longest blog in the history of the world....

Here's to randomness! CHEERS!

• I so can't wait for fall to be here and stay here! I mean, if I can't wear my white sandals, then I might as well pull out the fleece!
• I really got spoiled to having my children as my alarm clock since I quit teaching 2.5 years ago. It was always so sweet to wake up to a babbling baby or a sweet, soft little girl wanting some fruity pebbles.... All that to say, now I wake up to an alarm clock on my phone at least 6 out of 7 days of the week... and hit snooze at least 3 times each morning. aaahhh, the good ole days....
• I mopped my floors yesterday and they stayed clean for exactly 2 hours! WOW! Lucky me!!! Maybe I can do it again tomorrow!
• I'm in the process of redecorating Macey's room.... still have a few projects before it all comes together. She informed me yesterday that it looks like a KID ROOM! and she wanted it to look like a grown up room! How dare a 5 year old girl have a KID ROOM! Who ever heard of such!?! .... LOL

This is the before.... check back soon for the finished product!

• I am so excited that the Hog game is on this weekend and my amazing, handsome, work-a-holic husband has declared the couch as his primary residence on Saturday! Wooo-hoooo! We love having him home and I am pumped about cooking some of his favorite foods, listening to my kids fight, and the roar of college football on all day!


• I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately. When I drove back to Jonesboro last weekend, I took some backroads through lots of fields and watched the sun set behind them. I LOVE end-of-summer sunsets during Harvest and listening to some loud country music.... My mind wondered off a bit and I began to think about how many times each of those fields had been farmed and how many times the fruits of the labor had been reaped.... all that to say, God is faithful, the south is amazing, and there is nothing, nothing like being 10 minutes from 'home'.


• Macey is taking Kindergarten by the tail! She is loving every minute of it.... She was star citizen last week for Friendship! So proud of that sassy girl. She is just a sponge. I bought a set of sight word flash cards thinking I would be so ahead of the game and I could work with her on them. Good one... she new 93 out of 100 on her first time through them!!!! She loves to read and be read to. She asked me last week if I had ever read the book, "Who will call you Mother?" ... or something like that, and then told me the author and the illustrator.... trying to jog my memory for me! I love, love, love that girl to pieces. Macey is a test of my patience at times as she is the DEFINITION of STRONG WILLED CHILD!....And it is really like parenting myself sometimes! :) Today, I did have to take some disciplinary action with her due to her sassy mouth, stomping, glaring, sweet little self! After we had a talk, I sent her to her room and told her to write me an apology note or draw me a picture.... This is what I got:

I'LL TREASURE IT FOREVER. Macey is saying, "I'm Sorry" and the mom is saying, " I forgive you". Sweet, sweet!

• Barrett is pretty much hilarious! Today out of no where he told me this: "Me not get my name on board at muuaaa-day-ouuuut!" ... He didn't even go to school today, and it looks like he is really listening closely to my conversations with Macey when I pick her up every day. We are working on potty training (with Barrett, not Macey haha)... YUCK! I know there are worse things to come, but I really hate this job. He is so not into it..... but I am really sick of buying diapers. I can't wait to have that $40 a month to spend on something else..... maybe Dave Ramsey! haha!


• Last random thought: I LOVE MY BIBLE STUDY GIRLS! God is so real and alive in me. I love watching him weave people and things into my life to make me a woman after his heart. We are on Week 2 of Conversation Peace and it is all over my toes. I have a choice in how I use my words and my tongue... either for life or death! My goal is to let God direct my words and clean up my filthy mouth! ...(calm down, I'm not a potty mouth, but God sure has plenty of room to work in me!) So glad to be sharing this experience with so many AmAzInG women.

Disclaimer: I know some parts of this post sound a tad sarcastic, but I LOVE MY LIFE, MY HUSBAND, MY KIDS, AND OUR CRAZINESS! I HONESTLY COULD NOT BE HAPPPIER!

A Little Bit Of Summer.....

Arent' these just the cutest kids you have ever seen? I am just crazy about them.... and they sure add a little CrAzY to my life! :)

Macey (5) and Barrett (2) July 4th, 2010

This post is devoted to capturing some funnies that have made Summer 2010 so mememorable!

Barrett has discovered a crazy love of mud and mud puddles! Along with frogs and worms and rocks and sticks. One night after supper I let him play with the water hose and he filled this hole that we have in our flower bed with water.... and this is the progression of his fun! He ended up sitting in all that nasty, muddy water and loving every second of it!

