Family Picture Time

School here starts on Wednesday.  We're all ready and not ready all at the same time, which I know makes sense to all of you.


Jake needs to take a framed family picture along with him to pre-k so a friend snapped one for us, on our front steps, a few minutes before church started.  Because we're fancy like that.


Since everyone is looking at the camera, we call that success.

The Parsonage Family

You'll have to click on the pic to see all of us!

It's sort of our first family picture with Lucy.  Gus almost made it in, but he's just too big and hairy for the front step picture.  Next time, Gus.


And yes, before you ask....Lucy and I do match.  Here's my theory:  Since she's pretty much attached to me all of the time, she's kinda like a fashion accessory.  It's best that we not clash. ;)  

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2015

Last night, during midweek church, Noah doodled this picture.  


It's his interpretation of the first day of school...five years from now.


2015.

Oh kid.  He cracks me up.  He's a stickler for details.  


However, what's up with my hair-do in five years!?!


It's the first time he's drawn my profile with boobs.  *sniff*  He's growing up.  Don't tell him I told you. *smile*

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I'd Like You to Meet...

The boys and I took a little road trip yesterday.  We had someone very special to meet.  

  

Let me introduce you to my newest little nephew, Jack:

This sweet little guy belongs to Ben's youngest brother, Ethan and his wife Megan.  I spent most of the day reminding Jake of this...he keeps asking if Megan and Ethan will give Jack to us.  The phrase "FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME THEY ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE US BABY JACK"  seemed to fall on deaf ears.  Of course, someday when that sweet precious baby is almost four years old and asks them the SAME question over and over and OVER they may just send him our way ;)

Jack got to meet his cousins through the safety of the glass nursery window.  Smart move.  

Oh sweet little Jack...welcome to the world.  You've got two amazing parents and an extended family that rivals an army.  You are beyond loved, little one.  Can't wait to watch you grow...

In the blink of an eye you'll be as big as these guys...and you'll probably look like them too ;)

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The Post Following a Holiday...

May is insane.

Insanely busy.

But still fun...in a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it kinda way.

Let's recap for a moment.

Friday night was a Mother/Daughter Tea for our church ladies...or as I like to call it Diet Coke and French Silk Pie...

Ben's Grandma, Ben's Mom, Me, My mom

Saturday was Run Like a Mother race day...

I'm not sure any race should be THAT much fun!

This was my friend Kim's first Run Like a Mother...YAY Kim!

Billie and I post race...she refuels with water...I refuel with coffee.

Sunday...Mother's Day...

Does it look like I'm holding them there, making them stand by me? Because I totally am.

Jasmine (little brother Jay's girlfriend), Mom, Me, Grandma

(note to self: next time you wear that dress, stick a belt over it in order to NOT look 6 months pregnant...sheeesh.)

Mom, Brother Ryan, and me...hugging...which is funny, because I'm not really a hugger...I'll save that for another post...

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend...I'm off to launder now ;)

PS - I'm really REALLY resisting the urge to let you know that brother Ryan is single and 23 and one of the greatest young guys you'll ever meet...although he does ride a motorcycle that goes too fast and causes me to worry for his safety. Did I mention he fixes my computer when it's slow too?!?

Sure glad I resisted...

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Never Too Late...

Guess what?!?

I never showed you Christmas pictures...I was saving them...for January 17th...just for kicks.

You could believe that...or you could believe that I have nothing else to blog about.

You pick.

Here goes...

Christmas Eve with my dad...here's my little bro, me, my sister and dad

Jake on Christmas morning, totally rockin' the Rudolph jammies my mom got him at a garage sale...Ben, settling for a Rudolph nose, but wishing he had Jake's jammies.

Joy and...a bazillion Legos.

Next, is quite possibly the best gift ever. It's a reindeer...that poops jelly beans. Genius.

My parents gave me a Starbucks ornament. Perfection. Also, I do have to say, the pictures I took this year at Christmas' were less than stellar...next year will be better.

And we also ate...a lot...with reindeer antlers on.

And last but not least, is Christmas with Ben's side of the fam. He has 3 sisters and 3 brothers, and most have married and reproduced, obviously. My kids have aunts and uncles and cousins coming out their ears...and I love it that way! It's crazy fun.

And Happy New Year!...17 days into it.

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I Like You

We got 10" of snow (give or take) last night. Ben stayed at my parents house, which is close to his work (not the pastor work, cuz that would be here:) so the boys and I had a wild and crazy night. I put them to bed at 8 and watched a movie...all. by. myself.

