JayNay...

It is someone's birthday tomorrow. You probably already figured out who by the title. JayNay AKA Jenna. Jenna is one of those people who is ridiculously perfect, and because of that I decided it would be easier to do a blog about things she is not good at or negative attribute. That is sisterly love right there. Because ridiculously I couldn't think of 10 things (or things that wouldn't get me killed), I am turning this into true or false. Which ones do you think are true?

1. She cannot count dice worth a damn.
2. She does the WORSE accents of all time.
3. When she thinks you are wrong instead of arguing she says "mmm hmmm" and make this face that says your an idiot and make you picture yourself jumping on her and tackling her to the ground.
4. She very rarely if every uses exclamation points. In typing or real life.
5. She talks way too much.
6. She likes to give big on the mouth kisses whenever she greets you.
7. She hates to cook with potatoes.
8.She never thinks you have enough coffee creamer in your refrigerator.
9. She hates even the thought of taking a bath.
10. She hates sharing her drinks with me.

Of course you know that I am not going to end on that note so...

Jenna
You are a fabulous mother,
daughter, friend,
and of course sister.
I love you not only as a sister
but as a close friend too.
Thanks for listening to all my
hypochondria, lame stories,
and venting.
Thanks for beating the crap out me
when we were younger just enough
to make me tough but not
so much that I ever had to go to
the hospital.
For making movies, cooking shows,
and dance routines.
Talking to me late at night,
then singing me to sleep.
Making me laugh and cry.
You are
talented
determined
crafty
beautiful
funny
smart

Love ya!

We liked to be naked as much as possible.

I always had a love for shoes.

Cool shades.

Mexico make overs.

My experience in the storm.

I went to bed around 10:30.
I considered sleeping in the living room
so I could hear tornado noises
but was scared because of
"the rat".
I went into our sound proof room
(Thanks to our box fan), which I have
always thought of as a great thing
until last night.

Me- Dave, should one of sleep in the living room (hint hint)
Dave- You can
Me- Do you think you should sleep in the living room (bigger hint hint)
Dave- No

At this point I text my mom...
"Should I sleep in the living room?
Will you text me if you hear the tornado?"

She said she thought I would be fine and she would try to text me
to just run to the bathroom if I heard anything.

I fell asleep thinking about how I was going to maneuver
my mattress over us in the bathroom if the tornado did come.
I also woke up every time the window air-conditioner
came on because it sounds a teensy bit like a train.

At 12:30 it looked really bad from what I could see
laying in the bed with my covers up to my eyes.
LOTS of lightning
tree branches that looked like they might break through
at this point I also had to pee very badly
but due to "the rat" still wouldn't go into
hall way.

Me- Dave, don't you think you should go check and see if we are about to die from that tornado?
Dave- No.

After all that I woke up this morning alive and well and about to pee on myself.

I am very thankful that we were all very safe and all that I lost was a little sleep.

Just call me thrifty.

I have been to thrift stores many times before, but they usually just overwhelm me. I went this past week to get Easter baskets to decorate (I was very impressed with the fact that I actual remembered to try there first). It was half off day so it was INSANE, but we done good. Here are some of the awesome finds.

These wooden paintings for JD's room. $3 for both!

This cute lemonade pitcher. 50 cents.

I think it looks cute with the vintage sparkling water bottle.

Judah's teeny tiny Easter basket. 25 cents.

My Easter basket that I decorated. It was originally just brown. 75 cents.

I got several other baskets too that amounted to around $3.

Cute TEAL lamps. It is like they were made for me, but we just now got connected.
$3 for both!

The best deal was this Britax car seat. also $3!

I am now a believer and will be going to thrift stores more regularly.
Maybe Judah will grow up to be like his cousins Delaney and Bella when
asked what their favorite store is reply "Good Will" in their cute
southern accents.

Mags

Just wanted to give a shout out to my beautiful friend Maggie. It is her birthday today. Maggie and I are a like in a lot of ways, but one area in our life that we are definitely connected is our birthdays. We LOVE our birthdays. Even in times were we did not see each other as much we always did something for our birthdays. It is nice to have a friend that will celebrate your whole birthday month with you.

Your are beautiful, kind
and patient.
You make me laugh,
you're my friend I can swap stories
about ailments with and whine to,
That never gets tired of the same
conversations over and over.
You are my source of good music,
and good youtube.
You are beautiful
Love you!

