Jacob cracks another one!

Chatting with Jacob this a.m. about how we need to be ready to give forgiveness and grace so many more times than twice! (due to his statement: "I asked her nicely twice and then I took it." This is by far not the first time I have heard a statement like this in our home lately!) So starting in with my "so we only have to ask nice twice and then we do what we want?" speech and then adding in some sweet words that I just heard Beth Moore teaching about this subject, that even if we were keeping count, 7 x 70, and even if we had to forgive that many times A DAY, we could because of how abundant God's grace is to us! Puts it in perspective... right? So Jacob doesn't miss a BEAT and says, "So, I should go take that chart in my room down?"

Wow, this one... he is quite a... one!

:)Love ya!

p.s. here is pic I found of Jacob in his individuality, myself and my friend Vicki in the background. The little one holding her hand is a Van Morel girl, whose home we were at for dinner that evening.

Happy 6th Birthday to Phoebe Isabelle-Clare!

Had to throw this one in! :) Isn't she cute?!
Officially six years old here!
Look at my baby...
Sadly one of her 'birthday presents' was a wasp bite :(

She survived though as you can see.

She and Ellie and Nate helped make and frost the cake. It had to be chocolate chocolate, only chocolate. (That's my girl!)

Happy Birthday Pheebs!

Love ya ~ XOXO

What's Up with us lately...

Look at these cute faces!
And these cute faces! HA. Mommies night at Stacy's. Chick flick and yummies. :) fun!
Look at these two! We had Ellie's sweet 1st grade teacher (and my friend) Maria Schock, over for lunch and she took Ellie out for ice cream.
This a.m. we took ours and Jacob's two friends who slept over (and when I say slept, I am using the term loosely, it seems they managed to avoid sleeping most or all of the night!!!), to the local swimming hole and they had more fun with this log than you can imagine! Of course John couldn't resist getting in on the fun! :) I love this pic!
...THEN they found a mudhole! Oye!

It's called "Lurking"

To you dear ones, (you know who you are ;) who are popping in on the blog to see 'what's up' with the McNamaras in MT and not leaving comments, they have a word for what you do in the blog-world. It's called 'lurking'. And all you have to do to come out from under that label, is leave a comment...:)
It's really easy... come on, give it a try! Here is your invitation. Just say Hi, stopped by. Or Ha-Ha, that one made me laugh. Or, Hey, we love ya! Anything! :)
Oh, you know I am just kidding. I don't want to give anybody an anxiety attack that is uncomfortable leaving a comment. So, go ahead and lurk, I don't really mind. But feel free to surprise me sometime!
Love ya!
XOXO

Have mercy...

warning to my sweet friends here in MT, Vicki and Jamie, you may not want to read this one... I love you bunches! xoxo

Last night we were looking through pics emailed and I said to John, honey we need to go home. And he said, I know.

We are so over this moved away thing. Lord, help us! We wanna go home!

Now I know (and you know) that doesn't mean we start packing boxes tomorrow. What it does mean I am not sure. I don't think John is exactly sure either and that is probably why I get the impression he doesn't really want to talk about it with me. Possibly because I did a little tiny excited shiver shake with just my arms and hands while we were lying in bed drifting off to sleep last night. Possibly because the last comment I made to him was, 'Maybe we could put the house on the market in the Spring?'. And I don't think he really answered, he just sort made a sound, which at the moment I took as affirmation, but maybe it was more of a "Oh, no, here she goes..." kind of a moan. Or maybe I made one more comment after that one about it probably being a good time to buy in Boise because of where the market is there.

SO, I commit to you now, not to harrass my husband to the point of driving him crazy... only to the point of getting him to move us back! :)JK...no, I'm not. Haha!

No, really, I don't know what that means timeline-wise. Only God knows. At one point John said for us to move back he would need a job and a house for us there. Obviously, right? So, there is a direction for prayer. A job and a house in the Boise area. And... for patience for me. :)

Love you all!

xoxo

Birthday Lists...

Well, we have made up a calender and are counting down to the girls' birthdays, and they are coming up fast. I thought you might like to read their lists. The list- making was inspired by Jacob when his crept up on us. So, Ellie got right on the bandwagon(her birthday is Aug 23rd) and pretty soon Nate was in on it (even though his isn't 'til December, what the hey, right?). Phoebe decided she better make one too (her 6th birthday is Aug. 13th). However, when I found out that she had a kitty on her list I was afraid she might not grasp the fun, wonder-ment and w-i-s-h-fulness of a birthday list. So, we talked about how the list is for helping people with ideas and some things you might not get but is is mostly for fun anyway. She was very upset to find that her wishlist wasn't more of a grocery list where you put things on the list that you want/need and people get the things for you and when she heard she would probably not get a kitty, she crumpled up her list and threw it away! So, I will have to do some brain-storming for you there... but first, I will share Ellie's list with you;

*Heelies, or walmart's Spinners, shoes with wheels, you know.

*Easy Bake Oven

*Butterfly House from commercial

*Butterfly net

*Games

*A real baby cat (here is one of the WISHlist items, please do not consider :)

*Puzzles

*and more soap making supplies

and yesterday we had a chat about how she would like to take a dance or gymnastics class. I asked her what she thought about putting that on her list so that instead of some of the gifts, people might just pitch in towards a unitard and a class. She was very up for that and would really like to take a class. SO there you go!

Also, she has requested that we have separate parties this year, she said she would like to have a cake of her own with just her name on it. Sounds fair doesn't it? She said she talked to Gran about it on the phone and she understands. I said well, of course she does and I do also. So, separate parties it is!Oh! And this morning I was receiving instructions/requests for the party. Could it be a surprise party? Where will the gifts go? Will there be streamers and balloons? Can the people hide the presents and could the people hide? Did you put my birthday list on the computer yet?

okay, so now I am a little anxious about my going- to- be- 8 year old's birthday this year. I hope it is up to her expectations!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for The Pheebs...

she likes games, she likes notebooks and pens, stuffed animals, hats. She loves to ride her bike, maybe stuff for her bike, like a basket and bell, a flag. Maybe outside stuff, like a fun sprinkler, kids yard tools, etc.

Love to you ALL!

XOXO

"Two shakes..."

me: "Jacob, you are about two shakes from trouble."
Jacob:"Are the two shakes strawberry?"

I l-o-v-e it when they dissolve the problems with their humor!