brothers are a girl's best friend {part dos}

today i'm spending most of the day with my brother. he works at target now. so i'm going shopping with a discount!!! 

this post with douglas and Isabella playing together was supposed to be followed by this one. but you know. life happens and drafts stay as drafts for days, weeks.... sometimes months.

my brother is one of my closest friends. and i don't have a lot of close friends {as i mentioned here}

 yes, D is in red underwear in this picture. this is Billy & i on the swing set with the kids.

don't judge. it's fun. tight, full of fat feelings, but fun.

we're 6 years apart. he's 18 & i'm 24 {25 NEXT month! just fyi *wink*}. he just graduated from high school this past May {see awesome pics here my fave is the one of mathew grabbing billy's butt right when i take the picture. he.lare.ee.us}

we have our moments. i'm sure we've come to blows a couple of times. but we love each other.

about a month after he graduated he came to live with us. he doesn't even have his own room, he's in the {what is now} family room/play room/kid's library/movie room & billy's room. {he didn't like the basement like i had it set up when i posted this}

since he's been here we've had a great time! 

 the kids absolutely adore him

he makes them laugh. a lot.

we were on our way to grandma & grandpa's for the 4th of July in this one and he was in the back seat with them.

here he's lighting bottle rockets for Douglas {who's wearing Isabella's sunglasses}

and it's nice to just have him here. if mathew is working late & the kids are asleep i can go get groceries.  i can go get some coffee... i can go for a freaking drive if i need to. he's my savior sometimes. unless it comes to changing diapers. killing spiders or picking up baby snakes. that's a no. he's a wimp. or actually he's just like me & has no concept of living out here.  he says quote, "i'm not jeff corwin!"

Isabella is one of his biggest fans.

but sometimes.... sometimes  i just want him to leave. not just him though. the kids, mathew, AND him.. the dog too. everyone just leave me alone. i'm coming to the realization that maybe i'm an introvert. and neurotic. anyway. billy really helps me with that. he's a hoot. we have lots of laughs together.

he's going to kill me over this one. i got it when he came up for a breath. right after he told me not to & went under.

a few weeks ago we went to walmart for a few things late at night. we walked around for a little bit. he grabbed a pool noodle and started using it as a jump rope.  i thought it was cute so i decided to take a picture. this is totally cracking me up just thinking about it. as i took the picture. this happened.

FAIL!! he almost fell over.

i love my brother.

insta-friday, facebook, & a couple new things!

"it's friday, friday, gotta get down of friday!"

my children know that part of the song because i sing it all the time. what?! it's catchy! don't judge. HERE's the vid if you'd like to have a laugh.

14 yr old kids are so lame.

ok, um....oh! right! insta-friday! i didn't do great at taking pictures this week. so here's what i got.

first up! a tiny bear hat for a very special little girl that will be making her appearance just in time for hat season!

vanilla syrup from the [dollar store] & pepsi. heaven.

The Switch with the boys. i think that was on Sunday?

isabella hates cold milk. so i try and get it into her other ways. cheese, cereal AND milk, but yogurt is her favorite. specially with fruit & graham crackers in it. try it! it's delicious!

pom poms!! {tutorial here}

a basket of work! fun work. & for an awesome person too! think of this as a "sneak peek" of something great, fun, something you won't want to miss out on. one of the best collaborations in history. ok just my history but it'll be a treat! i'm so excited!!

that's it!

on facebook:

now. about facebook. i've been off of facebook for 2 weeks now. {explanation here}

i have to admit that at first i kind of had withdraws. i got on mathew's facebook a day after my rant about how much i hate it sometimes. but we're not friends with all the same people so that was weird.

other than that, it's been great & that was the only time i "cheated".

i feel cleansed.

no drama. no wasting time on it being envious, nosy, jealous, upset or consumed about what others are doing. specially those i'd rather not see in a bikini, or know what they had for breakfast.

i did make a decision. i love facebook. i like posting pictures of the children so my mom can see them because she doesn't get to see them too often. my mother-in-law {& father-in-law} also keep up with us that way. it's nice. 

all the other stuff... i'm gonna have to cut loose.

if you get "unfriended", please know that it's not because i don't want anything to do with you {though for a couple, that is the case}, or because i don't want to be your friend.

it's because we're not REAL friends.

we don't hang out.

i wouldn't call you in a crisis and you wouldn't call me either. we probably don't even have eachother's number.

those are the people i'm clearing off of my newsfeed, removing myself from theirs.

family though, they'll stay. it's family.

unless they say something stupid. then i won't hesitate on that "delete button"

just keeping it real people!

so to sum it all up, my decision is to get back on facebook, just ditch the fake friends.

and a couple new things:

did you see my new picture?! i know i know! lovely! took like 1 million shots to get one i actually liked. and that's all i got. 1. 

i also made a "blog button"!  yay! i'm so hi-tech! not. anyway, you'll find it on the right side margin. if you have a blog and would like to "swap" buttons, just let me know and i'll add yours to my "line up". Mandy & i already have! her "button" is adorable and it's right below the code for mine. OR if you'd like to make one & dont' know how i'd be more than happy to help, or you can follow this super simple tutorial from the Blog Guidebook {also in right margin}

AND i added a "subscribe via email" box too! now you can get me and my crazy rantings in your inbox! to sign up just type your email into the box right below my picture on the top left! notice i change "email" to "EMMAil". i'm so clever! corny, but cleaver!

as always, you can email me at ball{dot}emmaj{at}gmail{dot}com or just leave a comment below! thanks for stopping by!!

gardening

this post kept "accidentally" being published before i was done. {isabella. she loves being like mommy & typing on the laptop}. So, for those of you that are on my emma-iling ;) list you probably got a couple of emails with partial posts. forgive me for that!

anyway, it's thursday again. time for the inspiration workshop! this week were looking at gardens! well, gardening. remember this post? where my garden was fantastic. i was so proud. well , guess what!?

i gave up on it.

i stopped watering, weeding, caring.

1. squash bugs ate my squash & cucumbers. on morning i went to the garden to pick tomatoes & they were just... gone.

2. japanes beetles attacked.

3. drought/heat wave... i'm not going to be out there in 110°+ weather! no thank you. 

4. i planted some hydrangea bushes by the front door and the dog dug them up. they were doing great too. i really don't like that dog sometimes. ok, a lot of the time.

so yeah! that's what's up with MY gardening right now.

but i wish i had a pretty garden, pretty landscaping. i wish my hydrangeas had grown to look like this.

as much as i love flowers though, having something minimal, just green would be great. of course around here all of our trees, bushes, even evergreens have wilting leaves right now. {Thank God for the rain we got on Tuesday & Wednesday}

 but time. there's just no time for it. i have too many things to do inside. & i can hardly keep up with all that. but if you'd like to bring me some fresh flowers, i wouldn't mind.

this though, would be a dream. specially if i didn't have to do any of the work. 

my beautiful, funny, great friend Amanda has a green thumb. she works at a {tree} nursery on the weekends. i love going to her house. the front of the house is gorgeous, but the back yard is where we spend most of our time when we're there. that or the kitchen of course. i love going there. it's so relaxing. 

i could live there.

well... see you tomorrow for "insta-friday" & a facebook update!!