Welcome to My Whole World

Blogging App

2011-03-30T22:33:00.001-05:00

Since I am usually out and about I thought I would check for a blogger app on my phone. Do any of you blog from your phone? What do you use?

Attempting....

2011-03-22T16:48:00.002-05:00

This is me attempting to be a blogger again. As I sit here feeding the baby, with my four year old "fixing" my hair, and thinking about how my hubby would be looking at me like I was crazy since I should be packing since we move any day now. But I am going to blame it on my sweet "almost 10 year old" (as she likes to remind me).

Taylor has decided that she wants to blog. She came home one day asking if she could have a blog and my initial reaction was ah noooo. Then I started thinking about it...she is my super creative one that likes to write...write anything...stories, songs, poems, anything really....so why should I stop her. Especially with most of our family living away it would probably be a great way for them to keep up with her. So we set up a private account. And I don't like to admit it but she is going to be a lot better at this then me. She has already posted twice.

Taylor and I looked through my blog, reading my old posts and it just reminded how much I love blogging and getting to look back. It also made me realize that things have changed A LOT since I blogged last. Obviously I delivered my baby girl since then. So I guess I better get after it and do a post for her. Hopefully soon! She is 8 months old now. Wow time flys! And now I am 6 months pregnant with another baby girl!!

Hello :)

2010-06-04T08:51:00.002-05:00

I have been so bad about blogging! Life is busy but I am loving it. I have been horrible about uploading pictures off of my cameras onto the computer. So that is what I have been working on the last couple days in my spare time. I literally have thousands of pictures I am taking off my two cameras I use all the time. I am getting them cleared off so they will be ready when my sweet baby girl decides she wants me to hold her in my arms instead of my stomach. Which will be SOON!!! I can't believe she will be here sometime in the next few weeks!

Hopefully I will be able to start catching up on my blog with all the fun stuff we have had going on. For some reason I always have problems uploading pictures and it is SO frustrating. I have tried all morning to upload them from the blog and from picassa and neither is working. I must do something wrong because I never hear of anyone else having problems but it happens to me all the time.

Easter

2010-04-06T09:17:00.013-05:00

I hope you all had an amazing Easter!!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... 1 Peter 1:3 NIV

We had a great time at church Easter Sunday. We had lots of young ones that got baptized which is such a blessing to witness. I can't believe that it has been a year since Taylor got baptized! She is growing up way too fast.

After church I took the girls downtown to get a few pictures together. It was really hard to get any though because it was extremely windy!

I love that they still will let me dress them alike!

Then we went out to lunch to Copelands, yummmm!! I can't get enough of their spinach and artichoke dip that they serve with fried noodles. We spent the rest of the day taking it easy. The girls came home and hunted Easter eggs and we gave them their little baskets. My mom and dad sent the girls the new Barbie Mermaid Tale movie and an iTunes gift card for T and a boy barbie for K. She has been cracking me up with it. She keeps asking me where her barbies boyfriend went. Good buy mom!

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3: 10-12 NIV

My Sweet Little Sugar Babies

2010-04-01T10:15:00.002-05:00

I ran into a friend yesterday that I hadn't seen in awhile. He asked if Kennedy was my oldest. It got me thinking that right now she is my baby but not for long. She is going to be my middle child. It's crazy!! All my girls will always be my sweet little sugar babies no matter how old they are. And they will just have to get used to it:) Kennedy just has always been my "baby" she likes to be babied where Taylor has always acted like my little grown up. I am really interested to see how Kennedy is going to act when I have the baby. I know she will be a great big sister...she is a little momma at heart. I just hope that she will still let me baby her.

Life has been very busy lately and I have tons of fun pictures to share. The problem is I have three cameras I use on a regular basis (yes I know that is ridiculous but I can't help it!) and the thing I have been bad about doing regularly is uploading the pictures. I am working on it though!! So hopefully I will get some posts up soon sharing them. My family has been getting on to me lately about how bad I have been!!

A Chicken Noodle Soup Kind Of Day

2010-02-25T15:40:00.006-06:00

My household can't seem to stay healthy just as the weather can't seem to stay warm...

So it feels like a Chicken Noodle Soup kind of day. Here is a recipe for a very simple, yummy, and warm CNS.
Here are the main ingredients.

Rotisserie Chicken (shredded or chunked)
Egg noodles
2 cartons Chicken Cooking Stock or Broth
Carrots (chopped)
Celery (chopped)
Salt
Pepper

I cook the noodles as directed. In the picture is the Reames brand. It can be found in the frozen section by the breads. This is my daughters favorite kind. I think I actually like the egg noodles that are similar to these but are on the self by the rest of the pasta. So take your pick!

At the same time, I cook the carrots and celery with the chicken broth in another pot so they can start softening.

When the noodles are done, drain and then add them and the chicken to the veggies and broth. Then I usually add a little salt and pepper sometimes some celery salt or really any spice in the cabinet that catches my eye that day. Then let it simmer until ready to eat.

Hope you all are staying warm and healthy!! Unfortunately my house has had viruses, sinus infections, bronchitis, strep throat, you name it...I am ready for all of us to be healthy!! And really praying that we do. Taylor is having her tonsils and adenoids taken out in March and she can't have any Tylenol, ibuprofen, etc for 2 weeks before the surgery because they don't want anything thinning her blood.

Looks like we have some chances for some snow tonight...I can't believe how much of it we have had this winter!

Just for fun!!
Short Southern Mama shared this "Color" quiz on her blog. I get a kick out of little quizzes and love to see if they are anything like me. Check out what your color is HERE

My color was purple. Here is what it says about me...

Spontaneity is the key to your existence. Quick-witted with a flair for originality, you enjoy situations that allow you to explore your creativity. Comparatively conservative, you appreciate beautiful surroundings, especially if they are found in nature. Your relaxed and self-assured personality allows you to work well with others. Surprisingly enough, your unique and unusual tastes don't prevent you from being comfortable your more conservative peers

And........

2010-02-19T20:58:00.007-06:00

We found out that we are going to have another sweet baby girl!!

We had decided to have a "Gender Reveal Party" where we invited our friends and family over to find out what we were having.

With my handsome husband

I decorated the house with lots of fun blue and pink goodies, snacks, sweets, and punch

I set up an area with our favorite girl and boy names and had everyone vote on their favorite ones as they arrived

The crazy thing is that not only did our friends and family not know what we were having but we didn't either!!

We had an ultrasound on Monday and I had the tech write down what it was on a card and had her seal it in an envelope. We then took it to a local store and picked out a pink and blue blanket. Then I gave the blankets, the sealed envelope and some cash to the girl at the register and asked her to open the card and gift wrap the correct blanket, with the envelope, and the receipt and change so we would have NO IDEA what we were having.

So we waited until TUESDAY NIGHT, that's right, Tuesday to have our reveal party. What were we thinking?!!!:) The anticipation was killing me having to wait so long but it really made it so much fun. So after mingling around for awhile after everyone got there we got my mom pulled up on Skype and my family on the phone. My dad was great and set up a conference call that my family could call in on so that we would only have to have one phone to mess with and so that everyone could find out at the same time.

Here we are finding the "pink" blanket. It's hard to see but Kennedy's mouth was dropped open in this picture. I love it!

And I love Taylor's expression in this one. Can you tell she is excited!

We really didn't care what we were having but were very anxious to find out so we would just know. And now we know that we will be having another little princess to bring home. And the blanket we picked out will be the one we bring her home in. I am very excited to have the next four months to pray over this soft little blanket that I will give to my precious gift from God.

My wonderful SIL Melissa, BIL Ryan, and beautiful niece Makenna
They are so sweet to have drove a couple hours to be with us when we found out!

With April

With Ashley

With some great friends that I have grown up with. Sheena, her little princess Joclyn, Kim, and Lyndsey

With some of my besties! Jennifer, Suzette and Kyah, Ashley and Avery, Lane and Judson
*

I have to say that I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends. Old and new. And I can't express how much it meant to me to have them all there on such a special night for us! And thank the Lord for Skype and conference calls. It is hard to live away from my family but technology sure makes it easier:)

Has anyone else ever thought about this?

2010-02-01T13:39:00.004-06:00

With all the snow we have had my family has had a lot of inside time lately. And we have watched a lot of movies. And in this house that means a lot of Disney movies.

And I can't help but notice that most Disney movies do not have mommy's! What's wrong with us?!? You have Jasmin, Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Snow White and I am sure I could think of many others that do not have their moms. So either there is no mom at all, a mother that dies, or evil step mothers. And now that I think about it even the prince in Cinderella doesn't have a mom so I am sure there is even more princes that don't have them either. Hmmm. I find this strange. I guess if the mama was there to save the day (like we do) then it would take away from their wonderful prince? And I think this might be why our little girls are such "daddy's girls"(or maybe I am trying to think of an excuse why my little girl wants her daddy for everything all the time, haha). I also think this is why kids have bad feelings about having step parents. Don't get me wrong...I totally love Disney princess movies...I just kept thinking about this today. Maybe these movies will make my sweet little girls realize how fortunate they are to have me. Even when I make them do stuff they don't want to :)

What do you all think about this?

