how do you spell "momma's day?"

we were already heading down to seattle 

to celebrate mr. tibbs and his #1 b-day (more on this to come).

so, my man, booked us a room down-town, saturday night, on points of course.

my parents took the adjoining room.

do you know what that means!

it means i got to wake up in a king sized bed with all my babes, 

tucked in neatly.  no squishy.

i didn't have to cook or do a dish.

we played at the children's museum, and at the fountain.

and even though we had our fair share of crazy,

 we weren't outnumbered. that is the key!

there were plenty of hands to go around

and we always had someone on the bench, resting up for the next shift.

...

we got a little sun on our faces.

we did a little stateside grocery shopping

 and we had starbucks, make that a couple starbucks,

cause that's what you do in seattle.

...

 it also means i got to spend the day with my momma.

...

and that, my friends, is how i spell "momma's day."

how i love her...

let me count the ways:

this girl kills me... just a little bit... all day long.

she takes my breath away.

- like tonight, as she sang 

"the lord is my shepherd, i'll walk with him always"

to her little brother who was having troubles falling asleep

because i told her i use to sing that song when i was feeling nervous or scared

and sometimes i still do.

- and like this afternoon when she asked,

"mom, are our costumers here?"

and i replied, "our what?"

and she in turn, "you know, our friends."

- and this evening when she reminded me 20 times that i was her best-est mom and that she loved me even though she was going downstairs to watch game 4 with dad.

- and like yesterday when she was eating her popsicle and riding her bike,
which she calls her baby goat,
and she couldn't get enough of the camera.

- and then when she tipped her (dad's) hat at me. 

i almost died for reals.

between lovers...

this text exchange is still crack'n me up.
"hahahahahahahah"
it's my new favorite line.
i'm gonna bring it back!
...
g - left.
me - right.

elephant butts and little miracles.

 the blog-well has been dry.

maybe you have noticed.

not for lack of "crazy" that's for sure.

more for lack of me.

this last week has involved... 

all of the above.
and in particular:
floor boards and drywall
and book fairs
and children-a-puking - always fun.
i have not been feeling 100% either.
but
jesus is good
i am still going, i feel sustained.
i don't feel stressed at the moment, as i haven't gone in my laundry room yet this morning.
and there have definitely been moments that have brought joy to my heart and laughter to my belly.
thought i should share.

1. bo's new favorite t-shirt

 and yeah... he prefers to wear it backwards.

can you blame him.
his words: "i need the butt in the front."
...
speaking of bo, he's down at the moment with the little yuck-bug we picked up somewhere.
he only p-word once, but let's just say, i consider it a total miracle that i bought pull-ups and insisted he wear one last night due to 2 bedtime accidents in a row.
little did i know what i was saving myself from.
hopefully no more description is necessary.
more his words: "that is weird."
yes bo, it really is.

2. keep'n it real.
yesterday i got to spend the morning with some of my favorite ladies.
ash and i headed out to vancouver to see our friend's nat and julie.
it was kinda just what the doctor ordered and probably the reason i'm hang'n in there today.
these ladies love jesus and know how to encourage a sister.
we were at the park.  all the children were happy and chasing butterflies.
we were mid the no-more-best-foot-to-put-forward conversation,
when a concerned patron pulled this one:
patron: "excuse me, is this your baby?"
ash: "yeah"
patron: "his nose is running."
(imagine this in the same tone you would hear/say "he's gushing blood from his eye balls").
for reals.
ash was so totally cool, she waddled (cause she's about to give birth) over to her "baby" and with a
"look at that"
wiped his snoobers with the sleeve of her cardigan.
then she followed it up with this most brilliant move,
she goes, "my nose is running too"
and then wiped her own nose with the same sleeve.
(ash, i almost went over there and kissed you on your snotty nose!)
(btw, i really hope we didn't pass our germs to you
i really thought we were in the clear.)

3. my pain in the jane.

this is when gary suggested that the reason jane doesn't respect me like she does him is because
while self respecting parents are saying:
"get your fork out of your nose, right now!"
  i am snapping photos.
he might have a point.
...
 i still love this photo.
and i'm sure jane and i will find our way.
i'll win her heart one way or another.
...
and someday gary will bless my name
 when i'm showing this photo to jane's first boyfriend.
...
and that's all the joy i can muster for now.
time for laundry.
and for another pull-up.

the boy i love to love

me: come here bo, time for your pj''s.

(i start to pull his brown t-shirt over his head)

bo: but moooom, it's too brownie and squarey!

me: well, that's a new one.

...

what the what.

...

also, he prefers to ride his sister's pink cupcake bike

because his Diego bike is too "pumpy."

ok.

good nite

easter blessings

good friday/ saturday

we've had an incredible weekend.

i wish every weekend was three days.

and the sun.

it blesses me.

i should probably clarify "incredible."

it was "incredible" for me.

we spent the entire couple days outside.

aside from a trip to the dump and a couple trips to the de-pot.

we've been cleaning up our yard.

cleaning and organizing gary's work space.

...

funny story actually, 

i had a little tantrum 

about the work space.

when i was saying "i'm sorry" for my emotional outburst

i concluded with 

"the space is too spicy... and too squeezy for me"

- that's how bo describes buttons on his shirts and pasta.

i think gary had an "aha moment" cause he's been sweep'n up at the end of each day.

 bless his heart.

...

we've also been working on some projects.  

we've nearly sanded the second hand bunk beds i purchased with a vision on craig's list 

(almost a year ago).

i got pretty comfortable wearing safety goggles and wielding the belt sander this afternoon.

the bunk beds have kind of turned into a "do or die" situation in this house.

we curse them often

... but i'm pretty sure they'll be blog-worthy when they are finished.

we also cut 13 sheets of plywood into 8" strips.

while i was at my parents last weekend, gary pulled up our living room/ dining room carpet.  

we are going to try this out.  i'll keep you posted as i'm hoping the finished result will also be 

blog worthy. 

we have got a lot of irons in the fire right now.  

sometimes it's hard not to get overwhelmed and discouraged.  

this weekend, we enjoyed the tasks. 

we enjoyed each other and the kids.

the kids were amazing.

they played outside, along side of us.

they made up all kinds of games together

and got so totally filthy.  i'm going to have to burn their socks.

i'd explain some of their games if i had the photos to go along.

they were awesome.

like bikes-turned-goats-eating-my-shrubs-awesome.

...

here are the only photos i have 

and they are totally blog-worthy:

the beautiful boy put himself down for a nap on the nasty underlay in the carport

(can't believe i'm advertising that disaster.  it's not so bad now).