Jon and Kate: Not so Great?

Do you watch Jon and Kate Plus Eight on TLC?

Until yesterday, I've watched the show only twice. Once when they went toy shopping for Christmas presents, the second when they went to a pumpkin patch. If you've never watched it, Jon and Kate are a Pennsylvania couple who had twin girls, followed by six more kids - sextuplets. The show follows their lives and how they manage their kids.


I watched this season's premiere that re-ran yesterday afternoon on TLC, and I was reminded why I don't watch the show hardly ever.

That woman is rude.

I'm sure if I told her that, she'd say "Yeah, well, if you had 8 kids, you'd be rude, too. I have 8 kids...remember? Dealing with my 8 kids make me rude."

Actually, no, I wouldn't be.

And I'm aware that you have 8 kids. You chose to have them, remember? As in paying gobs of money to be injected with hormones that would knowingly cause you to have multiples.

And I would dispute that you actually have 9 kids. Because you treat your husband like a child.

I've been known to joke that I myself have two children - my son and my husband. Because sometimes (always?) I find myself cleaning up after the grown male that lives with me. However? I? Am joking. And he knows it.

Kate's not joking.

It's actually painful for me to watch the show because of her tone, words and actions.

On the season premiere, Jon and Kate addressed the problems they are currently having in their marriage. No wonder, I thought. They were interviewed in separate rooms, and it's clear that Jon is not living at their house as much.

When asked what the future holds for their marriage, Kate's response was, "I do everything for my kids. I breathe for my kids. I work for my kids. I work harder for my kids."

My point?

She's wrong.

You live for your family. That includes your husband.

Marriages with families of multiples have a much greater chance of ending in divorce than those without. And I can totally see why. The stress of rearing one child - much less 3 or 6 or 8 - is enough to make you pull your hair out at times.

But you keep working at it, regardless of how many kids you have or don't have.

I won't be watching the show again. I won't be watching Kate sitting in her brand new granite-and-stone-filled home with her professionally-manicured nails and professionally-colored hair, pausing to yell at her kids while being interviewed about how much she's been away, promoting her new books and the show.

So much so that her 8 kids have called her by the babysitter's name.

What do you think?

Time In a Bottle

Can someone please tell me how or where to purchase this? Because time continues to fly by so quickly - my son is growing up too fast, and the events that I have planned that seem months and weeks away creep up before I have time to turn around.

Here's a sneaky-peeky into some things we've been up to lately:

Dawson loves the dishwasher. Loves it. Will cry if I close it up.
I totally plan on showing this to his wife one day and saying, "See? I mean, he knew what it was for then - his excuse of saying the sink is where dishes go really isn't valid."

Lunch with friends...
Dawson isn't used to having someone sit next to him in the car, so he was very excited that Jaden wanted to ride with us to La Siesta!
Monet and Sargent...
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that would be a whole plate of cheese quesadilla, beans and rice. Inhaled promptly and neatly by my Mexican-loving offspring. Perhaps it was all the cheese dip I ate when I was pregnant?

And if the cheese dip didn't do it - the chocolate did. Sometimes a spoon just won't cut it...

...and you can bet the usual wet paper towel didn't, either.
This calls for a bath.

Mother's Day...Out

My second Mother's Day was great...we spent Saturday just chillin' with my family at our house. Dawson got me a sweet card and a massage and lots of kisses.

This week also saw me watching my baby growing ever so quickly into a little boy. On Tuesday, I registered him for Mother's Day Out. It will begin this fall and he'll go two days a week. He was anxious to get down and play with the little girls (who were about 3 years older than him, I might add), so I don't think he'll miss me too much when I drop him off.

Dawson loves other babies and even playing with kids that are older than him, so I'm glad our church offers this ministry for little ambassadors like him. I'm thinking that he could teach the other kiddies about the latest in toddler hairstyles...

And also about multi-tasking...that's a bottle AND a cup.

Ah, the life of a sixteen-month-old!



By the way, every day is Mother's Day to me. :)

Celebrating Friendship

I'm sure all of you have photos of you and your family together, whether it's from a church directory or your own camera or a wedding.

But how many of us have photos made with our nearest and dearest - our best friends?

Think about it. These are the people that you choose to make your family. They are with you, sometimes even more than your family - the people you confide in, lean on, laugh with and comfort.

My two best friends and I decided that our Christmas gifts to each other this past year would be a photo shoot together. Krista was the photographer, and we had an absolute blast.

Megan is El Prego, so she also got some fun maternity shots done with Web.

It will be hilarious to look at these in 20 years. It will be even more hilarious for our kids to look at them and say, "Wow, Mom - this is when you only had one chin!" or "Holy cats, what in the name of...what are you wearing?"

Aren't my friends beautiful?





And my favorite...this is us. Me cracking up, probably from something that Meagan said.


Do something to celebrate your friendships!

May I Have the Envelope, Please?

In the "Best Caption" category, the winner is...

HEATHER!! (HG!)



"In the name of the Lord Jesus, evil spirits come OUT!"


Thanks for everyone who played along.

G-Unit, you have a prezi coming your way!

Does Anyone Have a Canoe I Can Borrow?

Because apparently, Middle Tennessee has a rainy season.

And apparently, it's now.

I think today is the sixth straight day of rain. I'm not sure - I stopped counting after the third day. Because really, who needs three straight days of rain?

Because of the monsoon, our weekend was very low-key and spent inside for the most part.

On Friday night, we took D-Man to Aunt Sophia's while we went (in the rain) to dinner at Carabba's.

We ran into a former client at the restaurant and he bought us appetizers - wasn't that nice? I love random acts of kindness. After dinner, we headed back to pick up The Child who, I'm told, had a marvelous time with Aunt 'Phia changing channels with the remote and hiding in a tent made of sheets and barstools.
My anniversary prezis. The way to my heart is through a Mouse, by the way.:)
The rest of the weekend was spent playing and cleaning...two things that Dawson gets very excited about!
The boy is strong...
...and is also a cleaning fool! (He gets that from his dad.) (I am so kidding.)
This? Is our real-life Diaper Genie.

Have a great day!

You Write the Caption

'Cause seriously, I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying and I can barely see to type this.




If I choose your caption, you might get a little prezi! :)

A Day Five Years in the Making

Today is our five-year wedding anniversary.

I am an Old. Married. Woman.


Do you have any idea how fast five years goes by?


It seems like yesterday that we were here:
At the Historic Dent House in Chattanooga, taking pictures, and then here:
In the doorway of the Chattanooga Church, waiting to exchange vows. I had an absolute blast at my wedding. I remember asking my parents, "Can we do it all over again?" Which brings me to my absolute favorite picture of my wedding. It's not me, not David, not anything remotely romantic. It is my parents, being my parents:
I would put a caption here, but I'm pretty sure you can figure out what's going on.

David and I have done a lot over the past five years. We've traveled to Hawaii, Phoenix, Sedona, Gulf Shores, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Biltmore House and Disney World. We've built a house together, and supported each other during career changes. We've worked together in real estate, thereby yielding the ever-so-popular question: "YOU TWO are MARRIED?"

But our greatest traveling adventure began at 3:10 a.m. on January 9th, 2008, to a delivery room to meet our greatest accomplishment to date:



Who is the best anniversary gift ever.