Check out this Heart Charm Bracelet Giveaway!

2010-01-30T14:26:00.002-06:00

Jenna from The Jackson Five has a Heart Charm Bracelet Giveaway on her blog. Go check it out! You also have got to see her two adorable little boys!!

My Snow Angels

2010-01-29T21:26:00.000-06:00

I Love Snow Days!

2010-01-29T18:50:00.000-06:00

And I really wish I could post some pictures of my sweet little angels in the snow but this thing won't let me upload any!!!!!!!!! Arghhhh!! I have had a lot of trouble with this lately. How do you all upload pictures to your posts? Anyone have any secrets?!?

I will try again in a little bit to post....

Hope you all are staying warm:)

A Great Giveaway!

2010-01-28T09:08:00.000-06:00

You all need to check out my friend Jenn's Review Blog (and her other blog too!) She is having an awesome giveaway where the winner gets to pick what they get!

Soon to be a family of FIVE!!!

2010-01-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

I am PREGNANT!!!!

I have been trying to blog about it forever!! But half the time I haven't been up to blogging and then the times that I have tried it hasn't let me. It has been so frustrating. So I am so excited it is letting me.

This is my "oh my goodness, does it really say I am pregnant" face

I wanted to think of a fun way to tell my girls that I was pregnant. So I decided to go find some big sister shirts and have them wrapped up for them to open. We loaded the girls up for a weekend camping trip and gave the "gifts" to them the night we got there.

Taylor got hers open first and then went to help Kennedy get hers open. Here is her expression when she read Kennedy's shirt!!

"Why does it say big sister...she is the little sister?!?"

This is her "really!!!??!"

It took a second but she got it figured out with the help of daddy's hints.

We spent the rest of the weekend hiking, playing board games and just plain relaxing.

When we got back from camping we invited Daniel's family to go out and eat with us at Copelands. We had the girls wear their shirts just to see how long it would take for them to notice. The girls were getting impatient with them not noticing so they started telling them to look at their new shirts we got them. It was so funny because at first it didn't register. Then all of a sudden it clicked with my mother in law and sister in law and there was some excitement and tears going on and there was my father in law trying to figure out what was so exciting about a shirt. I don't think he really believed it when we told him what was going on.

My family all live on the west coast so we got to skype them to tell them the news. I LOVE skype!!! It was killing me not to tell them before hand but I knew the girls would want to do it. So the girls still had their shirts on and got to break the news to my mom first. We tried to wait for my dad to get home from hunting and camping but he was taking way too long! Then we called each of my sisters and their families on Skype. After talking to them we got to call back and tell my dad after he got home. I don't think he really wanted to get on because he had been out in the desert for days and was really scruffy and he thought he would scare the girls. He was the most hilarious one. He got up and was dancing!! Seriously dancing! The girls got a kick out of that. My whole family was excited and shocked.

Well I think that is all I am going to get to today. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I will give more pregnancy details next time and I have tons of fun pictures from the holiday to share. My mom, dad, two sisters, two brother in laws and two nieces came in town for a couple weeks. It was wonderful!! I loved having them all here. Yesterday was a sad goodbye day. And my house is way too quite right now:(

God Bless America

2009-11-11T21:25:00.000-06:00

Girls Lunch and Some Late Halloween Pictures

2009-11-10T19:28:00.000-06:00

I had another great girls lunch today at my house with Jennifer, Suzette, Lane and Ashley. It is so great to get to kick back and eat and visit with these girls. Kennedy just loves the babies. She was so tired today and wanted to take a nap but she said she had to wait until she got to see Kyah and Avery. She decided that they needed to be decorated with stickers. They were such good little sports about it. Kyah ended up with a ton of them.

Avery

Kyah

So I am a little late on sharing these pictures but I have been so busy! I have done a lot of traveling the last few months and I am not used to it. It has been so hard for me to get caught up on everything. And it doesn't help that in the middle of it all I decided to do some big projects. Right now I am in the middle of redecorating Taylor's room and I am just loving it so far. I will post pics soon!

So for Halloween both my girls had all kinds of ideas of what they wanted to dress up as. But they both couldn't agree on something together and I was really hoping that I could have them coordinate in some way. Well I decided they could both be leopards and they liked that idea. Well then Kennedy started telling everyone that she was going to be a pumpkin. After days of repeatedly telling people this I starting thinking I had better come up with a pumpkin outfit. Well at first I had problems finding one but then I found this costume at walmart. Yay! I thought it was a cute pumpkin princess like dress. So they didn't get to coordinate but I had something better...a very happy 3 year old.

Our first stop was trick or treating at Nana and Poppy's house. And lets say they overdid themselves a bit. They filled their baskets with big boxes of candy(like the kind you get at the theater)

Kennedy ended up getting to trick or treat with her BFF Bentley. They were so cute together all night holding hands as they went around door to door.

Here is Bentley's little brother Cooper. You might remember me posting about my friend April's little boy who spent some time in the Childrens Hospital. Well this is him!

Kennedy did pretty good this year out and about on Halloween compared to last year. She is terrified of masks and scary things. One of the houses in my neighborhood go all out and make a haunted house in their garage for people to walk through and they have teenage kids that act things out. Well Kennedy wasn't going to have any of that as you can tell in this picture. It was a fun night. We ended up with a small group of people at the house after trick or treating and we got to spend the rest of the night hanging out and eating pizza.

Fun Night at the Children's Shelter Charity Ball

2009-10-25T22:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I felt like Cinderella. I literally started my day off cleaning and scrubbing my floor on my hands and knees. I had a burst of energy and didn't want to stop cleaning but I had to because Daniel and I had a Charity Ball to go to. Am I the only one that gets a strong urge to clean when I can't or shouldn't be cleaning?!?

Daniel recently tried out for a competition. Him and one of his friends did a duet. They were picked as one of the top 3! The top 3 was asked to sing at a charity ball where they would be judged by the audience to determine a winner.

Last year we helped with the event so I was excited to get to go this year and get to relax and watch Daniel sing.

It is fun having a chance to get dressed up once in awhile!

Daniel and I before we left

And this is my wonderful and handsome father in law who came to the event with us

The Ball was to support our states Children Shelter. The night starts off by bidding in a silent auction for stuff that has been donated by companies to help raise money for the shelter. Then there is a sit down dinner and a live auction. The rest of the night they have a band play for everyones enjoyment and for dancing.

We got to sit with the other 2 finalists and their dates. We had a great time! Funny story...we were eating and talking when someone says that it smells like a campfire. Well come to find out that one of our centerpiece candles was catching the floral arrangement on fire. Then not to long after that someone went to get some bread and a napkin lands on the candle and bursts into flames. We were frozen in shock when one of the girls thinks to throw a glass of water on it. We sure caught everyones attention!!

Here is a picture of Daniel and his friend Wade singing Can't You See by Marshall Tucker Band. They did SO good!! I was so proud of them. The other two finalist were amazing too!

Every table was given an electronic remote to vote with. The thing is that the table would have to come to an agreement and get one vote per table. Well Daniel and another guy tied for first place! Then they did a second vote and Daniel and Wade ended up in second place. It was very exciting!

Here is Daniel and his dad enjoying the night

Later on in the night the band that was playing for the event asked Daniel to sing with them! They had a great time! That is him in the middle with the band. The picture is kinda dark cause I took it with my phone.

We had a wonderful night although I think it is so sad that there has to be events to raise money to help protect children from abuse. It breaks my heart how many children have to depend on shelters!! I don't understand how anyone could hurt a child.

A lovely award

2009-10-24T09:24:00.001-05:00

I received this Lovely Blog Award from Tales of a Short Southern Momma. Thank you so much girl!! She is so sweet fun and girly. If you haven't checked her blog out yet you should go meet her!

Here are the rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award"
Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I am about to run out the door and I don't have time to tag everyone so all you girls that follow me, I tag you!!!

Pumpkin Pickin'

2009-10-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

The New Miss Thang!

2009-10-07T22:15:00.000-05:00

My niece finally decided to bless me with her presence before I had to leave California. Thank goodness!! She was cutting it too close. Even though it was great getting to spend time with my sister, bil, niece, mom, and dad I just HAD to see this little thing before I left! I took this picture above with my phone when I was holding her before I left. (sniffle sniffle)

Here she is minutes after she was born. I am so thankful to my sister who let me be in the room when she delivered both my nieces. It is such a miraculous experience seeing the gift of life right before your eyes. Thank you sissy!!

