socializing

Livi and I had the best Friday this week. We started off by picking up my good friend Kyla and little Oliver. We went to a knitting group and had a great time learning, visiting, and watching the kids play.

The picture above is of Livi and, who she says is her best friend, Kate.

We then went to Larry's Pizza where we met up with my old co-workers from DHS for lunch. We bumped into the two little ladies that I babysat last year, Abigail and Adeline. Olivia adores those girls! Livi and Adeline hopped in the safari jeep and had a great time. I had the best time visiting with the gals and seeing the A-Team. 

And then, Friday evening, I got to go to a movie with my best bud, Brent! We haven't seen each other since Christmas. We had some ihop following the movie and caught up on life.

Friday was great. I enjoyed all of my visits with many wonderful people throughout the day.
I hope there are many more to follow.

a tutu kind of day

I know that I am going to look back at these photos (probably sooner than I imagine) and want to squeeze that sweet little 3 year old. And she's going to be grown.

proud parent

Abi has been doing great in cheer! We are so proud of her.

Makayla has been enjoying her basketball games and we are glad she is learning so much!

Alex and I had to split up this last weekend to tag team the activities that the girls had going on. Makayla had a good time at her ball game and Alex said she has come a long way in learning the basics.

I still have moment where I can not believe we have three kids and that they are growing at the rate that they are. They are gorgeous girls.

a quick hello

Good Morning!

There has been a lot going on but I have been slacking on documenting it lately. We have had practices, competitions, and games all over the place!  The picture above is Sissy playing her Leapster in her comfy chair (ignore the trash bag of clothes that I have been needing to donate for two weeks now).
Last weekend, Abi had a competition in Little Rock on Sunday. We went to early church services at Pleasant Valley COC ( enjoyed it so much!) and then grabbed some breakfast. We spent a lot of time waiting.

And Abi made sure to put her game face on.

And then Abi got to perform!

And then we got to wait again....

Abi's cheer team ended up coming in last place. Apparently the coaches had incorporated and illegal cartwheel move in the routine and didn't realize it. So, the judges automatically put us in last place instead of disqualifying our team. Not fun, but the girls understand that they did great and it wasn't their fault!

And after bouncing around all day at the competition, she passed out on the way home.

And one more thing. We had a meeting at Makayla's school yesterday and KayKay's teacher gave Livi a puzzle to work while we waited. She looked so big.

I'm so sad that my baby isn't a baby anymore, but I am so thankful that she is smart and healthy.

sometimes i just need my momma and some Jesus

This was my thought while driving home from picking Abi up at cheer practice tonight. As a "grown up", do you still have moments where you just really need a hug from your mom and to talk it all out? Boy I do. I have been ready to throw in the towel with living away from my family and pack up to move back to Newhope.
The stress seems to come in waves sometimes. I know better than to sit around and worry about it. But I just can't help myself at times.  I have so many things on my to do list for this year. And being a better Christian is on the top. We heard a great sermon at PVCC yesterday morning about building a stronger family. The message was that if faith, hope, and love are the foundation of your family, then you can not fail. Times like this bring me to my knees and remind me of what I should have been focusing on all along. Don't worry, there are no life threatening illnesses or anything like that going on. Just some difficult things that our family is going through at the moment. Things that I imagine most families go through. If you don't have too long of a prayer list, could you add us to it?  I pray that whatever struggles we go through bring us closer together as a family and does not divide and conquer us.

I think I'll break out the Bible for a study now and hang on until I can get to my momma for that hug.

And the winner is.....

Darla!  I had a random drawing and Darla was the lucky winner of the CSN Giveway! Yay Darla!!
I will message you the details on how to use your $25 online gift card.
Thanks to those that commented and to all of you who keep up with our family through our blog.

We had a wild weekend and I will be back soon to update but we are baking and babysitting at the moment and I need to get back to it!

