Dear Blog,
Sorry, but I have just not had time for you lately. The past few weeks have been overstuffed with fun and events. 5 birthday parties, Horseshoe Bay Resort with the girls, 100 million hours spent working on the MOPS cookbook, a rolling and laughing and smiley town baby Braxton, meetings, preschool, non-stop work and even more non-stop homework for Justin, TBall for Bryce with a super proud Brody cheering him on and who can even remember what else we have been up to?! So blog...I will get back to you when I can make an actual sentence.
xoxo
misty mac

Dearest Justin,

Thank you so much for being such a fantastic husband. Thank you for listening to me talk non-stop. For putting up with my crazy-ness, my "gotta do it all right now-ness" and my compulsive behaviors that are better left unmentioned here. Thank you for pretending to read all my "lists" I leave lying around (this includes your to do lists). Thank you for slamming me back to reality when I let life swallow me up. Thank you for keeping me financially safe and sound. Thank you for working 90 hour work weeks while still keeping a 4.0 in your classes. Thank you so much for the three most precious gifts you have given me: Bryce, Brody and Braxton. Thank you for sacrificing for us, giving up things for us, missing out on things for us. Thank you for loving my cooking, thinking I look pretty after a long day with 3 crazy boys and rubbing my back when I BEG you to. Thank you for your protection, your faith in God and your ability to remain calm when everyone else is losing their mind. Thank you for being the funniest person I know. Thank you for your silly potty mouth and your obnoxiously messy closet. Thank you for putting me before anyone else. Thank you for teaching me, loving me and just being YOU. I love you Justin McElhannon.
Love,
the wifey

New Friend Friday!

Mustard Seed Photography

Having an amazingly talented bff to capture the sweetness that is my silly/stinky boys is my blessing of the week! I am so thankful for her talent! Thank you Kelly Simmons with Mustard Seed Photography!
PS: we were on our way to a meeting and did this session in TEN MINUTES FLAT!

raining pouring and snoring

We are stuck inside because its rain rain rain rain RAINING! Pouring! The babies are just sleepy snoozing away and I am getting some cuddle time in with Bryce. I dont think we can handle being stuck indoors for much longer. Enjoy a few pics of our week...

Bryce's class went on a seaworld field trip last week! It was a yucky rainy day, but we made the best of it with these super cute shamu panchos.

cute boys just trying to stay dry!

look at those LEGS! covered in drool, eating his finger....and out like a light!

Braxton Lee's first shoes!

blog world questions

some fellow bloggers have been doing this...so here goes :)

1. What color do you wear the most?
i think black. i also have a lot of pink and purple. which i thought i hated purple until i looked in my closet and realized that i wear it ALL the time. who knew?

2. Would you rather have $10,000 dollars or a dream vacation?
thats a tough one. 10G would be great to pay things off etc...but this family of five could really use two weeks on a tropical island!

3. Do you have a weird, quirky or unusual habit?
hmmm. i show up late to things. not because i am just rude...but because i honestly value my own family's time over others. so OK...that sounds a tiny bit rude. but its the truth. i never like set out to be late...but it just happens and i am OK with that.

4. I really need to start..........?
printing my blog out. my whole life is in this thing. everything that has happened to me in that past 20 months can be found here. i dont do baby books, i dont scrapbook...i blog. i read somewhere that you can have it printed into this cute little bound book, maybe i should do that.

5. What was the first blog you ever read?
prayforcoy.blogspot.com

this sweet baby was so inspirational when brody was born. ann marie (his amazing mommy) gave me the most sincere and fantastic advice that i will NEVER ever ever ever forget. i remember driving down the road (during hurricane ike) on the way to the hospital wondering what in the world was going on...how was i going to handle this...could this be for real? God just prompted me to seek out her answers...what an amazing story and amazing women and adorable sweet baby (big boy)

6. Do you collect anything?
baby boys. haha. i have quite a few willow people and shoes. so maybe those are my collections.

i just asked justin..."do i collect anything" and he said "kids toys" RUDE!

7. How old were you when you had your first kiss?7
7th grade i believe...during the movie Space Jam!

8. Do you text/twitter while driving?
only while i am putting on my makeup in the rearview mirror, drinking coffee and putting in a new dvd for the kids in the back...

thursday thoughts

1. This saturday my neighborhood is having a garage sale...WAY exciting. I love looking through other peoples junk that will possibly become my new treasure :)

2. I love lilies. I love them so so so so much. Calla Lilies...Stargazer Lilies...Easter Lilies. Love them. And what is it about bluebonnets that make Texans feel so good. Love those too.

3. I wonder what my kids are going to look like when they are older? I want to hear what they will sound like when they are men...admire the handsome faces. Will Bryce really be a cowboy? Will Brody still be a snuggly bear? Will Braxton be a Justin clone?

4. When are we going to be like the Jetsons? Like, when are we going to have a robot maid named rosie that presses a button and bacon and eggs come out...and our hair is fixed with the click of a remote?

5. Bryce keeps changing his name to Joe. He announced to his class today that his name is now Joe. He told the church nursery workers his name was Joe...he really had them fooled. His middle name is Joe...but for some reason he just prefers that. However...I will be calling him Bryce.

tuesday...

my top three favorite things of the day...
1. today was teacher appreciation day at preschool! got spoiled to death!!! yummy lunch, a massage and fabulous gifts!! amazing.
2. BRODY TAKING STEPS ALL DAY
3. these chips. yum.
my top three least favorite things of the day...

1. stinky little boys bathrooms.

