What do country boys, phone lines, alabama, and apologies have in common?

These are all things going on in our house these days!

1) This is a true testament to the fact that you can take the boy out of the country, but you can NEVER take the country out of the boy! I say this affectionately because this is one of the things I LOVE about my husband! He just got back last weekend from an annual hunting trip to Texas with his dad and brother and uncles. They drive to Senora, TX which is very close to the Mexico border and this makes for very long trip for them. They got back late Sunday night and this below is a picture of what I found the next morning soaking in bowl by my kitchen sink - I just wish the picture showed the detail of the "stuff" that he was soaking off! EEWWWWW!

2) My wonderfully handy husband has decided that he needs surround sound in his Men's Den. So, for reasons of which I still do not understand, he felt that the phone jack that was in the same box as the cable outlet needed to be cut (his defense is that he doesn't need or want a phone in there!). Well, after 2 days of fighting with what I thought was my internet connection problem, we realized that none of our phones had a dial tone! OOOPS! Apparently the one he cut is the main line coming into the house (although he will disagree). So if you've called our house and we still have not called back? Now you know!

3) Although last weekend was officially the start of football season, this weekend is when the fun really starts as this is the first home game! The girls and I are all decked-out in our Alabama gear today for Friday Spirit Day! Mary Mac took the one of Anna and I by herself - a photographer in the making!

4) Finally, and as a mom, most importantly! We have been have struggles lately with Mary Mac in pushing her limits on just what she can say to people before getting in trouble with her sassy mouth. Her class in school this year is more like a "real" classroom and less like daycare with the grandmotherly types that loved her and thought anything and everything she said or did was so cute and funny. Well, she came home earlier this week "On Yellow" for the first time which means we did not have a great day (Green for good, Yellow for not so good, and Red for Bad). The note said that she was talking back to her teachers all day. That night Sam and I sat down with her talked to her about watching our mouth, saying sweet things, minding grown-ups, listening with our ears and following directions, etct., etc. (You get the picture!) We weren't mad at her or getting on to her - we just felt like this was a perfect "teaching" opportunity since she was so upset about being On Yellow! Well, it made me feel like we had done our jobs as parents when she informed me that she had told her teachers the next morning that she was sorry for talking back to them. We did not tell her to do this or even mention it, but she felt in her heart that she needed to express her sorrow for acting like this. I wasn't sure if she really did this or just told me that she did, so this morning I asked them if she had apologized and they said that she came up to them first thing that next morning to say she was sorry. I guess she felt she needed to "clear the air" first thing and start off on a new foot that day! Will this last? Who knows, but it warms my heart that maybe, just maybe what we told her and tell her on a daily basis might really stick inside that little horse-obsessed brain of hers! I just love her to death!!!! And Anna, too, of course!

And these are some priceless pictures, especially for Mary Mac since she is not a girly girl! Anna really loves playing dress up and being a princess. And I have to admit that it is so wonderful to do these girly things for a change. Mary Mac is getting into it too now that Anna likes to do it. Sam walked in when I was taking these pictures and said that I was trying to corrupt his little country girl! Oh well, these may be the only pictures of Mary Mac in a princess outfit so I am enjoying them thoroughly!