Have a great Monday!

calling all readers

Have you guys heard of CSN? Yeah, I haven't really either. I recently learned that they are an online company that sells all sorts of home goods. They have swing sets, furniture, kitchen gadgets, aprons, rugs, and just about everything in between. I have recently been contacted to host a give away on my blog. I wanted to put the feelers out there to see if you all would be interested in participating in a give away.

I don't usually have a lot of comments left from my blog entries, so if you are interested in being eligible to pick an item from the many options that this website offers, leave a comment! I have seen these types of give aways many times from other blogs that I follow and there aren't any obligations. The only rules are 1.  You must live in the US or Canada and 2. The $25 gift certificate that you will receive does not cover shipping. It's really just a way for businesses to grow their consumer base.  
I hope you all are staying warm! We have a lot going on this weekend with basketball games and cheer competitions. I'm sure I'll be back soon with more pictures of our active kiddos.

P.S. Makayla's teacher called me yesterday (of course the fear of "Oh what now!" was my first reaction). She said that Makayla had her bench mark testing yesterday and she figured Makayla would at least pass them but, in her words, "Makayla blew them out of the water!". Needless to say, we are very proud of her and she had a special giant cupcake to celebrate last night. I am thankful that Makayla has a teacher that notifies me of the bad and the good.

max & the snow day

So, what do you do when you are trapped at home?

Make some fresh snow ice cream...

and some homemade chicken & dumplin's...

and some fabulous potatoes.

Then you build a snow man!

Livi named him Max.

It's been a family day for sure and we are so glad that the electricity has stayed on so far. The girls are out of school again tomorrow. I guess we will have to try to actually tackle some laundry tomorrow( I've been saying that for three days).

lost nola photos

These little dolls are our nieces. These are Becky's daughters, Hannah and Victoria. We went to visit them before we went to our hotel Monday afternoon. They don't live far from Nola.

Gross. Alex got shrimp, whole. He de-shelled them in front of me and I swear this bug eyed one kept looking at me while I ate my po' boy. Ick.

This is Livi with Aliyah (I'm not sure how she spells it). Livi loves this little doll. We went to church at Daisy on Sunday night before we left  and Olivia was excited when she saw Leah come in.

This man was real (I think). I told Alex he was going to use the money he made for more silver spray paint.

Razorback HQ for junk.

I followed this guy down the street to the Sugar Bowl so I could get a picture

 of his "Oh no! Please say he didn't wear that in public." pants.

We went out to get the car on Tuesday morning and this was the parking lot. Ridiculous.

I would like to describe the atmosphere following the Sugar Bowl. Tons of disappointed Razorback fans filled the streets of New Orleans. Buckeye fans were being tacky and tasteless (as they had been all evening). They were "sore winners" as I like to call them.

Alex and I made it back to our room and were getting ready for bed (it was around midnight). I heard people outside and it sounded like people were calling the hogs. I looked out of our 11th floor window and saw crowds of people still walking down the street from the game and they were "Woo Pig Soooiiieee-ing" it. It was so sweet. I had chills. I am so proud that we are in Razorback Country!

We have the best fans ever.

mayhem disquised as fluff

Abi had cheer practice today and the weather had been fine here all morning. About 30 minutes after Alex left to take her to practice, the snow started pouring down. Abi called around 2:30 and said they ended her practice early and she needed us to pick her up. I called Alex and he said he was on his way to get her. A few minutes later, he called and said the roads were bad and he has slid into someone at a stop sign. He was going really slow and the other car was stopped but it still caused quiet a bit of damage. It took a while for him and Abi to get back home and several more sliding incidents. It has been a terrible day for travelling!

 I am beyond thankful that he and Abi made it home safely and we do not plan to leave again until Tuesday. And I enjoy the Mayhem insurance commercials on tv. Hence the blog entry title.  

And after they got home, we decided to go out and enjoy it a little.

I cooked homemade chili in the crock pot and we made a spice cake. We also had some hot cocoa. It's been a snuggly kind of day.

Please be safe if you get out. But after the day we had regarding travelling, don't go if you don't have to!