I'll love you 33 ways to anywhere

Happy Birthday Andy!  You are 33 today.  I told you that you were a third of a century today and you corrected me by saying you wouldn't really be a third of a century until January 30th at 8 AM - because then you would be 33 and 3 months and 1/3 of a day.   Always the over analytical engineer huh?  :) That's OK that is one of the reasons I love you.  Here are 33 ways I love you darling!

1. Just what I said above - you are so funny how proudly nerdy you are.  I love laughing with you about your little nerd ticks and qualities. 
2. Last night you watched all of the kids and kept them out of my hair for several hours while I worked on the service project at church.  You even kept them alive!  I love you
3. I love the mouse squeak you make when you are laughing too hard.
4. I love how you simply adore your little girls.
5. I love that you work so hard at work and that everyone respects you.
6. I love that you are the type of dad that makes it a matter of course that your son wants to be just like you.
7. I love how even very late at night when we both want to sleep - if you know I am stressed about anything you ask if I want to talk about it.
8. I love that you really love what you do.  That you enjoy it is one of the best blessings in my life.
9. I love that when you talk to the kids about me you call me "Mommy" to them and not Mom.  It shows the tenderness you see in my role.
10. I love that we have very similar senses of humor. 
11. When you do something you do it thoroughly every time.  I love that I can depend on that.
12. I love how you look so young to everyone but that you are getting a distinguishing amount of salt and pepper throughout the sides of your hair.
13. I love that are easily amazed by me.  This makes me feel good even when I think I haven't really done much.
14. I love how you have such a way with people that they always feel that you really do care about them and they like you instantly.  They feel this way because you really do care about them.
15. You have a real talent with words.  I can write down my feelings and express them in a way that satisfies me but you can speak difficult words to people in gentle ways - making hard situations go smoothly.  It is simply amazing.
16. You are very strong.  I don't know where you hide all those muscles but I like it anyhow. 
17. I love how utterly amazed and surprised you are when someone complements you - it never takes me by surprise.
18. I love the little crinkly smile lines by your blue eyes that almost always are on your face.
19. I love how completely unobservant you are when you come home from work and I am in my PJs, hair a mess and the kids look like orphans and you casually say "did you go anywhere today?"
20. I love how you immediately revert to a 6 yr old whenever you are around something sweet.
21. I love how completely and honestly you dove right into the madness that is my family.
22. I love how no matter how long I have been married to you I am often caught by the thought of how much fun it has been.
23. I love how you make an effort to get to know my girlfriends well enough that you give really good suggestions when it comes to gifts or advice concerning them.
24. I love it how your voice gets really high and you show such huge excitement - declaring praises whenever Ruby does something new developmentally.  You are such a huge ego booster for the kids.
25. I love how you pretend your little no-frills 2004 plain grey Toyota Corolla is a rally car as soon as snowy weather hits in.
26. I'm pretty sure you are the coolest person ever - well in the nerd category that is. :)
27. I love that you are from another country - it makes this boring went K-12 grade with the same people and lived in CO my whole life girl feel a bit more exotic.  I love that you consider yourself an American now though.
28. Embarrassing Secret Alert: I love that you secretly love Pride and Prejudice and that you enjoyed the Twilight books.
29. I love that you will mow the lawn in stripes even though it takes longer just because you know I think it looks so nice.
30. I love the way you explain difficult concepts to the kids and even I understand them better.
31. I love the way you look in those jeans.  You know the ones.
32. I love that sometimes when we go out to eat and you order something that I sometimes make at home - you always say how mine tastes better.  And I think you mean it.
33. Lastly, I love that I've loved you for 28% of your life and that that percentage is only going to grow larger.

There you have it - here is to another year older and better still!  Muah!

Lazy McLazyton

I am seriously draggin'.  I hate exercise right now even though I love the feeling I get from it. I need to do more of it and yet I am literally wanting to sleep as I lay down to do abs or leg lifts.  Lazy lazy lazy.

