DIY Project Sneak Peek

Macy and Lucy's bedrooms are pink ("Lauren's Lullaby" by Pittsburgh Paints). I love it. Does it surprise you that I went with turquoise for the bathroom they share? The color is actually "Aquamarine" by Pittsburgh Paints as well. Looks SO much better on the walls than on the paint sample. Maybe I should have gone one shade lighter, but the bathroom is almost finished (with the painting part of it anyway), and there is no turning back now. I've been busy...hee hee. I was really all about doing this myself until Jason came in and practically begged me to let him paint it...I think he just figured he'd do it from the get-go instead of trying to fix my mess later (now I will give myself a little credit...I did have everything taped off and ready to paint). He knows me too well. My one and only experience in painting was at our first house...I begged him to let me paint something (I guess I was still in that "trying to impress" stage), so he stuck me in a walk-in closet that was white and handed me a can of white paint. I mean, seriously. Paint a white closet white? You have got to be kidding. After 3 strokes of the paint brush, I was done. BOR-ING. The girls' bathroom is going to be finished a lot sooner than I had expected, thanks to my sweet Jason :) I guess even Macy was a little skeptical that I could do this myself because earlier today she said "Mama, don't you think you should call a painter?"

Cookie Giveaway, a Busted Lip, and a DIY Project

Don't forget the "Cookie Mama" giveaway...leave a comment until midnight tonight for a chance to win a dozen cookies!!
Do you see Lucy's busted lip? She did it Sunday morning right after breakfast...bless the poor baby's heart. If it isn't an egg on the head or a black eye, it's a busted lip.

We're about to get started on a DIY project in the girls' bathroom. We spent half the afternoon with David at "The Paint Store" so stay tuned...change is coming. Jason is laughing at me because I think I can do it myself (or more like laughing WITH me because I am not so sure I can actually do this myself...by by jukey I'm going to try!).

A Fun and Crafty Weekend

After spending a Saturday around the house (yes, in our pajamas...are you surprised??), we headed to the hospital to visit our new cousin, Caroline. Can you tell just how excited Macy was?
THIS excited!!

Macy had gotten this adorable "Doll Crafts" book made by "American Girl" for her birthday. She went crazy making crafts this afternoon and tonight.

She made this adorable bulletin board...

and this assortment of things...

I love the wastebasket...

The tiny tissue box is my FAVORITE! She even cut tiny kleenex to go inside it!!
And you know, little Miss Lucy couldn't let Macy have all the fun. She did a little crafting herself...

Ya'll have a happy week!!

Happy BIRTHday to Another Niece!

We have another new niece! Caroline Thompson was born this morning...congratulations to Brent (my brother-in-law Brent, not my brother Brent), Ashley (Jason's sister), and big sister Audrey!! She is precious!!

A Less Wordy Post Than Yesterday's

Our new blow-up pool was calling Macy and Lucy's names early this morning...
Remember rock candy?? I.Loved.It. Found it in pink and turquoise at a gas station the other day :)
Got a good picture of one of my daylillies today that my sister-in-law gave me...

and a good picture of this little girl...

and a goofy picture of this little girl...

and a picture of our favorite time of the week...5:00 on Friday...Daddy's home!!

Look at the next picture...look closely...do you see the tractor? Right across from our house is a field that is harvested for hay every year...and it tortures Lucy to no end every year...you know how she is about cars? Well, this tractor arrives late in the day and works until after dark. Totally wigs the poor child out to see a tractor light shining in our front windows at night. And I'll admit, it is a little freaky. So now, we pray ("pway") that the tractor won't scare Lucy!

