I'm Gonna Let It Shine

Your husbands are going to ban you from my blog, because I keep encouraging you to buy stuff!
BUT this is for the spiritual well being of your child, so it's OK to spend some money, honey!

I came across these super cute scripture ABC flash cards from Lil Light O Mine.

It goes through the whole alphabet and has a scripture that starts with each letter. And they are cute and not tacky. (like lots of kid stuff is, am I right?!)

I got some for Katie, and I am going to put them in her Easter basket.
So, don't tell her, K?


I think they would be so cute framed and put in a nursery or play room. I might actually laminate mine, so they don't get ruined.
No offense Katie, but your kind of a ruiner!


Somehow I can remember almost all the lines to Pee Wee's Big Adventure from over 25 years ago, but I have a hard time memorizing scripture.
Are you embarrassed for me?
These cards will be great for both of us!


I am having to use all my will power to NOT type out all the Pee Wee lines that are flooding my brain right now!

Just Some Things

We are the proud owners of this house...still.
We refinanced, FINALLY!


We thought we were going to have to move, because we couldn't refinance and we had to pay off our original loan. Then we found a new mortgage person that could help us, AND we got a really super good appraisal, so it all worked out.
The best part is, that our house payments will be lower than before!

I did pack up a ton of boxes when I thought we were moving, so that was a big pain in the hiney for nothing!

I do still want this house, in case you were wondering:

It's still for sale!
And we still can't afford it, unless we win the lottery, that we don't play, or if someone dies.

For now, we are perfectly content in our current home and thankful for shelter, a pink dining room, and cheap house payments!


Now let's travel back to 1987, or so....

KEDS!

My mother-in-law got me these Keds for my birthday and I LOVE them. They are perfect for the season in between boots and flip flops. I wanted to share them just in case you needed some too. They brought me right back to 6th grade...in a good way!

Also, I keep forgetting to mention that Marcus got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas!

It's so much fun! It's like an iPad, except you don't have to sell your first born to buy one!
You can watch movies, play games, read blogs and the rest of the world wide web too. And I might even download a book one day!

Did you know we get an extra day of the year tomorrow? It's Leap Day! I kind of wish the whole world could shut down for a day and we could just take one big giant nap!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I just got in lots of good "Girl Time" this weekend.

Thursday night I got to go out with my friend, Laura, who is affectionately know by me as Laurie!

Her husband's name is Bobby, so one day instead of saying, "Bobby and Laura", I accidentally said, "Laurie and Bobba". So it stuck and those have been their names for the past several years. Her name is even saved in my phone as "Laurie."

First, we saw The Vow and loved it. We both weren't totally satisfied by the ending though and wanted to see The Vow 2 right away.
Not that there is such a thing, but there should be!

Then we ate at the Cheesecake Factory and shut the place down!

We were too busy talking and eating to get a picture, unfortunately.

Then on Friday I spent my first night away from Katie!

Courtney wanted a girls weekend for her birthday. She just had to wait an extra month!

We stayed at Anna's in-law's farm about an hour away. It was beautiful!

Anna made a yummy dinner for all of us.



And she was sweet and made a Birthday cake for Courtney and me:

We had such a great time. We stayed up until 4:00 am just chit chatting the night away!
I am thankful for such fun and sweet friends.

And I am super thankful for my husband who took off work to watch Katie, so I could go!

A few of us met the guys and kids at Cheddars for dinner when we got back into town.

Drew and Jack



And Charis and Katie being super cool!


I was so ready to see that little girl.
Katie had a GRAND time with her daddy! They went out to breakfast, Cabella's, and the park. I am pretty sure I wasn't missed at all!

Now it's back to reality...laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, diapers, etc.

I wouldn't change a thing!

Mother Of The Year!

Oh yes, I did

buy my baby her very own Slurpee!

Partly because I don't like to share mine
and also for the pure JOY!

Answers

Lots of you were asking where Marcus and I went on Valentine's day.

