Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hour by hour

I'm sure some of you could care less about the busyness of my week, so you can ignore this blog post. I simply need to write it so I can come back to it when my sweet husband wants to know what I do all day. At the start of this week, I was in the process of planning 6 parties, yes 6. All of which are in the next two months. So, my brain started as mush because I'm having a very hard time planning everything and remembering to do anything. So on top of a mushy brain, my days are packed by the hour of to dos.

Monday-
8:45- drop Corbin off at school
9:00 drop Garrett of at dad's
9:15-11:15- Newborn photography session
11:30- pick up Garrett
11:40-1:40 put him down for nap and edit pictures from said newborn session
2:00 pick Corbin up from school
2:15-3:30 park time
3:30-5:15 pumpkin carving party with friends
5:30- come home, feed kids and entertain them until 8:00 when dad gets home. Then it's bed time.

Tuesday-
8:45- drop Corbin off
9:00- store to pick up stuff for Halloween party
10:30- go to Corbin's school to do his Halloween party (you guessed it, this mom is room mom!)
12:00- come home and let Garrett nap
12:00-1:30- cook dinner for a sweet friend who just had a baby.
2:00- take dinner to said friend. Then go to Walmart for more Halloween supplies
2:30- OT for Corbin
3:30- playgroup Halloween party
5:00- drop Corbin off for a movie date with clynt.
Come home- cook, clean, feed Garrett, laundry, cook and clean some more.

Wednesday-
Wake boys up, give baths
9:30- head to tumbling
10:45- SAMs club for yet again more Halloween stuff
11:30- lunch with lots of friends at Gringos
1:00- home, nap time for boys. Cleaning time for me.

Depending on the time my boys wake up, we have a couple more things to do before we host Clynt's family's Halloween party tonight! Then the rest of the week is a little more calm.

For a stay at home mom, staying at home is on the bottom of the list.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Mom's night out!

When I first became a stay at home mom, it was was far from entertaining. I've been in many moms groups since in order to meet other moms and kids for us to hang out with. It has been so much fun!

I have many moms that I can now call my friends. And many of them are people that I have so so much fun spending time with. It's like having co workers turned friends. You know, those people you see every day for a common interest and then you begin to become friends and go get lunch together and spend time together outside of work. That's what this is like. So last night, we all had sweet sweet husbands that hung out with our kiddos and out we went! What a fantastic night we had.

We went to a little burger place and sat there and immediately were talking about our children and how they would like this place. And then afterwards we headed to the new outlet mall in League City! Boy was it a fantastic night to be outside. It was stinking gorgeous! We all did a little shopping. I got some shirts at jcrew, a fantastic pair of grey boots, and some clothes for Corbin. (I know, it was a night out and I'm shopping for my kids.. Shame on me, but I couldn't resist!!). It was so much fun visiting and sharing and learning about each other without chasing kids around. Then we decided on coffee and walked into Starbucks, and while waiting in line decided that a drink at a sit down place would be much more enjoyable! So off to BJ's we went. I learned so much about the people that I see on a sometimes daily basis. One of the best parts is that we all have different views on politics, mothering styles, lifestyles and so much else but none of us judge anyone and we all love to hear about why and what others do (or at least I do!).

I feel so incredibly blessed to have met so many amazing people who have one main thing in common, WE LOVE OUR CHILDREN!! And I also feel so blessed to have a sweet husband who understands me needing a girls night out sometimes. I mean not to go clubbing or anything, but to enjoy time with other friends.

That will be a night I remember for a long time. Thank you ladies for always making times fantastic!!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Budget

It's is so hard to make a budget and live by it. We struggle so hard trying to make smart financial decisions. When I was a working mom, we really didn't have many fears in the world, but we did have debt. Credit cards, vehicles, medical bills and so on. Then we decided that being a working mom was not for me and so we started doing a financial peace study with our old small group. This study was very rewarding for us. We were able to become debt free within a few months and so I was able to quit my job and stay at home. However, then, we didn't make enough money to afford all of our bills and much fun. So it was all about our budget in order for us to make it happen as a one income family. I remember having to tell people that I couldn't go places because I had a gas budget and I really had to follow it. I am glad that we have been beyond blessed since then and things are not like that anymore. But still, even with a larger income, it's still important to budget and know what our money is going.

