We've had a snow day here....

When the first snowflakes started to fall yesterday, my girls went crazy with excitement. They had been praying all afternoon, asking God to please let it snow! :) Daddy had to go to work today which meant that we couldn't go play outside until he got home. I couldn't really let them play outside by themselves and I couldn't really take Mika out to play for more than a minute.... so we waited on Daddy.

I keep thinking of the time it snowed last year while the girls and I were at my dad's house. We woke up and there was snow falling. Peyton looked at me and had the sweetest look on her face and said "Thank you, Pappy, for the snow!" Oh sweet innocence.

They were so ready by the time he got home. We quickly suited up (as best we could since we don't own snow gear) and they girls headed out with their Daddy. Nana and DaddyGrand came out to play too!

For their first time with snowballs, the girls took to it pretty well! 

Peyton had a blast throwing snowballs at her Daddy. 

Laila had fun too but she is a little more timid than Peyton when it comes to new things. 

They love playing with their Daddy because he really is just a big kid himself. :)

DaddyGrand and Mika.... she came out for a minute to see what was going on.

Snowy sisters. 

I love this shot of Mika looking up at her Daddy. Precious!!

Two of my favorite people! Mika liked the snow until she sat down in it and realized how cold it was. Then she was ready to come in and cook with Mommy!

My baby and her first snow!

I told the girls this morning that when it snowed, Daddy was the one who played outside with them and Mommy stays inside and cooks! Ha! But seriously, I don't do outside too well. :) So in keeping with my snow "theory" I made homemade muffins for a snack this afternoon. And while everyone was outside playing, I cooked dinner for us all. 

Overall it was a pretty good snow day (I could have done without all the whining and disobeying, but that's just part of life these days). I hope if you had snow you were able to enjoy it however you like! 

My Hopes for 2011

I don't make New Year's Resolutions.

That said, there are quite a few things I'm looking forward to doing/working on/achieving in 2011. I call them my "Hopes" for this year. Here is a short version for your enjoyment. 

I want to become a more patient and gentle Momma. I feel like I've really let this get out of control and I'm working really hard on becoming more patient with my kiddos and being more gentle with them. By gentle, I mean not so easily frustrated, not so easy to raise my voice, sweeter and calmer in the way I talk to them and especially when I discipline them. They deserve the very best from me and it is my hope this year that I can truly give them my best.

I want to become healthier. That looks like a silly sentence to me, but it is the best way I know to describe what I'm looking for. I spent the entire year of 2010 with my hormones being all wacky. I feel like they are getting back to "normal" now but I feel like I need to take some actions with my body to continue to make me feel better. So I'm going to start taking vitamin supplements (I've never been good about this before, but I know I need to start). I'm also going to stop drinking so many Dr. Peppers. In fact, I haven't had one in over a week! I really want to feel good (on the inside and about the way I look) so I can be a happy, healthy wife and Momma so I'm taking a few little steps to do that. 

I want to help my girls learn as much as they can this year. We are working on basic things right now such as alphabet and numbers, shapes and such. I'm trying to be creative in the way I teach them these things and I will welcome any tips! It brings me such joy to see them learn new things and I'm hoping to really get some things accomplished this year. 

I also want to teach my girls about serving others and being a blessing to someone else in whatever way you can. There are a few things I have planned for our family this year on this topic. I really want to see all of us putting others before ourselves and meeting others' needs in any way we can. 

Jared and I are hoping to take a real vacation this year. We will still take the girls to the lake with my dad for a week this summer. Right now we just feel like that is the best way for our family to have a vacation - there is no stress, no long trips; it is just a really fun, easy way for us to spend quality time together and be able to enjoy it. BUT, Jared and I really want to do something special to celebrate our birthdays this year (we both have a big one) so I'm hoping we are able to do that. 

I want to keep painting and I hope that people still want me to make things for them. I have some great ideas I'm working on and I can't wait to see how they turn out. I hope to be able to share some pictures of my "creations" soon. 

There is so much more, but I'll leave it at that for now. There are a lot of things I'm looking forward to this year. But at the end of the day, I'm as happy as can be to have my sweet husband and my precious babies to share my life with. So no matter what happens in the days and months to come, I'm beyond blessed to be where I am today and not a day goes by that I don't thank God for all that he has given me. 

Bringing in the New Year.... Our Way

Hello there 2011.

It is nice to finally meet you.

For some reason, I keep feeling like today is the actual first day of 2011. So weird, I know. It is probably due to the fact that I'm just now starting to feel like myself again..... almost.

