Some picures

Just thought it was time to put some more pictures of the kids on here. Some of you have probably seen them already, but I love these pictures and I know that most of my blog-lookers (is that even a term?!) haven't seen them.

Reese is in all her glory loving the camera, and Devin is posing in his PJ's. Whatever would I do without my sweet, precious kiddos?

Midnight Thoughts

Okay, so you know that really annoying person that loves to sing more than anything in the world, and belts out any note or song at the top of their lungs at any given opportunity? But wait, I forgot to add that this person CANNOT sing worth his or her life, and everybody cringes when they hear them. C'mon. You know the person I am talking about. We all do. We all have one. Maybe not necessarily a singer, but perhaps someone who loves to play a sport but stinks at it, or loves to cook, but doesn't produce anything with flavor in the end, or worse yet, burns it and thinks it's just "blackened" chicken.

What in the world am I getting at? You might wonder. Well, I'll tell you. I am that person. No really, I am. Let me explain. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom. I LOVE my kids, I (for the most part) LOVE being pregnant. I love everything about being a mom (am I really saying this so soon after psycho Mckay reared her very ugly head?) but I am afraid--no, not just afraid--I am sure that I am no good at it. I am one of those people that knows I am not good at it, yet I love it so much I carry on with it anyway. I often catch myself thinking "when we have our next baby" (NO! It will not be soon, nosy people!) and then in the same thought think, is it really fair to have a "next baby" when I cannot even handle/do a good job/teach/have patience for/[insert all having to do with motherhood here] the ones that I have?

And for my next thought: What is worse: being a horrible singer and still singing at the top of your lungs because you have no clue that you are horrible, or being a horrible singer and loving it so much you just don't care that you stink at it so you do it any way, because you really do just love it that much? Neither seem like good options to me. So where does that leave us challenged folk? Am I destined to produce and raise "blackened chicken" because I am that selfish?

My New Creations

YAY for VINYL!!!! Or as Brad would say, Vinyl FTW!












Okay, here are some pictures of my latest vinyl creations. I will not lie: I held my mother hostage in my sweatshop-like environment to help me get them done before my first home vinyl party (more on that in a minute). I think they turned out pretty cute. Want one? Go to www.sayitonthewall.com

As for the vinyl party...it went okay. I am a blubbering fool in public, but anyone who knows me knows that. Good thing it was a bunch of wonderfully forgiving women listening to me blubber! good people to practice on. I keep getting business, so that's a definite good thing.

SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED!!!!

Here are the Harris house, we have been afflicted with illness in one form or another for over a week. I NEED A BREAK!!! I would love to say that I am a great mom, that I roll with the punches, I give my sick kids all the compassion, love, and care that they need. I tend to their every desire. Can't do it. I can't say that. What I can say, however, is that I have learned there are two Mckay's. Regular Mckay, and Psycho Mckay. I introduced my mom to Psycho Mckay yesterday when I had HAD it. I couldn't handle the whining, sobbing, neediness, following me all around, demanding, break downs, temper tantrums, and no sleep thing ANY LONGER! That is what my last week has been. I don't think Devin has gone 10 minutes in the last 72 hours without bursting into tears over something as trivial as his blanket being folded the wrong way, his cards not going back into their case, Reesie not holding his finger, his sandwich would take too much time to eat, and things of that sort. It just gets to be too much, ya know? And Reese. My baby who never makes a peep has been crying, yelling, demanding to be held 24/7. How do all you moms with only one personality (the normal one) do it? While I think motherhood is the greatest and best blessing in my life, it is also my biggest challenge. I have a lot to live up to...I mean, my mom was perfect. Seriously, the perfect mom. She was the ultimate example of love and sacrifice for her kids. While I always love my kids no matter what, I don't always show it, and I sometimes want to give up. And sometimes, just sometimes, Psycho Mckay rears her ugly head. My mother can attest to that. Can't someone please tell me where the manual is, and can you please customize it for my children and I?

Diet Dr. Pepper Addiction

At the rate I am downing Diet Dr. Pepper, I think it is safe to say I have an addiction. How much can she drink? You are wondering. Well, I usually go to the gas station once a day to get a big gulp. I figured I could save some money by buying a twelve pack of it. I think I was wrong--it won't save me money if I continue to drink 5 cans a day. Yup, that's right: 5 cans. I am embarrassed/disgusted to admit I drank that many on Friday. To partially redeem myself, I am going to add that Friday both kids were sick and I tend to drink more in high stress/unpleasant situations. Today I only drank 2 cans. At any rate, I consume more Diet Dr. Pepper than anyone I know.

The logical place to go from this confession would be to say I need to stop, or I am going to cut back. Nope. You won't hear those words out of my mouth. I enjoy Diet Dr. Pepper, and if I turn to it for a little relief or de-stressing, it's better than the alternative of, well, let's just not go there.

So if anyone wants to donate to my Diet Dr. Pepper addiction fund (to BUY more of it, not to quit) you can use my paypal account: www.mckay@sayitonthewall.com or you can just drop off a case at my home. I can write you a little receipt so we can try and make it tax deductible.