Here is the proud mommy and daddy!

Me holding her for the first time!

The proud PaPa and Grandma

Big sister meeting Little sister

My last little cuddle before heading to the airport!! So sad!!

2009-10-04T04:39:00.000-05:00

I do not have much to say. I have been busy getting to spend time with this sweet little thing. My niece! And I am hoping and praying that her sweet little sister is going to bless me with her presence very soon. She has been cooking in my sisters oven for 9 months now (or should I say 10, I have never really understood the whole 9 months but 40 weeks thing. I think whoever came up with that terminology is confused). Anyway, I am just dying to get my hands on that itty bitty newborn baby.

Princess Kennedy

2009-09-22T08:45:00.000-05:00

My Birthday Girl

Her Princess Cake

The Goodie Bags

Kennedy with Brody (aka her boyfriend, ha!)

I love this picture I took of little Peyton (Brody's sis) I think she looks like a Precious Moments doll!

Somehow Taylor didn't end up in this picture with us. She wasn't in many pictures because she was too busy with her friends.

Blowing out the candles

(and making some funny noises while doing it)

What do you want? We are busy!

Brody, Bentley, and Kennedy

It looks like Kennedy thinks I am going to take her goldfish away!

There's Taylor! With her girlies!!

Stick the princess on the castle

My sweet baby girls!

I was so thankful that the sun finally came out just in time for the party. We got Kennedy a trampoline for her birthday and it was a big hit with the kiddos. This is our 3rd one. Lost the other 2 in tornados so hopefully we can keep this one for a little while:)

The adults got to hang out and relax on the deck.

It was a great afternoon!
We have great friends!

My Pocket Book is in Danger

2009-09-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

Yes friends! My pocket book is being threatened once again....from a possible Starbucks addiction.

I used to be a coffee fanatic. I had to have it everyday and a lot of those days were from Starbucks. Which is a very expensive habit!

You might as well of had me hooked up to one of these!

But then all of a sudden last October I went to meet a friend at Starbucks, walked into the door and I felt very nauseous. I couldn't drink the coffee I ordered. Very weird. I tried again a couple times after that and every time I got near coffee it sent me running to the bathroom because of the smell. I just knew I had to be pregnant or something but I wasn't. So I just quit drinking it.

THEN last Friday I had this weird urge to go to Starbucks so I did. And I liked it! Oh no I was thinking. And then today I had that urge again. And now my husband is going to be thinking Oh no! I tried to remind him that I gave our good ole pocket book a break for almost a year:)

Do any of you have this addiction? Whats your fav coffee drink? My this week has been an Upside Down Carmel Macchiato!!

My Little 3 Year Old

2009-09-18T09:40:00.001-05:00

Princess Kennedy

My BABY turned 3 this week! ~tear, tear~ She wants to be so grown up and wants to be a big girl just like her big sister but she also loves to play "baby" and have me rock her while she is pretend crying and cooing. I just love it!

For her actual birthday we had Nana and Poppy over for dinner and had her open a few presents. They got her a princess bag full of princess shoes and a crown which she is wearing in the picture above.

Taylor got her a ballerina Barbie! She loves it and won't let go of it. I guess big sister knew just what her little sissy wanted! Taylor and I were very happy that this barbies clothes do not come off because Kennedy does not like clothes on her barbies.

Papa and Grandma got Kennedy a Dora backpack that comes with all the neccessary Dora adventure things. She has been all about Dora lately. Thanks Papa and Grandma!!

The funny thing is that my sister and her husband called to sing her happy bithday and they asked her what she did for her birthday and she had a quite the story for them. She was going on about an adventure and going to the waterfall and the cave and so on and so on. I was cracking up cause I didn't know where that story came from but then big sis came to the rescue and informed us that her and Kennedy went on a Dora adventure in out dining room and that the map that comes with the backpack had a waterfall and cave. I love their imaginations!

This weekend we are having Kennedy's birthday party with all her little friends. I can't wait! It should be lots of fun. I just hope it doesn't rain!! I will have lots of pictures to share! I order her the cutest cake from a local place called Rick's.

We went out last weekend to celebrate our friend Stacey's birthday. She is so much fun! So girly, happy, and energetic. It was fun getting out with some friends without the kiddos.

Isn't my hubby handsome! I just love him so much!! Oh yeah, did you notice I changed my hair color. I love changing it and thought it would be good to go darker with fall and winter coming up. And the hubs has been wanting me to go back dark for awhile now. I love that he gives me input on my hair and that he likes me changing it.

My sweet husband came home the other day with a bag from the Buckle for me!! I LOVE that store!! He got me this outfit. The tank, shirt, jacket, belt and necklace. He also got me another green and brown shirt that I can mix and match with all the other stuff. He did good, huh!?!! Taylor took this picture. She actually took several pictures. She wants to be a fashion designer and said that she had to capture my cool fashion by doing a photo shoot. She took several pictures...standing on a chair, crouching on the ground, different angles...and telling me how to pose. She is just too cute!

Well I hope you all are doing good! I have been a little MIA lately but hopefully that will change because I love to blog! I have a busy weekend ahead. I am taking a road trip to Broken Arrow Ok this weekend because they have a neighborhood there called Wolf Creek that has an annual MASSIVE garge sale. I am talking lose your car big! People travel from all over for this thing. I have always wanted to go and this year I am just doing it. It should be quite an experience!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-26T22:12:00.001-05:00

Kids Say The Darndest Things

2009-08-22T00:29:00.000-05:00

Have any of you seen that show that Bill Cosby hosted, Kids Say The Darndest Things? It was hilarious and cute! I can't imagine life without kids.

I was busy cleaning and disinfecting my kitchen and Kennedy was in the hall next to me talking away. She does this a lot when she is playing so I wasn't really paying too much attention. Usually she is talking to her baby dolls. All of a sudden she comes running to me all excited..."Mommy, mommy, I have a new friend." So I get all excited back asking her who her new friend is and she says, "her name is My Other Kennedy in the Mirror." Ha! This just tickles me. So of course she wants me to come meet her new friend. So here are some pictures of her talking to her new "friend." She wanted me to talk to her friend and to her which was hilarious. And then what gets even better is at dinner she is telling her daddy and us about her new friend and says, "the girl in the mirror is a pretty girl like me." Isn't that great!

Introducing me to her friend

Showing me how they dance together

Talking to her "friend"

"See Mommy"

Still looking at her friend

I guess I am now a statistic...

2009-08-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

...of the H1N1/Swine Flu. I have had a horribly miserable week. Kennedy and I got sick this weekend. By Monday I was so miserable I actually went to the dr I was so bad I had to have Daniel take me to the dr. For those who know me know I don't go to the dr and also know how independent I am and how hard it was to have to have someone take me to the dr. But at that point I didn't even care if I lived through the day because I was in so much pain. So we had the dr check me and Kennedy out and sure enough it was the good ole swine flu! My family doesn't get sick very often but when we decide to get sick we sure do it all out. Today is the first day that I actually feel like I might get back to normal. Thank goodness! The medicine really helped and we were fortunate that the dr gave scripts for the whole family to help Daniel and Taylor from getting it or at least lessen it a bit for them. Daniel did get a little sick but luckily had that medicine to kick it before it got too bad. Kennedy recovered quickly with the medicine as well although she had a few miserable days without it :(

I can't believe that I am actually going to show this picture. I am totally horrified by it and would be so embarrassed if anyone came by my house right now but I am showing it because it kinda makes me happy. You probably think I am crazy but to me this picture shows me how much my family needs me and how everything falls apart when mama is out of order. Good thing that doesn't happen too often. So this is just a piece of my kitchen. Can you imagine what the rest of my house looks like!?!??? So that is my way of trying to find something positive out this nightmare of a week :)

I am thankful for my sweet Taylor who was the only one not sick and had to fend for herself this week. She made her first grilled cheese all by herself this week. (With the supervision of Daniel from a distance) We didn't want to make her food because we didn't want to pass the germs to her. Well as you see I have a lot to do with my house but I think it will be just fine for a little while longer while I relax and catch up with my computer.

Here is a link with info about the swine flu from the CDC http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm

I am happy to hear that they are coming out with a vaccine in the fall for H1N1. I pray that it works good and minimizes the amount of people that get it because I wouldn't wish it on anyone!

Girl Time

2009-08-14T01:30:00.000-05:00

I had a fabulous day with some great girls! God is good!! I needed a fun social day like this. I had Suzette with her baby Kyah, Ashley with her baby Avery, Jennifer, and Lane and her son Sterling at my house today for lunch. I am friends with Suzette and Jennifer and we are bunco buddies. And I befriended Ashley when we worked together at Walmart. Suzette and Ashley have been blogging friends through out there pregnancies and had never had a chance to meet each other until today. Both of their little girls are just precious. Now Ashley and Jennifer went to school together. And Ashley and Lane are friends. And Jennifer and Lane have been blog friends but hadn't met until today. Did I totally confuse you?!!!Ha! So basically we all have connections one way or another and all finally got a chance to all meet up and have a good time.

