The life of Molly and Sarah

Mary Sloan's Birthday Party

2010-04-07T17:52:00.004-04:00

Today the girls went to a spa party for Mary Sloan today. They had such a good time! They got their finger and toe nails painted and they both wanted their hair straightened. I couldn't believe how long their hair was and that they sat still for so long. Here are some pictures of their fun party.

Toe nails and finger nails being painted.

Sarah with her hair straightened.

Sarah couldn't stop looking at her hair in the mirror.

Molly with her hair finished.

Posing with her friend Bennett

Snow Day

2010-02-05T11:25:00.004-05:00

Oh, the snow! I do remember loving the snow and being out of school when I was a kid, but as an adult snow days are so different. My kiddos woke up the first morning to ice and no snow and there were lots of tears. However, tears soon turned to squeals of excitement when it finally started snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing. They were so excited that we managed to keep them inside until later in the afternoon when there was actually enough snow to play in. Of course it was still snowing and it was blowing and it felt like little daggers of ice on your face....brrrrrr. Thankfully the next day it was perfect snow play weather. The only problem we had was that the snow drifts were so high the girls were worn out from just walking in the yard. I guess that is what happens when you have short legs :)

Molly is standing on the tallest snow drift we had. She was so excited that she was taller than than the Jeep.

It took us 45 minutes to get bundled up and out the door for play time. Thankfully we took a potty break BEFORE we put our gear on.

The only picture I got the first day because it was too cold to take my gloves off to take pictures. Brrrrrrr

The front of the house and the solid sheet of ice that was our driveway. It was bad!!

Poor Molly got stuck to the slide

This may not look exciting to anyone else, but this piece of ice had my kids litterally shreaking they were so thrilled with it. Attention grandparents: save your money on presents, just freeze water for us next year.

Our very first experience with snow ice cream. Sarah said, "yummy, this is good, tastes like snow". Please also notice that it was 22 degrees outside and felt like 8 degrees and we came inside and the girls wanted to put on short sleeve dresses....what?!?!?!?

Make A Wish

2010-01-29T19:20:00.004-05:00

A customer of mine contacted me a few weeks ago about donating some monogramming for a wish granting for Make A Wish. Of course I have heard of wish granting, but this is the first time I have ever had anything to offer. This little boys story is amazing, if you have time to click on the link below, watch the video and read his story and how his wish was granted.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4850413&name=newton_david

I got to monogram his "race suit" that matches his favorite Nascar race driver, Joey Logano. The pictures are of Sarah being my model before I gave them his completed suit. I really hope they call me again, because it was so much fun!

There are a few designs on the sleeve and the colar, but Sarah was tired of being my model

Art Show / Mother's Day Out

2009-08-31T02:06:00.005-04:00

My girls had a great year last year at Mother's Day Out at Central Baptist. Every time we drive past the church the girls get really giddy and talk about their school, Ms. Pat and Ms. Paula and then all of their friends. Really we had the greatest teachers and some pretty great friends too!

Every year they have an art show showcasing the things the kids work on throughout the year. The girls were so excited to go this year, but not to see their stuff, but to see their friends. They had a great time flitting around and just visiting.

My sweet girls, they are getting so big!

Sarah's flower/measuring chart

Molly's Flower/Measuring Chart

Ms. Paula and the girls, she is such a sweetheart!

Ms. Pat, she is such a great teacher and a wonderful christian woman

Mom......please stop taking our pictures!!!!

The girls and their friends Faith (on the right) and Allyson (on the left).

My kids say the funniest things!

2009-08-28T18:02:00.004-04:00

We were driving home from Jonesboro last week listening to a Veggie Tales Praise and Worship CD where Matt Redmond had written some of the songs and then was on the CD singing them w/ the Veggie Tales crew.

Sarah: Mom, is Mr. Matt a carrot?
Me: What? Who?
Sarah: Mr. Matt Redmond, is he a carrot.
Me: No, Sarah, he isn't a carrot, why would you say that?
Sarah: Well, Bob is a tomato and Larry a cucumber, I thought Mr. Matt had to be some vegetable.

Molly: Mom when I get to be big I am going to drive a car
Me: Yes, you probably will have a car
Molly: I am going to get in my car and drive behind you and honk the horn and say, "hey, you are driving too slow"
Me: Oh, Molly, I sure hope not

Me: Sarah, we are going to school tonight to meet your new teacher
Sarah: Will Ms. Pat and Ms. Paula be there? (her teachers from last year)
Me: No, remember, you will have a new teacher and Molly will have a different teacher
Sarah: Then I will write Ms. Paula a letter
Sarah: Dear Ms. Paula, please don't forget me, I love you, Sarah. Also, Ms. Paula, my plant died, can you get me a new one?

Breaking the Addiction

2009-08-24T10:49:00.002-04:00

While I was pregnant I banished sodas from my everyday life and just enjoyed them during a trip to the movie theater. Then Brian one day decided he wanted me to start buying Diet Dr Pepper to keep at the house. Harmless request......not really! I have a friend that I once mocked for saying she was addicted to the stuff, but now I see its power and its draw. It calls to me in the morning as I am getting out of bed. I think about it before I go to bed, with longing of that first cold sip in the morning after I have wiped the sleep from my eyes. I keep one and only one in the refrigerator because I will only drink them cold and NEVER over ice. And the other day, I realized I had a problem.

I have banished them from my life again and oh the pain and misery. Do you realized doing with out them can give you headaches and nausea? I am thinking that much like the tobacco industry the Dr Pepper company needs to be required to put that on their cans. Today is day 5 and I think I am over the worst of it. Now I just need to work on my worst addiction......food!

Happy Birthday Daddy

2009-08-17T11:07:00.003-04:00

Brian's birthday was in May and I am still behind hin my blogging, but I am going to try and get caught up.....this week. The girls wanted to do something special for him, for his birthday so they decided to paint him a picture for his new office. The walls are green so we tried to pick some colors to match. They were so excited to give them to him.

My posers, I can't ever get both of them to look at the camera at the same time.

Molly for some reason didn't want me to take a picture of her nose?!?!

Sarah was so excited, can't you tell?

WOW - Wonders of his Word

2009-07-14T12:26:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I am 3 months behind on my other posting, but I wanted to give this one cutsies because it is my favorite! I just love Southwests' version of Vacation Bible School. The girls were in the 3's this year and the 3's are considered a big kid class. That means they get to come to the craft room, the drama and the auditorium.

We invited their friends Faith and Allyson to come and they have been there every night so far. Their parents have come and enjoyed Jeff Walling and his son Taylor as well. Brian said the adult series is wonderful!

The girls and I in the learning center classroom (my classroom)

Here are some more picture highlights:

They wanted to pose all around the room.

Our friend, Allyson

Our friend, Faith

Show your stuff Monday

2009-06-22T14:44:00.001-04:00

Molly begs for new skirts and new dresses. I was going to make some capri pants for the 4th, but she BEGGED for a new skirt. I am afraid she is going to be a clothes horse. She also wanted to model it. She is so sweet!

Miss you Sophie

2009-06-15T11:22:00.003-04:00

Well, our friend Sophie went to live with some friends of ours last week. As much as we loved her, she was always running away up to the highway (to check things out). We lost Hailey that way, and I didn't want the same thing to happen to Sophie. We miss her and our house already feels a little more empty without her, but I know she is VERY happy in her new home. She went to live with Ms. Kristen from the girls MDO and she said Sophie is adjusting very well and her kiddos are crazy about her. Sophie has 2 doggie friends to play with and Ms. Kristen's kids, Ellie, Emma, Grant and Reed. We know she will be very happy and well loved!

A visit from baby Maggie

2009-06-05T18:00:00.002-04:00

The girls went to stay with Meme a couple of months ago and she brought them back to AR after their visit. Brian's step brother's wife, Aunt Sarah and baby Maggie came with her. My Sarah just loves babies and her cousins baby Maggie and baby Nathan especially.

It looks like Maggie is smiling for the camera

Sarah just couldn't get enough of Maggie

Princess Molly tugging on Maggie's ear. Isn't she just the cutest??

Look out fish, here we come!

2009-05-30T17:45:00.002-04:00

These pictures are about 2 months old, I am way behing in my blogging! The girls went to stay with Brian's mom, Meme, in April and they had a blast. Brian and I enjoyed some time together, but I am certain the girls had a lot more fun. All they could talk about when they came home, was going fishing with Meme. Brian's Grandad, Papa Dickey, has some land with a pond on it and apparently they invited the girls over for an afternoon of fun.

Marketta, Papa's friend, fishing with the girls
Baby Nathan and Aunt Kimberly taking a Goldfish break.

Meme and the girls fishing, this is one of my favorite pictures!

Of course every girls has to fish with a Barbie fishing pole.

Conversation of the Day

2009-05-29T13:32:00.003-04:00

I am fixing lunch for the girls:

Molly: Yuck, do I smell poop?

Me: No, I don't think so.

Molly: Nope, must be the turkey. I love turkey, Mama

Pump it Up

2009-05-16T18:41:00.004-04:00

The girls birthday was actually in March, but we celebrated with a joint birthday party with Hannah in April. We had a such a great time with our friends from MDO and some of Hannah's friends from her church and her preschool.

Birthday girls in their matching shirts

Our friends Faith and Anna Claire pushing Caleb

Baby Chad....I mean baby Selby

John Mark didn't enjoy the blow up things, at first.

The other birthday girl, Hannah

Blowing out candles with cousin Jake

Sitting in the birthday chair with our friend, Faith

Riding bikes after the party with cousin Jake

My Babies are 4??

2009-04-19T04:27:00.003-04:00

I cannot believe my girls are already 4 years old, it really doesn't seem possible! They had a great birthday. Grandma and grandpa came over and grandma fixed fried chicken and Amy decorated beautiful and yummy cakes. They got to take cupcakes to school on Tuesday and they thought they were hot stuff. How funny what makes a 4 year old happy. We also had a Pump It Up party with Hannah, but I will post pictures of that later.

March 30, 2005

Molly aka. Princess and Sarah opening their new basketball goal

Molly and the magic horse she has been talking about since October

Sarah's tinkerbell kitchen that she has played with 5 times

Let the putting together of the toys begin

Tinkerbell tea set, good times!

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T14:33:00.003-04:00

We had a great Easter with Brian's family in KY. Saturday we got to spend the day with Brian's grandpa, his mom, and then to his Nanny's house. We went to church with his other Grandma and then back to Nanny's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. They had a ball!!

The girls were so excited about their new shoes.

The sun was bright, but it was COLD!

The girls cousin Nathan

The girls, Nathan, and their new friend Mary (Nathan's cousin)

Happy Easter

SOUL TRAIN

2009-04-06T14:25:00.003-04:00

The girls found this fabric in my sewing room that someone brought to me to embroider on a sweatshirt. Yes, readers, I know it is a little on the tacky side, but sometimes you have to do what people want :)

The girls love this fabric and asked me to tie it around them to make a dress. Then we turned on 80's on 8, on XM radio and the girls danced to Debbie Gibson.

Busy Kitties

2009-03-21T15:22:00.002-04:00

About 2 1/2 years ago my sister and I pulled some boxes of books out of my attic that my mom had saved for us. My parents didn't believe in buying your child a toy every time the sun rose and set, but we did have a lot of books. Thankfully my mom saved those books for us. One Saturday afternoon after Jaker was born and Joy was here for a visit we pulled those boxes down and went through the books dividing them up. There were a few cat fights that Brian had to break up (just kidding) over who got what book, but it gave my husband a great idea about the girls books. Box them up and let them duke it out over the books when they had kids.

My girls are getting older and we are reading "big girl" books rather than their baby books as they call them. So I was going through their books putting the board books back for their kids, cough cough, my hopefully some day grandkids. Anyway, I found a Stahl house favorite. This is the story of a busy kitties.

