don't think you're not going to fight. -joe veith

the simple statement my grandpa turned to say to us so randomly and out of the blue, in the parking lot, on the way in his and grandma's 60th wedding anniversary celebration. gee, thanks grandpa for the chipper sentiment. after he turned back around we both giggled, but funny how we've never forgotten. we had JuST gotten married...literally :)
so, thirteen years ago it began as a ReALLY rainy day (good luck-woohoo). it was freezing cold. later sunshine and a beautiful afternoon. the night was crisp and blustery...perfect for a fan of mr. pooh. we had a blast with family and friends. and started the rest of our lives....ahh, fairytale. okay, maybe the modern day kind because grandpa was right...
what a life we've started! we have been so blessed with MaNY things! each other. three healthy, spunky boys. our families. great friends. good jobs. two dogs. a house and cars and things. and really so much more. and let's just say that it's not always been a cake walk or all good times. infact, sometimes, i'm pretty sure we both have wondered: what are we doing?  how'd we get here? and can we make it?... life is hard. it's not all so pretty and perfect and easy. and we all make really dumb decisions at one time or another and don't always think of those around us. but each day is new and, thankfully, God allows us perspective and forgiveness and sense of humor to grow and learn together.  and i'm proud to say that i think we do that and THaT iS NoT EaSY!
these past thirteen years have been the best in my life and i cannot wait to see what we say to our grandchildren at our 60th anniversary celebration :)
mister, thank you for being my best friend. putting up with the loud obnoxious, messy, starts 900-projects-and-finishes-one me. surprising me. challenging me. road-tripping it with me. forgiving me. dreaming with me. couch dating me. silly texting me. raising smelly boys with me. smiling through way too many that-didn't-suck-too-bad dinners for me.
growing old with me.

love you,
sanford

more.

thanksgiving.

 

 

seven.

you are seven today. this is one of my favorite pictures of you...of which there are too many to count. you are funny. you are helpful. you are caring. you are sneaky. you love legos and your dogs and being with your family and friends and riding your bike and school and reading and making things for people so that they will smile. you LoVE to cook! you really love to 'o-ganize' things and, unfortunately, that creates three times the mess you started with...so from your father ;) you love to take pictures. you know how to get what you want. you give awesome hugs.
you are amazing and so loved. you are one of my biggest blessings.
happy birthday midget :)
love,
mama kat

dear chair.

i apologize for the hiatus in your makeover. please know that i am very fond of you! you are my favorite spot to daydream and talk with friends. thank you for being so patient. i think you look quite dashing now :)

xo,
sanford

ps    it would appear that you may have a new admirer...

faith.

find it. hold on tight.

several weeks ago, my sweet friend was so excited when she brought me these PeRFECtLY old-dirty-yummy bottles from her brother's land. as friends do, she was happy knowing how excited they would make me :)  they were the most fitting motivation for making my bottles again. even more incentive coming from someone who believed in me.

and , of course, as life does, it fills quickly with one thing after another fighting for priority in your day to day schedule and things falls by the waist side...and there the bottles sat collecting more dust on my mantle.

last friday, this same friend and her family tragically lost her brother. immediately, the feeling of life continuing all around you except the floor's dropped out and the struggle for friends and family to figure out how to help them get on with life without their loved one began. i felt paralyzed. i definitely don't feel like a pro when it comes to helping those close to me without over-thinking and as queen of stick-your-foot-in-your-mouth, words aren't always my best choice. and words don't take the hurt away. i just hoped and prayed that she could feel my love and support and that i could think of some way to be there for her...hmm, pray.  makes me think of faith. something i know that my friend has and hangs onto dearly. this so comforts me because i know that it is faith and God's love that will help her baby steps at a time.

then it became clear to me...as a symbol of faith and as a way to always cherish this loyal, special man...hopefully i could support her without the fear of words.

those amazing bottles were instantly dear to me coming from my friend...and now i hope they might be to her...love you amy

in remembrance of bradley thomas newsom...

cherish each moment we are here. live in faith and share it with those around you.

omgoodness.