Ashley and Suzette's girls are only a week apart!

Oh no, we better not let Sterling's daddy see this or he might ban him from our girl lunches :)

Playing with a barbie!

Kennedy and Sterling were so good today for us! We barely heard a peep out of them. They both have the most amazing blue eyes!

Here are a few pics of some lunches out with Jennifer, Suzette, and Kyah that I never got to share. We have really enjoyed getting out together. Jennifer and I are really enjoying getting to cuddle with everyone elses babies!!

Thankful Thursday

2009-08-13T15:26:00.000-05:00

My blogger friend Bre at All Along Life's Path does a Thankful Thursday every week and I just love it. It really makes me feel good to read about all that she is thankful for and reminds me of all that I have to be thankful for. Reading her blog always makes me feel good! So I have wanted to start doing the Thankful Thursdays and hopefully I can keep up with it!

1. I am thankful for my sweet little Taylor who started third grade today!!! And thankful that she loves school!

2. I am thankful for the opportunity for my daughter to go to a school that prayer is a daily occurence and that supports living the Word in everything that you do.

3. I am thankful for some great friends that I had over for lunch today. (Pictures will be posted soon!) I need days like this!

4. I am thankful for my husband and father in law who are outside working up a sweat building a deck in the backyard. It's going to be awesome!

5. I am thankful that my 2 yr old will still take naps for me (most of the time) so I can have some "me" time and get to blog and stuff!

Well these were a few things that just popped up in my head and I hope that I will do this every week! I'm thankful that I am able to enjoy them because of my Lord and Savior who blessed me with this life and has blessed me to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Bre you are a blessing to have inspired me to share with others of what all I am THANKFUL for!

Fundraiser drawing winner is...

2009-08-13T01:30:00.000-05:00

The winner for the fundraiser drawing is Robin at Life in Orange County. She won a pair of princess cut Cubic Zirconia earrings set in Sterling Silver by Silpada Designs. I will contact you later. I want to give a big thank you to everyone for all the prayers for sweet little Cooper! Please keep them up! I will give an update on him soon but it is too late right now!! Good Night!

My Little Tiny Dancer

2009-08-10T15:50:00.000-05:00

My baby girl had her very first dance class last week!! She looked so precious! She has been waiting for this day since she started walking. Everytime we took big sis to dance she didn't understand why she couldn't do it too.

To make it exciting I took to the store to get a new little ballerina outfit and to go pick out some ballet shoes. She was beaming! I didn't think we would ever get her to take the ballet shoes off.

Well on the way to dance she fell asleep in the car. Not good! She was just a little cranky when I woke her up to go in. And she just wanted Taylor to hold her. So Taylor took into class so she could see what all the other little girls were doing.

This is the face we got when Taylor left her in class to change into her ballet clothes.

I think it is so sweet, she really does love her big sis.

Well Taylor went back into the class and started demonstrating and helping the other little girls in the class so this made Kennedy want to join in. I know this picture is blury. I was taking pictures through a window and she was bouncing all around. But you can kinda see her sweet smiling face.

At the end the parents got to come in and watch a little dance they learned. It was the Chicken Dance!!! Haha! It was so cute. Her dance teacher said she wanted to send them home with something they would do at every wedding they go to. :)

I love my beautiful ballerinas!!

Here is Kennedy watching Taylor in her dance class! Now that she got the hang of it she wanted to go back in and dance more.

I Can't Believe Kids Actually Do This

2009-08-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

I know I have heard about it...seen kids do it in movies...but I never dreamed that MY little girl would stick a bead up her nose!! Kids actually DO stick things in places they shouldn't. I am in shock!

Just look at this little onry face!! It's saying HEHE look what I did!!

I laid Kennedy down for a nap today. I could tell she was still awake because I could here her moving around. All of a sudden she lets out a cry full of panic. I ran to her room and she is holding her nose. I kept asking her what happened but all she would say is my nose. I had a little thought pop into my head and I asked her if she stuck something in her nose. At this point I was thinking that she stuck a Barbie foot in there or something and it just hurt and scared her. Not that something was IN there. So I look into her nose and this is what I saw in it.

A nice purple little bead!!

Now I get that panic feeling. I think the look on my face scared her more because then she started crying harder. That scared me even more thinking that she is going to suck it in farther! I ran her to my bathroom, start dumping bags trying to find my tweezers thinking I could try to grab it out. Well that didn't work so I tried to get her to blow her nose. That didn't work either so I called Daniel and told him to come home thinking I was going to have to take her to the Dr. Well as he was walking in the door I had Kennedy try one more time to see if she could blow the shiny purple thing out of her nose and this time it worked!! Wheew!

So what crazy things have you heard or witness sweet little children stick in places they shouldn't have been sticking them!?!?!?

Premium Meme 2009 Award

2009-08-05T22:30:00.000-05:00

::: Jenny.Lee ::: awarded me with the Premium Meme 2009 Award! You should check her blog out! She has a fun personality!!

"To accept this award, the recipient must list 7 traits about themselves and then pass the award onto 7 other bloggers who deserve recognition for the personality they share through their blog."

1. Loving. I have so much love for others and even for people I don't know. Especially for children. There are so many children in the world without a home and I wish I could bring them all into my home. I would really love to be able to make a difference in the world. I love helping others.

2. Loyal and trustworthy. I am always here for my family and friends. The bad thing is I am not very trusting of others.

3. OCD. ( I feel you Jenny!) I drive myself crazy sometimes!! Having to check the locks over and over. Things in the fridge and pantry have to be facing forward so I can see the label. I have certain patterns I can't break. I have to do things the same amount of times. Ughhhh!

4. Patient and Practical and Calm. (This sounds funny coming after my OCD tendencies, hehe!)

5. Ambitious. I like to go all out for things I want and things I do. The problem is that it is usually a one track mindset. For example, I grew up wanting to be a Lawyer. I would still love to be one but I know that I couldn't be a great lawyer AND a great mom. I would put too much focus on one of those and I would never want to not be giving my all to my kiddos. This just makes it very hard for me to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. But that's ok, right now I enjoy my mommy job!!

6. Control Freak. I have always been very independent. I am working on this and have gotten a lot better since I got married. But it is still hard for me to depend on others. I like having CONTROL! I am just very self sufficient. I like to organize and plan and know that if I am doing it, it will be done and done the way I want.

7. Adventurous. I love trying new things! It is very thrilling. I have so many hobbies it is hard to get to do them all. I have just really realized that you can't take life for granted and that you should live everyday to the very fullest!

Thanks for the award Jenny! Now I would like to pass it along to the following bloggers...

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-05T22:13:00.001-05:00

My sweet baby girls exactly two years ago. WOW!! How did they grow so quickly!!

I Won A Giveaway!!

2009-07-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

Okay so I actually won this giveway about two months ago and I am just now getting a chance to share it with you all. Life has just been crazy! Anyway Robin at Life in Orange County was giving away her husbands CD in honor of his birthday. Her husband Stephen is a really talented songwriter and great singer. You should check out his music. You can listen to it on his myspace page or search for Stephen Fulton on iTunes. My favorite song is Hero. Two Become One is a great song for a wedding, I like the softness of the piano and the harmony in it. I also like the chorus in Take My Hand. Well they are all great so just go check it out! Thank you Robin for the cd!!

You should also check out Robin's most recent post on floating in water. It cracked me up! And what makes it even funnier is that her husband posted a follow up in response to clarify what he meant. Ha!

Well I am off to clean out my pantry. Fun, fun!! Have a great Monday!

Please Pray For Cooper

2009-07-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Cooper was born on July 17, 2009. His mom went into labor on her own at 4:40 AM but at 8:20 AM everything went wrong. His heart rate dropped down to 15 and his mother, April, was wheeled away for an emergency C-section.When Cooper was born he had no heart beat and was not breathing. The doctors think he was without oxygen for 2-5 minutes. He was air lifted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital where he is undergoing treatment and extensive brain testing.

Please pray for this family! Pray for his health and for the doctors treating him. That they will have the knowledge to care for his needs. Praise the Lord for the technology we have today. Please pray for comfort and strength for his mother and father and 2 year old sister. He is doing better but it is going to be a long road for them.

I HAVE STARTED A SILPADA DESIGN JEWELRY FUNDRAISER FOR THE FAMILY. ALL OF THE PROFITS WILL BE GIVEN TO THE FAMILY TO HELP TOWARDS THE COSTS THEY ARE ENDURING. THIS FUNDRAISER WILL GO ON THROUGH AUGUST 12, 2009. IT WILL CLOSE AT 11:00PM. PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ASK QUESTIONS.