This is a sweet little book about the day in the life of a kitty.

Every page rhymes with the one opposite of it.

And.....what do you think rhymes with cuddling??????

You may not be able to read it in yellow, but it says - Kitty puddling

I would love to post something clever and witty here, but I really think the books speaks (reads) for itself.

Look what I made!!

2009-03-10T21:05:00.002-04:00

Okay, I can take credit for making these cute clips, but not the idea. Amy Barrett had the idea and I ran with it and have now made...oh about 100. So, I haven't really made 100 of them, but I just love them, they are so sweet. They are embroidered on very soft felt and they have a snap clip on the back that will hold even the finest of hair. Normally I reserve this blog for my girlies, but I wanted to show these off because I love them so much.

http://ladybugbows.homestead.com/index.html

St. Patty's day clips

Just a few that I have done

The New Bookshelf

2009-03-07T14:56:00.002-05:00

My husband has a great friend who built this beautiful bookshelf for the girls and they just love it. We have had since the week of the ice storm, but I am slow posting.

I love it!! The girls don't really play with Barbie dolls much right now, but eventually each cubby is set up like a room in a Barbie house. The most wonderful thing about it are the drawers on bottom. More storage. Yeah!!!!

Notice the trim and the shingles on top....this guy is talented!!

The drawers, the glorious drawers.

My Flower Girls

2009-03-01T21:20:00.002-05:00

The girls were in a beautiful wedding this weekend. An old family friend got married on Saturday and she asked the girls to be her flower girls. She also had her nephew Garrett in the wedding as the ring bearer. Of course I took my camera, but I was so busy worrying about my girls behaving and not ruining Amie's special day, I didn't take but a few pictures.

The girls did great!!! Molly at the rehearsal dinner took her basket from Amie's Aunt Teresa and started down the aisle and without any instruction, started throwing out her pretend petals. Sarah on the other hand is a little more shy and had a little bit of trouble. She made it down the aisle several times in practice, but just couldn't commit the day of. We went and sat down next to Grandma and Grandpa during the ceremony and watched Molly stand next to her new friends, bridesmaids Jami and Tasha where she stood during the entire ceremony. It was a very sweet ceremony and the church was beautiful. Of course what made it absolutely perfect was the snow falling outside.

We had so much fun! Congratulations, Dan and Amie and thanks for including us in your special day!

The gorgeous bride, Amie and the girls

Grandma and a very calm mother of the bride, Rowanne

The girls "practicing" before the wedding

More "practicing" while everyone watched and cheered and hoped this was a good sign of things to come

Sarah Beth and her new friend, Sara Beth (Dan's neice). She asked me if Sara was her sister.

Happy New Year

2009-02-27T00:59:00.004-05:00

Yes, I am aware it is already March, but I am a little behind in the blogging world. Sorry, I will try to do better!

Here are some pictures from our "rockin" New Years Eve party. We had food, fun, fellowship and Tinkerbell. I think the party ended around 10:00 when everyone started heading home. Who knew at the age of 32 I wouldn't be able to stay up until midnight.

The kiddos on a pallet in the floor watching Tinkerbell, having some quiet time.

Michael and Ash obviously engrossed in Tinkerbell

Baby Selby sacked out early....she isn't quite the party animal, yet.

These pictures are totally unrelated to our New Years Eve party, I just loved their new fire fighter shirts. Since Uncle Colby is a fire fighter, we had to have some shirts like his!

See it? See it? It says.....MFD...Memphis Fire Department

See my shirt...Love my shirt!

10 Things Tuesday

2009-02-10T11:47:00.002-05:00

It has been a long time since I have done one of these. I guess I am not feeling very thankful here lately, shame on me.

1. Z-Pack. I am feeling so much better. Almost like a human being again.

2. My husband finally got his pay situation at work straightened out.

3. G2 Gatorade, Love it, Love it, Love it!

4. Mother's Day Out. Watch out, I am going to the bathroom alone....at least for 5 hours today.

5. I am thankful for our generator since we are still without power.

6. My husband, who built a new fuel tank that would keep the generator from having to be filled up for 3 days. He is a GENIUS!

7. All the utility workers who are STILL working hard to get power restored to us rural people.

8. Oatmeal....warm and filling.

9. My husband for taking good care of me and the kiddos while I was puny.....2 weekends in a row. I think he is starting to suspect something.

10. Hugs and sugars from my kiddos...man I missed those while I was still contagious.

Winter Blast '09

2009-01-28T17:04:00.003-05:00

Well, we do not get KAIT, but I have heard rumors of this ice storm being called Winter Blast '09. Clever, clever folk at KAIT. We started getting rain/ice Monday night and is just kind of got worse from there. Thankfully Brian has a generator to run for our heat, fridge, TV, Internet, and lights. We have to use lights and everything else sparingly, but who cares, I am warm! We also have hot water and warm showers....and of course the ever important electricity to run my flat iron...hehehehe

I have a feeling it will be a LONG time until they get to us way out in the middle no where, but my husband has made sure we are warm. Thank goodness for that!

These Pictures are Tuesday Morning

These are Wednesday Morning, what a difference a day makes

Cousin Jake is Wearing What???

2009-01-27T14:37:00.002-05:00

My sister brought Jake over last weekend for a day of play while our husbands worked. The kiddos had a great time, and Joy and I really enjoyed visiting. The reason for this post is not to tell you that, but to show these pictures of my nephew, which I am sure my brother in law is going to kill me for and Jake one day will be furious over. Isn't this what aunts are supposed to do?

It is so hard to walk in heels while wearing a unicorn.

Queen Jake, Witch Sarah, and Cinderella Molly

The bride and the witch....now that is a scary picture!

Molly the Kitty Cat?

2009-01-22T04:08:00.003-05:00

The girls and I have not felt well this week and thankfully because I am able to stay home with them when they rest, so can I. Yesterday we were all three having a rough day so I decided to lay down with the girls to help them go to sleep quickly for their nap. There tends to be WAY less playing if I lay down with them and it helps get them a better, longer nap.

So I laid down with Molly and she cuddles up to me and starts licking her hand and rubbing her face. Licking the front of her hand and the back of her hand and rubbing all over her cheeks. I smiled and asked her what she was doing and she told me she had something sticky on her face and she was just washing her face. We don't have a cat and I am not sure where she saw that, but it looked like my 3 year old was a cat grooming herself.

What's under your bed?

2009-01-16T13:57:00.003-05:00

Instead of being productive and working or cleaning, I am blogging. Shhhh, don't tell my husband who never reads my blog so would only know if someone snitched on me.

Unfortunately, we have a TV in our bedroom. We very rarely watch it, but every now again we turn it on. We were trying to find the remote the other night when Brian suggested we look under the bed. Fear immediately swept my face since I knew I NEVER clean under my bed. Really, never, never, never. We have one of those sleep number beds (advertised by the talented Lyndsay Wagner) and they have a base under them rather than a frame so it is really hard to clean under them....excuse, excuse, excuse.

Anyway, this is what I found under my bed.

Yes, this is an entire collection of hair thingies as they are called in the Stahl house. Notice they are all different colors, shapes, and sizes so it is not just a pkg of them, but a collection. I was thrilled because I am always looking for one. Of course these are going to have to be run through the wash first since they are covered in hair or dust....or both, but still VERY usable.

2 used and very loved pacifiers. Talk about making my uterus ache. I love pacifiers and the way sweet babies look sucking on them and the sounds....oh, just so sweet.

There were MANY other things under my bed, but these were picture and post worthy. I think I will go and be productive now.....maybe even clean under my bed.

What is under your bed?

The Last Time???

2009-01-12T22:44:00.002-05:00

I am typing this blog feeling a bit sorry for myself. I am looking around at my close friends and there are so many who are pregnant or about to welcome a new baby into their homes. I am so excited for them, of course, but a little sad for me. Having twins is the only thing I know and it has been fantastic. We won't be having anymore so there are so many first and last times that are my first and last......last. We have so many more firsts, but thinking about the ones when they were babies is making me weepy tonight.

My list of first times that I won't ever have again that are making me weepy tonight

1. The first ultrasound of my pregnancy

2. The first time I felt my babies move while I was pregnant

3. The first time my girls nursed (one of my ALL time favorite firsts)

4. The first time my girls slept through the night

5. The first time they ate cheerios

6. The first time they turned over on their own

7. The first time they walked

8. Their first REAL words

9. My first mother's day

10. Their first christmas

11. The first gut wrenching time I left them with a babysitter (my mom) to go on a date with my husband

12. The first time each of them said "I love you" to me

These are such special first memories....I am not feeling quite as weepy as I was before.

Christmas.....yeah!!!

2009-01-01T09:43:00.007-05:00

Well.....here is our Christmas, I am almost caught up. One more post on New Years Eve and I am completely caught up.

Making gingerbread houses with daddy

Santa LOVES cookies

Christmas goodies left by Santa

Opening presents Christmas morning

Molly, super star

Molly in her dress up

Jake and his COOL dinosaur

Sarah and the unicorn

Cousin Jake and his BB playing with the girls dress up dolls with Uncle Josh sleeping on the couch

Isn't she pretty? Her daddy thinks she looks too old.

Hanging out with Pappa

"Helping" Nanny fix pudding....and eating it

Molly's new best friend, Davin....or as we call him, David

Sarah really loves Baby Nathan

Silly Nathan

Sarah heping Nathan play with his new toy

Taking a rest with Daddy

Lots of cousins

Sarah holding the newest addition to our family, Baby Maggie

Molly got a card and a new "computer" from Papa Carl and that is all she wanted to play with on the way home from KY. We had to pry the card out of her sleeping hands.

"Snow" Day

2009-01-01T09:32:00.003-05:00

It wasn't technically snow, but it looked like that to the girls. They had such a good time in their snow suits running around on the ice.

Molly trying to make a snow angel.....on the ice.
She stood up looked down at her snow angel (that wasn't there), and said, wow, so beautiful.

Trying for another angel

Playing in the cotton field. This is what you do for fun in Monette.

Christmas Card

2009-01-01T09:28:00.003-05:00

Here are the pictures from our Christmas cards. I love my babies, but when they don't want to be cooperative, they really don't want to be cooperative. However, I was thankful that I got these 2 beautiful pictures of them.

Breakfast with Santa

2009-01-01T09:15:00.004-05:00

We really enjoyed Breakfast with Santa at church this year, it was really good times. The girls got to decorate a cookie, sit with Santa, have breakfast, but the best part was singing with Mr. Travis. Molly became his groupie and sat with him for probably 30 minutes. Who knew Mr. Travis was so cool?!?!

Our picture with Santa, taken by the very talented Mr. Brandon

Molly, she is just so photogenic!

Molly decorating her cookie

Brian helping Sarah with her cookie

Sing along with Mr. Travis

A puppy elf, the girls were so excited

Molly "helping" Mr. Travis, who she now thinks is the coolest person she has EVER met.

Fall Festival

2008-12-29T09:54:00.003-05:00

These are our Fall Festival pictures from this year. We had a great time even though I volunteered to work the whole night. The girls looked so cute as ladybugs!

Getting ready to leave....Sarah took this picture...pretty good!

Ah, sisterly love!

Horrible Family Picture

Zoo Boo

2008-12-29T09:41:00.004-05:00

Oh, for the love of Zoo Boo. It was wonderful, and the kids had a great time!

Uncle Josh and the kids.

Holding our tickets and standing in line.

Riding on the rides

The boats were good times, except I was afraid they would bail into the water.

Happy Birthday Papa / Grandpa

2008-12-29T09:19:00.002-05:00

The girls decided to make a birthday cake for Papa/Grandpa this year. I did the letters and they looked horrible!!! A cake decorator, I am NOT! The girls put the rest of the decorations on and the sprinkles......lots and lots of sprinkles!

The girls got to make their own cupcakes to eat.

Molly was SO proud!

