Friends and Dancing

Yesterday we took a break from our cleaning and went and had lunch with some friends. We had the best time. They have a little boy who is about 16 mos. old and loves horses. So we loaded up Lightnin (Shelby's pony) and took him over so little Roman could ride. He loved it! I thought he might would of been scared but he wasn't in the least little bit. He would ride for a little while and then his daddy would take him off and he would throw a fit. He kept saying "horsie, go." It was precious and we enjoyed our little time off from cleaning around our place.

We had costume check Thursday at dance and I wanted to show you one of the costumes. It is so cute.
This is her jazz costume. You can't see it very well but just know it is so cute. And she knows she looks good. All of the other costumes are just as cute but this is our favorite. Then Friday we had recital pictures and we were there for 3 1/2 hours. Oh my goodness it was such a long day. The girls were tired and irritable and so were their mothers. We are glad it's over and are looking forward to the recital June 13th. It's her first recital ever. She just started taking dance this year and she LOVES it. Dance has been her favorite extra curricular activity of all time. For years I tried to talk her in to taking but she wasn't hearing of it. Then this year we went to "The Nutcracker" performance and she fell in love. Finally!

Productive Weekend

I managed to accomplish one thing on my to do list. I took my friend to T-town to help me pick out scrapbook paper for letters I was making for her baby's room. Remember I am giving a baby shower in a couple of weeks and not only will the letters be part of my gift but they will also be used for part of the decor for the shower. Here's what they ended up looking like. I am sort of pleased with them. I was very disappointed in the scrapbook paper choices at 2 of the craft stores. There wasn't anything to choose from so we got to a point (3hours later) where we just had to settle for what was available. The nursery is decorated in a fireman theme and the bedding matches each of the letters. It looks like a weird combo of colors I know but once you see the bedding it all ties in together. Just trust me on it.
These are just wooden letters that I sprayed adhesive on and stuck scrapbook paper on top of and then sanded the edges off. Very simple to make just tedious. The "E" was the hardest letter because of all the grooves that you had to sand off. But I managed to make all 6 letters in about an hour and a half. Not bad for my first project. Auntie taught me how to do this. When we went to visit over Spring Break she had a lot of projects going and one of them was a wooden cross that she covered with zebra paper. It is oh so cute!

I hope to start working on my church bench this week. We'll see how it goes. It's another crazy busy week in our household. I am out of school Friday and Monday so I hope to get a lot accomplished if the rain will hold off.


Be a mom who laughs.

Proverbs 17:22 "A happy heart is like good medicine, but a broken spirit drains your strength" (NCV).

Moms, we need to lighten up, or my daughter says, "Chill, Mom!" Kids are fun! Find ways to bring joy and laughter into your home. Jered is a big hunk of a football player, but occasionally, I have to remind him of the fact that I can still take him. He will make some irritating comment, tease me or poke me in the ribs. I warn him and then I see the gleam in his eye as he takes one more shot. I then begin chasing him around the house. Jered inevitably starts laughing so hard that, when I catch him, he is totally helpless. It is quite a sight to see! Moms are the thermostats of the home and need to keep the emotional setting on joy. Children get most of their first impressions of God from their parents. I want my kids to know that God is a God of joy and laughter. Kids need a mom who laughs.

Charmin Boy

My sister sent an email of my adorable nephew with this message and pictures attached...

Dear Family and Friends,

It has come to my attention that if you have spent more than a penny on my child in his life time than I’m afraid you have wasted your money. Sorry!!! As I’ve told you before, he simply loves our recycle bin…like a gold treasure to him. As you will see in the pictures, there is truly nothing in our house that is considered trash….and I mean nothing!!!!! So for future gift ideas for Tanner think outside the toy aisle at Wal-Mart!! Before you throw out that piece of garbage, remember him!!!

Seriously, as I was knee deep in cleaning for Heath’s arrival, I looked up and noticed “Charmin Boy!” Is this normal??? HA!!! Last year his stocking was stuffed w/tape…this is why! I secretly have to clean out his room, this is why! He is his father’s son, this is why!