You should have seen Odie try to go to the bathroom this morning...it's a tad difficult when your legs are approximately 3.5" long...I assure you that when I was laughing-my-butt-off it was at him and not with him. Poor short dog...he got an extra scooby snack for his quick maneuvering.

After some coffee I'm gonna head out and do some shoveling...because I have no idea how to run the snowblower. If you never hear from me again...at least you know why.

One quick thing before I go...I pulled this out of Noah's backpack the other day. It's a little rectangular piece of paper, colored red and green on the outside. When you open it up it says:

I of course asked him who it was from.

"It's from Lainey, mom...but she just means it as a friend"

I assured him that I knew that already (because he's my son who was traumatized in kindergarten when a little girl kept telling him she loved him)

I looked at the note again, and thought...how cute, and sweet....and oh. barf. ;)

You'll have to excuse me now...I can hear my children yelling and screaming at each other...outside. Good morning tiny-town.

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I Have a Good Excuse...

I'm not dead...no worries.


And there was no disaster in tiny-town that caused my evacuation...this time at least.


It just so happens that we took a tiny whirlwind mini vacation, and because I absolutely positively do not enjoy packing for our whole family and the fact that I put it off until the very last minute, meant that I ran out of time to blog and tell you I would be gone.


Ben thinks that was a tad rude of me...I assured him of how kind ya'll are and how you'd totally understand because you get the whole packing nightmare.

I didn't blog for three whole days! And I didn't even have symptoms of withdrawal. Go me.


We had a fun little trip, that of course requires bullet points.

• Our neighbors loaned us their DVD player for the ride up. It saved our children. Without it, we may have left them somewhere along the interstate. Oh, I kid. I wouldn't actually leave them...I'd just imagine it for a bit ;)


• We traveled up to where we lived the first 5 years of our married life...the city. Turns out, I've turned back into a total rural girl again...you know the kind...grasping the dashboard anytime we even get close to the back end of another vehicle or heaven forbid...switch lanes. Sad times. I used to love driving around up there...well, except for that one time I totaled the car because of that little fender bender...anyways...


• We went to The Mall....The Mall of America. My admiration for it runs deep. And now, because it is the home of Lego Land, I've passed on my love for it to my children.

I give you pictures:

Noah made me take a picture of every ginormous Lego thing there. I'll spare you...Ben and Noah rode bumper cars and I rode this with Jake. (We made Eli ride one thing...he was too distracted by the Legos.)Why Ben didn't want to ride on the pink Blues Clues ride, I'll never know.We ate a lot. A LOT. But my favorite was Bubba Gump's (as in Forrest Gump) It is my new favorite restaurant! And if we ever have another child, I'm naming it Bubba in honor of it...

I love visiting the city. The diversity of it. The fashion. Bubba Gumps. But underneath it all...I'm a small tiny town girl.

Now I'm off to read your blogs and find out all I've missed out on while I was gone!

Happy Monday!

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I Have No Shame...

Lovely, no?


We have 5 people in our family and 5,000 toothbrushes.



And a smorgasbord of toothpastes.



I'm going to blame this mess on the flood. Many wonderful companies wanted to make sure that all the flood victims of tiny-town had clean sparkling teeth (and hair.)




I'm sure they meant for us to spread-out the use of the toothbrushes. But not in our home...nope. In our home, it meant tear open every single one and use it at least once and then forget which one you used.



Just thought you should know.




Your turn. Spill it. Are you lieing neat and clean in the family toothbrush department? Or does yours look like mine...minus the 5,000 toothbrushes?

It's important people...I need to know.

*Dear Ben, Happy 33rd Birthday! I love you. I promise I will make buy you a cake and I won't even eat all of it...AND I won't get you a toothbrush for your present...promise :) *

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Highlights:Not the Hair Kind...

As you know, I'm still (technically) on a little bloggy break...largely due to my extensive Olympic coverage watching :) And team USA...definitely making it worth it!

But I can't stay away totally, and risk losing all five readers.

Here's some old and new news from my neck of the woods...

• Tate is doing much better! Many thanks for all your prayers and encourageing words. He came home on Saturday and they believe he has ITP (which I don't fully understand) but it's MUCH better than anything else it could have been.




• Saturday we went to the zoo. Out of all the exotic animals...we have a favorite. It is not exotic...more like disgusting. It's the grossness factor that just keeps us coming back. I of course, took a picture for you.