Our Mud Hole

2008-12-29T09:00:00.005-05:00

Usually Brian is the fun parent and I am the one who is saying....no lets just stay clean. Well for once I got to initiate something fun and messy for the girls. The mud hole....and it was messy, but they had a great time.

This is our friend the tree frog, he visited us on our back door for a while. I think until Molly got him. She loves some frogs.

The Fair

2008-12-29T08:47:00.003-05:00

The Fair was during shut down so Daddy didn't get to go with us, but we went with Grandma and had a great time. The girls really did enjoy the rides, but I think the animals were their favorite part.

Riding on the roller coaster with Grandma.
Sarah was ready to go!

This ride was so high, but the girls didn't seem to notice.

Sarah rode it by herself the first time.

Vrmmmmmmmm, rmmmmmmm

Yummmm, cotton candy.
Yuck, cotton candy.

Molly LOVED the animals.

Sarah feeding the animals. She was a little more shy about it than Molly.

The Wedding

2008-12-29T08:25:00.004-05:00

Back in September, Brian's cousin Amy got married and she asked the girls to be in the wedding. Molly LOVED it! Every second of it, but Sarah......not so much!

Really the highlight of our trip to KY that weekend was getting to ride on Meme's bus and PePaw's tractor. Who knew?

Trying to get a good picture with the girls....no luck!

Brian's beautiful and patient cousin, Amy.

All the flower girls and Amy. Brian's cousin Allison is the bridesmaid on the right.

Brian's Uncle David and Aunt Teresa (brother and sister). The girls LOVE Aunt Teresa, she is so much fun and is always laughing and smiling.

Molly and Nanny. We love Nanny, she has adopted me as another grand daughter. She is just the sweetest.

Riding in the tractor with PePaw

They loved the tractor.

Meme's school bus

First Day of Mothers Day Out

2008-12-29T07:48:00.003-05:00

Wow, I didn't realize how far behind I was! Here is a picture from the girls first day of Mothers Day Out. Our teachers this year are Ms. Pat and Ms. Paula and we love them so much, they are so sweet. We also have a lot of new friends this year and we are going on Tuesdays and Thursdays now.

Neither of the girls wanted to look at the camera. They were more interested in all the kiddos coming and going.

It is beginning to look, feel, and smell a lot like Christmas

2008-12-01T23:25:00.002-05:00

I love Christmas, really love Christmas. I love the lights, the smells and everything about it. Well, not everything! I have composed my list of things I loathe and love about Christmas.

10 Things I Loathe or Love About My Favorite Holiday, Christmas

1. Love - I love Christmas lights and trees, there is something about the holiday decorations that makes me feel euphoric. Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy! Who can see a Christmas tree and now smile?

2. Loathe - Walmart - Have you been to Walmart the last week or so? If not, I suggest avoiding it like the plague. I generally love Walmart, but not now and not until the week after Christmas. However, here is a helpful tip from me to you......if you NEED to go to Walmart, then get in your car and drive to Blytheville. Even on Christmas Eve there is probably 1/8 of people there than at any Jonesboro Walmart.

3. Love - Christmas Cookies - sugar cookies with too much icing and tasteless sprinkles. Yummmm

4. Loathe - Traffic - been by the Mall lately?

5. Love - Christmas Cards - I do truly love going to my mailbox and getting mail. I love to open my email and get emails, but there is something about a hand written, postage, personally addressed letter from a friend or family member. The first Christmas card of the season is always put in a special place in our home and in my heart. I know it may sound silly, but if you love me, you will send me a Christmas card!

6. Loathe - Toy Commercials - I have news for you Mattel, Hasbro, Fisher Price, the makers of playstation, anything Barbie, or Pokemon......I HAVE TiVO!!!

7. Love - Christmas Music - My new favorite this year is by Veggietales and it is the best. Of course if you know me or have been in my Jeep, my Jeep is only allowed to play Veggietales.

8. Loathe - Bad Christmas Music - Anyone ever been to Little Bit of Christmas? Anyone worked at Little Bit of Christmas? Anyone ever heard Randy Travis sings Christmas songs for 12 hours?

9. Love - The Smell of Christmas - anything cinnamon, cookies, pine needles, anything like that.

10. Love - My Girls - I have never loved Christmas as much as I have since I have my girls. Everything about Christmas is new and fun for them, therefore new and fun for Brian and I. The presents, lights, cookies, gingerbread men, Christmas penguin, Santa, and of course the Christmas section of Walmart. Better than the toy dept.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Ten Things Tuesday

2008-11-26T00:05:00.003-05:00

Well, I am feeling lazy and I do not feel like looking for the 10 things thingy....so imagine it HERE.

1. I am so busy with my little teeny business.

2. I actually had a customer Sunday say REALLY nice things about me. Sometimes it is just good to hear.

3. My girls went to sleep without a fight tonight and last night...2 nights in a row....yippeeee!

4. My new friend Susan, it is good to have new friends and I love and appreciate my Christian friends. I hope I never take that kind of friendship for granted!

5. Julie.

6. Sonic, sonic, sonic, sonic, sonic. There are not many great things about living in Monette, AR, but being 8 minutes from Happy Hour at Sonic is almost at the top of that list.

7. My girls went to sleep without a fight tonight and last night....2 nights in a row...yippeee!

8. My girls friends at school that they LOVE! It warms my heart to hear my girls talk about their friends at "school" and tell stories of all the funny things they have done.

9. New songs at church Sunday morning. My girls were beaming with pride as they sang their little hearts out to one of our favorite VeggieTale songs.

10. Mr. Brad pulled me aside after Children's Church Sunday and told me how wonderful the girls were doing in Children's Church and how much he enjoyed hearing them sing. I love me some singing babies....especially my babies!

Oh for the love of a light up shirt

2008-11-04T09:16:00.004-05:00

Many of you who know me at all know that I have NO fashion sense. I wear what I like and I dress my girls the same way. We will never have the latest release from Gymboree or Baby Gap, but gently used clothes worn by twins before us that we will pass on to some very sweet twins that are younger than us.

However, there are certain clothing trends I am not sure I will ever be on board with. Here are a list of a few: character shirts (shudder at the thought, although we wear them as play shirts at home and night shirts), shorty skirts, anything with glitter, anything written on bottoms, and my new least favorite: light up shirts. Oh my, what were the manufactures of these thinking? My mom (who buys a ton of the girls clothes) let Molly pick out a Halloween shirt that was light up. I told her she could have it, but it would never be seen by the public eyes. Molly lost interest before Sarah could pick one out and we dodged a bullet that time.

Well, we were at Walmart Sunday and found their Halloween gear on sale for 50% off and I let them pick out their favorites. Molly picked a purple one, since this month it is her favorite color. Sarah picked one with Tinkerbell on it. I enjoy that they enjoy these shirts so much.

Catch Up

2008-10-19T12:14:00.002-04:00

I have a lot to catch up on, mainly my blogging. We have had a wedding, trips, and more funny stuff than I can think of, but I have been too busy to blog. Well, not too busy, just unmotivated and my laptop crashed and I hate sitting in my sewing room on the computer to blog. I can't always hear Sarah where ever she is in the house, and make no mistake, I always need to hear where Sarah is.

Okay, so I am promising to download some pictures tonight and maybe even some new blogs posts. Yeah!

Ten Things Tuesday

2008-09-30T09:16:00.003-04:00

Ten Things Tuesday.....with the letter J, Andria did the letter K, which seemed like it would be really hard, so I am going to take on the letter J.

1. Joy, James, Josh, Jake - some of my favorite people have a J in their name.

2. Jello pudding, makes my yummy guilt free muffins

3. Java - I don't like the taste, but the smell is yummm.

4. Jackets - I am ready to bust out the jackets for fall.

5. Jonesboro - my refuge from the cotton fields.

6. Job - the fact that my husband has one that allows me to get to spend my days with my babies.

7. Junk - I am trying to purge and get rid of junk...a little at a time I am climbing the mountain of junk.

8. Joke - I heard a joke on TV last night and told it to Brian and he laughed, and laughed. I love to hear him laugh.

9. Jeep - my jeep is paid off....yeah!

10. Jeans - my jeans are quite a bit looser than they were earlier in the month...yeah!!!

My Sarah

2008-09-24T02:03:00.004-04:00

I need to build this story up. First of all, Sarah broke her night light (she tends to be a little destructive at times). After she took it apart, the light bulb disappeared. Because this isn't the first time this has happened we used the last replacement light bulb a week ago. I bought some at the store today, but Brian forgot to reload the night light before he tucked them in. We had all three (yes, I said three) closet lights on, but they KNEW that night light wasn't plugged in. I gave it to Brian (so he could be the hero with the night light) to take to them to help calm the masses. Unfortunately, that didn't do it.

So I go in there and sit on the side of Sarah's bed trying to calm her down, since she has worked herself into a tizzy. I keep kissing her and rubbing her back and I finally told her to close her eyes. She looked up at me and with the most serious face she said, "I can't close my eyes, there are boogers in them".

Ten Things Tuesday

2008-09-16T09:19:00.003-04:00

Ten Things

1. Only 6 more days of shut down, 6 more days until Brian comes home, yeah!

2. Ladies Bible Class this morning, we had a great meeting last week and I have been looking forward to this morning all weekend.

3. Fall weather, I just love it.

4. Potty Trained little girls....wow it is GOOD!

5. The ability to be able to fill up my tank even when gas gets as high as it is right now.

6. The Fall Festival is ON, yeah!!!!!! And the planners are just the best to work with, what a fun group!

7. See No. 2, the babysitters that give up their study and visiting time to take care of ALL of our kiddos so we can have time together.

8. I am FINALLY caught up on my laundry....until Brian comes home :)

9. Big box of 101 cookie cutters from Walmart. We have enjoyed some out of the ordinary shaped things at our house. A very good $8 investment.

10. The wedding is over, the girls did pretty good, but it is over! I will post more pics on that later.

Ten Things Tuesday

2008-09-10T16:18:00.002-04:00

10 Things Tuesday

1. This weather, how fabulous is this weather!

2. Hard working husband, even though we are missing him with his work schedule, I am so proud of how hard he works.

3. New yummy smelling laundry detergent, I have been using the same brand for YEARS and I am trying something new.

4. I love Diet Dr. Pepper.

5. Mother's Day Out is back.

6. The girls really like their ballet class.

7. Brian and I are both doing well on our diet plans.

8. Finding old friends on Facebook, I know that one is kind of silly, but I love seeing the family of friends I haven't seen in years.

9. Freshly painted toenails, who doesn't like that girly feeling of freshly painted toenails.

10. Ladies Bible class. We have some great friends and Ash picked out an awesome book that I think we are all going to benefit from.

My funny kids

2008-09-08T21:17:00.004-04:00

I love my kids, I always read the funny things other people's kids say and I think....hmmmm, kids are funny.

Apparently, Mr. Kevin must have sang "I've got the love of Jesus in my heart" about 100 times on Sunday because Sarah has been singing it ever since. I think perhaps we need to ask Mr. Kevin for some clarification because this is the song my Sarah heard, "if the demil doesn't like he can (bad word) on a tag, (bad word) on a tag, Tuesday. Great song!!

Then I was looking at some bumps on Molly's arm and she said, "no, don't touch it". She got all upset and I said why, what is it? She turned me and said, "those are nipples, more nipples on my arm".

Here is a non related picture, but I thought I would post this for Works for me Wednesday. I was trying to get us packed and out the door the other day and I was trying very hard to do this with the girls awake...ugggg! Here are the ingredients for 45 minutes of free time for mom at the Stahl house:

2 plastic bowls

4 cups of water

bubbles

water toys

2 towels

There you have it....in a pinch 45 minutes of entertainment.