It's hard to not go buy everything that I want or a new car even though we probably can afford it. It hard to want to save vs spend. Spending seems so fun. Having shiny new things is fun. Dressing in the most stylish things is fun. Driving a new fancy car is fun. Unfortunately, if I have all of these things, then Im not saving all that money and one day will be disappointed. My children will need money when it's time for them to drive, go to college and move out of my house. Clynt and I will need money when we decide to retire, build our forever home, and so on. The now things are not going to do us any good in the future. But boy is it tempting!!

Even though income changes, it doesn't mean that expenses need to. This is what I'm trying to learn slowly and surely.

I'm so not writing this because I am good at saving, I'm writing what's on my mind and what I'm trying to teach myself! Budgeting is so important!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Helping others

I posted a story from this morning on FB and within an hour had over 30 likes. The story was simply that I went to sonic this morning (like every morning). The person in the intercom told me to hold on a second. I held on for about 8 minutes and drove away. I thought that was weird and ridiculous. About 15 minutes later when I got to the galleria area to meet Clynt for lunch, there was a homeless man. Something just told me to give that man the $2 that i did not spend at sonic to the man for lunch. It was most definitely a God thing. He knew what the plan was when I was ignored at sonic!

Sometimes it is so hard to forgot about the fact that a lot of panhandlers are frauds and it is even more difficult to give away hard earned money to people that, we assume, aren't even trying. However, I often times have to remind myself that it is not for us to judge. We are just supposed to love like God loves us. Do we deserve everything Christ has done for us? Absolutely not!

John 15:12 ESV
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Helping people is not just about giving money to homeless people. It's about doing things just because for people. For friends, family, strangers and anyone. Helping is a lot of things. Just going out of your way for people. Cooking meals, praying for people, watching people's kids, going grocery shopping, taking someone out to eat, really ANYTHING that has you go out of you way to do something that someone else needs or even just wants.

Help people, love people, and treat people right. If we all did good for each other, wouldn't this world run a whole lot more smoothly?

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tball

Watching 3-4 year olds play tball is one of the cutest things in the world.  Most of them have no idea what's going on and the majority of them have a really hard time making it through a full game (which is only 45 mins).  Most games are a tie bc they get the run rule every inning since no one ever gets outs.  Corbin's coach puts kids at different positions every inning so that they all can play and get the ball as much as others.  He is really good with them.  Corbin is in instructional tball so parents are on the field guiding the kids and it is not a competitive thing.  There are, however, outs.  No strike outs, but out if a team somehow is able to get an actual out on the field.  

Corbin is an average player and has a lot of fun.  He actually goes for the ball more than a lot of kids on his team but mainly bc he cannot sit still and getting the ball seems fun.  Even if he plays outfield he still runs up to try to get the ball the was only hit 2 feet off the tee.  It's cute.  He can hit the ball well (for a 3 year old), but other than that its just a lot of fun.  A few weeks ago, it was Corbin's turn to play pitcher.  He actually managed to get three outs in a row.  It was sooooo cute to watch.  Here is a video of him.  He is on the pitchers mound, and there is a guy on third running into home.   It's so fun to watch him learn things.  He looks like a pro. Lol.  Love that stinker.



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Clean

Does anyone else haveintense anxiety when everything is dirty? I would not by any stretch consider myself the cleanest person around, however when my house and car are dirty I feel like my life is in shambles! I have little kids so the reality is that there will be toys thrown across the floor in every direction, and there are often time Cheerios in corners and my car has snacks and toys everywhere. My friends and I talk often about how before we had kids, we swore that would never be the case. Ha!

