Happy 1st Birthday McConnell!

I can't believe you're one already.. I know everyone always says that.. but it's so true. This last year has really flown by. You are just the sweetest little boy. Some of our favorite things about you include:

-Your never ending smile
-Your silly little laugh (he laughs whenever he hears someone else laughs)
-The way you walk and talk
-How you worship your lovey
-How much you love to play by yourself
-How you love to throw yourself on top of pillows and blankets laying on the ground
-How you throw your balls all around the house
-How much you sleep at night!

His birthday celebration wasn't much. Actually it was pretty sad not having a party for him..but oh well it's not like he'll remember it! He loves to watch us vacuum, so we thought his own vacuum would be the perfect gift, and he thought the same. Ben made the gusty move to try to make his cake, and it didn't turn out so well. Ben was using Fondant (homemade) for the first time...and it turned out good at first, but then after sitting for a few hours the cake literally fell apart. Ben was clearly disappointed with himself, but he was clever enough to make Mac an extra cake just in case the cake was horrible. Thank goodness for that! All and all it was a fun birthday, Mac really enjoyed the rainbow chip frosting...Yep he's definitely my son!

Small but simple things....

can make a world full of difference.

My heart aches for this family. I recently fell upon this family's story while doing some blogging of my own, and now I'm hooked. Their story is one of tragedy and full of hope. Husband and Wife Christian and Stephanie Nielson and their flight instructor were in an airplane accident, and they are both badly burned and are currently in the hospital in critical care. Their flight instructor passed away shortly after in the hospital. Stephanie has burns over 80% of her body and her husband has burns over 30% of his body. Christain actually just started talking today..which is amazing. I am not doing their story justice so look it up and see for yourself.(look on my sidebar-Nie Recovery) They have four adorable children... too adorable for words. I don't know Stephanie, but through her blog.. I have come to love her. She is just the best person.. so fun and loving. I can't stop asking myself all throughout the day... "How can I help her family? Can I make a small difference..can I raise money for them somehow? What can I do?" I can't stop thinking about them, I need to help them.

So this is my call out to all of you amazing readers of the Wischmeier Words. Read their story and help make a difference. I am thinking about starting up my own Esty store and selling baby blankets and other crafts and donating all my profits to her family... that's my idea for now... We'll see if I can sell anything!!

I hope and pray that they can recover quickly so they can get back with their children and their beaufitul lives can continue on together. God Bless and keep them.

Mac's first hair cut

The before:


The During:




The After:


Seriously, what a cute kid. He was so good the whole five minutes, of course the toothbrush helped out a lot. And he is currently training for the 2012 Olympic swimming team.... we're hopeful.

"HAVE MERCY!!"...and some home improvements!

I'm thinking "Have Mercy" is the quote of the day in the Wischmeier household! (Isn't that what Jessie used to say on Full House?) This morning started off a little bit crazy because three handymen were in our house doing some work for us, and that's always a little bit awkward for me. I guess I just don't feel 100% comfortable with complete strangers in my master bedroom, but I got over it. I have been trying to look busy, but it wasn't working.So I needed to go to the hardware store and pickup some things, I get the kids all ready in their seats, and the battery is dead! ARGG!! So the nice men help me out and jump my car, but apparently we have a funky battery so it took quite some time to figure out how to jump the thing, and then after it was running, we couldn't figure out how to get the hood to shut properly!! And 30 minutes later we were on the road. Mean while Little Mac is not feeling so hot, and he's super grumpy, so that's fun. We get home and things are going fine until I start the washing machine and it starts leaking all over the place... even into the kitchen... Oh man I don't want to deal with this!! Mac is super clingy and Abby is yelling at me to get her something... mean while I am on my hands and knees trying to keep the water in control. I shouldn't be complaining, I know that 100 other things could have gone wrong today, but the days not over, so we'll see.

On a good note, we have been doing some fun home improvements. We hired those handymen to come and install our pretty french doors, making a previous random open space into a fifth bedroom/guestroom. We love the final result, but we still have to paint them. We also have painted our laundry room. We painted it Hot Orange...and I LOVE it! It was quite the task to paint with the kids, but we got it done. Life is good in Houston, lately it's been pretty raining and not nearly as hot...thank the good man above!

Hurricane Schmericane

Hurricane Edouard was headed our way, but really the only thing that happened was lots and lots of rain. Pheww.. I am thankful nothing else happened. We were prepared though (at least for the most part)

So Abby and I decided to go play in the rain puddles and it was actually pretty fun.

Abby's Funny

Abby: Mom come here I have something to show you!!
Mom: Oh my goodness.... (laughing hysterically)

Costumes

There was a pretty good sale at a children's consignment store near by and we scored some sweet costumes for the kids. Their Aunt Jessica also brought the kids some costumes too... so I can safely say we are ready for Halloween!