Very creative little guy!!!!

He has taped an antenna to his goggles.
If you look very close you will see that he has made a costume out of the TOILER PAPER PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!! Charmin at its best!

Is he not just the most precious thing you've ever seen. I think he's awesome and totally cool.
He is super smart and I'll tell you why. He got in trouble at school and had to write sentences but he was smart enough to hide it from his momma. He got up early yesterday morning and tried to get them written before his momma got up and saw him. Well, he ended up getting caught and so his momma went and had a or another talk with his teacher and they decided it was time for him to go see the PRINCIPAL! Uh-oh! He got 2 licks at school from the principal. He didn't cry and said they didn't even hurt. His daddy said if he was bleeding he wouldn't of cried. Just the kind of guy he is. Tough, I guess. His momma prefers to describe it as severely strong willed. So let's all stop and say a prayer for her. BUT she is thrilled to say that his daddy is home as of last night. Welcome home Heath!

We had another storm blow through our tiny town at 4 this morning. Strong winds, hard rain, thunder and lots of lightning. Thankfully, Bob The Builder came yesterday and fixed our roof so we had a dry ceiling during all the rain. Thank you Lord! We are SO ready for everything to start drying out so we can finish up some much needed outdoor projects. It's supposed to rain all weekend so it's gonna be a while before that time comes. But we are thankful we are all safe and our house is in tact.

Be a mom who encourages.

Today, let's talk about being a mom who encourages her children. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, we find the simple but life-changing directive, "So encourage each other and give each other strength" (NCV). When we encourage our children, we deposit strength in them. We need to be careful to keep their emotional deposits in balance. Many kids are in emotional bankruptcy because constant withdrawals of criticism are made with few deposits of encouragement. Our job is to study our kids and discover their strengths and weaknesses. We need to understand that many times, their greatest weakness may very well become their greatest strengths.

As a child, I was very stubborn. I know. It is almost impossible to imagine - almost. That stubbornness often got me into trouble, but it also made me the survivor of some very hard times. We need to look for the good things in our children and draw them into the spotlight. In other words, become their "encourager" and their "cheerleader." Everyone needs a cheerleader.

Biggest Loser

I want to be a contestant on" The Biggest Loser". Did you watch the finale last night? I did and I ate a "Jethro" (that means big) bowl of ice cream while watching it. Then when I ate the very last bite I felt guilty and decided I wanted to be on there next season. Aaron told me I had to give up the ice cream first. Well, I'm not willing to let that part of my life go yet. Normally, there wouldn't even be ice cream in the house because I fall into temptation a little easier than I should. So I don't buy it but my parents came to spend the night with us this weekend for Mother's Day and brought chocolate AND vanilla! I'm working on the vanilla first while Shel works on the chocolate. Anyway, the contestants on the show didn't even look the same. They were totally different people. It was amazing. I've been looking for the 30 Day Shred video by Jillian but haven't found it yet. But I've only checked a couple of places. So now I'm really on the hunt for it because I'm bound and determined to get 30 lbs. off quick.

The sun is shining today and it's a sight that we haven't seen in a while. It's beautiful!! I am so thankful for it. Bob the Builder is coming back to the house today to fix the roof. YEAH!!

Have a blessed day!


Being a mom is the hardest job on earth and can bring out the best and the worst in you. I know being a mom requires great sacrifice and limitless energy, but to invest your time and best efforts into a child, to watch that child grow and develop, is to be part of the creative majesty of life itself.

Let's Pray
Lord, thank You for giving me children. Help me to be the mom they deserve. I commit to constantly pray for each child and invest the best part of my time and life in them. Forgive me for allowing lesser things to take the place of my role as a mother and guide me to be a mom that really matters.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Baby Kayleigh

This morning after I posted I started updating on all the other blogs I read. I was horrified to learn that Baby Kayleigh went to be with Jesus last night. This family has been through so much. Both of her parents were real estate agents and lost their jobs after she was born. The had to make a decision on whether to pay their mortgage or their health insurance shortly after they lost their jobs. The story is endless with injustice but their faith is like no other. Go over to their site and read up on Baby Kayleigh.