Thankful Thursday

Today has been one of those Thursdays where a lot is going on and a lot is on my mind and I have had a hard time trying to see the positive out of a situation and instead worry and worry and worry about things.  Therefore, it has been a bit difficult to find things to be "thankful" for today.

I'm going to try anyway because it is just essential that I get a clear head about things and find the good in things right now.  So from top to bottom:

Andrew: I am thankful that yesterday he could come home from work to relieve me of the duty of figuring out dinner with a splitting headache as well as taking Corilynn to the doctors office.  I am thankful that he listens to me and is one of those partners who really does care about my feelings and loves me.

Chantal: I am thankful that we have some common interests.  We like the same kind of music and so we have had fun blaring the radio in the kitchen while we cook dinner or drive in the car or clean up the room.  I am thankful for whenever she hugs my kids or wants to help with Ruby.  I am thankful that she is such a sensitive, feeling person.  I hope in the coming weeks we can learn to communicate our feelings better together.  I think we both have common goals we want to achieve in this relationship.

Lyman: I am thankful for a girl in his class named Becky who loves to chase him and tell him she wants to marry him and tries to kiss him.  It is every mother's dream that their son will make friends at school and that girls will like them.  However, it is also every mother's nightmare.  For now I am appeased and thankful that his reaction to her advances has been to laugh and run away and to not let her kiss him cause that "would be gross."  I asked him if he is kind to her and he said he is.  I am thankful that I have not raised a mean kid - just an irresistibly handsome one.  I am thankful for the laugh that lightened my mood today when I talked to Lyman about this today because I remember distinctly the boys that I chased around in kindergarten telling them I was going to marry them and kiss them.  Sorry to Garret, Tim, and Byron -- wherever you all are out there.  May you not carry psychological scars.

Corilynn: I am thankful that she has gotten herself a UTI.  That sounds terrible, I am sure.  But if it seems to have convinced her that going to the potty to go pee instead of doing it in her pants and wiping (not skipping) is important.  Apparently Mom did know better when I warned her she could get an infection if she didn't do these things or stop doing other things.  I am thankful though for her sake that we have the ability in these modern ages to get her medicine to kill the infection.

Ruby: Is there anything not lovely and darling about my Ruby dubes?  I am thankful for her little bright-not-stress-causing-because-she-hasn't-learned-how-to-cause-me-grief personality.  She is delightful and cute.  She stands independently every now and then and I love the confidence she is gaining with it.  She loves to pull away from me when I feed her and tell me a few funny sentences in her little baby garble and then get back on like we are just having lunch together instead of me nursing her.  I love love love it.  I am so grateful for her little tiny body.

Seriously?!?

Sometimes I think that I must be doing something wrong in my general approach to potty training because for quite some time now both of my "potty trained" offspring have had accident issues.  Can you really be almost 4 and 6 and still wetting yourself during the day?  Seriously!  I have tried everything short of amputation to get them to figure this part of their lives out.  The part that gives me warm fuzzies in the inner depths of my heart (heavy sarcasm here) is that I know they are capable - physically able to handle their bodily functions properly.  We will go weeks, nay months sometimes with nothing and then weeks of continuous soiling.  Positive and negative consequences - you name it - we have tried it.  I would maybe understand their laziness if they saw us wetting ourselves when we were too busy to go to the potty.  But Andy and I haven't had any accidents in a long time! :0) JK 

All I can say that if my kids are not "potty trained" by the time they hit high school I am grounding them from going to Homecoming.  You don't think Ill do it but I will, I promise.

Thankful Thursday

Today I put Lyman on the bus again and realized that tomorrow marks 2 weeks since I first put him on the bus and waved goodbye to my not-so-little-anymore boy.  I am thankful that he gets to go to kindergarten, I miss him but I love seeing the way he has risen to the challenge and has matured.  Well for the most part, you notice the little dots on the belly of his shirt below?  That is from the syrup he spilled on his shirt from the pancakes I cooked him for his first day of school.

Why does this picture make me feel like I am going to be waving goodbye to him for the rest of my life now?