FOR AN ONLINE CATALOG GO TO www.mysilpada.com/danielle.parker

FOR ANYONE THAT POSTS THIS FUNDRAISER ON THEIR BLOG BY AUGUST 12TH WILL BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING TO WIN THESE EARRINGS. PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT LETTING ME KNOW THAT YOU POSTED IT. I WILL DRAW AT THE CLOSING OF THE FUNDRAISER ON AUGUST 12TH. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

MY FRIEND NIKKI IS ALSO DOING A FUNDRAISER. HERE IS THE INFO SHE HAS SENT OUT:

*Purchase products from my Scentsy Website: www.scentsy.com/petersen. Click on “Cooper Timothy Lowden Fundraiser”, and 100% of the profits will be donated to the Lowden’s. This “online party” will close the 3rd week of August, and you will receive your products within 2 weeks of the closing date. I am also choosing a “mystery hostess” meaning, everyone who purchases from this party will be entered to win the hostess credit (free and half priced products)

A Wedding:Vegas Style

2009-07-14T17:04:00.001-05:00

Announcing Mr and Mrs Anderson

Hear No, See No, Speak No Evil in Vegas...yeah right!

2009-07-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

So I started my vacation flying out to Las Vegas for my sisters wedding. My mother in law came with me (thank goodness) because Daniel wasn't coming until the day of the wedding. He had already committed to helping with a church camp.

Here are a few pics of my girls with my MIL. Isn't she beautiful? And she is even more beautiful on the inside. I praise my sweet Jesus constantly for giving me an amazing MIL.

The day after we got there my MIL and I decided to head out and find some family friendly fun things to do in Vegas. We started out at Circus Circus where we rode some rides in the Adventuredome. After driving down the strip and having to constanly shield eyes and distract from what Taylor called "not appropriate" things we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory to eat and then to go back to the hotel.

We stayed at the Tuscany which turned out to be very nice. It is located right off the strip. My sister got married in the chapel there so we figured it would be convient to stay there. The chapel was beautiful. They have a nice pool there so we got up the day of the wedding and went swimming until it was time to clean up.

Me trying to teach Kennedy how to kick her legs. By the end she was trying to push away from me to swim by herself although she is not quite ready for that yet.

The night before the wedding the guys and girls all went out on the strip seperately. We only ran into each other once. Let me tell you, we did some major walking that night.

It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with all the girls. Especially getting to hang with my sisters since we don't see each other much anymore since we all live in different states. We were perfect angels that night....

Really we were. With one sister getting married and the other pregnant we were pretty calm. We didn't know what to do with ourselves so we just walked the strip. Every now and then stopping in somewhere to kick back and relax for a bit. We finally decided that we all wanted to ride the roller coaster on top of New York New York but by the time we walked down there it was already closed:(

I am going to do another post with just some pictures of everyone after the wedding. Unfortunatly I don't have any pics from the wedding itself because they wouldn't allow any other photos to be taken except for the ones that were part of their package and I haven't bought any of those yet. We had a blast after the wedding. My dad had rented a F650 Stretched Ford Limo that was huge and ran on BioDiesel for the night for the wedding party and a couple friends to hang out in. That is most definately the best way to see all of Vegas. So stay tuned for those pictures...

That's What I Love About Sundays

2009-07-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

I love that Craig Morgen song. There are so many things I love about Sunday. I love getting up and going to church and getting to see my sweet little girls learning about the Lord. And getting to see my husband up in front leading the music. Getting to listen to the sermon and finding out what the Lord wants me to learn for the day. I love how my little famly goes out after church to eat together and how the rest of the day is spent however we want to spend it as a family. It's our relaxing day. A good way to get us ready for the week ahead. I thought my little girls looked so sweet after church and just had to stop and get a few pictures of them. I am thankful for them and my husband being so patient with me and my picture crazy self and standing outside in humid 90 something degree weather so I could capture the moment.

Can I go back please!

2009-07-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

It has been FOREVER since I have posted anything!! I can't even begin to explain how busy life has been the last couple months. And I have loved it because most of it has been spent with my wonderful family. We seriously are never home!! We have been camping, four wheeling, off roading, hiking, out on the boat, swimming, just about anything you can think of outdoors we have been doing it. We been to Jump Zone, Fastlane, bowling, etc We are most defiantly a family on the go. We just got back from vacation so here is a picture of our last day in California. I will post more later. I have thousands of pictures from our trip, no joke. So it could take me awhile to narrow a few down. We started out in Las Vegas for my sisters wedding. Then we headed to California and went to Disneyland and the Beach. It was WONDERFUL!!! Can I go back now PLEASE!!! I hope you all are doing great and enjoying the great life the Lord has given you and taking advantage of everyday like we have been!!

Randomness

2009-05-14T16:41:00.000-05:00

Today is Friday, woot woot! That means another round of Kelly's
Show Us Where You Live Friday. This week is guest rooms. We just changed our guest room into a play room so I will not be able to participate this time. But I will sure have a great time looking through everyone elses!! I loved having a guest room but am so glad that I decided to make it a play room. My girls LOVE it!! And it is used EVERYDAY! Hopefully Kelly will have a playroom week so I can share it.

Okay, totally random but does anyone else in this world love to eat peanut butter and jelly crackers!?! My oldest daughter Taylor looked at me like I was a total nutcase for eating them. I made her try one and she didn't like them!!! I was in total shock. How can an eight year old not like them!? So she sat there looking at ME crazy while SHE was the one eating soy butter by the spoon. Ugh! The funny thing is she thought I was even more crazy when I decided to take a picture of my PB&J crackers to post on here. He he!!

In my last post I mentioned that we all meet in Taylor's room everynight before bed. Well when I was looking through my pictures to post on here I ran across this one. It was taken a few weeks ago before bedtime. Kennedy told me I had to take a picture of her with her Ariel and Snow White and with Taylor and her froggy.

Kennedy is such a ham when it comes to her wanting me to take her picture BUT it is a total different story if I want to take one of her. I love kids messy popsicle faces! I wish I could enjoy one this much, ha!

So here is a good example of her trying to be a little stinker!

Trying so hard not to smile!

Oh there is a little crack of a smile...

There it is. She just couldn't hold it in any longer!

This picture cracks me up! This is a classic Kennedy face. If it is not her idea this is the look your going to get!

She is trying so hard to get away from me and the camera and she doesn't like the fact that I am so tickled by it.

And like usual she gives up and cheeses' it up for me! (But that is only because she chose to do it, haha!)

Pride and Joy

2009-05-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

Every night before bedtime my family and I gather in my daughters room for a prayer. Taylor is our prayer leader around our house. She is an amazing child. Not just as my child but as a child of God. She has such a servants heart and is such an example of what I strive to be. She is my little witness. I could go on and on with stories about her sharing the love of Christ with others. It doesn't matter who it is or how old they are she never hesitates to talk about God or to stop and pray with someone. She asks just about anyone she knows if they have a relationship with God. And if they don't she will pray with them so that they will be given the gift that she so cherishes, the love and grace of Christ!

For some reason one night before bed, it was just Taylor and I together for our nightly prayer and tuck in. Taylor looked at me and said "Mom, have you asked Jesus in your heart? Because I did. " She then went on to tell me how she accepts him as her Lord and Savior and that she prayed to have a personal relationship with Him! I can't even express the pride and joy I felt!! This is something that I have prayed for. That my children would make that decision and really know Him.

That was several months ago. Next she told me she wanted to be baptized. So we decided to wait and have her baptized on Easter Sunday this year. What better day then the day we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus! And a great way to thank Jesus Christ for dying for our sins. Another day of such pride and joy for me!

~

This is Taylor waiting for the service to start!

The BIG moment!

Here she is right after the baptism. She is so happy!

Taylor's first communion!

Lil' sissy is so proud of her Big sissy!

Taylor and Pastor Don

I wanted to get her something special for the occasion. I found this water globe that has a cross with scripture written on it inside and thought it would be perfect. I had her name and the date she was baptized inscribed on it.

Unfortunately my parents were not able to be here for the service. But they got her this very beautiful and dainty bracelet. It has her name inscribed on it and has a little angel charm dangling on it. She loves it!

Sweet things and good memories...

2009-05-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

I hope eveyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. No matter if you are a mother yourself or if you have a mother or not it is such a special day. Because I guarantee that everyone out there has been touched and loved by someone that is a mother. So what a great day to make her feel special!

Well I sure did feel like a mother this year! My poor little Kennedy has been sick since last week. We spent Saturday night and all day Sunday in the ER. We are pretty sure we know what the problem is but she is still not a 100% yet which is scary with her only being two. Even though my day was not spent the way it was planned, it was still a great day because I still got to spend it with my two wonderful little girls. Mother's Day always reminds me what a privilege it is that I am a mom!