PS put a bird on it.

He is risen!

O trumpet sound a vict’ry call!
And tongues proclaim good news for all:
He is risen! He is risen!
O! Let a thousand hymns break forth,
Proclaiming our Redeemer’s worth!

Give Him glory! Give Him glory!
He is risen! He is risen!
Hallelujah!

He who was slain on our behalf,
Suff’ring beneath His Father’s wrath:
He is risen! He is risen!
He who was hung upon the tree,
Rose from the tomb in victory!

O Christian, are you filled with gloom?
Then look inside the empty tomb!
He is risen! He is risen!
Here there is hope for ev’ry fear!
Here there is joy for ev’ry tear!

O! Let the nations sing the fame
Of Christ the Lamb who once was slain!
He is risen! He is risen!
Now we await the coming day,
When all those raised in Christ will say:

Lets soak it in folks.
It is amazing how days and weeks can go by without any thoughts
of this crossing my mind.
Sometime I just have to conscientiously
stop myself and think about it.
I pray for myself and all of you that this
weekend will be a time of soaking it in.
It is also amazing how having children in your
life nieces, nephews, kids, grandkids
can make this hit home more.
For two reasons
1. You would do anything for those kids in your life that you love so much
just like Jesus sacrificed his life for us, and God His Son for us.
2. God sacrificed His Son for us! Holy mackerel He must love us a lot.

Thank you, Lord, for loving us so much!

He gave His LIFE for us,
but He is alive and well!

Prince Charming

For those of you who don't know, this is my prince charming (yes, I know you know him, but this sounded better than here's Dave). Let me give you a little of his history...

He started like this.


on the right.

This makes me melt.


Went through some interesting stages.

Like this. not sure who the woman are.

and became this.

He has rescued me from a lot of things... having a house that is falling a part, having to cuddle with my sisters every night, all the crazy things that go through my head, having a jungle in my front yard, having a sissy son, not being able to have perspective on things, not having any dirty laundry or dishes to do, and much much more.

Together we get to talk about everything you can think of, test jokes, test recipes, makeout, raise an adorable kid, build and create things, be goofy, be sad, travel, learn more about the Lord and talk through things we are questioning, and dream about all the things we will one day do.

This man is my life here on earth and I could not have been more blessed.
He is strong, loving, caring,
hot, positive, encouraging,
talented, hard-working
a man of faith, an amazing father
that is teaching our son to be a man,
and a great friend and husband.

I love ya, pookie!

Sugar and spice, snakes and snails

This was my first week watching sweet little Carson, and it was awesome. As I told both her parents she was not a problem at all, it was the little stinker that is part me that was the problem. After spending 10 hours with them I got to see very clearly some of the differences in boys and girls. I thought I would share some of those "differences" with you.

While I was painting (yes, I realize this is probably not age appropriate, but I will probably do it again) with the kids
Carson- sat perfectly in the seat, followed the directions, and didn't get a drop of paint on her.
Judah-Was on top of the table within seconds with paint all down his arms.

Judah has at least 5 new bruises from tackling the ground (also known as falling)
Carson did not fall once except maybe when Judah took her down with him.

When playing with the ball
Carson carried it around and said "ball"
Judah immediately threw it to the ground and flung himself on top of it.

Carson is fine playing by herself and also really good at sharing
Judah wants to do everything Carson does and have everything Carson has (he got that from me)

When I took them outside to blow bubbles
Carson smiled and said "buddles"
Judah (who has never seen them) said "wooooow, wow, wow, wow, wow, woooooow, wow, wow, wooooow" while crawling after them like his life depended on it.

It is just crazy how at age 1 they are already so extremely girly or extremely boyish. Carson was so dainty and sweet and polite. She enjoyed reading book, doing puzzles and sitting in my lap. Judah is so wild and crazy. He enjoyed climbing on stuff, getting dirty, and tackling things. I know some of it is personality, but I think a big chunk of it is boy and girl differences. Both of them are so sweet in their own way.

He can be calm for about 2 seconds while sucking his thumb.

This is the biggest smile I have gotten on camera.

Sharing. I love it.

Ames

Just wanted to wish my friend, Ames, a very Happy Birthday!