And it just doesn't get much better than this...

or this...

or this...

right outside my backdoor. God is so good!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

"Baby Dear"

Who remembers this precious book? I have racked my brain for literally YEARS trying to remember this book that I had when I was a little girl. I could see the images and pages in my mind so vivdly, but never could I remember what the book was. A few weeks ago when Sara Whitten was here visiting, we went over and spent a day with Mandy Murphree...who is a lifelong friend of Sara Whitten's and is now a very sweet friend of mine. We were chatting in her little girl's nursery when I saw THAT BOOK on Kate Ross' shelf. "Baby Dear." I think I screamed. As I turned the pages, all those sweet images became so real all over again. I vowed to find myself a copy of that book...it is on my to-do list, but with all that has gone on since that weekend, I haven't gotten it checked off yet. Not until today. I had one of those mornings that just didn't start the day off right...as I was scrambling eggs for breakfast in a bowl (a quite special bowl, that is) and moving towards the skillet on the stove, I dropped the bowl...it sounded like a gunshot on my ceramic tile floor...eggs were everywhere and so was that special bowl. But determined not to cry over it, I cleaned up the mess and told Macy and Lucy that it was all o.k. I quickly forgot about it in the hustle and bustle of getting myself and the girls ready to go into town for story hour at the library until I was driving home from town this afternoon, then I got all sad. So, as I am driving in my driveway, I notice a striped bag hanging on my front doors...a really cute striped bag...and my heart did a little happy dance. I love stuff like that. I threw Fiona into park and hurried to see what was in the bag. Well, my heart did a HUGE happy dance when I saw "Baby Dear." I stood right there on my front porch and read it over and over. My sweet friend, Mandy, hadn't forgotten my reaction to that book and had found me a vintage copy. Thank you so much, Mandy! I read it to Macy and Lucy tonight before putting them to bed...they love it, too!!!

My New Diet and Loving Living Like a Redneck

Jason has got me doing a low-carb diet with him. Have any of ya'll done this? I have been living off of eggs, bacon, salt & vinegar pork skins, and cheddar wursts for about a week now. Never mind if bacon has 1500 calories and 900 fat grams per serving...it has zero carbs! So I could eat it all day long and be o.k.??!! Sounds a little crazy to me, but it does seem to be working. Jason has done this diet off and on, and I always GAIN weight while he's on it, because, being the good little wife and all that I am, I find all these fabulous recipes with heavy cream (because, by george, you can drink that stuff by the gallons...zero carbs!) and butter and cheese...stuff you can't resist...but all that PLUS the 20,000 carbs I've consumed throughout the day...well...it's not pretty. So, I bailed and promised I'd do it with him this time (the diet, that is). I decided to try a recipe Jason's Mom gave me tonight for something called "Cow Potty" (forgive me, I know it sounds "udderly"...pardon the pun please, just couldn't resist...disgusting, I am sure there is a better name or spelling for it) which has cabbage in it. The only time I have attempted to cook cabbage is when I attempted to do the "7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet"...I'll try anything to lose a pound or two :) Anywho..."Cow Potty" is pretty good...Jason said to save the leftovers, so I know he liked it (or is just desperate). Oh, and you won't find cabbage as cute as mine in your produce section...I have a husband who has quite a sense of humor and loves him a sharpy marker.
I am now addicted to "Reddi-Wip." Less than 1 carb per seving translates to zero carbs in my little sweets-loving mind. I am one of those who doesn't count half points while doing Weight Watches, so why count half carbs while doing low carb? I've been through a can and a half of this stuff in 2 days, thankyouverymuch.
Macy has had some birthday money that has been burning a hole in her pocket. She's a better girl than me for sure...it has been burning a hole for a whole month now...mine would have been spent in 7 seconds flat. Macy hardly ever asks for anything . You can give her a quarter to put in one of those little machines at the grocery store that give you a plastic gold ring, and you would think she had won a million dollars. There is a Barbie doll that she has been talking a lot about, so I took her to Wal-Mart where she bought 2 Barbie dolls for herself, a Barbie doll for Lucy (Macy is the most thoughtful child), and a blow-up pool. They were begging to "swim" tonight, so we headed outside, got the pool all blown up, and filled up with the iciest water I have ever felt...but it didn't bother them a bit!

It even has a little sprinkler on it...I might just be sitting in there with them if it keeps being as hot and humid as it has been this week!