My sweet "big" little girl Taylor made me this card and duck for me at school for mother's day! I couldn't ask for anything better then something one of my girls have made for me. I thought it was cute that the little duck looked like it was in a bath with the white bag and blue tissue paper.

Mother's Day always makes me think of those who do not have their mothers here on this earth with them. I hope that they are able to remember all the great memories they had with them and enjoy Mother's Day. This year I thought of our Nan. This was Daniel's grandma. She passed away February 10th this year from cancer. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and after treatment was cancer free for 8 years. Then she got cancer again in 2005 and had different forms of cancer she battled with until she passed away. She was such a great christian women that loved life. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know her. I was given such an honor to be the one to make a slideshow for her service. I got to take such a wonderful little journey through her life looking through all the pictures that were brought to me. I am going to see if I can link the slideshow on here...I am having troubles with it though. Here is the link that was made through the Susan G Komen website about Doralene, our Nan. http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/Events/Komendonations?pxfid=92180&pg=fund&fr_id=1120

I was honored again to receive a few treasured items from her home. I got a decorative pie holder which I am very excited about because I love baking pies!

I also got her nice silverware! They have such a beautiful detailed design on them.

And I am very excited to have gotten this sewing machine too. I have no idea how to sew!!! But I want to be able to SO bad so this will be great one to learn on! Hopefully I can do it. It is pretty bad when your little one says "Why don't we have Daddy hem that up"! Ha! I can do a lot of crafty things so hopefully I can add sewing to the list of them.

Daniel asked for something from her garden because he has such great memories of her beautiful back porch. So he got a decorative turtle that he stuck in one of my flower pots outside. I didn't think about it until now or I would have taken a picture of it...

These cute little white serving dishes are another find to my shopping spree at the garage sales a couple weeks ago that I shared with you all. They were wrapped up and I had set them in the garage when I was taking everything out of the vehicle and totally forgot about them! So I got double excitement from them when I found them today!!

Show Us Where You Live Friday: Living Room Edition

2009-05-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

I think that Kelly from http://www.kellyskornerblog.com is awesome for starting this weekly fun of inviting every one to share their homes. This week in the Living Room Edition. So welcome to my living room. And if you want to share yours add it to Kelly's blog to share with eveyone!

You can see my new curtains in these pictures. But I am a little bummed because I am not finished with them yet. I have curtain draperie hooks to drape them to the sides to frame the fireplace but I (as in my hubby!) haven't been able to put the hardware in yet. Our family has been hit with the flu this week : ( So it has changed most of our plans this week. In these pictures you can see my sweet little angel sleeping on the the couch. She is 2 1/2 and this is the first time she has ever thrown up...the poor thing just doesn't understand what is going on! So I took advantage of her sleeping and got some pictures taken. I was hurrying and didn't notice that the lighting is not so great in some of the pictures. But I have loved looking at others and still wanted to share mine!

View from the breakfast area

I could not live without my bookshelves!! My father in law made them, aren't they amazing!! I wish I had that kind of talent. Besides being fun to decorate, they are great for storing all my picture albums and scrapbooks. And I have two bottom shelves that have kid toys in them that are easy to pull out and play with.

View looking towards my front entry and dining room area. The red ottoman is great. It opens and stores our blankets and pillows.

I wish I would have gotten a close up of our family picture because it is my favorite. My girls have grown a lot since it was taken but I can't get myself to replace it!

I love having functional furniture. You can never have enough storage space. In this cabinet I have all 3 drawers full of the kid apporpriate DVDs.

Here is where we keep all our electronical devices.

I use these cord covers to hide the zillion cords I have coming out from my television.

This is in our entry. And I keep all the grown up Dvd's in here.

We never used our fireplace because we were afraid that one of the girls would get burned by touching it. Then I found this to go in front of it and it works perfectly!

I have to show off my adorable little girls pictures!

Here are a couple closer pictures of what is in my bookshelves. I LOVE LOVE pictures so they are covered in them.

Oh how I love a good deal!

2009-05-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

Last weekend my girlfriends and I went out and hit some garage sales. There happened to be a lot of neighborhood garage sales going on including my own neighborhood. It was cold and raining but we were all child free for the day and ready for some good deals so nothing was going to stop us! And I am so glad I did...here are some of the great finds I found.

This rug. Daniel was very happy about this because we have wanted one here but I hate making quick decisions on big purchases and keep putting it off. I got it for $5! That's what I am talking about.

Some fun decor for the house. A frame and little decorative stand. And then some Christmas and Easter decorations. I have a thing for wreaths and I got this one for Easter. It has cute little decorative eggs all over it.

Some fun scrapbooking and crafty stuff. I love to paint so I thought that I could paint these wood pieces for Kennedy's room which I am about to rearrange.

A few shirts for my hubby who has a thing for clothes. I have never seen a man with so many clothes in my life but it makes him happy.

Some adorable little clothes for both my girls

Some cute little things for my new niece. I love to buy little baby girl clothes so I am happy to have a new baby girl to buy them for : )

Here is a pile of random stuff I found. I found Taylor a whole bunch of books which I was excited about because she reads through them so quickly. We love going to Borders and picking out books together but it gets expensive.

This is my girls favorite buy. A Little Mermaid Vanity. It lights up and talks! I brought it in and cleaned it up and my girls played forever on it. They were so cute fixing each others hair and giggling away!!

I got this shelf to put in Kennedy's closet to help organize some of her stuff.

This will be my dads favorite buy! He would love nothing better then to get to golf with his little granddaughter. He bought Taylor a Barbie golf set awhile back and she has started to out grow them so I was very excited to find these that will fit her great for a few years. It will be a great starter set for her to take lessons with this summer.

My sweet husband hung these right up for me the next day.

I got this for my wonderful mother in law who has her kitchen decorated in roosters! I really like it!

This has to be my most exciting find of the day!! I have been working with someone on making window treatments for my house. But I have had a problem deciding exactly what I want to do because it is so expensive and I am so afraid of not liking what I pick out. Well I hit the jack pot when I got to this garage sale. The lady had just redecorated her house and had these custom made curtains for sale and the go great with my decor. And they were SOOOOO much cheaper then what I would have had custom made(that is such an understatement!) I got them for $30!!! For the two panels and extra fabric if needed for accent pieces like pillows. I first thought I was going to put them in my dining room but I have decided to put them in my living room. You will have to look for them in my "Show You Where I Live Friday: Living Room Edition" tomorrow!

We just got them up and I LOVE them!!!

I went out with a $100 and didn't spend it all and got all this great stuff. I think I spent about $80. I got 70 different items! It feels so good to find some great deals especially for stuff that I have been looking for!

Show Us Where You Live Friday

2009-05-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

I had a couple friends tell me about this blog at http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ having a Show Us Where You Live Friday: Kitchen Edition and about all the great kitchens linked to it showing off their own kitchens. I was most defiantly interested in checking it out because this last week I had started brain storming on what I should do with my kitchen. My kitchen is the plainest section of my house which is crazy because it is my favorite part of my house and where I find myself most often. I love to cook and I love to entertain and this is where it all happens. I have been stumped on what to do with it. I do not have very much wall space which I was used to having in my old house. Anyway I decided I would share my kitchen since I have enjoyed looking through so many of the other kitchens and have really gotten some great ideas from them!!

So welcome to my kitchen!

This is my breakfast area. I love my table because it is so special. My father in law made it! He is very talented. In the back you can see I have a little desk area. When we first moved in I didn't know what to do with it. Eventually I broke down and set up one of our computers in it. And I have to say I love it now. My girls like playing on the computer and this is a great place to have it where I can see exactly what they are doing.

I have been working on ideas on doing window treatments over here in the breakfast area but have had problems because the right one is a door. So they can't be anything that will keep the door from being usable. I have finally came up with a couple ideas that might work. I think this will be a good way to help bring some color and style to my kitchen.

I really loved looking at every ones cabinets. My husband and I have been wanting to paint our cabinets and have been thinking on doing a two tone. Now I have a lot of examples to look at!

I like the way my countertops have a step up where I can see into the living room but from the living room it is harder to see what is going on in the kitchen.

I always have a cookbook propped up in my kitchen. It is usually whichever one I used last so it changes. The white plate is really fun. Unfortunately right now I am not really showing that. I haven't had time lately to do anything with it. I bought it at a Southern Living Party. I like to weave different color ribbon along the outside determined by whatever event is going on or holiday. You can also write on it. Holiday messages, scripture, or whatever else comes to mind. I also have a stand for it where it lays flat and I usually serve a cake or some type of dessert on it decorated with ribbon.