She is a deep deep thinker,
a friend through thick and thin,
a forgiver of everything,
an easy laugh:),
Beautiful in and out.
I hope that you have a fabulous day and that someone shows you just how special you are!
Love ya

Here are some photo's from her and Micah's visit.

Some stuff went down at the Gunter household last night. This is probably the kind of stuff you are not supposed to blog about, but I can't help it. I am traumatized.

It actually started a few weeks ago when Dave casually mentioned "Kace, I think we have a mouse". and then I said "excuse me? come again? I cannot have rats in my house." and then he went on to explain that it wasn't a rat just a "little" mouse. Harmless, even cute. In my eyes a rodent is a rodent, but how did he know it was just a "cute little mouse"? Well it had chewed into the flour bag and its teeth looked small or some crap like that. Time went by and I didn't see or here anything else, so I forgot about it.

As you know I was dog sitting this week and while I was gone Dave said they were back, so he set traps. The trap went off while I was gone, but nothing. of course because it must have been too small is what he said, the mouse not the trap. So the next night, last night, he set two traps.

We went to bed kinda late and after crying through "off the map" I really had to pee. being the brave lady I am I turned all the lights on (waking up Dave) and scared myself to DEATH with a dying balloon in the bathroom. Since I woke Dave from his beauty sleep he decided to check the trap (he actually asked me, but I said something like "hell no").

A few minutes later I hear "Kace, come here, hurry" (why he asked me to hurry to see something that is obviously not going to be moving anytime soon, IDK). So I run into the kitchen and what is in the freakin trap??? A RAT. a huge gross rat. This was my thought process. "he lied to me. that is not a mouse. that is a rat. he can never be trusted again. That is so gross. gag. who know what its touched. gag. how many more are there. gag. don't throw up. gag. is Judah safe? should he sleep with us? will we be eaten alive by rats? how did they get in? poor rat. did it have a name? did it have family? did it die a painful death? I hope it died a painful death. I hate him." and on and on.

I went to sleep praying that the rat was a lonely, old rat with NO family that came here to end its days. I definitely slept with the covers totally covering me and I made Judah breakfast in underwear (usual) and cowboy boots. Final thoughts AHHHHHH.

Out of respect for the rat, no dead rat pictures.

the little bite marks???

On a good note. Judah is learning to eat with a fork.

I have been dog sitting this week and had entirely too much time to think. It has been nice to just stop and really spend time with Judah. I tend to get really busy doing things and the whole day has gone by and I have barely even stopped to look at him (that is a mild exaggeration). But then because I have so much time to think I just get really depressed about the fact that I don't spend more quality time with him. I watched eight kids and did laundry, housework, and ran all there errands for about 5 years. I should be able to watch one kid, get all my stuff done, and spend quality time with him, right? God is slowly teaching me that I just have to let go of all that crap. I have to let go of the laundry, the dirty dishes, the dirty car, the dog hair everywhere (this will be a long process because I like tidiness). Or some days I might not spend as much quality time with JD because I have to get something done. I am having to just pray that in the end Judah will know that we love him, that Jesus loves him, and that I won't have a nervous break down from my messy house. Oh well, what do you do?

Three of the eight + JD

Shower time!

My friend Tammy is having her first little boy in April and we are so excited. Judah and Levi are already best friends, they just don't know it yet. As James Taylor put it "Shower the people you love with love show them the way that you feel", Her sister and I threw her a shower. It is so exciting to see someone else going through all the different pregnancy stuff and get all the cute baby stuff, but not have to be the actual person. It is also fun to have it happen so close after I went through it. Anyways we had lots of fun celebrating the new little life that is inside her and I cannot WAIT to meet him!!!

How cute are these pacifier mints! The only thing that ruined it was me yelling every few minutes "Don't eat them, they were made with super glue"

I found lots of cute and easy party ideas at "the hostess with the mostess"

Its true, we do.


Thanks Jenna for doing the beautiful flowers.



The guest of honor. Barely showing!

All the yummy food courtesy of Katie.

yum yum!

Thanks to friends and family she racked up on lots of great stuff.

Deep in thought trying to figure out celebrity baby names.


Tammy and Katie.


She was really enjoying herself. This is her 3rd cupcake.

Her sister, not so much.

She had lots of help opening presents.


We ended the day with the boys giving each other lots of hugs and kisses.