Last Thursday I was incredibly sick. I am not sure how I made it through the entire day (from wake-up until bedtime) taking care of the girls alone. I don't even remember parts of the day because I was so sick and my fever was fairly high and I was just plain exhausted. But we made it. Thankfully, Jared had Friday off and he was a huge help to me so I could rest and try to get well.

By Friday night, I was feeling somewhat better. However, I was in bed by 9pm. Yes, that is how I celebrated New Year's Eve. Ha! It was worth it though, as I've been feeling better and better every day. I'm not quite back to normal yet, but I'm hoping to be by this weekend. Why this weekend? Well, its our 5 year wedding anniversary. We have some sweet plans and I hope we both feel great so we can enjoy our time together.

We've really just laid low this January. :) The girls and I all have this weird cold thing so we are resting and drinking lots of fluids and eating lots of soup. Its been fine but I'm ready to get our lives back.

I have so many posts floating around in my head but I'm still struggling to find time to sit down and write them all. There is so much going on... in my head, in my heart and in our lives and it will all eventually end up on here. Just know that I'm working to really share these things with you, it is just a matter of finding time to do it.

For now, I'll leave you with some thoughts:

• I'm still working on my 2011 goals (can you say "slacker"?! Ha!)
• I've started a Bible Study (thanks for the info Jill) and each morning it seems to be EXACTLY what I need to read - How great is God!!
• My Christmas decor (what little I put out) is all packed away and I was happy to see it go (seriously, I don't even recognize myself anymore. Who am I? Ha!!!)
• Our Razorbacks lost in a very sad Sugar Bowl game last night. It was a hard game to watch and I'm still feeling a little emotional about it.
• My baby will be ONE in less than a month! Seems like she should still be this tiny...

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Our December...

***Note: My camera is acting crazy (maybe its time for a new one!) so I'm sharing pictures that my S-I-L, Alicia, and my M-I-L, Linda, took during our Christmas celebrations. And they are huge, but I'm not going to figure out how to make them smaller.***

I have a million things swirling in my mind. I want to share about what we've been up to. I want to share some things on my heart and in my head. I want to share pictures of my sweet little family. I want to record memories for me (and my family). I could go on.

None of my girls like Santa. There were many tears shed over him during this season. But Mika seriously has the cutest sad face ever!


I've had an incredibly busy December. I would say it is the busiest December I've ever had (and that includes those three Decembers I was in Law School).

Laila, during Santa's visit to our family Christmas party.

I literally did not give myself any free time during the month. My Christmas gift to myself was to have this week off. Too bad I have a nasty cold/sinus infection thing so that I can't really enjoy it.

Love this girl!

But we survived December. Praise God!

And we even managed to enjoy it.


God answered our prayers and only one of us came down with the vicious stomach bug. I spent every waking minute for two whole days begging Him to spare the rest of us while Peyton was sick and he answered my prayers.


We've all had colds and sinus infections over the past month. But I'll take colds over the stomach bug any day!

This was not posed.... she LOVED that snowglobe and stared at it for the longest time with this sweet smile on her face. 

I have spent the last month (well actually the last two months) painting and filling orders for Christmas. I've enjoyed every minute of it. I still can't believe God has given me this artistic gift and that I actually make things that people want. I'm blown away! So if you have ordered something, thank you from the bottom of my heart.


We enjoyed all of our different family Christmas celebrations. My girls were blessed beyond belief with the gifts from our family and friends. Which brought about one of the things that is on my heart. I'm thinking I'll write a separate post on that. :) I have to say, being a parent is the greatest gift EVER. I've never been as overjoyed or excited or just plain happy as I have been this holiday season - watching my girls enjoy Christmas, making Christmas memories with them, starting Christmas traditions together, seeing their eyes light up in not only receiving their gifts but in choosing and giving gifts to others - I really think it is far better being a parent at Christmas than it is being a child.


I know how blessed we are to get to enjoy Christmas in so many ways and I do not take our blessings for granted. In fact, I have been so very emotional and my heart has felt very burdened this Christmas season. We have spent much time praying as a family for all of the people who didn't get to have the same kind of Christmas we did.


I guess I don't need to get into too much detail about our December... If I give away all of our happenings now, what would I write about in my next few posts? :) I do have much more time now that I'm not in a mad rush to finish Christmas orders, so I'll be on the blog much more! I have some great posts in my head that I'm hoping to get typed up in the next few days. We'll see.....

And this picture is here because it really isn't a get-together unless there is some photo of me laughing. One day I may do a picture post of all the photos I have of myself laughing. Ha!

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your December and the rest of 2010.