But, even though these things happen often, it still makes me cringe! When I see milk spots on my cabinets, I want to cry. When I see dirt all over my baseboards, I want to curl up in a ball, and when I see Cheerios stopped on in my car, I just want to go buy a new one and never see this one again. However, obviously none of that will do me any good. So I clean, clean, and clean some more. With two kids running behind me continuing to make a mess, sometimes the deep stuff just doesn't have time to get done. So I am blessed enough to have a husband who understands (and quite honestly can't stand any kind of mess), so he lets me have a once a month cleaning lady. She is able to do the stuff that I simply cannot get to on a daily or weekly basis. This very much helps in the anxiety so that my baseboards, bathrooms, cabinets and stairs stay clean.

However it is only once a month, and I the mean time, it takes a toll on me to keep the house how Clynt an I like it. It's not just about Having a clean house it's about the fact that we are both just more happy and relaxed when things stay done. So, I clean (or pick up) stuff a lot. I'm also quick to throw stuff away when it isn't used in a while so that we don't have stuff collect. If we don't collect stuff there is less stuff to clean. Which helps a lot! Another thing I try to do to keep stuff easy is that I pick up several times a day in order to keep from having a huge mess at any one point.

Do you have tips for keeping things easy to clean??

Monday, October 22, 2012

Busy Busy Weekend

This weekend was very very busy.  But the boys and I all had a great time.  Friday night we had dinner with great friends at Santa Barbaras French Bistro which is one of my favorite places.  Then Saturday morning Clynt had to work.  We love Clynt's job, but he seems to be very good at what he does and therefore gets asked to do a lot of things.  Meaning, he needs to be there more than we'd like him to be.  So this Saturday was one of the Saturdays that he needed to work.  However when he is working, the boys and I actually go do things instead of sitting around lazy on Saturday morning, which is good.  So we mossyed over to my sister's house to hang out a while, and then headed to the carnival at my brother's school, which is where Corbin got to play in one of those big hamster ball things..
You should have seen my wild boy in this thing.  Instead of running in it the whole time like all the other kids (who, mind you are at least 3 years older than corbin), he decided to get in a flip position and seriosly flip the entire time.  He would flip, bang, bang, flip, bang , bang, well, you get the point.  All the kids watching were ooing and ahing over corbin's mad flipping skills and all the parents watching were going "I dont believe that kid isnt freaking out", and was he... NO!  That boy has no fear.  Clynt thinks he will drive Nascar, Id like to believe he'd just play football or something. but he had a blast and it was so fun to watch.

Then we went home and the boys napped (or Garrett did, or Corbin pretended to), and Clynt was home so He and I put together the boys new trampoline.  Corbin starred out his window watching in excitement.  So when it was done we let him out to jump.  The kid had a BLAST for HOURS.. Though, in his attempts to make everything more adventurous  he jumps and reaches to the top of the net and brings his legs up to hang upside down from the top.  We obviously are trying to keep him from doing this so that the net doesnt get destroyed too fast.  

Both boys are loving their new toy though and that's great news for us=)

Saturday night we went out to eat with my sister, bro in law, and a friend and then headed to our church to watch Barnes and Minor.  Its a husbadn and wife comedy team, and they were absolutely hilarious!!! Im pretty sure that I havent laughed that much in years.  Fantastic night!!  And the boys were in the same building hanging out with a babysitter.  It could not have been better!

Sunday, meaning TEXANS GAME!!   
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Our best friends got tickets a while back for the game yesterday.  We were both very excited to go to an NFL game.  Ive been to several but Clynt had only been to one other, so it was very exciting.  And it was a great game to be at!!  We had a great time there!  But we were definitively exhausted when we got home.

Even though we were pooped after the game, my sister had invited us over for dinner, so off to league city we went.  So calculating the eatting out of the weekend, I DIDNT COOK AT ALL!!!  Thats a miracle around here, so it definitely deserves to be noted.  =)

Anyways it was another great night, and great weekend!  Thanks to everyone around us for always allow us to have fun!!