My fridge is my fav. It used to drive me crazy if there was anything on my fridge, even a magnet. I wanted it totally clean looking. But with kiddos around I have gotten WAY over it and LOVE the way they stick things all over it. It always gives me a smile when I look at it!

So here is my kitchen. Hopefully soon I will be able to share how I have decided to decorate it and make it more me!!

My Dad is Now An Old Fart

2009-04-30T09:08:00.000-05:00

My dear sweet daddy just turned 50. The BIG 50! My parents are really young so I really enjoyed being able to razz him for once about getting so old. My dad is always trying to pay for things for me and telling me that I can pay him back in the "Old Fart Fund" for when he gets old and needs taken care of. So watch out daddy, you are an old fart. Now I get to take care of you!

My parents live in Arizona so I don't get to see them as much as I want to (which would be everyday!) My mom and I schemed up a plan for me to surprise my dad for his birthday. So my mom, Aunt Jacque, Grandma, Grandpa, Brian, and my sister Jeanenne had set it up to meet up at their fav mexican restaurant for his birthday. He just didn't know that my sister was going to be picking me up at the airport on her way there! Everyone was already there when my sister, her fiance and I walked in. My dad's face was priceless, very shocked and emotional. I love surprises!! Then he got another surprise the next day. My other sweet sister Rachelle and my sweet little niece flew in and surprised him too! Well I got to stay a few days and my mom had a big Fiesta 50th birthday party a couple days later planned with everyone. We stayed up late playing poker and rummy. Nothing beats hanging out playing cards and visiting with my family. My mom also had a brunch planned with her family before I left and it was great getting to see them too. Somehow I didn't get any pictures with any of them. I have to give a BIG THANK YOU to my wonderful husband that is way too good to me and is so good about letting me take these little trips to see my family!!

Funny story. I told my sister to not worry about coming into the airport to get me and that I would just meet her outside. It took awhile to get my bags so she just had to keep circling the airport. Finally I called her and told her I was outside and to come get me. Well wouldn't you know my sister just about straight passed right by me. She didn't recognize me!!!! So here I am on the curb with all my luggage jumping up and down trying to get her attention. So she rolls down her window and very loudly yells Oh my gosh, do I know you. We most defiantly had every ones attention as she runs out of the car and we are cracking up, giggling, bouncing around, and hugging each other. My sis has one of the most bubbly fun personalities and I sure miss being around her!

My daddy, me and my mama

My grandpa and grandma

My Aunt Jacque and Dad

Brian and Jeanenne

Here is my mom and my niece Bailey. My mom found this shirt that said "Old people like me" perfect for my dads party

Me and my dad decked out in our all black. Everyone wore all black to his party!

Me and my sissys busy in the kitchen making enchilada, shredded beef burritos, chicken and rice tacos, salsa, pico, guacamole....am I making you hungry yet!

Aren't they a great looking couple!

My sweet Bailey playing. The poor thing was not feeling too good this trip and was being a mommy cling on making it very hard for me to get very many pictures of her. I wish she lived closer so my girls could play with her more often.

Feeling a little disconnected with the real world

2009-04-29T18:07:00.000-05:00

I haven't felt 100% this last week and have pretty much done nothing but stay in bed. This is VERY rare for me. I can't stand feeling helpless and not being able to do anything. Usually the only thing that can stop me from my busy schedule is being stuck in a hospital bed. And that is pretty much how I have felt this last week. I have been on lots of medication, yes, you that know me know that I HATE taking ANY kind of medicine. Luckily I have a great husband that has been taking care of me and the kids and the outside of the house. Just not so much the inside of the house. It is a disaster. Actually beyond disaster. So today I have attempted to do a little cleaning. But I have been groggy and unhuman feeling for too many days now so I have decided to give up on cleaning and try to catch up with the real world and check out the news, facebook, myspace, and my friends blogs. Anything to make me feel normal.

I am going to try to do this fun 8 Things post that I got from my blogging buddy Suzette.

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Summer weather
2. Vacation- Vegas and somewhere to be determined (any good ideas for vacation spots near Vegas good for a family?!?)
3. Start of the new season of So You Think You Can Dance!!
4. One day living close to my mom again (and my dad)
5. Watching my baby girls grow up (but not too quickly!)
6. Spending forever with my wonderful husband
7. Having Girls Night with my sissy's in Vegas!
8. Seeing what all God has in store for me

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Got out of bed, it was quite a task
2. Got one kiddo ready and off to school and feed and bathed the other one
3. Attempted to work on my bible study lesson but didn't get anywhere
4. Looked at my dishes thinking I should do them because they were starting to stink and were starting to take over the kitchen but decided I didn't have the energy to do them (Another rare thing, I can't stand dishes left in the sink! I love a clean house!!)
5. Had my hubby pick me up and take me to the office with him to eat lunch and to get out of the house after being stuck in it for days (Half way there I regretted it)
6. Went to my in laws to visit and to eat some yummy food
7. Watched American Idol with my MIL....Adam rocked!!
8. Watched American Idol again half asleep in the recliner with Daniel...have to say they all did pretty good.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do
1. Take care of every child that needs to be loved and cared for
2. Paint real things (like people, animals, etc)
3. Play any instrument I pick up effortlessly
4. Travel to Africa
5. Travel anywhere and everywhere
6. Make a difference in someones life
7. Figure out what I want to be when I grow up! Ha Ha!
8. Get rid of my allergies to animals

8 Shows I Watch
1. Prison Break
2. Criminal Minds
3. CSI Las Vegas
4. American Idol
5. How I Met Your Mother
6. Gary Unmarried
7. The news
8. Hmmm, can't think of another one right now, I am more of a movie person

8 People I Tag
I don't know how to tag so whoever reads this, I tag you!

Ice Sculptures

2009-04-21T14:47:00.000-05:00

That is what we felt like on our last camping trip with our friends. But I do have to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We had been planning a camping/off roading/four wheeling trip with our friends for weeks. And when the time came we found that the weather wasn't going to be anything like what we had in mind. We were planning on going to a place in Oklahoma but when we found out that it had a chance of getting a foot of snow so we decided we needed a change of plans. (This was the afternoon before we were supposed to be leaving) So I decided going south would be a better idea. We ended up going to a place called Byrd's Adventure Center. Daniel and I had been there before and really liked it. When we got there it was sunny and mid 60's and a little windy. Unfortunately it didn't stay like!! The first night it dropped into the 30's and the second night it dropped in the 20's!!!! It rained and rained and rained all the first night and second day. And it was freezing and windy. We had a severe winter weather warning and a tornado watch and a wind advisory BUT we had such a great time!! Seriously! We off roaded out little hearts out and ate some of the most amazing food ever! Our last day ended up being a really nice sunny day so we were able to play around on the four wheelers. We have such great and fun friends! I am looking forward to the warm weather so we can get out more.

Our Campsite

Cody, Rich, and Daniel

Me and my handsome hubby

My pyro husband that thinks the only way to start a fire is by using a can of lighter fluid!!

We went on our exciting night run. Something about off roading in the dark brings it to a whole new level of excitement. This is a picture of us when we got stuck on a boulder on a climb. It is hard to tell because it is dark but there is a huge drop off next to it and because of all the mud it was very hard to get out of.

Daniel and I on one of the four wheelers

Josh and Jafur joined us for a little fun one of the days. We couldn't get them to camp out. That is Josh's Tacoma and Tommy in his Range Rover.

April, Me, and Olivia with Josh in the background. Ha ha, he is a goof!

This is our Land Cruiser going up one of the Red trails. Red is the hardest! Gotta love the caution tape hanging on the tree.

$ Reminder $

2009-04-21T14:11:00.000-05:00

I wanted to remind everyone about the NWA Dining Deals at http://khog.halfoffdeals.com/

You can get gift certificates at HALF the price for some of the areas restuarants. So remember to check on Tuesdays to see who the business of the week is. Here are some of the restraunts with available gift certificates...

Some of the places you have missed out on include, Pesto Cafe, Fastlanes, Baker Bros American Deli, Lenny's Sub Shop, JJ's Grill, Crabby's, Basil's Cafe, and Ella's Restuarant. Some great places!!! You can't beat getting 50% off. Buy them for yourself or buy them as a gift.

Promised Land Zoo

2009-04-14T09:45:00.000-05:00

I have been spending my morning downloading pictures off of my cameras. Yes that is cameras with a "s". I can't quit buying new ones! I find one with a cool feature and it sucks me right in to buying it. At least I put them all into good use. I have a problem with taking too many pictures and I can't keep up with getting them off of my camera and doing something with them.

About a month ago I woke up one Saturday morning and looked at Daniel and said I want to go to Eureka Springs. Cancel the birthday parties and wedding showers and everthing else we are supposed to do. I wanted to spend a day with just my family. So that is what we did. We hit the road and did whatever we wanted. It felt good not to have any worries and to spend it with the most important people in my life. We had lunch in Eureka and then we went exploring and driving down some neat roads.