Weekend Update

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day. My parents came and spent the night with us on Saturday night. We went to Shel's school for a fundraiser and ate fish then we came home put on p.j.'s and ate some more. Then we got up and went to church on Sunday morning and then we went to lunch to eat again. It was a great time. Shelby thought it was so cool that Nana and Poppa were spending the night. Especially since they live only 45 minutes away.

Sunday afternoon we went and visited with Mimi and Poppy and Aaron's mamaw. We had a nice visit and a relaxed Mother's Day weekend. And I didn't have my camera for any of it! I know it's terrible!

Saturday while getting the house ready for overnight guests the sky decided to fall. There was so much rain in such short amount of time and the wind was blowing so hard that the rain blew into one of the seams of our metal roof. Uh-Oh!! We had rain coming throught the ceiling . There wasn't a massive amount but enough to fill up a couple of bowls and get everything wet that I had just put on the table for Mother's Day lunch. I had all my placemats, linen napkins, plates, silverware, glasses and flowers on the table. They were soaked! We just started grabbing everything and putting bowls out. It finally stopped and all is well now that Bob The Builder came out yesterday and is going to fix all the problems.


Be a mom who gives time.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change" (NCV).
It takes time to be a mom, to know and to train your children. Every child comes with a set of characteristics already established by God. Our job is to identify those characteristics and then steer the child toward them. The original root word for "train" is the term for "the palate, the roof of the mouth, the gums". In the days of Solomon, a midwife would deliver the baby, dip her finger into the juice of crushed dates, reach into the mouth of the baby and massage the gums and palate to create a sense of taste and thirst. She would then give the child to the mother so the baby could nurse. Our job as mothers is to develop a thirst in our children for the right things. And that takes time.
There is a popular philosophy today that it doesn't matter the quantity of time that we spend with our kids as long as it is quality time. It does matter! Can a woman have it all - a home, a family, a career? I think she can. I'm just not sure she can have them all at the same time. There are seasons of life to which we must yield in order to be the mother God wants us to be. Time spent with children is never wasted! Every minute invested in your child is an eternal investment! Give your children the best of your time -- not the leftovers.
· Make weekly dates with your kids.
· Pull them out of school occasionally for a fun day.
· Have a meal together every day.
· Be involved in the things they enjoy.
In other words, be available! And just your physical presence is not enough. Our normal bedtime routine was to spend a few minutes with each child, talking about the day, praying together and then I would tuck them in for the night. When our daughter, Danna, was six-years-old, Dan was out of town and I was behind in studying for an upcoming retreat. I went in to Jered's room, completed the bedtime routine and he was asleep in minutes. However, when I went into Danna's room, and tried to speed things up, Danna refused to talk. When I asked her why, she cried out, "Mama, you're not here!" Confused and a little irritated, I responded, "Yes, I am! I am right here!" Her big brown eyes filled with tears as she drove the truth home, "But you're not really here on the inside." Be a mom who gives your children time.
Being a mom is the hardest job on earth and can bring out the best and the worst in you. I know being a mom requires great sacrifice and limitless energy, but to invest your time and best efforts into a child, to watch that child grow and develop, is to be part of the creative majesty of life itself. We're half the way there! Tomorrow, we will explore four more ways to be a mom that matters.

Headboard

Before I show you pictures of my new headboard I want to show you pictures of our friend that showed up in our front yard, close to the house, right in front of the steps last night..............
Do you see him? Well let me give you a close up........