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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Jumping away!

At tumbling, jumping is one of Corbin's favorite things to do, and it really helps wear off some of that energy that he has oh so very much of. He loves jumping and to be quite honest (and without going into it too much) he NEEDS to spend time each day jumping, among other things. Clynt and I both agree that large trampolines are dangerous and the amount of people that breaks things on trampolines is crazy. So we decided to buy a smaller version of a large trampoline. It is only about 18 inches off the ground and really can only hold 2-3 kids inside it and the netting around it is very secure also.

It says it is for ages 3-10 so I think it will last a while. I know Corbin is going to love it, so I'm excited for it to be put together today for him to juMp on. Garrett, I'm sure, will get lots of use out of this thing and now that its fall we hope to get lots of outdoor time.

Although, (on a side not) we are considering getting rid of the pool table in our game room and turning that space into a big kids gym (maybe rock wall, trapeze bar, trampoline, etc). It's just a fun thought we are throwing around bc that space is huge and we don't use the pool table at all so if we take it out, we want to fill the space with lots of fun stuff for the boys to do (and with no electronics, for now!). There will be a time for a pool table and videos game but for now lots of opportunities to exercise and wear off energy seems like such a better idea!

Anyways here is a picture of our news outdoor toy! :).

Friday, October 19, 2012

Halloween fun!

I'm sure in the next two weeks you will see several posts on Halloween things. I am lead class mom for Corbin's class and have to plan their party, with the help of a couple other mommas in the class. I'm sure you will see a blog about how that goes and then of course a blog about the actual holiday.

But today it's about playgroup!! I hosted a craft party today for a Gould of our friends. We made these little glow balls that were made from a ping pong ball and a battery operated tea light. I thought it would be a simple thing to make but turns out clynt had to use his drill gun to drill the holes in the bottoms of the ping pong balls. I'm so thankful clynt loves me and my wacky need to have so much fun with our guys. Every time I host a party for Corbin's friends, he sits up the night before and helps me get everything together. He LOVES that our boys get to enjoy all these things, and I LOVe that he loves it! :)

Any ways, there is a picture of Clynt's ball below. They all turned out so cute! Corbin even slept with the one clynt made last night. Clynt made his an eyeball. I did a ghost, and other moms made Frankenstein, a bat, and other faces. So cute.

We also had a stamp area with Halloween stamps for the kiddos to have something to do on their own. And of course lots and lots of toys!!

And then the snacks!! Everyone knows I love to cook and maybe cool things is so much fun to be. Yet again clynt helped with making the faces on the pudding cups. Here are pictures of everything I made.


I have so so much fun with all my momma friends and Corbin and Garrett love all their friends so much too. So it was a great morning :)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Driving around

Whew! What a day!! Some days all I do is drive, drive and drive some more. The camera on my new iPhone was not focusing so I went to the local AT&T store the other day. They couldn't help me so they scheduled me an appt to see the technical team at apple in the galleria. So this morning I packed up the boys and went to the mall. I am starting to know the Galleria more than I know Baybrook which is crazy! But anyways, I get there early and they get started. They do a back up and that took about an hour! So I took the boys to play in the Little Galleria (the really cool playground in the mall), which actually is just down the hall from the apple store. And other than that we waited for 1.5 hours inside the apple store, which with a 1 and 3 year old was not easy! Corbin played with a ton of iPads in the 'kids area' and Garrett pushed there stools all over the store. I was impressed with their ability to stay busy, and soon enough, I was given a new phone and on our way we went.

Then we went to get into my car and drive some more. Off to i10 and the beltway to have lunch with clynt and his mom. We went to a little pizza place. It was very nice and I was able to chill for few minutes. Then we drive home. I tried my best to keep the boys awake while in car. We went through animal sounds and number and so on. Garrett caved and passed out about 15 minutes from home and Corbin made it all the way. Now, they are both sleeping in bed.