First Day of Mothers Day Out

2008-09-05T18:42:00.004-04:00

We had our first day of Mother's Day Out yesterday. I was anxious and excited all at the same time and the girls seemed to be indifferent. We got up and had breakfast talking all the while about school and how much fun it was going to be. I went to buckle Sarah in her car seat and she said, "I won't cry if you give me hugs and sugars before you leave me". How cute is that???

Of course I had everything ready except my memory card for my camera which walked off with a 3 year old the day before. Uggggg! I called Ms. Ash to the rescue, but had a VERY uncooperative Sarah so we tried again when I picked them up. Grandma to the rescue. Of course they aren't looking at the picture, but they had a good time, you can tell from the mussed hair and paint on their face.

My News

2008-09-03T22:16:00.004-04:00

Hey to anyone still checking in with us. I don't know why I haven't been motivated to blog recently.

Brian made an observation the other day when I linked my blog to him to see some recent pictures I took of the girls. It occurred to me then that perhaps he was completely unaware of the blog. He said he read mine and then found my friends and linked to theirs, and then linked to other people he recognized. He was completely astounded about the blogging world and the way it all loops and loops and loops. Then he asked me about my time spent posting and reading. I told him I was not a faithful blogger, but I was a faithful reader and I could spend 20 minutes a day catching up with my friends. I felt the need to explain to him my need to know about first days of school and dance class, a poem from a friend about a lost pair of purple shoes, cousin camp, 80's crushes and of course one my favorites The Pioneer Woman and her life. I NEED to read these every day, just like most people need to read the paper or watch the news. Let's face it folks, this is my news outlet!

I found this while reading a blog today and I think I will have to add it to my must read list. I don't know why I think this is funny, but it really makes me laugh! Click here to see more pictures with funny captions.

Yes, that's right you blog addicts, I am giving you another blog to add to your list. Just call me an enabler.

Remember When??

2008-08-24T21:58:00.004-04:00

My girls are not very old, but I can barely remember when they weren't a part of my life. Everything about my life is a reminder or a memory associated with my kids and I love it! However, this is not a post about my smart, funny and beautiful children.

I can however, remember my life before this:

Before

After the carnage

When we were growing up we only had outside pets until Joy received a kitten as a gift....note to anyone reading this blog under the age of 25....an animal is a horrible gift for someone. The cat was a terrible pet, she had accidents in the house and to be honest she was mean! Fast forward 10 years Joy and her husband got the sweetest little puppy that grew up to be the perfect dog. I then decided Brian and I needed the perfect dog and we got her. Hailey was the best dog, there will never be and has never been a dog as good as Hailey. Unfortunately when she died I was convinced I needed another dog to fill the hole that she left. During my grieving process my husband could not stand the crying anymore and gave in to me getting a puppy. Note to husbands and boyfriends alike....never give in to the replacement pet....it will be almost like Pet Cemetery.

Sophie is my replacement pet, isn't she adorable:

She is a super sweet dog, but she has been quite a challenge to say the least. She chases cars, bites the girls, pees on our guests, eats until she throws up on my already stained carpet, and eats the girls toys. She doesn't just chew on their toys....she actually eats them. I have no idea why, but that is just Sophie.

However, we seem to be pet challenged in the Stahl house. My fish eat the algae eaters and the girls run to the fish take first thing in the morning, every morning to see if the newest addition has made it through the night. Our newest family member, Otto the parakeet, poops in his own water....now....how gross is that? I think perhaps I just choose the wrong pets? I could never part with any of our pets (mainly because I would have to explain that to my kids....just kidding), but I can certainly remember life before them.

Learning Ballet

2008-08-22T07:37:00.004-04:00

Well, I am not learning ballet, the girls are and it is fun! I am not sure how much fun they are having, but I am enjoying it. This is our first year to be involved in any organized activity. I am not really sure which they enjoyed more, the class or getting to wear a leotard and dancing shoes as they call them. My sweet girls!

Trying on their outfits and dancing...of course!

Getting ready for our first day of class.

Molly loves to pose....aren't these little outfits sweet?!?

Isn't she sweet?

I can't believe how big my little girls are getting.

Ten Things Tuesday

2008-08-19T21:28:00.002-04:00

1. Ballet class, I am so thankful we are able to let the girls try things like that. Who knows.....it could be their gift.

2. No separation anxiety at ballet class. I am so thankful that we are beyond crying when I leave or they leave me. Their teacher came and took their hand and led them to class and off they went, happy as a lark.

3. My clean house...oh there is something about a clean house that makes me so happy.

4. Mother's Day Out, I went by to pay the girls deposit today and it made me happy realizing that I only have 2 weeks until my first MDO of this semester....yeah!!!

5. Pedicures.....my sweet hubby bought me a gift certificate to a spa and I am getting to use only a part of it on Thursday to get a pedicure...yeah!!!

6. Babysitting, my mom is keeping the girls for no. 5. Yeah free babysitting!

7. I got a treatment today and my sinuses and neck ache are so much better. Thank goodness for chiropractic care.

8. Diet DP.

9. Sesame Street Live, we are getting to go tomorrow night and the girls are so excited...which makes me excited.

10. My children are potty trained....they have been for a while, but every now and then I get really excited when I think about the freedom we have with no diapers.

Bob and Larry, we LOVE Bob and Larry

2008-08-18T22:34:00.005-04:00

Well, for all of you who love Bob and Larry and weren't at the Grand Opening of Lifeway books this weekend, you really missed out! I love Veggie Tales....the music, movies, videos, everything. Ms. Marti (with the baby in her tummy) told us about Bob and Larry coming to Lifeway and I was PUMPED. I told the girls and they said...oh boy. That was it? I guess perhaps that is all the excitement I should expect, but I thought it would be a little more exciting than that.

We had a hard time getting them close enough to get pics, but I tried. It was still good times!

Okay, so here is our story of the day. The girls were sitting by the front door watching a crop duster across the road spray, very exciting times at the Stahl household.

At dinner tonight Sarah was telling me about the crop duster and she said, "Mom, that airplane hit me on the head".

Molly said, "No, Sarah, that airplane didn't hit you, it doesn't have hands....silly Sarah".

The Water Park

2008-08-15T20:53:00.005-04:00

We had a great time time visiting with Jake and Joy last week. We went to a water park and the kids had a great time and it was a nice break from the heat....the heat......the heat!!! It was a water park very much like the one at Rotary Park except it was quite a bit bigger. The girls and Jake had a blast.

Just sitting out for a little snack!
Molly and her killer whale taking a drink...uggggg.

Uncle Colby trying to keep the water on.
Jake loves his hat.
Jake and Sarah are always thick as thieves.
Trying to figure out the spouts.
Ummmm, snack time.

Our New Family Member - Otto

2008-08-08T23:47:00.003-04:00

Otto

Well, Brian is not completely sure Otto is a boy....if not we may have to change his name to something a little more feminine. Joy bought Jake a parakeet and we were in Memphis this week and the girls fell in love with Peter the parakeet, Jake's bird. Of course we have to have every pet that Jake has...and now we have a bird. I always thought birds were nasty, but really he isn't. So now we have a bird, 3 fish, and a dog. I am hoping this will satisfy the girls because we are not a house for anything like hamsters or snakes....ewwwww.

The girls LOVE him, they sit in the window in our dinning room singing to him (the B-I-B-L-E, because it would be silly to sing anything else to a bird) and he just tweets and tweets with them. Our air conditioner got hit by lightening so the girls were playing in just undies so I didn't get a picture, but it was super sweet. I tried to get them to change their song (after 20 min) and Sarah said, "No, Otto likes this song". Great....we may never hear anything but the B-I-B-L-E.

Lazy Blogger, but cute pictures

2008-07-29T00:14:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I am about to go to bed, but I wanted to post something. Here is a beautiful picture of my precious Molly. She is looking good!!! We don't let her wear "low ridder" panties....she is just terrible about keeping them pulled up, right side out, and the legs in the right holes. Isn't she precious?!?!?!?

A Baby? A baby in your tummy?

2008-07-25T09:36:00.003-04:00

I was working on monogramming a diaper bag for Marti when Molly came in my sewing room. She asked if the bag was for her and I told her no, it was for Ms. Marti and Molly quickly said, "oh, for the baby in her tummy". I said, "yes".

Then she asked if I had a baby in my tummy, of course I told her no, but she was in my tummy when she was a baby, before she was born. She turned to look at me with a very peculiar look on her face. She then said, "why, did you eat me?". Oh, good times at our house!

A Girl and her Tractor?

2008-07-23T01:28:00.002-04:00

You know as a parent of girls I thought for sure we would have many "girl" toys around the house, but as a wife to Brian I knew we would have many "boy" toys as well. It never ceases to amaze me what the girls enjoy playing with and this week it is their new tractors from Mr. Larry, or Mr. Warry as the girls call him. He came over the other day to haul off some wood from our tree disaster and told the girls they needed some big tractors....so that is just what he got them. Here are some pictures of my little farmers.

Please note that our giraffes are not only driving the tractors, but are riding in the tractors.

If you came to our house.....

2008-07-20T21:23:00.002-04:00

I thought this was cute, I would love to see all my blogging friends copy, paste and fill in!

If you came to our house,

You'd see . . .lots of outside toys and things for the girls. My goal is to make my yard as much like a play ground as possible.

We'd feed you . . . probably spaghetti since we eat it at least once a week either than or a PB&J Sandwich.

You'd drink . . .sweet tea, water, watered down juice, milk, Crystal Light, Diet DrPepper, or from Brian's shop fridge: beer or water.

You'd read . . . Brian: Mustang Monthly or Car Craft, Jamie: The Host or Reader Digest, Molly: 10 Little Fish or Barney Hide and Seek (UGGGGGGGG), Sarah: If you give a mouse a cookie or her new favorite.....6 Pages of Dr. Desoto.

Play music . . . probably Veggietales or Dan Zanes....we are a hard rocking house!

Tell you the latest about . . . Bible School and how much we enjoyed WOW or Brian's progress on his car.

Suggest a game of . . . Monopoly or Texas Hold'em or the girls favorite...spin me in daddy's office chair.

Show off . . . the girls new bicycles.

If it was a long visit, we'd watch . . . Brian: Two Guys Garage or Gearz, Jamie: Jon & Kate Plus Eight or Intervention, Molly: Word World or Tarzan, Sarah: Little Einsteins or Mary Poppins.

Lamp Finds....and Misc.

2008-07-17T16:28:00.004-04:00

Here are my new lamps....yeah good finds at Hobby Lobby. I love their 80% off section. I have gotten 4 fabulous lamps for under $100 this year. The ones in my bathroom were only $12 a piece. I love a good bargain! I think total it would have been $300 for all 4 lamps. Of course my question is....who pays $300 for 4 lamps???

Bedroom lamps.....please ignore the unmade bed.

The girls bathroom.

I need help....help picking out something to go on my mantel. It sounds terrible to say I hate it, but we have lived in this house for 4 years and nothing I put up there looks good! Please help. Here is a picture........any suggestions? Of course keep in mind it has to go with the HORRID brass spot lights. Okay, now looking at this picture, this room needs LOTS of help!

I have a kitty in my back and it hurts!

2008-07-17T01:08:00.002-04:00

Okay, so here is a story on my Sarah. It is late and I am tired, but I have to write this down before I forget.

You know that feeling you get when you have had WAY too many sodas? Not the caffeine buzz or the sugar rush, but that your kidneys are going to shut down if they have to filter one more beverage. Well a couple of Saturdays ago I woke up with what I was sure was kidney pain from too many sodas Friday. I got the girls up, fixed breakfast and sat down with the girls....pain, pain, pain. Not mind numbing pain, but enough for me to mention it to Brian. I told him, "I think it is my kidneys....too many sodas, I am going to go lay on the couch".