Back in the Saddle....

Look at me, two consecutive days of posting.... Will I keep it up?

So I've been looking through cookbooks and talking to my grandmother trying to get some ideas for some fun Christmas goodies to make (alone and with the girls). I also get emails from different recipe websites and I've gotten a few ideas from there.

I'm thinking of trying some new things this year - caramels, fudges.... who knows! I'm so selective with the foods I like that most Christmas goodies don't appeal to me. I do love Christmas cookies (we've made two batches and EATEN two batches so far this season). And I could make myself sick on chocolate covered pretzels. Oh the chocolatey-salty goodness.


So I'm wondering..... What are your favorite Christmas goodies? What do you love to bake and what do you love to eat???? Maybe y'all have some ideas I haven't thought of yet. So let me know! I'm going to try to take pictures and share with y'all our Christmas baking adventures.

Happy Thursday!

Merry Christmas!

Wow. Life is so busy for me right now. I realize I haven't blogged in an age but I honestly have not had time to sit down and write. I have no excuses, but I do have explanations :)

I have three girls - and one of them just took her first steps today! She's super-mobile people! Yikes. :) Check out this hilarious picture of Mika Lynn - we took it in the window of a store in the mall we were in on Saturday night. Hahaha! I laugh every time I see it. 

I'm dealing with some personal issues that may not exactly be time-consuming but are definitely thought-consuming. I won't get into it but I will say that being a wife and a mom and a sister and a daughter and a woman is HARD y'all.

All of my free time (which is the time after the girls go to bed at night) is spent working on paintings for some sweet people who actually wanted ME to paint something for them. Me? I still can't believe that.

We've been gone so much spending time with family and friends. I love this, but it doesn't leave much time for blogging. Making these memories as a family is much more important though. :)

I got our Christmas cards in yesterday. I've been working on getting them addressed and ready to mail out. This is the first time since Jared and I have been married that we are sending out Christmas cards. Can you believe that?

I could go on. But I won't.

I decided to take the time to blog today at the prompting of a sweet friend's blog post. Elaina wanted us to blog about our favorite Christmas movies. I love Christmas! I love movies! I love Christmas movies! Ha!

So my favorite Christmas movie of all-time is probably Miracle on 34th Street. Oh, I do love this movie. However, I'm a sucker for all Christmas movies. Well, unless they are sad. I am already too emotional around the holidays so I don't like to watch the sad Christmas movies. Anyway, I also love The Grinch and Home Alone and Elf. In fact, the girls and I watched a couple of Christmas movies today.

I'll try to be back before Christmas, but I'm not making any promises. Our schedule is full and I don't see it letting up until after the New Year.

Happy December!

The Case of the Incredible Diaper Rash

It is no secret to my close friends that I LOVE Nancy Drew.

I seriously read every book growing up and if I had the time now, I would probably re-read them. No lie. I've always loved a good mystery. And I have been known, on occasion, to refer to myself as Nancy Drew. I'll answer to that name, if you feel like calling me that. :)

We frequently have "mysteries" in our home that I feel the need to solve. The most recent "mystery" is that of the Incredible Diaper Rash.

Mika Lynn developed a diaper rash about a week ago (maybe slightly longer). I used every cream and ointment we had in the house, from OTC to prescription. No change. In fact, that mess just got worse and worse. I'm not one to freak out and call the doctor over a diaper rash (plus we had a check-up scheduled for today so I was hoping to hold out until then) so I just kept trying to treat it.

Bootie creams = no help.

Next step - change formula. For some reason I thought that the formula may be causing the mess. With the new formula, we got a slight improvement in the diaper rash. But did it go away completely? No sir.

So today we are at our appointment. Dr. W asked me if there was anything up with Mika. I told her to take a look at the insane diaper rash that she has. She did and she proceeded to tell me she was baffled. No idea for certain what it is. It is seriously bizarre - it is like a perimeter rash around the area where her diaper would be wet. Dr. W didn't even know how to write it up in her notes. Ha!

She prescribed some OTC creams (that I haven't used yet) and if it isn't better in a couple days or gone in a week we have to go back to her.

All I keep thinking is "Who gets an out-of-control diaper rash that stumps the doctor?" Only my child! Seriously, my kids are rarely sick, but when they get their little medical issues, they are always weird and never normal. {Breath holding spells, fever viruses that trick the doctors into thinking it is meningitis coupled with some sort of weird bacteria, the list goes on and on.... and on}

I write this not to bore you to tears with talk of diaper rash, but to ask for your help. Any thoughts? Any ideas on how we can get rid of this mess for good?