Macey is getting so excited for school and is super ready! After we had had supper and played outside one night, she asked if they could have a "HEALTY SNACK". Please let me interepret her note that she left for me on the bar: Fruit snacks and Donuts! She is is mother's daughter! :) Sounds healthy to me.... however, I told her that was not an option at 9:00 pm and offered her a banana with some peanut butter instead. You can see in pic two how she feels about that! But she's a happy girl eatin' that peanut butter! :)

My sweet, little, busy, into-everything two year old sure does keep me on my toes! I found him in is room with Barbie when I noticed things were A TAD TOO QUIET! Obviously Barrett was concerned about Barbie's diaper rash and made sure she wouldn't have any trouble with it for a reaaallllyyyy long time! :)


This is how Daddy gives a bubble bath! He fills the water up and lets the bubbles almost spill over the top. No wonder they want him to give them a bath! :) They had so much fun I just had to share these!

And now back to that busy boy..... After hearing Macey scream to the top of her lungs, I ran into her room to find the air vent cover OFF and both of them peering down the air duct..... I wonder what they found. Oh, look, it is Barbie again..... I had to lay down on my stomach to reach down and rescue her. Just when I pulled her safely out, I realized I better hurry..... Lots of doll house family and pieces were still down there! The pile is what I dug out of the vent.... no telling what is too far down to ever be seen again! :( But, boy he was proud!

And this pic is of Sunday Morning, July 4th! I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man and to have these two wonderfully made kids! I had a fantastic birthday weekend with my family in Jonesboro. I am one happy girl! :)

Better late than never.... I have been wanting to post my favorite bible verses after Kelly did on her blog. But I am having a terrible time narrowing it down to one.... or even a few. These below are some of my current faves. If you are like me, you might cling to a verse for a while and then God reveals a new one to you that becomes your favorite. I have a journal that I write verses that really speak to me and it is always great to go back and read the verses that carried me through difficult times and the the ones that I held onto in times of joy and triumph.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned up; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Phillipians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Joshua 24:15

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

These are just a few verses that I love. God's word is so real and alive. I love how HE grabs my attention and and makes it so .... real! More than ever before, I have a stirring in my spirit for more of God. I am hungry for more of His word and eager to spend time with Him.... I am excited for what He is doing in my life and my family. My last comment and thought:

HE IS FAITHFUL!

Cohen: A Moment of Silence

For Cohen's sweet story, visit http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/. Please pray with me today for his heartbroken family and friends.

Sweet, sweet randomness....

Oh dear blog... how I have missed you!!!! I have had such great intentions of posting, but something ALWAYS comes up and then my creative juices are gone! :( Anyway, over the past .... oh, who knows how long, we have had lots of fun finishing up Mother's Day Out, T-ball, Dave Ramsey garage sale, 1 day trip to the beach, kindergarten registration, our 8th anniversary, and summer..... and a wild and crazy 2 year old! I apologize for the randomness of this post and I promise I will get it together and post more frequently.... and my posts will stick to their original topic! haha!

Barrett climbed onto the counter to wash all of the mud off of his feet after playing in puddles he made with the water hose..... what a helpful boy! HA! This is just how I found him!!!


I might have been a tad too busy to blog because I have A VERY BUSY 2 YR OLD BOY.... who loves to eat his cereal on the floor!!!! Don't worry, son, Mommy has nothing else to do besides cleaning up cinnamon toast crunch off of the hardwood floors!




And this might be how we have some super cost effective fun at the Clayton House when Mother's Day Out is not is session! :) Macey and Barrett doing a little dress up..... I'm gonna give you one guess who the costume designer might be!
















My sweet , sweet girl on her way to Kindergarten screening! Mrs. Parker took Macey to her room and spent a few minutes with her. When I met them in the hall, Mrs. Parker showed me what she wrote on Macey's screening sheet...... just one word.... CONFIDENT! :) Macey wrote 15 words and spelled them all correctly..... she is so ready for school, but is Sequoyah ready for her? .... And what will Barrett and I do all day without her!?!



Macey, Barrett, and I had so much fun at VBS the first week of June. I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends that I got to hang out with during the week and loved planting seeds of God's word in so many little lives. Macey and Barrett had a great time learning about God and making new friends. They both had wonderful teachers who just loved on them all week. I really thought I was volunteering just so they could go to preschool VBS, but God really blessed me during the week too. .... On a less serious note: All staff and children were asked to buy shirts, and as a mom, it did get a little hectic making sure all of our clothes were washed AND dried in time each morning, but that little blue shirt may have been the high-light of Barrett's week. Every day he would wake up and say, "My bible tory chirt? " (Interpretation: Do I get to wear my Bible Story Shirt again? ..... for some reason he called it bible story instead of school.... but it was just precious!)