Fast forward 2 weeks......we got in LATE tonight from WOW and the girls were wired for sound! Crying and gnashing of teeth trying to go to sleep on their own. I went in to rub backs and hold hands to help the "go to sleep" process along. I told Sarah I couldn't lay between them and rub both backs, she would have to settle for me holding her hand. That is when she announces, "I can't sleep, I need you to rub my back, I have a kitty in my back and it hurts!" I know that was a huge build up for just one line that I gave away in the title, but oh it made me laugh!!!

WOW

2008-07-14T00:36:00.003-04:00

I know it is Sunday, but I need to do a 13 Thursday on Sunday.

13 Reasons I LOVE WOW.

1. Well, actually I love VBS, but I tolerate the fact that we changed the name to WOW. Just the name VBS makes me smile thinking of cookies and kids singing, I love kids singing.

2. Helpers, volunteers, and cookie ladies! There is really not telling how many volunteers it takes to do WOW, but I am thankful for everyone. Coordinating a class and having great volunteers makes me even more thankful.

3. My friends......my friends stepped up this year and helped when I requested help. I have good friends and we had a good time - so thanks to you guys!!

4. My kids make me enjoy WOW even more than I thought. I am a schedule kind of person and VBS kinds of ends late, so this is our first year to get to go to the auditorium and I really enjoyed watching the girls enjoy themselves singing and dancing with their teachers.

5. I love doing crafts, absolutely love them. I love seeing the kids with them after VBS is over, it makes me smile.

6. This is the first year the girls get to do the crafts I do and on the way home I asked Sarah about and she said, "I don't know, but look at this AWESOME star, it glows in the dark". I can understand how the glow in the dark star could trump the craft.

7. Singing Booster....SW has a way of changing things that don't need to be changed, but at least we are still holding onto Booster!

8. Red VBS shirts....yeah, I might even have one this year. If they still have my size tomorrow.

9. Homemade cookies delivered to my door that I didn't bake.

10. The singing corner of the craft room. I have heard many people say they don't understand why this is part of the learning centers, but who cares, I love it, I love it, I love it!

11. Oh, AG, the drama was awesome. This was my first year in a long time to get to see it and she did a fabulous job, I am proud of SW for doing something so original and so HUGE.

12. Adult VBS.

13. My kids....talking, laughing, singing, and enjoying VBS, their teachers, their star, and their night. Totally worth getting home at 10:00 and them in bed at 10:30. Totally worth it!

Lambert's - Home of Throwed Rolls

2008-07-07T00:09:00.005-04:00

Okay, I hate that title, it just sounds terrible! However, it is their tag line. We took the scenic route to take the girls to Lambert's this weekend. They have a wooden train outside for the kiddos to ride on outside while you wait for your table. They had a blast!!

Molly really enjoyed the train.

Riding the firetruck.

Sarah INSISTED upon driving.....I think she has some control issues....wonder where she gets that?

Sarah is eating her roll that her Daddy helped her catch.

Molly enjoying her roll and her soda....a special treat for the girls!

For the love of Nanny

2008-07-06T23:57:00.005-04:00

Oh, Nanny Jean, she is a special lady! She had made me feel like a part of Brian's family from the first time I went to her house. She is just nuts about the girls and follows them around playing games and answering EVERY question asked of her. They love her and of course we love her. She has made some of the girls favorite dancing dresses and has helped me and made several things for us when it is something too difficult for me. Thank you Nanny, we love you!

I don't know how old Nanny actually is, but she act about 30 years younger than her actual age!

She was playing with the girls during the firework show.

Wrestlemania 2008 at Nanny's house at Easter.

Disco inferno at Nanny's, I am telling you, she NEVER runs out of energy!

My girls special Easter dresses! See the fabulous bears in the background? She made those too! I don't think there is anything she can't sew.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-06T23:42:00.005-04:00

I am a few days late with my post, but as I said, we have had some computer problems. We went to Nanny's house in KY for a picnic and swimming. These are the first pictures of I have of the girls swimming this year. They are quite the water babies and they have NO fear when it comes to swimming. My mom and dad got an in ground pool this year and it has been wonderful for the girls. My mom is thankfully cool, calm and collected when it comes to swimming with the girls and they are just as relaxed as she is. They just jump right in and swim! I love it!! I will post more swimming pictures later.

Here are pictures from our recent trip to KY for the 4th.

Swimming in Nanny's Pool - Daddy, Uncle Brock, Molly, Sarah, and our cousins Amy and Allison

Aunt Kimberly, Nanny, Baby Nathan, and Papaw Carl

Sarah and her dirty face holding sweet baby Nathan.

Our very first firework show.

Cousin Amy, our pyrotechnician :)

Peepaw taking us for a ride on Dan, the horse. Brian said Dan used to belong to Jim's dad and he figures he is probably 30 years old. He took the girls for a good ride!

Aunt Rachel helping with Dan.

Show your stuff Sunday

2008-07-06T23:08:00.003-04:00

Wow, I have been a terrible blogger lately! I have had a terrible time with my computer this past week. I had to back up EVERYTHING, then HP did a system recovery, which sounded painless and fairly easy, let me tell you, it wasn't. It has been horrible trying to get all my stuff put back on and finding everything. UGGGGG.

So, I am back and here is my Show Your Stuff Sunday post. I found these FABULOUS sheets at Target on their clearance end cap. I found them for $12.48. I was super jazzed until I realized that they were size King and that was all they had. I guess that is why they were SO cheap. I called the sewing genius Nanny Jean to see if 2 twin sheets could be made out of a king set. I sent the fitted sheet to her and I held onto the flat sheet and pillowcases for myself.

Nanny pieced it and made two twin fitted sheets for me and today I finished the 2 flat sheets and pillowcases. I am so impressed with Nanny's ability to just look at the fitted sheet and figure out what needed to be done. I am thrilled!!!! These pictures do not do these sheets justice, they are really a couple of shades of lime green, but these pictures make them look like vomit green, they are not!

Aren't they grand? I LOVE them!

I wasn't going to put their names on them, but they loved to see their names on the old pillowcases.

I think between Nanny and me I have enough scraps to do some cute throw pillows...maybe some appliqued design on some solid colored pillows......???? I don't know what to do, any thoughts?? I also haven't finished the dust ruffles yet. Too many things on my project list!

This is Molly's gift from Meme this weekend. The stuffed kitty cat, it doesn't really go with our new mod sheets, but she LOVES it!

Cake Decorating with my Friends

2008-06-27T09:55:00.008-04:00

Oh, I love my friends, they are just too much fun! We have been doing girls night out off and on for 7 years, can you believe it girls?!?!? We have had quite a few come and go over the years and even one go and then come back to us, but Marti, Ash, Jenny, Danna, Stephanie and I are the only originals left....but after 7 years, I think that is pretty good! I have a very talented bunch of friends and we are so diverse in our God given talents, but it is great that we have so much to share with each other! BIG thanks to Jenny and Amy for helping us, it was great fun! As much as we enjoyed it, I think we all agreed to leave the cake making to them.

Here are some new pictures from our recent girls night out, by far my favorite so far. Although, spa night is pretty high at the top of the list as well!!

Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture of Robin the very talented photographer and I don't have one of Amy (she was too busy flitting around helping everyone).

Christy and her beautiful gluten free chocolate and strawberry cake, not to tell stories, but I think she has done this before :)

Ashleigh and her cake tribute to her son. Let me tell you how hard it was not to drag my finger across that yummy chocolate icing.

Stephanie let her kids at home pick out her colors.....I LOVE them, and I am sure they are going to be excited to see them as well!

Oh, yummmm, Marti's cake had technical difficulties.....actually her icing did, but her cake is beautiful and with all that icing....my favorite!!!!

Angela and Emily made this flower cake for their mom's birthday.....ah, isn't that sweet. I absolutely love these colors together. They did a great job, I am sure Ms. Deb is going to be proud.

My cake....I forgot to take a picture of it by itself after I finished it, but we got a picture of the three cakes together. Yesterday was my anniversary so I was trying to put an "S" in the middle of the cake. I think Stephanie is looking over me saying, "why it is taking you 20 minutes to practice your S".

We'll be dancing.....dancing in the the street (or living room)

2008-06-21T23:13:00.003-04:00

Oh my girls love to dance. I love music and they have always listened and seemed to enjoy music and since they have gotten older they love to dance. Love music, love to dance!!

Brian's awesome Nanny made some new dresses for the girls and they love them. When I told them there was a package and I told them it was from Nanny, they were pumped! She sent them a dress last week and they were thrilled. Nanny called them dancing dresses and let me tell you that is exactly what the girls did with their new dresses!

Here are some new pictures of the girls and their dancing dresses!

As soon as I put the dresses on, Molly grabbed Sarah's hand and said, let's go dance. The quality of this picture is horrible, but it was too sweet not to post. This is definitely a memory I want to keep!

The girls are dancing to Bluegrass music on DirecTV....Bluegrass....how random is that!

Another picture that won't win any awards, but I love to see them laughing like this!

Posing like cheesiers for Mom. I am not sure when Sarah got to be so much taller than Molly?!?!?!

13 Thursday

2008-06-20T13:27:00.008-04:00

Okay, here is a list of Thirteen NAME Brands I cannot and no one should live without. Just so you know I am not a name brand snob! Probably 60% of my cart at Wal-mart is off brand, but there are some things that are just special! This list is in no special order....except Diet Dr. Pepper should be at the top of the list!

1. Diet Dr. Pepper.....Dr. Thunder? What was Wal-Mart thinking?

2. Electrasol Dishwasher Gel Packs......AG turned me on to these and I am telling you there is NOTHING better to wash your dishes with. I am the lazy of the lazy and I hate to rinse dishes....I mean isn't that why I use a dishwasher? To avoid WASHING the dishes.

3. Mach 3 Razors - My beloved introduced me to these and I am hooked...you will never see a lady razor in my shower again. I never did understand why lady razors needed to be Pink and A LOT bigger than the razors they made for men. And you know what they do for men? They put the extra razors in the base of the razor holder so all you have to do is turn it around to get a new razor rather than running across your bathroom floor wet and naked in search of a new blade for your pretty pink razor.

4. Going along with that......Skin Care or Skintimate Shaving Gel. I remember very vividly shaving with soap.....just bar soap when I first started shaving. What was my mom thinking? I think after that we used off brand shaving cream (so you had that lovely Old Spice smell on your legs when you were finished shaving).

5. Bed Head Shampoo. Thank you Brian for using Sauve at $1 a bottle so the girls and I can use Bed Head with no guilt!

6. Lipton Iced Tea.....ever had Always Save Tea?

7. Secret Deodorant - I am sure there are more expensive brands and I know there are less expensive brands, but do you really want to chance body odor for a $.50 savings?

8. Charmin Toilet Tissue - this is a shout out to my honey, if it were up to me I would use the brand "toilet tissue" that you get 100 rolls for $4. His secret is revealed....hehehehehehe

9. Swiss Miss Cocoa. The off brand doesn't dissolved and you are left w/ milk w/ lumps of powder...yuck!

10. Welch's Fruit Snacks. I do not buy a lot of prepacked food, or individually packaged food I should say because it is so high and you get so much less. However, fruit chews are the exception to that rule. My girls love them, they are lower in sugar than regular chews, and when you chew them......you can chew them and then swallow unlike regular chews that never dissolve. Our favorite is the light blue pkg.

11. Bread - I don't think I have ever bought a loaf of "white bread" or "wheat bread". Ugggg, $1.00 for a loaf of bread?

12. Raisins.....only the best! Other wise they taste as gross as all raisins look.

13. Dawn Direct Foam, I don't know that I have ever used anything other than dawn, but this stuff is awesome. If you MUST wash your dishes my hand, please use this! It creates the foam so you use significantly less. It is more expensive, but I think is it a wash (no pun intended) considering how much less you have to use.

What has become of my life???

2008-06-16T18:14:00.007-04:00

There are things that my children do that make me laugh, and then there are times when I scratch my head and think what have I signed up for....this whole parenting adventure. It is that, an adventure for sure. Here are some recent pictures of the girls and some bizarre things that have me scratching my head.