adam richman is about to do an interview on 1310 the ticket, yes, i'm a p1...anyway...i have total butterflies! it's like i'm twelve again waiting to hear from duran duran's john taylor. i'm a total goob! adam is a hero in our house...we are so fat and not ashamed! he's going to be here in december, santa :) i'm thinking i may need to seek help for my love of food and how the mere thought of it makes me swoon. i know those of you close to me are completely dumbfounded. two cupcakes, big gulp, slim jim, almond snickers for breakfast this morning. nah, no issues here...
ooo! he's on gotta go!!! :)

remember me?

hey sanford.
remember me? the excitement in your eyes when you found me.
immediately painting me white. yet, i'm not so finished.
are you there?
i miss you...

love,
chair

final ingredient...procrastination.

the boys school's carnival was this past saturday and i volunteered to make 2 of the 3 kiddos class auction items. i was actually happy to do so and felt a little excited. of course, i have to make things a little difficult for myself by trying to do something a little more unorthodox than a student thumbprint bowl or platter. thinking i could do this more efficiently than projects i've done in the past, i even gathered items, took pictures and completed parts early...

then why does it shock me that i was throwing a hail mary at the 25th hour to get the pieces done?!
it will no more. i am embracing the procrastination which my subconscious holds so dearly. i think it is actually the most essential part of me (dear Lord, let that be the answer). i did a little soul searching about it and maybe it holds the key to unleashing the creative something i need to get ANyTHING done! i stress because i'm ALWaYS last minute. why?! i know it's going to be that way and things are accomplished in the end. i found this verse a few years ago and i'm making it my mission to have it be my mantra...
...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. each day has enough trouble of its own.
matthew 6:34
mister, are you laughing yet? is it april fools for you? ;)

...and after all that rambling, here are the finished projects:

for jack's third grade class, a framed cork board and photo pins

that's jack's sweet mug :)

for fischer's first grade class, time flies... clock (each child designed a leaf)
fisch's leaf....the blueish swirly one
a big shout out to my dear friend, katey! without you, these wouldn't have been complete!!!

thank you.

really. seriously. are you kidding.

...a few words that have been brought to my attention that maybe i seem to use more than i notice and also maybe in a tone that i'm not always so aware of.


really? do i need you, ginormous diet coke and happy, bright-colored, anthropologie apron and favorite sneakers? i'm going to have to go with yes. i treasure the time we spend together and the pep talk you give me each morning before i 'start' my day away from home. thank you :)

seriously? did you not only eat goodness knows what again that it shockingly didn't agree with your stomach causing you to wake us up in the middle of the night with such an awesome smell from the shi-doo-bee produced, twice, BUT i was also greeted with the same aroma and scene in your kennel AND ALL OVER YOU after i got home from work. yep, folks, that is not a sweet paw print produced from stepping in mud...i bet allure magazine doesn't realize that loreal color vive shampoo gives that same glossy effect and fragrance to pooches, do they? (just add a little bit of wet dog smell to that) and as i was getting the clorox to take outside to erase the paw prints and smudges EVErYWHeRE...the bottle broke in my hand and on my shirt and on the bath mat.
SWEET!
and, yet, in the same 24 hours you made 3 boys pretty darn happy by playing football with them, kissing them and allowing them to feel in control. to end the night, you even got the old lady sleep right next to you. ...little mosby-moo and avery-too

are you kidding? that i couldn't take off for the third time in a row that the boys had no school :( and that when i tried to make up for it when i came home from work with a surprise, i was greeted with, "ugh! miniture golf?! that's it?!" which was then proceeded by what looked like a wwf match with each other and golf clubs and tears and cheating and mom quitting on the 13th hole because the fun had been sucked out of the excursion before it even started. it was all topped off by punching in the car and 'thanks for ruining the day, dumbo!'
fast forward a few hours...are you kidding? that all of the previously mentioned was so quickly forgotten and our family had yummy sliders for dinner ToGETHER, played a non-argument-filled game of uno and (my favorite part) watched man v food ToGETHER, hugged dogs and said prayers.

really. seriously. are you kidding. that i am as blessed as i am. that i have mister. that God gave me these three totally unpredictable, messy, unique boys to raise. that life is never the same and is full of twists and turns and we can weather them all. that it's fall and i'm striving to embrace "thanksgiving" in the big and the little.
really. seriously. are you kidding. ...probably not going to leave my vocabulary any time soon. they will, hopefully, sound a little different.

quoted.

in his best , non-descript 5th grade guy voice,
'oh hey, mom. i got quote of the day today.'