I love being in the car though. I love listening to Christian music and singing along. It's a worship time for me for sure. (Given I don't have screaming children!) Worshipping and seeing Christian music is relaxing. Plus being in the car gives me one and one time with my kids. I can talk to Corbin and he has no where to run to so he will talk to me. :). It's a great thing!

So I spent close to 2 hours in the car today and it was actually nice. Plus! I got a new phone and can actually use my camera on it now :). Good day!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Oh boy, oh boy...

My boys are nothing short of fearless. Neither of them are scared of much. They both run, jump and climb on anything and neither will sit still for more than about 5 seconds.

Being that I grew up with only a sister, I'm not sure that I had any idea what I was getting into with having boys. I knew there would be trucks, sports, guns, bugs, and yucky stuff, but I'm not sure I was prepared for the amount of energy that is in them! It has taken much reading, and much advice to learn how to handle these kiddo's energy. Corbin is 3 and definitely is more hyper than most kids he is around. But I have found that if I make sure he has outlets he does so much better. He NEEDS time in the gym (tumbling and others) to do flips, jump, hang upside down, and run around. He NEEDS time on swings and slides and getting messy outside. The boy simply needs some outlets to release some energy. I find that after he is able to play like a monkey, he will be very well behaved for a while. It's amazing. Garrett definitely loves and needs some time to wear himself out also, but he is still too little to be considered calm afterwards.

They both also just need to stay busy. I need to do crafts and sit on the floor and play with them all the time. I've found down time is bad time. I definitely believe that staying busy is why Corbin has been so good in school thus far. His teacher is amazing with him and keeps him so busy that he behaves wonderfully. We are 7 weeks into school and have not had one sad face at school. It's amazing. He thrives with being busy and learning.

Learning how to be a mom of very very active boys has not been the easiest thing in the world but I would venture to say that it has been the most fun! I love love watching them learn how to do things and man it happens fast. Garrett is 16 months and goes up to the top of the chic fil a playground and down the slide, and Corbin at three can jump up on a trapeze bar and do a flip completely over it. His tumbling coach call him his 'little athlete'. I love watching all of this and getting to be a part of all the excitement. It's exciting to see then do adventurous things. Notice I say exciting, 2 years ago that would have been the word scary. It's taken a while to realize that no matter how scared I am, boys will be boys.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Fall!

Fall to me means lots of outside time, lots of craft show, boots (ohhhhhh... The boots), sweaters, Christmas shopping, crafts, friends and so so much more!! However, it's HOT!!! I was a t a craft show with a sweet friend this morning and we couldn't stay long because a) our 3 yr old boys were making us crazy, and b) it was HOT. It is definitely not a typical craft show feel.. We are trying to play it off and still play outside and do some fun stuff, but man, I just want fall to come!!

We did however get a couple of cute things. 2 crosses for our cross wall (one blue for Corbin and a pink for me), and 2 spider yard signs (one says Corbin and the other Garrett). :). So cute!! Craft shows are amazing for buying some of the cutest things. I wish it was a little less hot though and we could enjoy it a little more. Hopefully it cools off soon and we can really enjoy the rest of the craft shows for the season!

I just love fall!!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Garrett's first hair cut

Corbin had so much hair by the time he was a year old so we waited and got it cut immediately after he turned one (I just didn't want a hair cut before 1 bc they look so much older after it gets cut). With Garrett, however, he still doesn't have a ton of hair. He had a mullet though and mullets just aren't something I dream of my kids having. He is 16 months old and it was time.

Off to Snip Its we went. I tried somewhere else with Corbin one time and was very disappointed with how they handled a squirmy toddler. Snip it's had always been so good with making my boys comfortable so we will be going there until they get a little bigger. He was a champ!! He gave a few ugly looks about things, but he didn't cry for even a second. My sister in law, Stephanie, came with me to take pictures so big shout out her her!! It was a major help for me! Well, I'm sure your waiting to see pictures, so here they are!