When pigs fly and penguins co pilot.

How many toys do you need to go to sleep???

Grandma gave the girls some "lips" and Molly subscribes to the thinking if a little is good, than a lot is FABULOUS!

Our very expensive window treatments......we had to do something with the sun coming up at 5:45 in the morning. I will work on something permanent that looks a little better, but this was good in a pinch.

Our first writing on the wall. I have always been VERY careful when they have crayons out that they don't walk off with them. However, this was a sewing marker from my sewing room. Ooooopppppsssss, we didn't mention that to Daddy :)

Before you pick up your phone to call Child Services, that is strawberry milk powder, not blood. Notice the pink on the floor, her, shirt and on her sisters foot........and on her dog.......

Uncle Colby Graduates!

2008-06-11T10:19:00.006-04:00

Yeah, Uncle Colby, after MONTHS in the fire academy he graduated last Friday night.

We are so proud of him because it has been a LONG process. Memphis is very careful about their applicants so after he put his application in, he had to wait 6 months just to hear that he had been accepted. Then he went through very rigorous training for 8 months. It has been a very long process and we are very proud of him!

Here are some pictures from his graduation. We tried very hard to get pictures, but we had too many kids that didn't want to sit still.

The funny thing about graduation was when Colby was being given his acknowledgement of completion of training. It is very much like a high school graduation. Aunt Joy had us stand up right before they called his name and called him forward. She also told Joy and Jake to yell, "yeah, Daddy". Of course Sarah said, "that isn't my daddy, that is Uncle Colby". Joy told her it was okay but yell "daddy" so he could hear us. They called Colby's name and Jake and Sarah both yelled, "yeah, Daddy". Jake in his very small voice and Sarah in her 'very much like her mom' voice. Then all Colby's buddies thought Colby had 3 kids rather than just Jake. It was really sweet!

And of course we had to get a celebration cake from Amy, yummmmm!!

The Story of The Tree

2008-06-11T09:55:00.005-04:00

There was a pretty bad storm that passed through our area Monday night. There was quite a big of wind damage. The girls heard the weather radio going off and we went to the picture window to look outside. I could see the wind moving the dust around in the fields south of us. We have quite a few old trees that drop limbs during bad storms and the one next to my house is one of the worst. Of course that is where I park my Jeep. So I immediately foudn my keys and went to move my Jeep. The girls wanted to go with me so I grabbed them and rushed them to the Jeep and moved it to the end of the drive, free from trees. The wind was very bad on our trip back to the house and I was trying to move them quickly because they wind was blowing everything in the yard and I was worried the girls would get hit by something walking back. As we got to the door and I was pushing the girls through the door the HUGE pecan tree next to my house and parking spot cracked at the base and fell over in my yard. There were qutie a few people in our area with out power.

You can see from the pictures that God had his hand over the girls and I. The tree landed where the Jeep was parked and on the drive where we were moving the Jeep. You can see all the toys that were in the yard....the other side of the yard.

Picture from the end of the drive.
A picture from my back door.

A good thing from the storm.....playing in the puddles in our new twirl dresses from Nanny Jean and Ladybug Boots from Grandma. Good times!!!!

Sophie was even enjoying herself.

Ten Things

2008-06-09T11:04:00.006-04:00

Ten Things

1. My girls playing together, I love it! Brian got a pkg in on Saturday and the girls have been playing with the box and bubble wrap. Funny!

Please ignore the chocolate milk mustaches.

2. Team work, they work together all the time....to drive me crazy :) - see above picture of them fighting over the bubble wrap. However, at least they are working together.

3. The girls love to help! I put a picture of the two of them on their laundry basket (thanks to Jon & Kate) so that when they take their clothes to the laundry, they know where to put them.

4. Uncle Colby graduated from the fire academy this past weekend, we were so proud of him.

5. I had a friend tell me she was jealous of my life with the girls, thanks for saying that, it made me realize that I have so much to be thankful for!!

6. That my family is healthy! It seems like a simple thing that I should say "thanks" for every day, but I take our health for granted.

7. Diet Dp.....is it terrible that every other week it makes it to my list? Is that bad, yall??

8. My girls and their vocabulary! If you would have told me a year ago that they would be talking so clearly and plainly, I wouldn't have believed you. Now.....if I could just find a way to curb the 1,000,000 questions a day.

9. Singing! Shout out to AG for introducing me to Veggietales Sunday Morning Songs. My girls can sing almost every song on both cd's. Of course they don't get all the words correctly, that is part of the fun. One day I am going to record that and put it on my blog.......so you all can enjoy it.

10. That the huge pecan tree didn't land on my house last night when it fell across my driveway and that I moved my jeep before it fell. I will post pics tomorrow.

Smart, Very Smart Grandma

2008-06-09T10:43:00.004-04:00

I love these pictures of Sarah, they crack me up! We went to Grandma's house and she was jumping on "her" bed and slipped and fell off and scratched her neck in the process. She did cry which is unusual for my tough Sarah. The unfortunate thing was that I was just about to lay them down for a nap. Being the smart woman that she is my mom got her cold pack out of the freezer to put on her neck. She acted like she was paralyzed from the head down. Oh we laughed, and laughed. Of course these pictures don't really do it justice, but you get the idea of how funny it was.

Ten Things

2008-06-04T00:02:00.005-04:00

This weekend Brian's mom took the girls for the weekend so Brian and I could spend some time together since his birthday was last week. For the most part we really enjoyed ourselves, but there is something weird about the quiet of being in your own house with no kids. It is TOO quiet!

This week's list......10 things that I missed that make make me thankful my girls are home

1. The 1 Million questions the girls ask in a day. I have come to realize that the reason they ask so many questions of me is that they honestly think I know EVERYTHING! Isn't that flattering?

2. I missed hearing their tiny feet walking (walking, running, skipping, hopping) across the floor.

3. Their toys, their choice of toys always makes me laugh. I found this on the floor this morning (armless and legless thanks to Sophie) and Molly said I couldn't throw it away because she NEEDED it.

By the way, I am not sure what that random part is next to the girl.....but it doesn't look good!

4. I missed hugs, tiny arms = sweet hugs.

5. I did actually miss telling the girls "no" 100 times a day. I think I would pick fights with Brian just to be able to tell him "no"....hehehehehe

6. My favorite time of the day is the morning when I get to go wake the girls up in the morning on the mornings I wake up before them. Their sweet smiles when they see me for the first time.

7. Tiny voices, they are the sweetest sound over the baby monitor. Thank goodness for Video Recorders so I won't ever have to forget what those sweet voices sound like.

8. I really love their morning/nap breath. There is something about that smell that is just so sweet to me.

9. I missed their sweetness to each other:

10. The reason I missed them the most is that I missed being a Mommy. Even though I struggle with potty training and roll my eyes at whining, I love my job and I love my girls!

Going to the zoo

2008-06-02T07:28:00.004-04:00

I should have looked back at my titles to see how many times I have used that heading, but I am sure it has been many times. We love to go to the zoo. If we lived in Memphis I am sure we would go every weekend. Here are some recent pictures of our trip with my family. It was a wonderful day, the weather was perfect and the kids were even better!

Still enjoying the stroller.....maybe one day we will be able to go without using one.

The penguins were putting on quite a show for us.

Joy and Jake enjoying the penguins.

Do you hear what I hear?

Catch that train!

Here we are riding a big cow.....with its guts hanging out....crazy!

I am a good egg, I just don't want you to take my picture!

See, mama, I am a good egg too!

We enjoyed a great lunch at Aunt Joy's house after the zoo.

These boots are made for walking....

2008-05-30T07:27:00.003-04:00

We went to a birthday party for Hannah Jordan and the girls were absolutely fascinated with her rain coat, boots, and umbrella. Grandma found them a rain coat which they fell in love with and the other day she found some ladybug boots to match their jacket.

We went to Grandma's house Wednesday and Grandma let the girls take their boots home. Of course we had to wear them home! We took a bath at before leaving so we wore our pj's and boots home....it was a sight to behold. Of course yesterday as soon as they go up they wanted to wear their boots again. Most of the day their ensemble was this: Boots, panties, shirts and scraggly hair.

After Brian got home the girls went out with him while I packed for the girls to go to Meme. The girls helped Brian take the trash to the curb and I got these cute pictures of the girls outside "helping" Brian.

Actually helping Daddy take the trash to the curb

We are starting to try and dress ourselves and we are having some difficulties understanding inside out and if our tags are where they are supposed to be.

Oh, I love my sister.

Wow, is that a dead frog, I think I need to touch it!

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Time!

2008-05-25T23:33:00.005-04:00

What a beautiful day it was on Saturday. We had some friends over to celebrate summer. It is nice to have Christian friends, good friends that enjoy just sitting visiting. Toby, Chad, and Michael helped Brian hang rehang the girls tire swings and now they go SO high.

Here are some pictures from our night with our friends. The girls especially enjoyed playing with Hannah.

Toby pushing, and pushing, and pushing

Brian taking John Mark for a ride.....he really enjoyed riding.

Baby Hallee was loved on by everyone.

Brian got to take his turn swinging and swinging.

Toby giving rides.

The girls putting on a show.

Look at these moms getting a break.....yeah!

Enjoying the beautiful weather! We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Oh, My Funny Molly

2008-05-21T15:23:00.003-04:00

*******This is my third attempt at this post*************

You know how you have those moments when your kids do something funny and you think, wow, sure wish I had a camera for that. And then sometimes when you see that funny thing happening your next thought is.....yeah, a post in the blog! Well, it just so happened that my camera was within reaching distance when I found Molly doing this:

Yes, that is a pink flute in her panties

Molly has been struggling with pooping in the potty and she earned her poo poo prize today and she was so excited! However, she couldn't find a place to keep it since she didn't want to wear her clothes today, so I guess her panties seemed as good a place as any.

Sarah to Molly - You had that where? No, I don't want to play it.

Stay.......and Sarah won't get you

Aren't we cute with our pigtails?

Ten Things

2008-05-21T00:01:00.002-04:00

1. I am thankful that my girls are not afraid to try new things or things outside their comfort level.

2. The girls got to ride horses tonight and had a GREAT time.

3. No accidents today, yeah!! That right there is something to be thankful for. The had 3 days this weekend with no accidents....yeah!

4. Molly did break her toe 6 weeks ago. We had an xray taken and were told it wasn't broken, but took her to Dr. Lee Woodruff, who is awesome, and he said it was broken, but it is looking good. Poor thing, but I am thankful she is healing.

5. My sweetie has made it his mission to make sure I have a cold Diet DP every morning since I bragged on him for putting one in the fridge for me last week....sweetheart!

6. My girls are so friendly to people they meet and it makes me thankful that they are so friendly!

7. Molly got up from her nap today kind of sleepy and groggy, but climbed into my lap and said, "I love you, mommy, give me your sugars". Isn't that the sweetest?

8. Sarah in the car today was singing one my favorite Veggietale songs about God Made Me Special, and one of the lines talks about having curly hair and some people don't. Sarah and I talked earlier today about how special she is to have curly hair and she told me she didn't like it. Then while she was singing her song in the car this morning she recognized the lyrics and said, "wow, I have curly hair too, I am special".

9. My foot is feeling wonderful, thanks Dr. Lee, he really is the best.

10. After spending the weekend away from Brian he was so glad to have us home and we were so glad to be home. Being away makes your appreciate what you have and makes you thankful.

Come Fly With Me

2008-05-19T22:30:00.006-04:00

This post is 2 parts, the first part.....flying kites. This weekend the girls and I went to Memphis and tried to fly kites at Shelby Farms (that of course wasn't the only thing we did).