Easter

Growing up I have always liked Easter. When I was really little I woke up to a breakfast of candy. Okay, so I know it was not intended to be my breakfast, but it always ended up being that way. It was great. Then I got a little older, and learned the true meaning and importance of Easter. Then I had kids, and got to experience Easter as a mom. Easter as a mom is 100x better than Easter as a child, or a young adult. This year I had so many opportunities to teach Devin about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and their love for us. It was an amazing experience to see my little boy try and wrap his head around it all, and to understand what I was telling him. He had so many questions and comments for me that I never imagined any three year old comprehending. It is the most wonderful feeling to have that sure knowledge of Christ, and to share that with the most important people I have in my life. It is even more wonderful to see that my little boy is gaining an understanding and a testimony of his own. I have a special boy on my hands, I realize this more every day.

Blog Stalker

I always joke with those I know that I am a stalker. If there is someone I want to become friends with I leave them little choice. I make sure I talk to them, call them, meet them, whatever. I have made some of my best friends this way. Well, last week I discovered I am a blog stalker. I was looking at Brad's blog (www.harrishavoc.blogspot.com -sorry, I am not smart enough yet to know how to include the links where you just click brad's blog! if someone knows, shed some light!) then I decided to look at the blogs he had listed as his friends blogs, I thought that was boring boy stuff, so I looked at their wife's blogs, and found that much more enjoyable, and kept going down the line, looking at their blogs of note listed. By doing this, I found a blog that I LOVE that has wonderful recipes. Now, because I am stingy and found a cookie recipe that is so good I deemed it my "secret recipe" I will not say what that blog is yet. But also, on this blog I found a WONDERFUL recipe for tortellini salad. Just to show you I am not a completely stingy blog stalker, here it is:

Tortellini Salad

1 package (fresh) cheese tortellini, cooked
2 chicken breasts, grilled and diced (I left these out)
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
2 cups (packed) torn spinach (I used a lot more)
1 small bottle sundried tomatoes, drained
6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 small red onion, diced.

*Mix all ingredients in a large bowl

DRESSING
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. Oregano
1 Tbs tomato paste
6 Tbs balsamic vinaigrette
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

*Whisk all dressing ingredients together and pour over salad.

And if any of Brad's friends wives do the same thing I did: read my blog and recognize this recipe and know the blog that I stole it from...I hope you find it amusing and not scary! I am not a crazy stalker, just a self admitted stalker. There is a difference. I hope!

Trader Joe's

So I went there for the first time today. It is a neat store. I actually really liked it. There was a lot I wanted, but it is a bit on the expensive side, so I made myself refrain. I have come to this conclusion about it: if you care about organic foods and have strong opinions on the nutritional value of your foods, Trader Joe's and health food stores are for you. Similarly, if you care about hormones being added to your foods and how it effects you and your family, Trader Joe's and health food stores are for you. However, if you like to avoid all such knowledge of what it is exactly you are eating, and live by the saying 'ignorance is bliss' you would be better off shopping at a regular grocery store and in doing so, save your family a buck or so. I fall under the 'ignorance is bliss' category. I prefer not to educate myself on additives and hormones. Mine are raging as is (hormones that is) and I do not think I can handle all my current worries AND worry about what it is that I am poisoning my family with.

All in all, Trader Joe's is great. But it is a bit out of my way and a bit expensive for my taste. Not to mention all that healthy food would be wasted on an ignorant family around here. Better leave the healthy stuff to those who care. As for me, I am sure my attitude is saying, "carcinogens, here we come!"

Trying it again

Welcome all. I am trying this blog thing again. I think it could be a great journal of sorts if I could stick with it.

Let's see: Things new at the Brad and Mckay Harris household-

Reese is growing up despite my demands not to. I now have to put my sweet baby girl directly in the shopping cart sitting up. Not a big deal, right? Wrong! It's awful! I about cried the first time I did it. There I was in Michaels, put Reese in the cart, and about lost it. Luckily, I pulled myself together and carried on, but it was an awful trip! She is still my little baby. I don't want her sitting up. I don't want her eating baby food. I don't want her to learn to crawl. I don't want her to grow up! It goes by too fast!

On to Devin. He is a little pistol, that's for sure. He knows what he whats and when he wants it. The when part is usually RIGHT NOW! Mom just can't move fast enough. He is opinionated, he is mouthy, he is hot headed. He is almost four. I have to remind myself of that last one. It's a hard one to remember, but none the less, he is. I cannot expect him to reason like a 25 year old. I cannot expect him to just accept any answer I give him and move on. He has to work these things through and learn while he does so. I love this little boy so much. He teaches me so much, and I can only hope that I am doing a decent job of teaching him.

Ahh, my Brad. He is wonderful, he is great, he is hardworking, he is caring, he is all that I could want in a husband and an amazing dad. I can't believe that he is mine. How did I manage that? I must be craftier than I thought to trap him into this marriage! He is busy lately with lots of side projects and all the work I am giving him. I think he likes to be busy. He is good at busy. He does busy well. But despite all his business, he is still a family man. We always know that we come first.

And me. Still not sleeping through the night. It's been over a year now since I have been able to sleep straight through, no interruptions. But you know what? I just barely realized that today. It hasn't been bad. Reese wakes up, she smiles at me, she eats, she smiles at me, and she goes back to sleep. Not bad at all. My website (www.sayitonthewall.com) is going well. It could use more traffic, and I could use more orders, but I have had work since it got up and running, so I am grateful for that. I am actually having a lot of fun. I have my first vinyl party date set for April 24th. I am excited to see how it goes and if it will bring me some business.

So, you see, we are good. Really good. Life is good. Here's to a charmed life.