Our blowup pool goes perfectly with this thing that is sitting in our driveway. Do you know what it is?? My friends, you are looking at the top for a 1970-something model of a FJ-40 Landcruiser. And would you know that people (men) have come to a screeching halt right in front of our house, thrown it in reverse, and shot down a driveway just because they "had to get a look at that thing. Man, if I had one of those..." I am so serious. Some of our city friends laugh at this. Let me tell you, I could have made a fortune off this thing. We have people leaving sticky notes on our door begging us to sell it. It is a little embarrassing when we meet people and as I am explaining to them where we live, they are like "Oh yeah...the house with the FJ-40 Landcruiser top in the driveway...I know exactly where that is." Oh the horrors...

Oh, and as if the Landcruiser top and the blow-up pool aren't enough...there's a little "Beverly Hillbillies" trailor in the yard, too. Flat tire and all. We are SO redneck. But I am SO cool with that.
Because where we live (out where yard ornaments are not only accepted, they are expected), I see this every evening. EVERY evening. And I love it.

"That is Not My Name" and Beating the Mississippi Heat

Lucy loves to wear this dress because she gets to wear her red sandals with it. She would wear those red sandals every day of her life, but since most everything in her closet is pink or turquoise (imagine that!), she doesn't get to wear them very often (unless we're having a tacky day and it just doesn't matter if anything matches or not). So today, I am getting her dressed, and she says so matter of factly, "Why do I have a dress with somebody else's name on it? My name is Lucy, not L W L." Well, she is right about that. I guess I need to teach her a good old southern lesson about monogramming :) Is it hot or what?? On most days, the girls don't even ask to go outside...it is THAT hot!

Today, Macy and Lucy were begging to play outside, so we got out the slip n slide. We got bathing suits on, sunblock applied, and the slip n slide all hooked up and ready to go.

They loved it...

for 5 whole minutes. Then they got too hot, so back inside we went. And I wasn't complaining.

Meet Pistol Pearl

This girl loves a cap gun. Only when Uncle Brent comes over do we actually shoot real caps out of it.
She is one wildly hilarious, silly grinning, quick-witted little girl.

This child is CA-RAZY!

Back to the Land of the Blogging...

I haven't blogged in a whole week...can you believe it? I've hardly turned my computer on since last Sunday, and I survivied :) It has been a nice little break.
We lost Jason's Mamaw last Sunday night (his Mom's Mother). One of Jason's life-long friends made the statement "she was the nicest woman I think I have ever met." I would have to agree with that. Mamaw was the most jolly, caring, and sweet soul you could know. She lit up the room wherever she was. People were just drawn to her. Although it was such a sad time, it was so nice to be with family. In the midst of such sadness, happy times were had, and I think that is JUST the way Mamaw would have had it! Thank you all for your sweet comments and e-mails after my last post...ya'll are the sweetest readers!

My Nana's personal care home had a family picnic this week...here is our attempt at getting a picture of my grandmother with her 4 great grandchildren. I think it turned out pretty good!

After 1400 tries, Cade got tired of it (notice he is not in this picture).

Then they all got tired of it...except Lucy...who will sit and pose FOREVER! I love this picture of her and my Nana.

Lucy found a grub worm (or whatever you call those things) as we were weeding the flower beds this week (one of my favorite outside chores). This picture is foggy because it is SO hot outside...the camera fogs instantly when it is taken outside.

She found this worm quite interesting...it was her pet for all of 3 minutes, then she decided to squeeze it a little too hard...YUCK!

It has been SO hot ALL week...like 98 degrees and above...and TONS of humidity. Notice the big drop of sweat trickling right down the middle of Macy's forehead.

This little chick-a-dee is literally wringing wet the second she gets out in the heat.

Here are Macy and Lucy on our way to church this morning. Macy says their dresses look like a bunch of eyes looking at you...they kind of do.

The 100 degree weather wasn't effecting Lucy too much today...here she is all bundled up in a fleece blanket...she was just "FWEEZING!"

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!