Unfortunately we couldn't put the kite together, however, the girls had a wonderful time watching everyone else flying their kites. Brian stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home from work today and brought the girls kites. Oh, that was FUN!!! There aren't many people that can fly a kite in their back yard, we did tonight. Molly loved holding it and then when she bored with that, she went to pick up the kites that fell down. Sarah just wanted to play in the dirt and let the kites fly away and then laugh as we ran after them. I forgot my camera to take pictures, but maybe we will get a chance later in the week.

Part 2 - These pictures are weeks old, sorry that I have been lazy in my posting. These are pictures of the girls and their Christmas present from Aunt Joy. They love it, but what is not to love. I want to eventually turn our backyard into a playground!!

Sarah bringing me a flower, isn't she sweet!

Molly really trying to convince me to let her wear her hat outside. They love those cheap hats!

10 Things Tuesday

2008-05-13T15:43:00.002-04:00

Wow, more rain. I am trying very hard to be thankful for everything else good even though it is raining.....again! At least it is a Tuesday and not a Thursday.

1. I got my squirrel, yeah!!

2. Sophie is feeling better.

3. Still caught up on laundry. I am terrible with laundry so every week I am caught up, this may be on my list.

4. My thoughtful husband! I forgot to put my Diet DP in the fridge last night (like I do every night before bedtime) and I mentioned it to him and this morning he remembered and put it in so I had one for breakfast. A very small thing, but it meant so much to me!

5. The girls back slided on their potty training, but we have had no accidents today.

6. I got my fabric ordered today....the last yard on the website....timed perfectly!

7. Good weekend with my family, Josh has a very sweet girlfriend that we got to meet this weekend.

8. Nap time, I do love nap time

9. Legos, the girls are obsessed with them right now and will sit and play for a long time with them.

10. Diet Dr Pepper....oh I love it!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T22:56:00.003-04:00

Oh my!! We had such a good day today. My hubby went above and beyond to make sure I had a fabulous and memorable day. With the exception of the 3 hours I was up in the middle of the night with Sophie yacking and pooping, it was just perfect.

Brian let me sleep in a little later this morning while he got up with the girls. Then after he fixed them breakfast (oatmeal, daddy's speciality) the girls brought me their personalized cards, and by personalized I mean he picked them out considering each girls personality. Then I got his card, boy howdy and thanks to Kristie Sanders. My husband got me a gift certificate to one of the fancy spas in Jonesboro for a day of relaxation and time for myself. He arranged Grandma to keep the girls and I can go and have whatever I want done on him. Is that the best or what???? I saw and it thought....a spa? I would never go to a spa....which is why he bought the gift certificate for me. Isn't that the best? All those things are wonderful, but Brian just did everything today to give me a break. I am anxious to go to the spa and use my gift certificate, but him helping me and giving me the day to myself was probably the best present he could have given me.

Here are some pictures of my girls the day they were born, my sweet babies. I love these pictures!

My first picture with the girls

My sweet Molly

My Sweet Sarah

Both my girls

13 Thursday

2008-05-08T22:07:00.002-04:00

Okay, I don't have a ton of dirty secrets, but I have a million guilty pleasures.

13 Guilty Pleasures

1. Romance novels. I do not like the trashing kind, but true love stores. I am the least romantic female on the face of the earth, but I love a good love story.
2. Chocolate. I can't get enough of it.
3. Bottled Water. Green schmeen, I am all about recycling (I don't do it, but I support those who do), but I have to have bottled water. It is not the taste or that I am a bottle snob, I am just lazy, pure and simple. What is easier than bottled water?
4. Diet Dr Pepper. Between my husband any myself we probably drink around 30 Diet Dp's in one week....yes, I said one week. They are addictive, I tell you!
5. Listening to my Ipod. I love my kids, but I love the sound of take me away from laundry and my kids music. I really do like Dan Zanes and Veggietales music, but every now and then I need Candlebox, The Shins, or James Taylor.
6. Good shoes, I need good shoes, I love good shoes. I bought and posted a picture of a really cute pair of shoes from Target that are still in the box and have never been worn (other than the night I bought them).
7. Name brands. There are lots of things I skimp on and buy great value, but for the most part I am a name brand girl.
8. My air conditioner. It runs constantly. When I was preggers during the middle of winter time it was set on 60. I hate to be hot, sweat, or feel even the slightest bit stuffy. It makes me grouchy (just ask Brian).
9. My TiVo. I love it, not like I love my kids or my husband or the rest of my family, but I genuinely think I feel affection towards it. Like my air conditioner I don't think I could live with out it.
10. My laptop/Wireless Internet. Holy Cow, what did I do before I had both of those?
11. Chik Fil A. When JMG at the ripe old age of 15 months could say Chik Fil A, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. That is why he says my name about 100 times a day!
12. Wal-mart. I know lots of people don't like it and feel that perhaps it is even evil, but I love the convenience of it.
13. I save the best for last. Mother's Day Out. I am not sure it qualifies as a guilty pleasure, but I sure enjoy it. I do really enjoy being around my kids and I don't want anyone to have the impression that I don't enjoy them. There is just something about those 5 hours I get to myself to do ANYTHING I want.

Disclaimer

2008-05-07T10:12:00.003-04:00

Okay, I need to put a disclaimer in my posting about the girls bedroom. I did NOT paint their bedroom. My wonderful brother in law (Colby) painted the green under the chair rail. My friend Carlotta painted the tree and the other walls in the room.

I could NEVER do anything like the girl's bedroom, I can't even paint a circle (future post) for a project AG is helping with for my bathroom. So if you need something done for any room in your home or anything, Carlotta Ashley is who you need to talk to. She is very talented and so reasonably priced and I happen to have her phone number if you wanted something painted.

Here is the rest of her work in the girl's bedroom. Like I said, she is VERY talented!

Also, for my fellow fabric addicts, I added a pic of the fabric I found yesterday to my 10 Tuesday Post.

Ten Things

2008-05-06T21:47:00.003-04:00

I am too tired to find the 10 Things thingy tonight, but if you close your eyes, you can imagine it

HERE

10 Things I am Thankful for

1. This day is over! Whew, the girls were cranky and we had quite a few potty training incidents today.

2. My hubby went to the store while the girls were in the bath to buy me vanilla extract. If that isn't romantic, I don't know what is!

3. I am making cheesecake squares, the best dessert in the world.

4. I am caught up on my laundry, hallelujah.

5. Molly hurt her finger riding outside with Brian, but came in and told me, "I just shake it off". Molly is a bit of a drama queen, so I am thankful to hear her take this attitude with an injury.

6. I am finished with a project on my to do list.....yeah! See yesterday's post.

7. I found some fabulous fabric today, for another project on my list (the dust ruffle).

8. My air conditioner. When I was younger I would visit my grandparents in the summer and they didn't always run their air conditioner. I told Brian as an adult I would give up food to keep a cool house in the summer. I even love the smell of the air conditioner.

9. Brian coming home and taking the girls outside and spending time with them while I cleaned the kitchen after supper. I love putting the girls to bed and being finished with my daily chores. Whoooo peeeeee!

10. My sister has healed wonderfully from her surgery and after talking to her today, she sounds like her old self and said she is feeling great. Thank you for capable surgeons and her quick healing time.

Now that it is over, I am seeing that today was a pretty good day!

Show Your Stuff Monday

2008-05-05T22:13:00.004-04:00

Well, I finally got the girls beds finished....well I should say the headboards finished. I still have to finish the dust ruffle, but other than that I am just so happy to have the headboards finished. I need to do some throw pillows as well and I haven't decided what to do on the dust ruffles yet, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

Here are some pics:

13 Thursday.....on Sunday

2008-05-04T22:33:00.002-04:00

I am way behind! Way behind!! Brian was out of town last week and it was a flurry of bedtime fights and potty training. I am so glad my husband is home. It makes me appreciate the emotional support he provides for not only me, but the girls as well. They followed him around all day Saturday, and being the super dad that he is, he spent ALL day with them. I even got to take some time for me to do a little alone shopping and alone movie viewing, and one of my favorite things, alone driving. I love being married, and I love my being married to my husband. Absense does make the heart grow stronger, and more apprecaitive. My list really has nothing to do with what I wrote above, I just needed to say it.

Danna had a post about great days and it got me to thinking about good days I have had and I am pretty sure I can come up with 13. These are in no particular order.

1. The day I met my husband and he said the words church of Christ and that he always wanted a family.

2. Graduation....not the day exactly (although it was pretty good) but all the days, months and years leading up to my last day of school.

3. The first time Brian told me he loved me, that was a great day!

4. Ocala, FL, Junior year in high school. Singing in the chorus at the most wonderful church. Feeling such a sense of spirituality and love from a congregation and I remember how emotional it felt to know how much we were touching them.

5. Summer 2001, Destin, FL, laying on the beach with an old friend looking at the stars and talking about how good life is and how good God is to us.

6. This past friday night when my Brian got home we spent the evening with the girls and after they went to bed we talked and laughed and talked like we hadn't seen each other in forever and that feeling of knowing that I chose the perfect person for me.

7. The day my girls were born, it was wonderful! My c-section was painless and I felt wonderful (other than stressed because of the whole becoming "mom" thing) and excited to see the girls. And the first time I got to see them all smooshed and slimey, it was perfect!

8. The night Brian was baptized. Mine should have made the list, but I was so young that I feel like I was getting a do over through Brian with his decision to be baptized.

9. One Easter when we lived in St. Louis, my dad took the time to buy something special for our Easter baskets. It seems silly that would stick out in my mind, but mom was "in charge" of things like that and I remember thinking how special it was that he took the time to do that for us.

10. The first time we took the girls to the butterfly house at the zoo in Memphis. I am always amazed at how emotional it makes me to see the girls enjoy something and this was especially amazing.

11. A birthday skating party I had when I was 9. My parents did a wonderful job of celebrating our birthdays, but we didn't really do huge parties. I think was 9 or 10, I don't remember exactly, but I got to have a skating party. It was so fabulous!

12. The first Christmas morning Brian and I spent with my family.

13. The day we went for the first US and saw it was twins on the screen. We were so excited!

I think I could have come up with about 50 more, but I am sure not everyone wants to here every good day!

10 Things

2008-04-29T22:00:00.002-04:00

Yeah, for another Tuesday!

1. A good hair day, yeah, finally with all the rain and humidity I was beginning to think I would never see another.

2. We had a very good picture session today with the best photographer Gregg Pinkston.

3. Both the girls had accidents yesterday and had marks on their faces (because we are VERY clumsy) and the marks didn't show up today. Yeah!

4. We got to spend almost all day with Grandma.

5. We got to have dinner with Grandpa and Grandma tonight....Tuesday Night Burger King Family night.

6. After we ate the girls went to play while we visited and Molly headed to the play area and someone opened the door for her and before I could say, "say thank you", she had already said it to him.......ahhhhhhhh!.

7. The girls went to bed without a noise tonight! Yipppeeee! I only wish Brian were here to share this special moment with me.

8. TiVo and new TV shows. Double Yipppppeeeee!!!

9. I got to talk to my brother tonight.

10. My girls are being wonderful even though they miss their daddy.

A good Tuesday!!!

Tagged

2008-04-26T23:14:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I was going to do a fabulous post about this wonderful piece of playground equ. that my wonderful sister bought the girls for Christmas, but I forgot to put my memory card in my camera and didn't get any pics of ours (please note that the children in this picture are not mine, however that grass is fabulous). Perhaps I will take pics tomorrow and post then.

I was tagged by Danna, who I thought knew me pretty well, but I enjoy her lists, so here goes.

What I was doing 10 years ago.....hmmmmm, I am even trying to remember that far back, but I think I was living in Jonesboro working at Ron Allison's office as the office manager. Great job, wonderful people

Five things on my to do list today:

1. Get caught up on laundry, done except folding and put away...so maybe not so done with that

one.