Well, this is how I found Barrett at about 10 am today. I am not really pushing the potty training bit..... I think I'm really afraid of the whole undertaking! But he is a little interested in it. Today he told me he needed to potty and I told him that I would take him to my bathroom in just a minute. Apparently, he couldn't wait.... or didn't want to, so this is what I walked in to find. He took a detour in the kitchen, grabbed himself a couple of pringles, and went to sit on the potty! :) This little boy sure keeps me on my toes!.... or maybe my knees!




Needless to say, thank you Kelly's Korner for the chocolate bundt cake recipe. I haven't had this in years ..... and to treat myself for surviving the last few weeks, we all enjoyed nice, warm pieces with ice cream tonight.

Once again, I know this is a very random post, but I just wanted to share a few things that have kept us busy lately. I cherish every day I spend with Macey and Barrett and am so proud to be their mommy. It truly is the best job ever! ....




~Chrissy

What's In a Name?

In Response to "Show Us Your Life" from Kelly's Korner Blog, I thought I was share the stories behind the names we chose.

Macey was almost an Avery! From the beginning of our pregnancy, we loved that name and had just about decided on it for sure..... until I mentioned "Macey". David loved it immediately and so did all of our family members. Her name means "Enduring". We debated over and over again on a middle name.... should we go with trendy or something with family ties. In the end, we chose Reenay for her middle name, which she shares with her mommy and nana!

Barrett was almost a Conner! We have loved this name for ages. Having taught school, it was very hard to decide on names because some horrible kid can ruin a good name! I had a precious boy in my class named Garrett and thought about tweaking it a bit to "Barrett". I wanted something masculine, and of course David always had to try out the name in his sports announcer voice..... "And Barrett Clayton, #12, for the touchdown!!!!" Barrett means strong as a bear and my paternal great-grandmother's maiden name was Reeder. Grandma Great, as we called her, was an amazing, Godly woman and I hope to instill her love of God to both of my children.

David and I both mention names we like quite often knowing that we would love nothing more that to have 1 or 2 or 10 more babies!!! HAHA.... ok, just one or two.... and several years down the road!

T-ball Spring Training

Decisions, decisions.... With such a vast number of followers on this blog, I suddenly feel like I have so much that I could write about. However, I finally decided on the high light of our day!

To start off, T-ball sign ups were several weeks ago, and when I heard about it I didn't race down to put Macey on the list. I must be turning into my mother, because I could hear myself saying, " You may choose one activity"! With that being said, she is already in gymnastics and I just confirmed swimming lessons yesterday, so I was thinking to myself that she really has already made her choices.... and besides that, I mean, I personally wouldn't consider myself a T-ball/softball hall-of-famer. So maybe I was just thinking that since I have very limited athletic ability she wouldn't even be interested.

Well, I was wrong. Who ever knew that peer pressure started in the church nursery when they are babies comparing passies? Ok, so maybe that is an exaggeration.... but she is barely 5 and has told me that she is going to be SOOO far behind if she can't play t-ball OR do ballet until next year! WOW! I'm sure you can guess where this is going..... Anyway, David and I make some calls but never get anything confirmed about her playing until today. And it was truly like we won the lottery! We were soooo excited! We went and got her little shorts, and cleats, and a bright pink bat and some t-balls...... and we were almost done and realized that we had a right handed glove..... and Macey is left handed. I suggested that since she really doesn't know how to catch at all, she could just learn to play right. That was quickly vetoed by the In-house athletic director AKA "Daddy". So after several stops, we FINALLY found a pink lefty glove for our girly girl!

As soon as we got out of the car, all four of us were getting the gear together for a little t-ball practice in the front yard.

Even though you can't see it, I am being coached by Macey.... she thinks she is a pro now... and decides to take my picture!

I had my camera ready while David was giving her her first catching lesson. After 2 failed attempts, she said, "I'm gonna catch this one. I really am!" And she did!!!! This is the actual picture of that very moment! Priceless!

And you-know-who couldn't miss out on the action! Barrett kept saying, "me, t-ball". As I think back on this afternoon, I am grinning from ear to ear! Thank you God for all of your blessings! Thank you for trusting me so much that you would give me these 2 precious lives to train up in your ways! Help me do the best I can! Spring Training, Day 1: Definite success!

Our family photo from Disney World, April 2010. David and I holding Barrett and Macey.