Summer loving....

Summer is in full swing in the Dodds house.

Yep, kids have been fighting as much as possible.

No one wants to sleep in their own bed yet they don't want to bunk together in the family room either. But they do anyway.

And, I, being a glutton for punishment.....don't really enforce bedtimes during the summer.

What?! You crazy woman!

I know!

Hey, it does eliminate the need to cook breakfast because everyone is waking up closer to lunch. Well, the big kids are. G hasn't gotten the memo that he can totally sleep in during summer.

We haven't made any road trip treks further than an hour and half yet. I'm itching to get on the road.

Yes, I'm craving a road trip.

Me...the chick with three kids. And family that lives 12 hours away.

It's tradition. And I miss my family.

And I'm already getting pretty stoked about all of the thrift shop stops I may find along the way.

Because, I'm addicted.

Just try to park me in front of a Goodwill and keep me in the car.....you.just.try.it.


Today, we went from three wild and crazy kiddos to one wild and crazy kid.

The big kids got dropped off at camp.

I've gotta' say...I was a bit sad after we dropped them off. I will miss them.

And this is coming from the woman who has been singing,

CAMP, SWEET, CAMP....I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU!

Let's get real here. Teenagers are nuts. They are plain out of their minds. Plus, my son eats more than a whole football team. And he puts no time limit on his non stop eating....all night long this child wanders into the kitchen and "quietly" makes himself sandwiches with massive amounts of lunchmeats and cheeses and polishes off handfuls of homemade muffins in a single bite.

Come to think of it, he might have a tapeworm.

My daughter isn't really trouble, per say....actually she's an amazing stylist who just happens to curl my hair for me because I have zero talent in that field. I can barely blow dry it without sucking my hair up in the vent.

Smell of burnt hair. Bad.

BUT....she does like to get bossy. She's 11. And a girl. That's her life. She also has two brothers. Which might be the worst punishment ever. Two brothers who are total extroverts and always all up inyourface.....yep. She claims that T is super nice at camp.

I can only hope that this is true.

And I'm also wondering, why the hell doesn't he act like that at home?

We've almost finished with swim team season....our first attempt at this sport. I like it! 

Yes, you have to get up at ungodly hours to pack a cooler with diced fruit, water bottles, and Gatorade or maybe just a family size box of Cheez-Its. You have to sweat it out with swim team parents who you may or may not enjoy. But I kind of dig it. R has gotten pretty lucky and all of her swim buddies are really encouraging and sweet to each other. They also have a lot of fun together chilling out between events.

Soccer starts soon.

This means waking up at ridiculous hours and trekking across fields of icky wet grass and I always wear flip flops anyway even though I can not STAND the feel of wet grass on my feet. Hours in the sun.

But I love it.

I scream my head off.

I am that mom that you are cutting your eyes at because you think I'm being too loud and maybe telling my kid to take your kid out.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

Our plans for this week while we are 2/3's child free?

Get ready, folks...we're getting CRAZY here.

I'm cleaning R's room and giving it a much needed makeover.

Yep. I'm exciting. Dang it.

And I am way too excited for some of the projects I already have planned.

Some random pictures of our summer so far?

SURE. These are from my phone because I am way too tired right now to walk over to where my camera is and take out the memory card and blah, blah, blah..... :)

 He lost his 2nd tooth today!  And he's super amped up about being an only child for a few days. Can you tell?  He sang a snippet of Thrift Shop this afternoon to for all of my Instagram followers.

 My name is Liz. And I am addicted to thrifting. Goodwill score today.

 He stopped being embarrassed of me for one picture and then he resumed his usual disgust and dismay at his parents being involved.

 She still loves us.

 Swim meet tats.

 Chomping down on some S'mores with my boy.

 My company every morning while I'm trying to enjoy my cup of coffee.

 What my family room looks like every night.

 Summer. Ice cream truck. Friends who own an ice cream truck. Bare feet.  Done.

 Our girl started her first step towards a straight smile. Back braces and retainer on....4 months down the road we should have a full on brace face.