2. Take the girls to town and spend some quality family time together before Brian goes to AL.

3. Pick up a book at Barnes and Noble.

4. Pick up some fabric at Hancock's....I COMPLETELY forgot about it until we pulled in the driveway.

5. Finish half the EPC shirts I have to do, 1 more left....whoo hooo.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Go on vacation.....all the time!

2. Buy my hubby his very own fab shop.

3. Hire a live in house cleaner....whooopeee!

4. Hire a personal trainer, chef and personal shopper....that would be the best!

5. Take care of family so that they would never have to worry about debt again.

Three of my bad habits:

1. I talk WAY too much.

2. I am too hard on my husband who does try very hard.

3. Comfort food, enough said!

Five places I have lived:

1. Jonesboro, AR

2. Paragould, AR

3. Jackson, TN

4. St. Louis, MO

5. Searcy, AR

Five jobs I have had:

1. Stay at home mom and embroidery/sewing/bow maker.

2. Chiropractic Therapist

3. Architect/Engineer Assistant

4. Office Manager Insurance Agency

5. Front desk clerk at a hotel, I loved this job. The pay stunk and my boss was a very sexually inappropriate person, but I loved this job.

Five People I Want to Know More About

1. Amy S.

2. Darrah W.

3. Rebecca S.

4. Hannah S.

5. Danielle B.

That was fun, thanks Danna!

Oh, Happy Day, Hap, Happy Day!

2008-04-25T21:17:00.004-04:00

Okay, for those of you with a weak stomach, please find another blog to read. This entry might not be for you. We had a milestone today, a major one in my book. This one rates right up there with their first tooth, or first steps and maybe even their first word. We left the house, went to eat dinner with our panties on, our real honest to goodness panties and no one had an accident. I am telling you, I feel like I have run a marathon or climbed to the top of a large mountain...something that fabulous.

Many years ago (4 to be exact) before my beloved ones came along and JM joined the G crew, AG and I had many conversations and couldn't understand why moms were SOOOOO obsessed with their children's....shall we say......waste? It seems to come up in the most unlikely of conversations and for any of you with kids or friends with those of us who have kids, you are nodding your heads saying, yes, yes, why do you crazy moms do that? Who knows, but I am so happy about our potty episode tonight, I am even posting for anyone who cares to read about it.

There are many milestones that come along in your child's life, but none I think are as wonderful as potty training. Of course I wouldn't have said that on Wed when Molly and I went to the store and she had to pee and the only potty close was a gas station, whose name I will not mention, but should and I the thought crossed my mind if I had seen a patch of grass outside we could use instead of the potty. Hello GermX and penicillin.

Here are some pics that have NOTHING to do with potty training, thank goodness, I do draw the line somewhere!!! These are more pictures from the wonderful Children's Museum in Memphis. Note: The blue child is not mine, but we would totally claim him. How cute is that cookie monster costume? I kept wanting AG to make him say.....yummmm, yummm, yummmm, me want cookies! However, I am pretty sure he did the ice cream dance on stage for us! Silly boy!!

Thirteen Thursday

2008-04-24T17:15:00.004-04:00

I love my husband, and most days I really like him too. Here are 13 reasons I love him so much even though he burned my bushes last night :(

13 Reason I Love My Husband

1. He shares bath time duties with me. I look forward to Fri, Sat and Sun nights of bath free nights for me.

2. He will say prayers with the girls even when I am not helping with bedtime.

3. I love the fact that even though he sees the girls almost every day, when dressing them he never knows what matches and what is play clothes and what is nice clothes.

4. I love that he thinks that this is good hair for the girls:

5. He makes me go outside to play (I am an inside air conditioner kind of girl) with the girls and I always have such a good time and find something to keep myself busy.

6. He always unloads my cases of water out of my Jeep for me even though we both know I am capable of doing it.

7. He has always changed the girls diapers (panties and training pants) without being asked. On a side note for anyone who didn't know this about my husband. The girls were born on a Wed and we didn't get to leave the hospital until the following Monday and I had not changed one single diaper in the hospital.

8. He can fix anything! And if he can't fix it he will find a way by reading a book, asking a friend or doing research.

9. He always lets the girls help him put things together and is so patient teaching me and them new things.

10. He has the most amazing reading comprehension. If I have a booklet or instruction manual, he generally reads it for me and gives me all the info I need so I don't have to read.

11. He never asks questions about how and where I spend money!

12. He knows my hormone changes during certain times of the month and knows when to bring me chocolate, pay me a compliment, or take the girls to the car wash to let me have 30 min to myself. Smart, smart man!

13. And the most important. He gets up and goes to work long hours every day and never misses work. Then he comes home with enough energy to play with the girls or fix something I have broken. The amazing thing is that he NEVER complains about work, NEVER! All you single girls out there....if you ever find a man like this....MARRY HIM!!!

13b. He puts up with me!

Tag Team

2008-04-23T21:47:00.005-04:00

I think Danna posted a funny picture of her girls in cahoots together, plotting an unauthorized trip outside. It got me thinking about the girls and how much fun they have together, plotting, planning and playing.

Here are some cute pictures of them playing.

Riding together on the 4 wheeler. Usually Sarah is on the back, but for some reason she wanted to ride on the front tonight.

These pictures are of Sarah running in front of Molly on the 4 wheeler screaming.....chase me, chase me, chase me!!!

Ten Things Wednesday

2008-04-23T14:12:00.002-04:00

While that isn't quite as catchy as 10 things Tuesday, I am running a bit behind. This overcast, groggy weather is making me feel sleepy, really sleepy so I went to bed at 8:30 last night so here is my no 1 -

1. My hubby helped the girls get to sleep last night while I climbed in bed and was asleep by 8:30.
2. My car and Brian's truck are cleaned....no small feat, but both are looking good....today anyway.
3. Brian is coming home unusually early tonight and we will get to go outside and spend the evening together.
4. Tomorrow is MDO....yeah!!!
5. I am caught up on housework and laundry....all in the same day!
6. Parenting advice from other moms.
7. My sweet girls sharing with each other. There are probably 15 fights about not sharing during the day, but that one where they do share is super sweet.
8. Taking a shower this morning and my house not being a wreck when I got out.
9. The girls playing together, listening to their brains working out loud is so much fun.
10. Molly recognizing her name on her pillow and knowing that Sarah's pillow was on her bed at naptime and not her own.

Our Buddy

2008-04-21T22:09:00.008-04:00

This is our buddy:

We don't have a lot of friends, especially ones that are our age, but we sure like JM, a lot.

He got to go to the Children's Museum in Memphis last week with us, and we had a great time. Here are some pics from our trip. Whoooopeeeee!

Doing some fishing

Doing Some Grocery Shopping

Helping the city of Memphis fight crime

Most importantly, Taking care of our teeth!

Thirteen Thursday......on Saturday

2008-04-19T20:07:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I am not familiar with the rules of 13 Thursday, but I am assuming it just a list of 13 Things....of something, but I don't know what.

I am going to list 13 things the girls love to play with outside.

1. Dirt, any dirt, but they prefer if it is in mud form.
2. Brian's unfinished mustang with no doors, windows, or engine. I can't imagine why this is fun for the girls, but for some reason it is.
3. Sticks, they even like to help Brian pick up sticks to carry to the burn pile.
4. Rocks, this one is also a mystery. Brian put pea gravel around their original swing set and that is the best fun.
5. Ladybugs, we have a tree that is always covered with ladybug and they love them.
6. Water, any water that has accumulated anywhere. I have noticed a trend with kids the world around, most of them love water.
7. A pile of lime, which I am sure most people do not have in their yard, but we do and it is good times, running to the top, then running down the side.
8. Storm cellar, of course we don't let them play in the storm cellar, but on top. I guess because it makes them feel tall.
9. Each other, they love to chase each other. I wish I had a picture of Molly dragging Sarah behind her 4 wheeler the other day. Molly got stuck and because Sarah is a sweetheart she got off hers to push Molly out. Well, Molly kept going and Sarah ran for a while, but then lost her footing and the Molly dragged her. Brian and I heard what we thought was crying until they got close enough for us to see that she was laughing.....well, until she got to the drive way and the laughing stopped....thankfully so did Molly.
10. "The Ladder", they call it a ladder, but it is actually ramps for Brian's trailer propped up against the side of the shop. It would be classified as the shortest ladder of all times, but they think they are cool climbing up them.
11. Side walk chalk, however, they NEVER color on the sidewalk/driveway. It is usually a tree, the side of the shop, Brian's scrap metal, each other, or the play house. Thankfully, chalk is washable.
12. Their 4 wheelers, I would have never guessed they would have enjoyed them as much as they do. Molly is especially good at driving hers, maybe motocross or something like that in her future :)
13. Rake, shovel (also known at our house as a shoggle), and any tools you use in the yard....and reference to no. 1, the dirt.

We are outside playing now, thank you Brian for wireless Internet, and they are playing w/ no. 1, 3, 4 & 6. Good times at our house. Thank goodness for nice weather!!!

Tagged, again

2008-04-17T22:05:00.002-04:00

I was Tagged again, and let's face it, who doesn't like talking about themselves? :)

TAGGING RULES:Mention the person who tagged you, and create a link back to them.Copy and paste the traits for all the twelve months, OR feel free to use the link provided here.Pick your month of birth.Highlight the traits that apply to you.Tag 12 people, and let them know by visiting their blogs and leaving them a comment.***Let the person who tagged you know when your post is available to view

I was Tagged by: http://www.xboxwife.blogspot.com/

JANUARY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people’s flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize (unfortunately). Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

Wow, I finished my tagging and realized so many of the things I had to highlight were negative. I thought this one would be fun, but I think I now have a list for my fridge of things I need to work on.

Here is a question...wonder why stubborn was on their twice?

Screwy Posting

2008-04-17T21:30:00.002-04:00

My post for today is actually here. Or you can just scroll down to the title Random Photos.

10 Things....edited for today...11 Things

2008-04-15T23:46:00.004-04:00

We had a good day today, a very good day and I am thankful for that. Here are 10 specific things.

1. Tuesday ladies bible class friends, babysitters, leader :), I know there are lots of weeks I am thankful for this, but I really am thankful every Tuesday and I am going to be sad to see summer get here.

2. Being caught up on my work stuff, I have a few small things, but I am getting to enjoy some down time.

3. Potty training....yeah! Who knew potty training would have a "yeah" after it, but the girls are doing well after I decided that if it took 4 months to do it, I would be happy that at least it got done. Okay, 4 months is a stretch :)

4. Molly went all day without an accident. We went many places and did a lot of distracting things, but she still found the time to ask to go to the bathroom.

5. Movie time and special time with Grandma today, it was nice to have an extra pair of hands helping.

6. Grandma in general....I never got to have a grand parent that lived close and I am especially thankful that the girls will and do get to have that relationship with my mom. A movie in the middle of the week....for no special reason other than just spending time together. I am happy they will get to have those memories....so I am thankful on behalf of them!

7. Clean carpets, thank you, thank you Razorback carpets. I now do not mind having all the lights on in a room or opening the blinds in the girls room. It is like my whole house got a face lift.

8. a. Being a stay at home mom, lucky, lucky me. Having a side job that I love and a husband that supports and encourages me. b. contentment - my parents me that, and I am thankful because for the most part I wake up most mornings content with my life and with no regrets in the past.

9. JM said my name about 100 times in ladies bible class this morning and that sweet little face smiling EVERY time he said it. Thankful for him and thankful for friends who have great kids that are a joy to be around.

10. A few minutes of one on one time with Molly after Sarah fell asleep while she sat on the potty, reading her magazine trying very hard to earn a poo poo prize. If you ever see my Molly and she is wearing her blue necklace.....please ask her where she got it. I promise you a smile at what she tells you! Here is a pic of Molly trying to earn her prize.

11. Baby Whitehead - I am so thankful for this little baby, that isn't born yet but is already so loved. Marti and Chad are going to be wonderful parents and I am so thankful for 14 good weeks for her! More pics of baby Whitehead click here.