So here is a cool story. Seven years ago today, Justin took me to the top of the walking bridge in downtown Nashville and proposed to me. So this year I got Justin a really nice new wedding band. I gave him the one he always wears ten years ago on our 1 year anniversary and had something really special engraved in it therefor he has always worn that one and never wanted a new or different ring. Well I thought it was time...that old ring was dingy. So me and the girls talked Justin into going downtown Nashville and walking around. Once we got him up on the walking bridge, I sat him right where I was sitting when he proposed...and I re-proposed to him with his new ring...lololol. He was so surprised and Billie had the camera and was just snapping away...check out the pics. They are so cute.

Billie's Big TEN

Here is a continuation of Billie's big TEN birthday. They wrote happy birtday BiTTie on her cake...pretty funny. I cannot believe she is actually ten. Oh and for those of you who don't know....we are expecting again. That's right, I am prego.

FOOD FIGHT

OK SO THIS IS THE POST EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR. THE FOOD FIGHT. BILLIE HAD A GREAT TENTH BIRTHDAY. IT WAS AWESOME AND ALL SHE WANTED TO DO FOR HER PARTY WAS HAVE A FOOD FIGHT. SO WE BUSTED OUT THE SPAGHETTI...MADE FOUR HUGE PANS AND INVITED THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD....IT WAS BOYS VS. GIRLS. WHATTA BLAST. AFTER THE SPAGHETTI WAS GONE, I HAD A SECRET STASH OF EGGS FOR THE GIRLS. WE PELTED THOSE BOYS AND HAD A BLAST DOING IT.

THIS IS THE FIRST OF MANY. WE HAVE BEEN REALLY BUSY LATELY AND DONE SOME COOL THINGS I NEED TO BLOG ABOUT.....SOO TO COME.

the craziness continues

So, just in case any of you were doubting the craziness that does take place in this household...check out what happened Tuesday. Joey had a bad night Monday night. Something spooked her and she wouldn't go back to bed. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. After taking Billie to school, I then arrive at Joey's school and realize, 'wow, I don't even know how I got here, I am so tired.' Then I think to myself, 'it is a wonder I haven't been in a wreck in over ten years....wow." Once the thought has left my mind....I turn the car around to back into a parking spot...parking right in front of a big dodge ram. I see the ram, turn around, pop it into reverse, hit the gas.....BAAM! I forgot to look as I was driving backwards. Craziness. The woman who's truck I hit said it was no big deal....she didn't care...I was mortified. Joey said "what was that?" "Your first wreck!" There's not too much damage and Justin wasn't mad so everything is fine. After I pick Joey back up from school we go out to run daily errands. We visit the pet store to get Doug a new leash...he is 4.5 months and 50lbs and just busted his first leash. Well, while we are there, we notice the hamsters and cages are on sale. Joey has been begging for a guinea pig for over a year now. (No, Sue. The zu-zu pet didn't quite cut it...haha.) So I decide we will go ahead and get this itty bitty hamster. How bad can it be right? Billie and Joey both have a fit over it. The pet store told me he needed to stay in his cage all day and get use to his surroundings so I put his cage on top of Billie's tall chest of drawers so the girls leave him alone. Well around 11pm I am standing in my kitchen and I see a mouse run by. I start screaming and wake everyone up. Mice are my worst nightmare. Then I am reminded that I did just buy a hamster. The dang hamster crawled out between the bars of his cage....fell from the top of the tall dresser....and then drug himself into my kitchen with both back legs hanging dead behind him. OMG.... Justin examined him....both his legs were broken. It was sooooooo sad. So I put him in a box and was going to wait till morning. Finding it hard to sleep visioning a little mouse dragging himself threw my kitchen...I was so restless. Then Justin wakes up at like 1am with drool stretched from his little pillow to his arm from his mouth. He sits up and starts searching around the bed, asking me if "these are suppose to be in here?" "What, what are you looking for??? Did something crawl on you? Are there critters in our bed?" I was freaking out. The he asks me "are all these worms suppose to be in here," while pointing at his pillow. Ewww...what kind of nightmare is he having. Then an hour later Billie comes down to our room with growing pains in her legs. No sleep again. Crazy night. Then we wake up the next morning and the hamster is dead. The girls were so upset. I returned him and the faulty cage to the pet store and let them have it. I was pissed. Long story short...best way to ease the pain is to remove and replace. So we got a guinea pig today. Too big to slip through any crack in any cages. Joey and Billie are happy again. Joey named her Lulu Strawberry Sorbet. It's perfect and we are officially for zoning purposes a 'zoo'. I will post some pictures once I take some. Later.