2. feeling yucky when one of your favorite people hurts your feelings.

3. pms :)

Easter

My man Bryce dying Easter eggs...he said "why are they dead"

he thinks he is sooooo cool

cute cute cute cute cute! my handsome boys in the prayer garden at church.

get out of here...they are just like three little men!!!

i cant believe he is 4 1/2

this precious baby did not know what he thought about these flowers. i think he just wanted to eat them...but then he stopped and started clapping for them...maybe he was just thanking God for making something so beautiful

most handsome daddy in the world and his little look alike baby boy!

my little family...look at all those boys...

After all the morning activities we went to Pappasitos for lunch...and look who was there! Bryce said the blessing before lunch "Lord, thank you for making the Easter Bunny, thank you for tortillas, thank you for my babies, and THANK YOU FOR BEING RISEN!!!" Praise God! I am so happy that he was able to enjoy the silly eggs and bunnies parts of Easter BUT still understood that this was a holiday to celebrate Jesus. He told us that he knows all about that because Ms. Joanie (teacher) reads the Bible to him and his friends and because "Mom, we go to church EVERYday!" I am blessed. Amen!

thursday thoughts

1. terra chips are delicious! very very very delicious.

2. crying is sooooo good for the soul. i had not done that in QUITE a long time...i let some tears come out today and it felt phenomenal.

3. if you have not read the book "same kind of different as me" then you should. its the current selection for the book club i am in...and its so wonderful.

4. i cannot wait until i am not the lady that makes a scene when she walks in somewhere....a baby carrier in one arm...a non-walking baby in the other arm...a bag the size of my leg...an uber talkative and oh so excited 4 year old running ahead... you want to talk about "making an entrance"!! i praise my precious god for the season i am in and for the privilege to carry these crazies around....BUT i cannot wait until we are not hurricane mcelhannon and do not cause every person in a 90 mile radius to say "my you have your hands full" its a love/ hate thing thats for sure!

5. i want more babies. its true. i said it. too bad justin got a vasectomy.

buckle your seat belts...

and get ready for a BUNCH of pictures. Quite possibly the cutest pictures you have ever ever seen.

Daddy and Brody at the zoo

getting a better view of the giraffe!

big brothers riding the rhino

bryce really loves to pose

so stinkin handsome

taking my bog boys for a ride at the farm!

mommy and toder

i love this baby!

bryce could not believe that moms know how to drive a 4 wheeler...

riding around in the model A

bryce (posing again) with his great papa in the model A

going on a sunday drive...

he wanted me OUT OF HIS WAY!

baby braxton is my love

look at that DIMPLE!

this sweet little baby is 14 weeks old. he is rolling from his tummy to back, he is sitting up so well in the bumbo chair, he coos and sings to me and smiles at everyone. he sleeps from about 8pm to 7am and eats like a champ. he is perfect and precious and so insanely easy.

i love his guts!!

bluebonnets at the farm house!

speaking of special needs...

http://www.morganswonderland.com/

how neat is this place? we cannot wait to take the kids! i know brody will enjoy it more as he get older for sure...but how super fun that we are so close to a place that is really taking some major leaps and bounds! they have a sensory area for autistic children, the rides are ALL wheelchair accessible and they even cater to service animals. we are thinking about making reservations to go very soon while the weather is still nice...let me know if you would like to join :)

special special special

I have written this post about 5 times now...deleted it and then started over. I just cannot find the right words (i know....gasp). I have discussed my opinion of the phrase "special needs" before. Quick recap on that...What child is NOT special needs? Every kid I know has a unique personality which makes it necessary to care for them each in different ways. Some kids have medical needs, others have snazzy attitudes, some are harder to potty train, some bounce off the walls, some have trouble learning to read etc. etc. Point is...ALL kids are different. They learn, play, eat, sleep, poop, walk, talk, color and share DIFFERENTLY.

So...to the point. Sometimes when I am bored (ok let me clarify...bored is a word I use for...when I should be doing something else that I do not feel like doing) I browse other blogs. A blog that I check occasionally tracks the life of a premature child. This precious and SO adorable little boy has several developmental delays (he is along the same lines as brody). I read a post of hers that really got me thinking...the phrase special needs bothered her a little. She did not feel comfortable admitting her son was special needs. She felt like his needs were difficult and explained to her readers the extreme amount of attention and work was necessary for him. For some reason...this annoyed me. God has gifted us with the most incredible journey. The opportunity to love on someone He designed just for us. Now dont get me wrong...in NO way was she complaining at ALL. But the fact that she was reluctant to admit her son had "special needs" made me just think think think. If someone came up to me one day and said "hey I talked to God and he said you can press this button and all of Brody's issues (medical, developmental etc.) will disappear" i would throw up on his button. Brody has changed our lives in the most amazing way. Maybe I am the crazy one...maybe I am the one that just pretends like he is perfect (and this is mostly because i TRULY believe that he is)...

All I know is that I hardly consider Brody to any more special needs than Bryce. Each of his milestones are just THAT much more exciting, even when he does accomplish them a year "late". I have some more thoughts on this that I will save for later...but for now...Thank you God for creating all my kids just the way they are. I would NOT have them any other way.

oops...one more

oh i love this little man so much. he is just a bowl of adorable.

weekend pics

Brody is now 18 months! He loves loves loves to go to birthday parties...because they have

CUPCAKES!!!

Brody eating lunch at the big boy table with his friends

still eating...even after everyone else was done :)

All the big brothers watching on...

My sweet little man

Cass and Amber loving on Bryce and Braxton!