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Phases

I recently had my first grey hair!  yikes!  I was not looking forward to those for a long time.  However, Im pretty sure I realized why, kids!  There are days where I simply could pull my hair out.  There have been days where Im sure people have looked at my kids and thought that I do a terrible job as a mom, and Im praying there are also days that people think that I do a good job as a mom, but either way, being a mom is hard.

One of the hardest things to understand is that their are phases, and I dont mean baby, toddler, preschool, etc.  I mean with behavior.  Earlier this year Corbin would run off from me every time we walked outside.  He wouldnt run into the road, he would just run off enough to make me mad and Im positive that he knew what he was doing.  Now, it is very rare that he does this.  Ive noticed all kids go through phases of different behaviors.  There was about 2 months where Corbin was off the wall.  A friend of mine heard another mom say that Corbin was crazy (not like that, but still)... My feelings were soooo hurt.  The friend that heard this came to me and said to not worry.  She understood this concept well and said, in two months it will be completely different, so why worry about it.  And boy was she right.  A few months later the same mom that had said that Corbin was crazy was sitting there telling me how well mannered Corbin was.  Right now Corbin is in a phase of making crazy faces and noises, and it to be completely honest it makes me crazy!!  I think that it makes him look ridiculous and I get embarrassed. ( I mean honestly I did not tell him to do it, so Im not sure why I get so embarrassed).  I then remember what my friend told me about waiting a few months and things being completely different,  and I think how true it is.  Whether these phases only last a month or 6, it wont last forever and when he is 10, I probably will not even remember it.

Its not just the bad things that are phases either.  It is the really cute stuff that are phases and that is the very sad part.  When Corbin was about 18 months he was learning to say please to people.  It was a very hard thing to learn, and I remember I would put my finger on his lips and say "say pleeeease" about 100 times.  Then he started saying please all the time, and each time he would put his finger on his lips.  It was the funniest and cutest thing in the world.  That phase only lasted about 2 months and it gone. forever gone. never coming back.  That to me is sad.  There are so many amazing things that my kids do and the thought that one day I wont ever remember them because it happens so fast is just heartbreaking. 

Right now a 6 month phase seems like forever, but when he is a teenager, 6 months will be very hard to remember.

Side note...  Not to mention, Corbin is a 3 year old boy that is very smart and has a huge imagination.  He gets bored VERY easy and I dont think some of it is a behavior problem, so much as he just needs to have his brain functioning every waking hour in order to sit still or to be quiet.  Pretty sure he gets that from his dad.

Another side note... (I guess this blog could have been titled Corbin..)-  Does anyone know of an occupational therapists for kids.  I really think that Corbin has some sensory problems and Im not sure where to start on know what to do about them.  It has to do with hearing (things being too loud), and his mouth (putting things in his mouth, and licking random things).  These, too, could be phases but Im really thinking it is a sensory issue that I want to have addressed.

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Monday, October 1, 2012

Wes and Melanie

Now, I am not going to give a full blog to every set of our friends, but since Wes has bothered me enough, I will! lol...

Wes and Melanie are some of our very best friends.  We met them in a small group that we used to be in. (in which were also some of our other amazing friends that are not going to be missed in this series of blogs!).   We started having dinner with them some and before long they knew the ins and outs of our lives.  So much so that they let us live with them....with our two kids... for 8 days, while our floors and stuff were being done in our house.  They are expecting their first baby and Im sure our kids got them worried ;)  but they didnt show it, all they showed was love every day that we told them "one more day".

But they, like everyone else that is on my importants life, love our children.  I mean, if you dont love our children and they dont have a spot in your heart, then we probably dont belong their either.  Its a group package ;)  Anywho, they love our kids and us.  The would also drop anything they were doing if we needed their help.  Or I should say they have.  Wes helped build our patio with Clynt.  He was like our general contractor at the best price ever!  Free!  we will forever be in debt to them for that.  The are amazing Christians and have so much in common with us and melanie is a Pediatric nurse who helps keep my kids healthy! lol..