McClain weekend...And the flying BUTTER-FROG

We had a great weekend at the McClain household. Friday night we went next door to our awesome neighbor, Mike's house and sat around a bonfire, roasting marshmallows and eating smores. Then Justin and the girls camped out in the tent in the backyard. Mike and his son came over once everyone was tucked in and scared the crap out of them dressed in scary masks carrying a giant spider. It was awesome. On Saturday we bought a picnic table, stained it black, and then bought a big beautiful red and black floral umbrella to match...we have cooked out and eaten on it all weekend. We played cards last night with all the neighbors around the new table and had a blast. 4 out 5 neighbors we know attended and it was fun. The weather was so nice today, Justin set up the kiddie pool and let the girls and dogs have fun in the water. It has been a great weekend. Justin has the day off tomorrow so we are going to till the back yard and get ready to plant tons and tons of watermelon plants and seeds. My goal is to cover the whole back yard. I want so many melons, you can't walk back there. If we produce more than 100, I might share with my family. If we produce more than 200, I might share with the neighborhood. I can't wait.
So tonight after the kids were in bed, Justin and I are hanging out on the deck. He was on the phone with his family and I with mine. Justin yells at me "Get over here, check this out." I look and see this huge butterfly/frog type thing flitting around. It was huge and flying so fast we couldn't tell what it was. But it was like 8 inches long. All of the sudden Justin starts screaming like a little girl. AAAHHH OOHHHH RRRAAAAAACCHHH! I look over and this butterfrog soared down to the ground and then straight up the leg of Justin's shorts. I start cracking up laughing. Justin is jumping up and down frantic because he wants it out of his pants but doesn't want to hurt it. I am laughing so hard bent over....and when I finally come up for air it flies out of his pants and straight at my throat and attaches itself to the collar of my shirt. I was hysterical because I just knew it was a blood sucking bat at this point. Long story short...we looked like a bunch of pansies screaming and jumping around on our deck at 9 o'clock at night over what turned out to be some sort of moth I think. I slapped it off of my neck and injured its wing....so it stayed still so that I could take it's picture. Justin and I are never ever going to make it out here in the country. Did I mention that he used Mase on a spider the other day because it was so big...hahahaha! Bless you Nina for staying on the phone through all of that...:)

Since I am on a role...I might as well use this time wisely to tell sweet little family stories. Me and Joey were at Walmart today. I was returning a bunch of bushes that we couldn't plant because our yard is all rock and can't be dug in to. Anyway, as we are checking out with our milk, bread, and eggs, the man behind us is chowing on a corn dog. Joey then decided that she had to have a corn dog. Her need for a corn dog over took all sanity. She started her screaming and yelling right there...so bad that I had to hang up on my mom (who kept talking through the fit) to deal with her and get outta there. We get in the car and she cools down...realizes that I am not going to drop everything to get her a corn dog. As we drive home she tells me very calmly, "When my daddy gets home, I am going to tell him what you did. And he is going to say 'ahhhh, Joey. Rachel, you get out of my house!!!' " And seriously...this is how it was going to go down in her head. So I told her that we should call him now on speaker phone and see how he reacts. She didn't like that plan. So we called him and at first he laughed....I had to remind him that he was on speaker phone and we could both hear everything. Then he said, "Joey, I can't believe you would act like that. I told you that it makes me very sad when you treat your mommy like that." I told him "Thank you, that's all we needed." I stopped the car and turned around...feeling like I should have rubbed it in good. But the look of defeat in Joey's beautiful little eyes broke my heart. Anyway, just in case some of you don't know, Joey is a tough cookie. One of the great challenges of my life but I truly believe God has great plans for her. As for now....everyday is work. And this blog will be filled with stories about both my children...many about my strong-willed child. Advice is always welcome:):) But the stories will be flowing.

Family Photos

Ok, this is for all of you who don't have facebook. We took some family photos on Easter...here are some of the favorites. I hope you can copy them from here....I am talking to you Rita and Sue. If you can't then let me know and I will email them to you.

First Blog

Ok all...I am starting a new blog. We have a crazy life out here with a lot of crazy stuff going on. Justin and I find that we both have to repeat our stories over and over and over again. With him leaving soon and me, the girls, and the animals on the loose, I figured we need this for our families and friends. So here ya go. I will try to update this thing as often as I can.

So my blog for today is going to be about Tank (our little chihuahua) getting attacked. Sunday after church, I was sitting on my neighbors front porch. Justin was working in the pond and the girls were tearing in to their Easter candy. Tank comes running down the street, tail between his legs and ears back. Once I get him over to me I can see that his head is all wet. When I go to hug him because he is shaking so bad, I see blood. Long story short...a dog down the street got a hold of him and according an eye witness (bless him for saving my dog) the dog was going to kill tank. This dog had Tank by the throat and was swinging him around...This man broke up the fight. We take Tank to the vet because he has puncture wounds under his neck....the vet says he can sedate Tank and sew him up or we can wash it out daily and neosporin him back to health. Of course we (meaning Justin) chose the cheaper route...neosporin it is. Here are some pictures of Tanks neck after it has been all cleaned off. Looking good. Check back for more crazy stories.