I am thankful also for this little girl.  And little is very accurate.  Although extremely active and a good eater, this little girl remains a nymph.  She is 15 lbs 3oz as of this weeks 9 month well child check.  That puts her in the 3rd percentile.  She is tall though - her height is around the 70th percentile.  It looks like another one bites the proverbial-Andrew's-genetics dust.  She loves the washing machine and stands there talking to the clothes excitedly.  Maybe this is why I am so sick during pregnancies - because my kids come out with less than half of my own genetics due to his strong-arming, genetic bullying.  That's ok, because I have a pretty awesome husband with pretty awesome genes.  Whether it is genes or jeans - he looks pretty dang good regardless.

I am thankful for the gloomy, rainy day we are having today.  I love hearing the thunder and having the house look all dark during the day.  Sunshine is great most of the time but sometimes a hot chocolate, chick flick, stormy day is exactly what a girl needs.  Now to choose a chick flick with Corilynn - Princess Bride anyone?

Momtimus Prime

Before time began, there was the Mom. We know not where she comes from, only that she holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony with our children. But like all great young minds, some choose actions for good, others for spraying water all over the bathroom walls and floor. And so began the war. A war that ravaged our home all day until it was consumed by bedtime, and the Mom was lost to the far reaches of insanity. We gather all our chocolate, hoping to recoup for a better day tomorrow and rebuild our home. Teaching every star, every child. And just when all hope seemed lost, a glimpse of success, a message of encouragement - our child shows love for a sibling or says I love you.

We live among the children now, hiding in plain sight, raising them in pajama pants, waiting, protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are haggard and tired, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye (especially if they get into your make up and overdue the eye shadow). I am Momtimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Momobots taking refuge among their homes. We are here for you. We are waiting (til they are 18).

2010 Class Schedule

Welcome to the Mackrory Institute! We are now offering night classes.  Last night's seminar went as follows:

11:15 PM  Annoying Buzzing Sounds: What wakes you up when you forget to turn your phone on silent and you receive a email.  Awesome! Seminar hosted by KaraLynne Mackrory

12:45-3:30 AM Sleep Mirage: How to keep everyone up at night by alternating crying for 5-10 minutes and being silent for 20.  An instructional guide to having apparently nothing wrong with you from top to bottom but insisting on crying like you do.  Seminar hosted by Ruby Mackrory

12:45-3:30 AM Nighttime Parental Dance: Not the fun kind, this is more like cage fighting where you tag your partner in to try to figure out how to get the baby happy and asleep.  Seminar hosted by Andrew and KaraLynne Mackrory

3:30 AM Mommies Can Cry Too: What happens when you haven't received any sleep all night and your body hurts and is mad at you for it.  A coping mechanism for loosing you sanity in the middle of the night from total mental and physical exhaustion. Hosted by KaraLynne Mackrory

3:30 AM Nice Gesture: Why after your wife has not slept all night you probably shouldn't try to comfort her by scratching her back or cuddling when she finally gets into bed to sleep because you are only keeping her up longer.  Thanks, I love you too, now get back to your side of the bed. Hosted by KaraLynne Mackrory

8 PM - 7 AM Sleep Magicians: How the heck did they sleep through all of that, I mean I am grateful they did, but seriously! I need what they took.  Hosted by Chantal, Lyman and Corilynn.

Thankful Thursday

Has it already been a whole week?  School has started and with all that is required to get two kids to and retrieve from school, it feels like time has flown by. 

