MR. MCLYNN @ 16 months

(as told by his older brother Grady)

How old is Bentley?
little.

What is his favorite thing to eat?
chocolate. and strawberries.

What is his favorite thing to do?
he likes to play in sand.

Whats your favorite thing about bentley?
playing with him.

What is his favorite animal?
he likes lions.

What is his favorite color?
he likes yellow.

Whats he going to be when he grows up?
MOM! Betty is not gonna grow up!
...I don't wanna grow up too....

Why don't you want to grow up?
cause i don't want too.
I wanna stay little.



As told by mommy:

You have now added "thank you" and "no mine."
to your vocabulary.
(today daddy said you were trying to say your name)

You could spend hours watching curious buddies or teletubbies.

When Grady sings the alphabet you try to sing along.

Wrestling with Grady is one of your favorite things to do
(and ways to make him cry)

Unfortunately for your future wife, you still
haven't quite figured out how to give a kiss...
you just open your mouth wide
and smack your tongue.

We've only cut your hair ONCE since you were born
its not even past your ears...
(sorry son, you got that from me.)

You have 12 teeth!
and two more coming in!

When your not making Grady laugh,
you're laughing at him.

We are so very happy you're apart of our family.

We love you little bear.

MR. MCKAY @ almost 4.

Whats your name?
Grady with a "g"

How old are you?
big. I'll be four in august.

Whos your favorite brother?
Betty.

Whats your favorite food?
ummm......cheeseburgers...
....and chocolate...
...and strawberries....
...and carrots....
...and ice cream...

What do you want to be when you grow up?
*shrugs shoulders* I don't know??

Whats your favorite thing to do?
Go on walks, play games, and play soccer.

If you could be an animal which one would you be?
um. nothing.

Are you a republican or a democrat?
i don't know...a democrat?...i don't know

Whats your favorite color?
Blue

Whose your best friend?
Sissy and Isaac

If you had a superpower
which superpower would you choose?
nothing.

What do you want for dinner?
hotdogs...i mean (pause pause) brownies.

How bout taco soup?
silence.

good jerb mandy.

carnival at night = sheer mexifried madness.

My sisters came down for
the mesquite days carnival.
Let me first tell you my beef with carnivals.
I do not ride carnival rides.
and not because of the people who set them up
in a day!
and take them down
in a day!
because they all look like highly intelligent
non criminal individuals...
i don't like germs.
(i might have mentioned that a time or two before)
and its slightly odd to me that
we climb in (germy) machines people put together like legos
and let them whip us here and there- fifty feet in the air.

Holy canole it was busy.
Lines up the wazoo.
and weirdees everywhere.

After about five minutes
mr. oliver was done.
he kept seeing too many people he'd
had the pleasure of working with...

There was no way I was about to stand
for over an hour in line to buy tickets.
Thank goodness I had some cash in my pocket
to bribe the children with games.
with the promise of TWO rides the next day.
They accepted and chose to play the oh so difficult
pick up a rubber duck and win a prize game...
and the darts blown up by a chain smoking chubby chaser.


and if you look closely to the photo below
right above my sisters super excited thumbs up
you will see thee largest afro this world has ever known.
nope cant see it? darn. it was awesome.

One of the officers commented on how amazing it was
i left without spending any money.
Little did he know- I'm just a wimp
especially when it comes to throngs of carnies and weirdees.

I love a parade.

Serious 'parading' runs in my family.
My dad is obsessed.
He calls us "parade seekers"
[he also says hes a "shade seeker" when he is parking...
I think he just likes to add seeker to anything he is doing?]

Parade Seekers are known to be slightly obnoxious.
We clap continuously.
and cheer loudly.
We also give glares to anyone who doesn't
respectfully place a hand over their heart
as the flag goes by.
We wave to everyone in the parade.
(this gets you more candy)
and duct tape off "our candy zone."

The weird thing about this last parade,
we had 3 different people
who were in the parade
stop and take our picture!

I didn't know whether to give them a big cheeser.
or pretend like i didn't notice
they were taking the picture and give them
my best modelesque pose.

The good thing was we made off like bandits.
Pinwheels, Popsicles, and bottled water!
and enough candy to last us- at least until next halloween!

mesquite days parade 2011.

Happy sixth anniversary!

to my sweet schmuzipoo.
i absolutely adore you.
(and i forgive you for shrinking my pb drapes)

(minus the big ugly bronco) he is the best husband ever.
and I am sooo very grateful he asked me to be his
eternal companion 6 loooong years ago.

We spent the evening playing soccer with our little boys.



it was wonderful.

hope those tomatoes were thirsty.

i happened to look over
and saw a pond forming in my backyard.
and then i remembered.
"eeek! The water is still on!"
...for the past 3 hours...
...its kinda like the time i left the car on for 6 hours...

They say your memory gets worse with every kid-
I think i better be done poppin out memory stealin kids.

(Haha which bytheway, i need to apologize to the cute
mickleson kids. they are the sweetest kids EVER.
they dont even correct me
when i call them by their parents names!)

i'm so lame.

i wish i could tell you
i'm just too busy cleaning + cooking to blog.
but thats not entirely true.
i'm also a pinterest.com addict.
and i've decided to repaint my house
...for the third time in a year.
(and i'm almost done!)
I liked the green, but it was hard to get things to go well with it.
Here are my current house colors:
incase you were wondering...

kinda beachy huh?
and the weirdest thing about it is i don't even like summer
most chubby people don't though.

but anyway...changing the entire color scheme of your house
takes a lot of time thrift store shopping + scrubbing + then painting.

Wyatts been on day shift- and now were like old people.
were completely exhausted by eight o' clock.
but we kinda like it.

I also have many pictures to share from easter including
the awesome rainbow cake that didn't turn out
and got moldy. (yuck.)

i really have gotten out of the picture habit.
and i SWORE i'd never be one of those mothers
who have a million zillions photos of the first born
and none of the second child.
poor bentley.
(i'll just give him more inheritance to make up for it)

Ohhhh yeah, and it was mesquite days. (that was quite the party.)
and we went to vegas to visit papa and go to the dentist.
(where the chinese lady told me what a horrible mother i am)
that was joyful.

So get ready for a lot of pictures. :)