This snake my friends is a...copperhead! I was outside yesterday getting ready to put flowers in pots and there he was - right beside me! Aaron was at softball practice with Shelby. So I was all alone standing on the bench that is on my front porch. I was on the phone with Auntie when I saw him and I screamed and freaked out. She went to the computer and I tried to explain what he looked like so she could tell me if he was poisonous or not. If he wasn't then I was going to kill him and go on about my business. If he was, well, I guess I was going to stand on that bench til Aaron got home. So meanwhile Auntie's telling Tan man that I have snake in my front yard and he immediately asks "where are the horses"? (Thanks for the concern little buddy. Coco's okay don't worry about it). He wanted to look also but he told his momma that he needed a chair to stand in. She asked him why he needed a chair and he told her he can't look at pictures of snakes unless he was standing in a chair. So me and Tan man (him being over 200 miles away) were sure to get off the ground away from the snake. She never really figured out what kind he was because I couldn't explain it very well. Finally Aaron and Shelby came home and he got a bat and whacked it in the head and said"hmm, it's a copperhead, I just killed one of those just last week". WHAT???? Uh,thanks for the heads up that we have snakes roaming around the yard.

Now for the headboard. Okay you can't laugh! It's not set up yet. It's leaned against the wall under our car port right now and we intend to get it set up this weekend. You'll just have to excuse the star in the background and try to make the picture out as best you can.

This is the one of the sides.

This is the other side. This headboard is made of old panels that was used for cattle back in the day. I was in the barn about 6 mos. ago and saw them and decided right then and there that was my new headboard. So we took it over to a little shop in town and the nice man cleaned it up, made a few repairs and put a clear seal over it. Now, in my opinion... it's beautiful ! I can't wait to get it up in my room. I know it's a little out of the ordinary but that 's just the kind of gal I am.

Here are my flowers that I got on sale. They are still in their original pots but well I had a visitor last night that prohibited me from doing anything other than standing on a bench waiting for my man to get home.

Be a mom who prays continually.

I Thessalonians 5:17 should be every mother's commitment to her children. "Never stop praying" (ICB). It is never too late to start praying and it is always too early to stop.
Pray for God's plan -- not yours -- when praying for your children.
Pray that you will see your child like God sees your child.
Pray specifically for your child. For example, I often pray Proverbs 3:5-6 for our son, "Lord, I pray that Jered would trust in you with all his heart and will lean not unto his own understanding. I pray that in all his ways Jered will acknowledge you and that you will direct his paths." And for our daughter, I pray 1 Peter 5:7, "Lord, I pray that Danna would cast all her care upon you, because you care for her."
Prayer is an eternal gift we can give to our children, teaching them the importance of prayer and teaching them how to pray. I recently heard the story of a mother who had invited several people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," she answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"
We began early to pray with our kids at bedtime. I am convinced that if we pray for our children and with our children, it will change their lives and ours and give us insight that we can gain no other way.

Have a great weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies. Remember to acknowledge all those women who are waiting to be called that sweet name "mommy".

My House

So I'm hosting a baby shower at my house the first weekend in June and there's a lot that has to be done before that time comes. Right now I am in search of a summer wreath for my front door. I found this one and LOVE it...

but my door is green and I'm not real sure how it will look. I'm afraid it won't pop like this one. I love the monogram on it. That's really what I'm in search of. Got any ideas??

I'm am also starting to put flowers in my beds. My sis sent this pic of her front porch. I have lots of ideas, I just have to put them to use.
Her pot is monogrammed. How cute. She painted the terra cotta pots black and then painted her initial with lime green paint. Her theme colors are lime green, black and pink. She's just a little OCD!
And isn't this cute she just put a small green plant in a bucket and with a paint pen wrote an "L" on it. Then hung it on a planter hanger.

I went to Lowe's the other day and they were having a buy one get one free sale on some of their flowers. So I had at it. I got all my flowers for $0.75! What a deal, huh? I was thrilled to get in on the sale. I had to do a little persuading when it came to pay because they argued with me about the sale being over but I checked before I started shopping. So 30 minutes later I walked away with 75 cent flowers. I plan to put them in the ground and in my pots if the rain will hold off just a few more hours.