• 

When you throw food in...they do this. It gives me the heebie-jeebies...and yet I couldn't stop watching...

• Sunday I wore these to church: LEGGINGS! They've been sitting in my dresser drawer for months...it just never felt right...until yesterday. And guess what?!? SO COMFORTABLE!! I may wear them everyday ;)

Here's the top of my (Wal-Mart) dress...I couldn't photograph my entire self in one-shot...I'm just not that good.

• Sunday night we spent the evening enjoying the Olympics while the boys "practiced" their Olympic moves.

The best was while watching the Women's Gymnastics...My 3 year kept saying..

"Mom, you could do that!"

Me: "no, that takes lots of practice"

Jake: "But you could..."

God bless him...he has no idea that his mommy can't even bend over and touch her toes...dang flexibility.

Happy Monday bloggy friends! And Happy Olympic watching!!

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I AM Nosy...

During my extensive (one year of community college) higher education experience, I took an interviewing class. Now, 12 years later, I would like to share with you my vast skills learned in this class, by interviewing my little bro about...me. Clever, I know. (by the way, I clarified some stuff in orange, just for you :)


Little background info for you. Little bro, Jay, was born when I was eleven. We have a bond. He is going to be starting his 2nd year at a popular University...only about 15 minutes from me. Lucky, lucky him. :)


This is what I sent to him: Dear Jay...here goes...Feel free to be honest...my readers will love it :)

Q - Who’s your favorite sister?

(Jay) Haha nice try with this one I don’t have a favorite sister I love you all the same and thankful that I do have you all. I have learned so many different things from all of you that have helped me so far in my short life and I know I will continue to learn for a long time.

Q - What’s it like to have me for a sister?


(Jay) Well...... really its like having a second mom;), but don’t worry mom still takes the cake on being the most nosy and checks up the most! I’ll admit I really like having you as a sister so don’t you be going no where. I believe we are similar in our thoughts and how we act on some situations and we both have the same kind of humor which is always fun especially when Jordan is around. (Jordan is our sister Lindsey's husband. He's a youth pastor. It's essential we give him a hard time...youth pastor's love that sorta stuff ;)


Q - What’s my best quality?


(Jay) That’s a tough one if I had to choose something which I rather not because you do have many cuz really look who your flesh and blood with...ME Jay is the answer we were looking for. I would have to say the way you put others before yourself whether it is your family, friends, or your town you always care about how others are doing and if there okay and then yourself.


Q- What’s my most annoying quality?:)


(Jay) Well that’s not too hard.......kidding it’s so hard I can barely think of something. The one thing maybe would be how nosy you are about some things that I have going on because I know you will play 20 questions till you find out what you want to, and there is really no stopping you!!!!! (I am practicing on Jay for when my own boys are teenagers...just think how nosy I'll be then!)


Q - Do I seem cool? Do I seem YOUNGER than 30? (Yes, extremely would be a good answer)


(Jay) Haha yeah really for an oooooollllllddddd sister you are;) haha I am just playing you really don’t seem old at all cuz come on you went to Batman really late at night your cool don’t even worry and I’ll make sure you don’t become uncool promise. (phew!)


Q- How do you feel when I call you every time I drive by your apartment when going to Wal-Mart? (his apartment happens to be on the way to Wal-Mart :)


(Jay) Well it’s fine cuz sometimes you pick me up and we go together, but when I’m not home and at work then you call and you leave a voice mail and we all know that voice mails just really get on my nerves cuz how long it takes to get to them but other than that it’s fine that you call me when your driving by.


Q - Do you read my blog? How often? :)


(Jay) Yes I do read your blog prolly not as often as I should but I do read it just to stay caught up on what’s all going on at your household even though I am kept updated by a certain sister of mine most the time;)


Q - Do I need to pay you more when you babysit ? ;) Have I scared you away from wanting 3 children?


(Jay) No you don’t need to pay me more at all really you don’t have to pay me cuz I do enjoy watching them. As for scaring me away no not at all someday I will have 3 kids maybe a little more but I love those three to death and am so glad they are around. I’m not saying they are easy all the time and sometimes it does look like a tornado just went through where they have been but I wouldn’t change any of that cuz I think they maybe have influenced me into wanting kids more.


Q - What have you learned from me? The good, the bad, the ugly.


(Jay) Wow what to say on this one I have learned so much over my life time from you. Such as putting others first before yourself and how making that small first step to get to know someone is all you need to do to be able to share the word. I also learned that you can’t solve a broken relationship by ignoring the person till they fill with guilt as you did with Dad even though I shared that same anger at what was going on , but everything that I have learned has helped make me the person I am today and help me as in the future.