 We found THE products to turn your crunchy swimmer's hair into amazeballs hair.

 My honey and me on Father's Day enjoying S'mores, his new fire pit, extreme heat and mosquitoes. Love.

 Two of my loves. Our teenager decided he didn't need to participate in this family time.

 Father's Day.

 Movie night at our house is old school-tastic.

 More thrift finds.

 My mermaid.

 Headed to the rec center to swim with my baby.

 Baking has been my life so far this summer.

 Sweet morning love.

 Rec center fun.

 A decent picture of myself. Watch out!!!

 My stylist :)

 Butter. Browning. Good.

 Eat her bubbles!!

 My movie dates.

 Lunch with the hubs.

 Stormy skies in Texas.

 Tree house building fun! My husband rocks.

 My toothless wonder with glowing ears.

 Yep. More thrifting.

Last day of school shaving cream fight.

You Can't Take These Kids Anywhere...

My oldest got all gussied up (can you say that about guys?) last night for his girlfriend's Dancin' Doll banquet.
What's that you say? I forgot a 'g' on Dancin'? Nope. This here is Tejas...and the 'g' is not a well liked consonant when it comes to ending words.
Dancin'
Talkin'
Runnin'
Jumpin'

This is official business here, folks.....it is the real name of the dance team at our high school. And I'm okay with that.

So....back to my handsome son who has finally decided that it's nice to be clean. Praise the Lord for growing up.
On the other hand, as soon as he got dressed...I got teary. Blame it on the hormones because of that always looming time of the month or just blame it on being a mom. Seeing your son looking like a real-deal-loose-wheel TEENAGER. Bittersweet.

After B ironed his shirt and had him looking presentable-I'm not allowed to iron, B says I make it look worse than it started-I dragged T outside to take pictures. Which he loved.

In our house, not just one person can have pictures taken...that's just sacrilegious. Photo bombers are everywhere!

Only one serious picture is taken because my kiddos can not keep a straight face or deny their super silly face the right to show itself. The parents can't either...it's genetic.


Here is our totally serious front yard photo shoot.....

I know what you're thinking.....is that a machete in his hand?!

Why, yes it is.

Don't worry, he just grabbed it out of the back of Hubby's truck and he wouldn't truly hurt her with it. We hope.

Once again, I remind you...this is Texas.

And how cute is my bathing beauty? She was heading off to Swim Team pictures and practice. Her first swim meet is this weekend....at 7:30 a.m. Yep. And it's about 40 minutes away. Fun, fun.

In case you haven't noticed...I really dig these kids.



And P.S.-I really didn't feel like messing around on PicMonkey and putting my blog's name on every picture or even on one picture and messing with the font and yadda, yadda, yadda. SO...if you steal these pictures I will hunt you down and force you to eat massive amounts of butter by the stick. Comprende, amigo?

Folks, I'm drowning here....

Parenting is tough.


Raising girls, raising boys, raising monkeys....it's all hard.


These past few weeks have been rough on the raising girls front.


We all remember the "mean girls", right?

Well, guess what....they're even meaner and snarkier now.

And they all have social media accounts and parents who are obviously clueless.

I bought R a brand new Bible and two devotionals for young girls while I was at Half Price Books the yesterday.....and then when I got home I heard she had "mean girl-ized" someone. After she had been being treated the same way!

Do I get why?  Well, yes. Kids are treated one way at school numerous times and they just want the attention off of them so she deflected.

Not acceptable.

Did I fly off the handle?

Maybe.  Okay, I lied. I flew the heck off the handle.

Last night, after all the brouhaha had calmed down and all the tears had been shed by the both of us....I sat down and talked to my husband about the whole situation.

I questioned myself what I was more upset about and sadly it is about the way others perceive me. 

So stupid, right? 

But, I am guilty.

I care about what people think about me.

Dang it.

I honestly though people might think I'm a bad parent. But you know what? I'm not! I'm a dang good parent. So THERE inner self!

Then I went over my whole day.