They are funny and sweet, and I look forward to many many years of getting to know them and meeting their kids.  Amazing friends make like amazing, and Im pretty sure we win in the amazing friends department.

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My dear in-laws

So I'm on a role of writing posts about important people in my life. I've done my husband, parents, sister, and now I was thinking of who else to do. Being that I married a baby of 6, I have lots of in-laws, and by lots, I means lots. I have 5 brother in laws, and 5 sister in laws. On top of those, I have 5 step in law siblings. And then there are many many nieces and nephews in all that, and clynt has a step dad and a step mom also. So, that's a lot of people, right? It would take weeks to write about all these people. So I'm going to write about some of the ones who, in the past year, have been beyond helpful and supportive to me and my guys.

I'll start with my mother in law. And I'll start by saying that one of my favorite things about her is her husband. These two people are amazing. These are two people that would give us the world. They have the most giving hearts, and they love me and my boys and treat me as much of a child as they do clynt. And that is something that is worth a million dollars. Pam and I could sit and talk for hours about nothings, and that is such an amazing thing.  And Steve is so helpful with major decisions that we face.  He thinks of everything from a perspective that is just spot on.  I don't think I could have asked for better in laws. Hands down amazing.

My Sister in law, Stephanie. Now, let me say that this relationship has been rocky, at best, in the past. I can say that I have spent more time in tears over not understanding why things were the way they were with her than maybe any other person I know. However, God can work miracles and this relationship was one of them. It went from terrible to great just over the past few months. It was a gradual thing, but I can honestly now say that she is one of my best friends. I can talk to her about anything and she understands so much about my life because she married into the same family I did. She will drop anything and come check on my kids if I need her and she will call to check on me and the boys anytime that the slightest thing is wrong. She lives 2 miles from me and i know that if something were to happen in the middle of the night she would be here in a heart beat. She has become very dear to me and I love and appreciate her very much.

My sister in law, angie. She has always been supportive of me and was there when I even picked up my wedding gown. She loved me unconditionally from day one and for that I will forever be grateful. She is a positive person that I never hear say a negative word about anyone (which is a trait that I want!). She loves my boys and me and that's all I can ask for! :)

Clynt's dad and step-mom charlye just moved back from Australia and are very good people also. They would do anything in the world for my kids. Clynt's dad loves clynt very very much and only wants the best for him, which is great. Charlye is a very sweet lady and I find her abilities to cook and take care of life amazing. She can juggle all of their doctor's appts, unpacking (from a different country), cooking, cleaning, babysitting grand kids, and so so much. I admire that so much and hope I can cook desserts like her one day too! ;)

I appreciate more people than this in Clynt's family, but I haven't been able to get to know a lot of my in-laws because they live out of town. Clynt's brother and his wife and kids just moved here from alabama and I am feeling so blessed to get to know them. They are major family people and I love that so so much!!

I have married into a fun and interesting family and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have met some amazing people and so so so look forward to many many more years to learn more about everyone in the family. :)





My dear sister

For those that don't know, I have a twin sister. Man did we fight !! We went through times of major hatred, I mean who wouldn't with someone they have to share everything with! Clothes, shows, a bathroom, friends, etc.

But now!! My sister is my best friend. She is absolutely one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She loves me and my boys and she would be there for me in a heart beat. She treats clynt like a brother and would never do a mean thing in the world. My sister is a sweet, Christian woman and would do anything for any one. I'm not sure what my life would be like without my sister, but I can say it would not at all be the same.

She has thrown my baby shower, wedding shower, sip and see and so many other parties for me.  She has given my kids and I gifts for no reason other than loving us.  She has taken us to doctors appointments and been there for me when no one else would.  She knows me like the back of her own hand, and will tell me like it is.  She is simply amazing and my life is better because of her!

Having a twin is different. It's not at all a traditional sibling hood. We just have a connection that is different. It's (besides my husband) the most amazing relationship that I have. I'm forever thankful for it and praise God for giving her to me!!

I love you Rachel!!