Q - Does it make you feel bad that Odie loves me more than you? (Jay got Odie when he was 11 and our parents divorced. When Jay went to college last year Odie came to live with us)


(Jay)No it doesn’t because really he still loves me more since I was his first care-giver. I fed him and gave him a place to sleep for a much longer time so I know that he might pretend to like you his true feelings are all aimed toward his favorite person ME!!!!
(this is called de-ni-al)


Q - What do you wanna be when you grow up?


(Jay)I want to be a good Husband and Father that my wife loves and kids look up to I want to be a good friend I want to be a good uncle to my nephews and Nieces to come. I want to walk down the right path and really that is what I wanna be.


*sigh* Who knew I'd learn so much about my little bro by asking him questions about me?!?

Maybe I should make my dad my next interview...m-a-y-b-e.

Jay - Thanks SO MUCH, little bro! Hope you know how proud I am of the young man you have become. Life still has lots of tough choices ahead, and I trust that your faith in Jesus will keep you grounded and "walking down the right path."

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Not Gonna Do It....

I woke up this morning and told myself (and my husband) that I would not be doing a post today....taking the day off.

And here I sit...writing a post.

I have been cleaning (like a mad-woman) all day. My adorable little niece, Maddy, is coming tomorrow and staying till Thursday.

Here she is:

OK, back to the story. I've been crawling around on my floors trying to pick up all the legos/marbles/junk. If ya'll could start praying now, that she doesn't find something to choke on at my house, it would be much appreciated.


On another note: We had a super fun time yesterday...pics for you below. After fishing in the morning we headed into the nearest town to eat, and low and behold I found THE cutest little shop (where I purchased an adorable dress and shirt for cheap!) If I had the money/time I'd open up one identical to it! I took pictures, because I just knew I'd need to share it with you. I did not take pics in the inside...I didn't want the owner to think I was a total wacko...just a little wacko ;)

First: The cute clothes from the cute shop...

And the other fun stuff...

Happy Saturday!


oh...one more thing...I have lots of fall fashion wisdom now...I fill you in this week :)

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I'm an Expert Now...

I can't come up with anything interesting to post about today!

Which means you get my schedule for the day...I know, I know...so exciting.

• Hubby has the day off so were heading out fishing with the boys. What?!?! You didn't know I fish? Well, I don't really...but I watch....sort of.
• I got myself some easy reading material to take along.

By this evening, I should be an expert on the fall trends...you know, what's coming in and going out...which ones I agree with and which ones I'll chalk up to "are you kidding me?!?"

Feel free to ask me your burning fall fashion questions...because after all, I am an expert...I read the magazine. ;)

Happy Friday Bloggy Friends!!

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The Fun Never Ends...

This is the lazy-bloggers version of a slide show...where none of the pics are labeled and you are supposed to just make up the captions...it's good for your imagination...I think.

Here was our weekends order of events:

1. Parade: in nearby small town, it's a big deal...lots of tractors and firetrucks.
2. Pedal Pull: Little pedal tractors that are weighted down and kids see who can pull the farthest. Noah got 2nd in his age group and qualified for state (HA!) it's his 2nd time doing that and, no, we do not go to state to pedal a little tractor :)
3. Some family pictures and Ben's grandparents house
4. Supper and Smores with friends from church and of course Fireworks!
5. Saturday, got to see my beautiful friend Shell at her baby shower...isn't she adorable!?!

Side note: Please insert *eat more mini-doughnuts* in between each number.

Now I need to go find my elastic waist-band pants...

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Last Day...

Started the trip wearing these:

Then, after four days of eating out EVERY meal, my jeans feel more like tight leggings ( I kid you not.) I'm ending the trip wearing this mu mu like dress.

Good Grief.

Here's some more pictures...

It's our 10 year anniversary today. Praise God that 10 years and 3 boys has not changed our dorkiness! Love him.

Ben and I and our adorable niece Maddy (lives in same city as conference.) She gets to come stay with us for several days in July while her parents take their church's teenagers to camp...we'll get to "play house" with a girl!

Another one, because seriously, how cute is she?!?

Me and my sister Lindsey (Maddy's mommy) she's 4 1/2 years younger than me (she's 26, I'll save ya the math :)

We so enjoyed our vacation, and are definitely ready to head home and see the boys and charge on with everyday life!

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