in California and wish we could have been there…. We love you all!!!!

Needless to say I spent the last week in bed with a bad case of pneumonia…. yuck.. I felt a bit like I was in hibernation. The little girls were busy destroying the house… and mr McCall finally sprouted a tooth!!!!! Most everybody has a runny nose here now and we are just hoping for a sick free Easter! (fingers crossed)
He really didnt want to show off his tooth for anyone to see….

nope not even when I promised him a treat….

He is STUBBORN….. geesh I shouldnt have expected anything less right?

Comeon little man…….please………



O and he is on the move….. so much so that he crawled into the woodstove…….. (we promptly declared it spring and removed it from the house…..)

back to the tooth at hand…. I finally I mean FINALLY got him to show off his little chomper…. isnt it cute?

I promise to catch up on sneek peeks this week…. promise…. when my kids stop whining and I stop coughing……

Jerid took the kids this Saturday morning so I could sleep… after a night of restless toddlers I needed it. We worked on the yard the rest of the day and made some good progress…. I am getting sooooooooo ready for spring!!!!! I am ready to garden I am ready for green grass… I am ready for warm nights.
Our kitchen is making progress……….slow albeit……..but progress…….


I finally found my Metropolis sign……………teehee

We went to donkey basketball this weekend……….McCall was in his true drooling/teething form……….



Austyn keeps asking why he is spitting ………its pretty funny.
One of me and my love………..my how he melts my heart. Even when I am mad at him he still seems to make me smile

and the little mister love……


When Jerid took the kids for a drive Saturday morning he took them out by Sand Mountain……..a place where people take their four wheelers and dirt bikes……I guess there was a big climb that he drove up to and Makenna was begging him to go up it. When he finally gave in and said ok Bee…………lets go she said ok dad…………I have two things to say first……..
I love you
and……
sometimes I use your toothbrush.

When he told me the story I nearly died. Here she thought they were going to do something dangerous…….something that may end their lives and that was her parting words….
I love you and sometimes I use your toothbrush…………

gosh I love her…

on that note……she wrote a poem for school this week about where she was from. I am so amazed and so in awe of her talent… she is amazing that girl….

where I’m from
I am from camomile and cloth diapers.
I’m from the late 90’s
from friendship chains and friends.
I’m from chaos and confusion and the promise.

I am from horses,
from riding horses to getting thrown off.
I am from hay from my head to my toes
and long rides with my dad.

I am from Kelly and Jerid,
and Steve and Debbie.
I am from basketball with grandpa (bapa),
and from helping him get olives.

I am from popcorn until my belly hurts.
from moms homemade pork-chops,
mashed potatoes and gravy.
I am from noodles of every shape and size.

I am from excursions to an
old ford, and a rusty Chevy
my mom learned to drive in.
I am from dirt roads and one stop
light towns.

I am from daffodils and sage brush,
and sunsets that never end.
from roses six generations deep,
and a land that knows my name.

I’m from lime green and hot pink
from blue and from brown.
from the colors of the rainbow.

I’m from liking to be the oldest to not,
from never being alone.
I’m from crying and streaking babies and
from Dora and Diego on the T.V. all the time.

I am from sharing a room with
my brother Mason and fighting over
who gets what part of the room.
I’m also from bunk beds.

I am from swimming
from sun up to sun down.
Water chasing memories…

I am from the nicknames
Sunny Bunny, Honey Bunny
Bee, Beetle, and Bee Bop.

I’m from bike rides to
Camp Richardson, and
running from geese on the beach.
from fire works over the freezing lake.

I am from moving and becoming more…
from fresh paint and a new address and
belonging.
I’m from a new way, a new thinking, a new reality…
i am from change.

I am from freckles, and
dimples, and hair of blonde.

That is what I’m from

I couldn’t love her more!!!!!!!!

Im off to bed… but if you live in Holden and you are missing a sweet sweet little black male dog he is at our house…….and if you dont come for him soon my kids just may fall in love. (ok me too)

On to another week… packed full of kids and excitement I am sure….
I love you……….and sometimes I use your toothbrush………..

what would you say in that moment? What would your last words be?

think about it

My o my Karlee do you know how much we all love you? Do you know how proud we are of you, how much potential that your little body possesses? We love to watch you dance, to see you soar and can only hope that the years ahead bring much of this……

I already know that they will…………….

You realize how amazing you are right? You realize that you deserve nothing but the best….You realize that you are one of a kind…
I hope you do and if you have questions………….
call me…
or send me some crazy text all in your lingo………
and I will remind you…
that you…………..yes YOU………are ONE of a kind………..
and that we all
think you are amazing………..
and we are all
sooooooooo
proud.

Today was hard……in that……omygosh if I hear one more whine or tattle I may lose it. The kind of day that by 10pm I have a headache and a neckache and am just well… done. Sometimes I wonder why it is that kids fight so much… attention? age? bored? tired? sick? all? Sometimes I just think they have one of those days…
So here is to tomorrow, to a new day. A better day.
And here is to a complete photo overload of my kiddos…

The little mister…….




Guess who dresses Savanah…..