We saw a sign for a drive thru zoo and decided to check it out. It was the Promised Land Zoo. My oldest wanted to know if it was the real Promise Land. I wish it was that close to us! Anyway the Zoo was nice. We had a great time trying to figure out what the names of all the animals were. They also have bible verses posted along the drive for you to read which we thought was neat. The best part was the petting zoo area. It was great listening to my girls giggle as the got to feed the animals.

And since we are speaking of the Promised Land. Lets think of the real Promised Land that God promised to the Israelites. I want to thank God for always keeping His promises. Wow, isn't God so faithful!! I have been studying the story of Moses in my bible study and it has truly been amazing for me. Thank you God for always showing so much grace.

$ NWA Dining Deals $

2009-04-13T09:37:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share something that I discovered last night. Actually I have to give credit to my hubby because he told me to look it up. Anyway, we found a link on 4029tv.com called NWA Dining Deals. On it they have gift certificates to some local restaurants for half price. Example: You get a $30.00 gift certificate for $15.00. AWESOME!! Each week they feature a business. It is updated every Tuesday at 9am and that is when the online store will open for the new business featured. There are a limited number of certificates available so you have to remember to check early if you want to make sure to get an opportunity to purchase. They have a list of some yummy restaurants and they also have had a couple entertainment places as well (Fastlanes and Lokomotion.) You purchase online and then it is shipped to you in about 7-10 days. This is a great way to save money and still get to go out!

Here is the link http://khog.halfoffdeals.com/

My Little Laundry Helper

2009-03-31T13:28:00.000-05:00

My girls are just great!! They love to help me clean. They both love to help me do the dishes and laundry. The thing I love the most is Taylor will wash the baseboards for me!!!! I can't stand dirty baseboards but I sure don't like cleaning them. With both my girls, I started at a young age having them help me clean. It is not always easy because it takes a LOT longer to do but it is so much better for the long run. Well lately Kennedy has been really bad at taking my nicely folded laundry piles and throwing them on the floor next to me. Very aggravating!!! So I decided it was time for her to learn how to put the laundry away. So I had her help me take the folded laundry for me and Daniel into my room. Then she told me that she wanted to take her and Taylor's stuff to their rooms "by herself." So I watched her walk down the hallway and heard the drawers being opened and she kept running back and forth with more clothes with the proudest smile on her face. Well this is what I found when I walked down the hall to their bedrooms!! I was cracking up! She still looked very proud and showed me where she put some of the stuff in the drawers (pretty much all in the wrong drawers which is what I expected and didn't mind!)

Jack in the Box Tacos

2009-03-30T10:17:00.000-05:00

I LOVE Jack in the Box tacos!!!! Anyone else with me on that!?! The first thing I do before going out of town is check to see if they have a Jack in the Box. I grew up on those tacos and crave them all the time. So the other day after seeing my chicken and rice taco recipe, my mom sent me a recipe on how to make Jack in the Box tacos. ( She also sent a ton of other yummy restraunt recipes!) So I just HAD to make those tacos that night for dinner. My sweetheart husband went to the store and got me what I needed.

Well they were really really yummy but nothing can compare to Jack in the Box taco. I think it is the taco sauce they use or something. Anyway I would recommend this taco recipe, just don't go into it thinking it is going to taste just like J in the B tacos.

Jack in the Box Tacos

1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup Refried Beans
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbls chili powder
1/4 cup ortega mild taco sauce
12 soft corn tortillas
3 cups of cooking oil
6 slices American cheese (each cut in half)
1 head of lettuce, chopped fine

Slowly brown the beef over low heat, using a wooden spoon to chop and stir the meat, keeping it very fine and smooth. When the beef is brown, drain the fat. Add the refried beans and use the wooden spoon to smash the whole beans into the mixture creating a smooth texture. Add the salt, chili powder, and taco sauce to the mixture. Remove from the heat.

In another skillet heat 1/4 inch of oil unitl hot. Test with a small piece of tortilla-it should bubble when dropped into the oil. Spread beef mixture on the center of each corn tortilla. Fold the tortillas over and press so that the beef filling acts as an adhesive and holds the sides together. Drop each taco in to the pan of hot oil and fry on both sides until crispy. When cooked, remove the tacos from the oil and place them on a rack or some paper towels until they are a little cooler. Pry open slightly and add 1/2 slice of american cheese and some lettuce. Top with additional taco sauce to taste.

I took a picture of the tacos when they were done but can't find it right now. I will try to add it later. It always help me to see a picture when I am cooking something for the first time. ( My hubby thought I was a total nut case for taking a pic of our food!)

Figuring out this blogging thing...

2009-03-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

Last week was the first time I tried to add pictures to a blog. I tried several times but was having problems so I just closed out of it and gave up. This morning I saw that it saved what I had been working on and said what the heck I will just post it and see what it looks like. So that is why it is a little weird looking. I am going to try to add a few more pictures now and see if I can figure this thing out. So here are a few more pictures from last week.

My girls crack me up! They love the outdoors and getting dirty but they can be sooo girly. I added the picture of Kennedy with her doll because I thought it was so cute that even when she is "camping" she still wanted to play mama and have her doll and blankie and bottle. The picture of the girls with the wood pile is them pretending they are cutting wood. They were uses smaller wood pieces as axes and kept hitting the woodpile. Taylor has been reading the Little House on the Prairie books and wanted to pretend that we were back in the day and that she was sent to cut some wood. And of course Kennedy had to play right along with her big sissy. Taylor even called Daniel and I, Ma and Pa all weekend. Too funny!

Well lets see how I did with the pictures on this post!! If any of you have any suggestions please share!!!

A Little Getaway from the Real World

2009-03-25T15:28:00.000-05:00

We had asked Taylor what she wanted to do this weekend and she wanted to go camping. Well we knew the weather was going to be a little crazy so Daniel and I decided to rent a cabin on the lake. It was nice and turned out to be a good choice since it stormed pretty good Friday night and was raining and cold on Saturday. Sunday turned out to be a nice sunny day though. The cabin was great. It had a full kitchen, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms.

Friday night Daniel's parents joined us for dinner and smores! We made a nice fire outside and roasted marshmellows while we visited.

As soon as we woke up on Saturday, Kennedy wanted to go outside of the deck and look at the "water." The view of the lake was great from the deck. First thing Taylor wanted to do was read her book (she read 3 whole chapter books that weekend). After we all got up and around, we headed out to the boat. It was so cold and raining but the girls wanted to fish. This was Kennedy's first time! We didn't stay out too long. We went back to the campground and fished from there. After that we just let the kids be kids and pick seashells, play in the gravel pile, and play at the little playground that was there.

Luckily the rain went away and we were able to build another fire outside and got to enjoy dinner under the stars. We spent the rest of Saturday playing Scrabble! Taylor was actually able to play with us and Kennedy pretended that she could play.

Sunday we just played around outside for a bit and then we spent the rest of the day on the boat. Fishing, cruisin' and hanging out.

Chicken and Rice Tacos

2009-03-24T14:54:00.000-05:00

I used to have a wonderful chicken and rice taco recipe but lost it in a move and have been looking for it since. So last night I decided to try this one out...it isn't the one I was looking for but it was good! I wish I would have thought to have taken a picture of it but I didn't.

Chicken and Rice Tacos
1 TBSP butter or margarine
1 lb ground chicken
1 small onion, chopped well
1 pkt taco seasoning mix
1 1/4 cup water
1 can(8 oz) tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups Minute White Rice, uncooked
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Taco shells or small soft tortillas
1 pkg shredded Cheddar cheese
Shredded Lettuce
Chopped tomatoes

Directions
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and onions; cook and stir until chicken is cooked through. Stir in seasoning mix, water and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add rice and beans; mix well. Cover; remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Then fill up a soft tortilla or hard taco shell the way you like it!

*To save time, I bought an already cooked rotisserie chicken at the store and pulled the meat out and chopped it in my food chopper and then added it to the skillet with the onions!

Recipes!!

2009-03-24T14:46:00.000-05:00

So those of you that know me well, know that I have an addiction for recipes!! ( Okay, so food in general, ha!) I have TONS of recipes and I love to cook. I decided a little while ago to put all my "loose" recipes that I have written down or torn off of things in a bag and randomly pick new things to make and try. If I like it I type it up for my recipe book. I have some of you friends and family that have been wanting me to share my new recipes with you so I figured that my blog would be a good place to do that. So keep checking back for some new yummy recipes!!

2008-12-24T11:39:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I finally got a blog! Now I just have to figure out how it works!!! So all you girls out there that told me I had to get one and how fun and easy it is are going to have to help me out!