Also, my beautiful church bench will get a new coat of black paint. There's lots going on at my house this week and I will post more pics as soon as I charge my camera battery. I also got a new headboard. It's nothing like what you think so don't expect a new beautiful extravagant piece of furniture. I will show you tomorrow. Just a clue: it's an old barn gate! I love it!

I got an email from a dear friend the other day and I plan to share a piece of it everyday until Mother's Day. I did not write this email and neither did she. In fact I don't even know who did but it's really good and it's what ALL moms to be doing for their children.

Be a mom who loves God.
1 John 4:19 "We love, because God first loved us" (NCV).
We are incapable of loving our children like they were meant to be loved until we first love God! Motherhood at its best demands a thriving partnership with God! We cannot give unconditional love until we have experienced unconditional love! And God is the only source of that kind of love! We can do everything else right as a parent but if we don't begin with loving God - we will fail!

This is just the first part of the email and it gets better so check back everyday to see what tomorrow holds.

Yucky!

Today is a very nasty, rainy, stressful day. It has been raining most of the night and has not let up at all since about 5:30 this morning. There is soooo much water. So we go on about our day just watching the weather for severe alerts, waiting for the electricity to go out and watching the sidewalks making sure the water doesn't come in the building. Other than that it will be a glorious day!

Don't forget your teachers this week. It is National Teacher's Appreciation Week. Shel's teacher has received a small gift every day this week. Monday she got a Dr. Pepper and Peanut M&M's, Tuesday she got a $5 Sonic gift card, today she got bath gel and a loofah, tomorrow she is getting a breakfast bag with a cereal bar, banana and juice and Friday she is getting a nail file inside a monogrammed holder. I like to make sure her teacher understands how much she is appreciated. After all she takes care of my child 8 hours a day and she is her caretaker when I am not. To me that deserves more than what I could ever give her.

Auntie has spoiled Tan man's teacher this week as well. She is much better than me because she took pictures of her gifts. I think she did this because she wanted to be sure that I wrapped my teacher's gifts cute. See Auntie thinks I ghetto everything and if she shows me how to act then I'm more apt to have a little more class. So here are pics of Auntie's teacher's gifts...

She made them all cute. And by the way I have to give credit where credit is due. Auntie is the one who came up with all my teacher's gifts. She called me Sunday night and asked what I had for Ms. Emily and we decided on a week's worth of gifts for her. So, thanks for the help, Auntie.

Happy Teacher's Appreciation Week!

It's been a while

I know I haven't posted in a week but I'll tell you why. TAKS TEST!!! Does that make anyone get up and run to the bathroom and violently throw up all your food that you've eaten in the last 24 hours??? Well, it does me. It has been a VERY long week to say the least. And even longer for the kids. All the testing is done for the year. All we have left is the re-testing of some of the students who may have not done so well on the first test. Glad it's over and done with for the most part.

We had a great time in Okalahoma last weekend. The MS Walk was a huge success. There were1,740 people that walked and they raised over $119,000.00 and money is still coming in. Isn't that wonderful? I took lots of pictures at the zoo and I will share just a few of them with you.






This past weekend was a little - a lot hectic due to the severe weather in our area. Luckily we came out with no damage and no tornadoes touching down. I went on storm watch with Aaron. It was very interesting sitting in the truck watching the sky for rotation. I kept asking my wonderful husband what we're going to do if we do see something. He calmly said we would just get out of the way. Like it was no big deal. Have I lost my mind??? Shelby was in T-town with my mom and dad and I was NOT staying home by myself! So the only option I had was to go with him. I have to admit I felt rather safe with him. I just really wanted my baby girl with me in the midst of the drama.

This week has been really busy as well as last week. So I hope to bring more news later. Have a great day.

P.S. Sunday was National Infertility Survival Day. Recognize all the women who have survived the loss of a child and the women who will never know what it's like to be called "mommy". As Mother's Day approaches try to be courteous to those women. But don't ignore them either.