Austyn must have the same stylist!!! Gotta love the cute dress with the belt/tights/slipper combo………………

The biggins……



And some of us all (my mom included!!!)

and my o my………what a big family you have

time for bed… and sleep… and good dreams and happy thoughts…….
until tomorrow

night

I remember her………….my oldest of them all…. her little blonde piggies flying in the wind. Her. Pedaling furiously……no cares no worries…..no friend troubles no boy problems. It seems like so many years ago and yesterday all wrapped up in one. Time flys…. all at its own pace and often stops to tap you on the shoulder to say hello………. My biggins were teaching the little ones to ride their bikes this week and it was at the least surreal. The big kids with their assurance………. yelling to the little ones….pedal pedal pedal………….. YOU CAN DO IT……….. the encouragement, the bliss, the joy………… the pride.





Unglamorous but perfectly us………..

I see them and watch them change by the day.. by the moment by the hour and I am amazed……..they are so crazy, so busy, so much…. and I cant imagine anything different……….. Somedays I want to run away, honest I do. But I was meant for this and them for me.

We are all on this wild ride………..yes all of us, even you. This thing we call life.. this big lesson that we must not fail at… this big journey.
I see them all and I am amazed and humbled and in awe…….this is a big job I have been given…….this is a big responsibility that I must uphold.. the whole thing the life, the love, the kids, the husband……….
i must remember to sneak in sleep and good food and laughter………..

the moments they are fleeting……and pass so quickly from our hands… from our minds.. from our memories………what will next week bring.. next year?

I am trying to get over my crooked smile, my photographed self, my insecurities that I cant hide. I am trying to look past what I see………… I am trying to get over it…….because really in the end…….
i want lots of photos of me with them………..

even if they do include a rather crooked smile…….

as i ripped up old kitchen tiles tonight Jerid said……..towanda…..and i laughed so hard i nearly cried……….
towanda for sure……… we are making progress albeit slow….its progress…….someday my kitchen will be done. Someday I will not be looking for panko breadcrumbs in the bedroom and my dishes will be where they belong….someday. Until then we will live like gypsies and we wil giggle about the little things………..and i will kill time photographing some of my little loves……

Somebody has some style……



some beauty……..






and some cute…….



back to the tile ripping………and to the future of not only the kitchen…. the last few days have been eye opening to say the least……moving on……becoming friends with those who were old and are now new again……
life is funny.

towanda………

Proud probably just does not do it justice………..Spencer got his mission call today. Oklahoma will be so lucky!!! We will all be just so proud. His mom is amazing……the salt of the earth.. and a main reason that we stay in this place we call Metropolis…….

we love you all.. thank you for letting us join in your joy.

yep… it all started with a cabinet that was leaning a bit…… you see our house is about 150 years old..everything leans.. nothing is straight… the walls are old adobe brick.. the doors have transoms… i adore it in all is odd wonder. Sometimes I wish it wasnt here in Metropolis… ok most of the time I wish that, but I love it nonetheless.

So… J took down the two cabinets above the stove and I figured if he was going to take those out he might as well take the two next to the stove out…… and then it was the wall.. and the other wall and then the ceiling above it…. then the cabinets above the sink and then all the walls in the kitchen… all 7 layers…. paint, paneling, wallpaper, wallpaper that looked like paneling (huh what) and more paint… then adobe brick…… lets just say…. its quite a mess. Quite a mess is really an understatement.

He looks so happy right?

Did I mention a mess?

I did find this that I loved and J hated…….

In the midst of it all… Austyn was busy dressing herself… who needs pants when you are this cute?

McCall was busy showing me where his teeth will go if he ever gets any

Savanah was helping out…….

The big kids were no where to be found………..smart kids!!!!

We are making progress…… I wore the baby on my back most of the weekend while we took down the old roofing tiles….. it was quite a site… I will spare you that photo

We did manage to get the new sheetrock up on the ceiling and hopefully the cabinet man will be here tomorrow to give us an estimate……………….my o my what a mess we created… it is interesting to live in it all.

life is funny like that…..layers……and layers and layers……… and lots of hard work to get thru them. I look forward to this project when it is done………. I look forward to moving ahead…. to the clean slate.. or the clean kitchen… whichever might come first.

4 years……….. 4 long short years. Time that we have borrowed and sold.. time that we have forgotten and begged for. Time. It was him… he started it all.. lets blame him.. lets thank him….

Its funny how you can be so sure of your place in the world and so wrong all at once. So satisfied and yet so alone. I dont tell him enough but he should know…
you completed me……
you won me …
you hung the moon…
you were right…
yes you tricked me into saying it….
but i meant it then and i still mean it now.

i love you.
and thank you.

you.. silly silly you… the best dad I could ever ask for… you are amazing and you make me giggle and you make me thankful….. so happy happy day J……..

Ive been busy busy here lately…. working on my quilt for YCMT I think I am making more of a mess than a quilt but here is my progress…………

and I am working on a One Word project thru Shutter Sisters and I have chosen the word “Cusp” here are some of my recent entries…

Austyn has been busy with tumbling which she loves….. and Savanah has been looking for two of the same shoes ………….

More of Miss A……….

getting ready for her class and telling Hank a story…………

Miss Bee & her cousin………

Mason is busy with a play in California that we hope to see in April and he will be here next month we cant wait…. his little brother sure misses him…..
he is spending his time teething……..

practicing being a cowboy…………..

and trying to escape………..

I think I am caught up…………maybe……….