Chantal is here!  It has been really delightful having her here.  She has really opened up and her personality is funny, tender and caring.  We really love having her in the home.  It has been a bit of an adjustment because high school kids have more they need for school and actually get homework.  We have had to help her with somethings as she is still translating much of what is going on at school.  We are running more errands and outings to stores for this and that then we were used to but it is also nice to have an extra set of capable hands around the house that volunteer to help with the dishes or dinner.  Did I say how really nice it is to have her?  Well it is.  She is smart, inquisitive and really sweet with the kids.  Corilynn loves to sit with her on her bed and look at all her pretty girl things and Ruby only has to whimper for a second before she comes to her rescue. We have played "Apples to Apples" the game 3 or 4 times already since she has been here because she really likes the game - it teaches her new words and of course cultural things like "what is 'redneck'?".  We made her pancakes her first morning here and she talks about having them again all the time. She is starting soccer tonight after school and so I am actually finding that I am missing her being gone longer during the day than previous when it was just the school day.  We are thankful to have her around.  I promise to put of up pictures soon - it has just been that crazy.

Lyman is in school too and loves it.  We can tell he really loves it despite his short answers of "nothing" or "I don't know" when we ask him what he learned at school or what he did at school that day.  I cant believe how big he is to get on the bus by himself, ride it, get to his classroom, get back out to the bus at the end of school, get home and remember his backpack the whole way!  It sounds like a simple task but I swear we forgot his backpack a hundred million times along the route to and from preschool and I took him, and walked him into the classroom myself!  My favorite moments of the day are when I get a hug good bye from him when he gets on the bus and when he runs off it to hug me when he gets back.  Yesterday I even got a treat of him giving me the sign language sign for "I love you" when his bus drove by the house on its way to the school.  It just doesn't get better than that!  I am grateful today for that.

Just a few other thankful things: I am thankful for the delicious German chocolate that Chantal brought us from home.  I am thankful that her mother is sending us more.  :)  I am thankful that Ruby has not tried to bite me yet with her 5 teeth.  I am thankful that Corilynn loves being home with me.

Thankful Thursday

Our family is getting an exchange student today.  I'm going to be a Mom again.  It probably sounds ridiculous but Ive got the same jittery excitement to meet her like I do my other kids.  I also pretty sure that "raising" her for 10 months will not be any easier than if she were really my daughter.  Maybe harder.  Her name is Chantal, she is from Germany and we love her already.  I am thankful for the chance to share my home.

And why did we decide to share our home with an exchange student?  We have been blessed far beyond our needs.  We have a beautiful home, in a wonderful neighborhood.  We have good friends and a wonderful family and a great job.  The Lord could have given us much less and we could have been happy.  Our home, which is one of our favorite blessings is large and spacious for our family.  We planned it that way so that we could grow into it as our family grew.  We are amazed at the generosity of HF in our lives.  We have been so abundantly blessed, and I am reminded of that every time I walk by our "guest" room and see that we have everything in this house that we need and more.  Since we live so far from family, the guest room goes unused for most of the year.  Someday our family will spill into that room and it wont be a guest room anymore but for now its extra blessing space.  Since fostering kids isn't right for our family right now (though we have considered it for the future),  we have decided to host an exchange student for the year.  We want to share our blessings, our love, our family, our lives - all the good in our lives, with someone else.  Plain and simple - we have been given so much, we can share.  I am thankful for this chance to.

How did we get into it?  Well I had been thinking about the blessings we have and thought that I would like to get into doing some volunteer work.  I looked up some websites for local volunteer opportunities and one of them pulled up an exchange student program through The Center for Cultural Interchange, or CCI.  Andy and I had talked about it a few years ago.  I grew up having exchange students and it was a really neat experience.  It didn't feel right when we talked about it before.  When I found the program I decided it couldn't hurt to look into and see what was required.  As soon as I made an inquiry of interest  - it just felt right.  I was told to submit an application, which would give me more information about the program.  When Andy got home, I had just finished doing the application.  I talked to him about it - a little weary of his reaction since it was so sudden - and he was completely excited about it.  He felt the same way about our blessings and had been thinking how we could share what we had.  Well that was a relief!  Before we could really even finish discussing the possibilities the agency called us because they were in need of host families and it was getting late in the game for placements for this fall.  That evening she sent us profiles of the girls we could choose from.  This was a 1.5 weeks ago and Chantel comes to our family today.  I am thankful everything has worked out so relatively smoothly.  Dealing with the school district wasn't fun but that is another story, another time.