I had a plan for our whole situation with R. I bought the brand new Bible in all of it's cuteness with turquoise and sparkles along with the two devotionals that I thought would help her out.

Let me reiterate. I had a plan.

We all know what happens when you have everything supposedly figured out, right?  God smiles His half smile and nods his head and if God has Southern bone in His body He says, "Bless her heart." But not in the mean Southern girl way that really means something entirely different. He looks at us and smiles because the plan was in place alright but it wasn't MY plan. It was His.

She needed that Bible.

She needed those two devotionals.

She needed the time we spent last night at the dining table reading one of those devotionals and chatting about Martha and Mary and how Martha flipped out a bit and felt completely out of control.

I mean, HELLO. Point taken, right?

Nope.

Because I'm human.

And I don't make the right choice everyday either. Just like R didn't make the right choice at school.

She apologized. She was punished. She was talked to. But now we move on. We make good choices. He made this an urgent need instead of something we could have easily found excuses to ignore or overlook.

Why? Because it's a new day everyday.

This morning R woke up to a declaration she scribbled in dry erase marker on the mirror by her bed.

"Thank you Lord for this day, I come to you anew."

You know, if you think about the "mean girls" you knew in life they were probably the way they were for a reason. There is never an excuse for being unkind but there is usually a reason why. Luckily, for my daughter she has two parents who love each other and love her as well. She has supportive grandparents. She has a stable home life. She has enough food to eat, a roof over head and enough clothing to clothe an army. But not all mean girls come from dilapidated sheds with nothing to eat....although yes, it's possible in some cases. But sometimes those mean girls would thrive in a supervised environment where their parents care to take the 5 minutes to look at their friends on Facebook or scroll through those texts (yes, most middle school kids in my town have phones except for mine). So, maybe they're not mean girls but just girls who need some guidance.  Is my daughter a mean girl? Absolutely not. She made a bad choice and was wavering in strength. She was tired of being the focus of negative and sick of feeling less than. Was it right? No. Has it been handled? Yes.

My job was given to me long ago. To raise these children to the best of my ability. Got it, Lord. I'm on it. And I'm trying.

So basically my plan can kiss it. It can bite the dust. Because His plan is much better.

You know, as a Christian woman, a busy mom, and  a wife.....it's hard sometimes to do what He asks of us. And the hardest thing of all for me......to just be still.


I thank God for steering my mind away from the negative and showing me the Light where I may rest and know that it is handled. So, when I sent my daughter to school today I sent her with these words....God's behind you and that's all you need.

Is it just me or is life on fast forward? {Warning: Adorable pictures ahead...}

This whole early Easter thing is throwing me for a loop.

It is early, right? I'm not just crazy?

Add in the fact that Texas is experiencing (what I imagine to be) true spring weather and I'm dumbfounded.

First of all....I had to take down St. Patrick's Day decorations to make room for Easter decorations because we all know what's more important. Is it a Southern thing or a mom thing to decorate for every, single holiday? Either way...I feel the need to have some sort of decoration to commemorate the special day. Plus, it takes away from the house that needs a massive power washing and the yard that isn't up to par.
We didn't even make it to church on Easter! I was making homemade rolls and Honey Beer bread all morning....which I know is not a very good excuse but it's mine. I'm sorry. *hangs head in shame*

We did enjoy the sunshine and visited a few sets of grandparents. Good times.

Now, Easter has come and gone and all we can think about is SUMMER!

The kids all have selective ADD and refuse to focus on tasks at hand whether at school or home. I've got to admit....I'm there with them. I haven't mopped the kitchen floor in over 2 weeks and I'm starting to refuse company because of it.

-------BREAKING NEWS------

G lost his first tooth yesterday!

My little gap toothed boy will now have an even bigger gap tooth smile.

My youngest.

Lost his first tooth.

He will no longer have the same smile he's had since those little babies came in.

The fact that this makes me sad is ridiculous. I understand this.

But it still does.

Here's that adorable picture I promised.....

Now, it's Friday!  Get out there and do something wonderful.