"cool, lo. what did you write?"
umm, wow.

xo lolo

loopy.

concentrate. tongue out. firm pencil grip. hold the paper just right.
down, up, small hump, perfect loopdy-loops.
"mom, how do you spell 'wold'?"
...after me asking for clarification a few times...
"'wold' you know, like 'you're the best mom in the wold'."

:)

inspiration...maybe?

once upon a time, there was a girl. she went to school and had DReAmS (and for those of you who know the author and main character of this story, let me get to the main point...THE GIRL USED TO ACTUALLY DO THINGS...okay, the ramble goes on now). while taking a moment to ponder her dreams in a remote island off the texas coast (ie. padre), this girl met a boy. the boy and the girl spent many happy days together...dreaming and frolicing long into the night (get your mind out of the gutter). after years of being best friends, the boy and girl got married. they ventured out into the 'real world' with their little jobs and dreams. on a joyous spring day, the silly couple decided to add to their family with a beautiful four legged girl. and within the next several years they welcomed 3 amazing boys to carry on the family name. the boy did well with his craft and his career. after a while, the girl left her vocation to care for her monkeys. this made her happy until she was fired from this position (happy doesn't always mean you're good at it apparently ;)...let's just call her master-of-starting-too-many-huge-projects-at-the same-time-and-never-finishing-them, not so much the housekeeping type) floundering in her current status, she attempted her career once again. a little more steady (haha) and sure of herself, one day she added to her plate, inspired by a few happy, sea-salt memories she experienced with the boy, by creating pretties for others (see photo above). she loved the hunt for treasures to make and was motivated by thrill of a finished ware. it was fun for the girl and this made both the girl and the boy smile. and, as it does, life kept going and something happened to the girl. she seemed to have brain farts and pretty much lost most abilities to function as a normal person. her monkeys were growing up so fast sending the girl in multiple directions at the same time. luckily, the boy continued to shine for them all. the girl tried hard to come back to her family, yet, somehow she seemed to be stuck on another planet. will she ever return?

okay...side note suggested by boy: the girl is not on suicide watch ;)
rather, she has really bad a.d.d. and did not realize how abruptly she ended the story. basically, she is just trying to come back from hormonal overload and figure out what she's going to be when she grows up. the girl loves the hectic, smelly life of a boy mom. and enjoys secret jokes with the boy at any time possible. she's very happy and feels so blessed with everything God has given her! some days seem long, dreary and blah , but there is ALWaYs at least one moment (but usually many) shining through making the girl's heart smile...
:)

sweet, deep soul.

as i'm making dinner, jack emerges from his room teary. when i asked what was wrong he said,
" it was just so sad..." and burst into tears...
he had just finished the marley and me chapter book.

my sweet jack

all the scaries come out to play.

okay, so it's not my favorite of holidays. not too much the fan of dressing in costume. but i will say i have come to love halloween in my neighborhood! it's like a huge party for children of all ages. just a fun night to be had by all...except maybe for this poor guy this year.

i know you probably can't tell by looking at his face because his face is saying,
"this night is going to rock! i can't wait to go out with my wife and kids. my dear, sweet, lovely wife is never loud and annoying and NeVER sticks her foot in her mouth. let the fun begin!"
...but, i'm afraid his face was let down. i thank him for putting up with me!
well, here are the results of this year's costume decisions:

jon gosselin on the loose.

colt mccoy...shocking.

and the oh-so-original wrigley field ghost.

next, a classic scene of me threatening and begging, i mean sweetly asking my always-ready-to-please children if they would ever so kindly mind posing for a loving photograph together.

you would think i asked them to play barbies or something.

FiNaLLY...the end.