We drove out to Weatherford and went to a place called David's Stove Shop. It has some cool antiques, but it's not like a decorative antique store by any means. BUT there are lots of cute looking shops around the square.

And inside David's Stove Shop is The Shed. It's a cute little cafe and they make the best home made bread every day.

And they make a yummy pecan pie too!
Marcus and I also just liked to drive around and look at the old houses in the area.

And somebody asked how we keep Katie away from the fire:

I thought I would have to put my big baby gate up, but she has not really gone near the fire. We definitely would not leave her in that room unattended with a fire going though.

I'm trying to think if there were any other questions for me??
*************

Anyway, did you know that Lent started today?
Are you giving anything up? Some people give up a luxury or something they really like as a penitence, or sorrow for their sin. I grew up Catholic, so we always did this.

Instead of giving something up this year, I am going to make sure I read my Bible BEFORE I get on the computer everyday. Reading God's word should come before reading my email or favorite blogs. I am not doing it as a penitence, but just to help me to remember to make God my priority. There is no way for me to pay for my sin on my own by sacrificing something. That's the whole exciting part about Easter. Jesus died for my sins!
And yours too! There is nothing we can do to earn that. We just have to receive that free gift. So, Lent is a perfect time for me to add a little bit of discipline in my life and think about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.


And Marcus chose to give up desserts for Lent! I think that will be hard on me too. Although I did eat ice cream right in front of him tonight! I think giving something up that you love is a great way to focus on God too.

Maybe I should make Katie give up her pacifier for Lent!

Kidding!

Milking It

I'm still 37!
I plan on celebrating for at least another week or two.

Yesterday, Marcus made a delicious breakfast:

He actually makes Katie and I eggs several mornings a week. AND he doesn't even like eggs. He's a keeper.

This is what I look like at 37:

Actually we went to the zoo, but I kind of feel like that fella.

The train was a highlight:

I have been wanting to take Katie to the zoo for several months, and yesterday was the perfect day. And I love spending quality time with my little family of 3.

Oh and we ran into Frugal Jen, so that was exciting!

The day was supposed to end with me going to see The Vow and eating at the Cheesecake Factory with a fabulous friend, BUT I got a ginormous headache. Like a scary, maybe should I go to the ER, it would be weird to die on my birthday kind of headache.
It didn't last super long, but it was intense.

So instead Marcus got some delicious Chicken Express.

For YEARS, I would not even try Chicken Express, because they had a flying chicken on their sign. I do not like to see the "alive version" of what I'm about to eat.
But one day I tried it and saw the light. It is so dang good!

AND I get to go to the movies and CCF later this week. I am really looking forward to it!


And on top of making me breakfast, taking me to the zoo, of course buying me a coke, getting dinner, and taking care of Katie, Marcus also got me this super cute purse from Brighton:

I got this pic off their website. I need to take one of my own personal purse. It has lime green interior. LOVES it!

We celebrated with family on Sunday and I got lots of root touch up!


You may be thinking that my family is rude, but I asked for this stuff. I seriously need to use it every other week, if not more!

My sister in law got me this cute bag that she embellished. I also got a turquoise flower to put on it instead of the gray one.

And fun polka dot napkins. She knows me so well!

My in laws and parents were very generous too.

My sister got me new cushions for my front patio set! My nephew Ryan (behind me) said they brought the biggest gift, because they love me the most. Sweet thing!


The Katie flying happened when we all went outside to test out my new cushions.

She also did some swinging. My mom was having tiny strokes during all this action.

I am thankful for my family!

I am super blessed.

Do you see my cute cushions back there?!

Let the celebration continue...

37

I turned 37 today...hence the national holiday!

I love birthdays.
We celebrate our half and whole birthdays in this house. I refuse to complain about getting older. It's a privilege, really.

I will, however, complain about my gray hairs and that somehow I have wrinkles and zits at the same time! That stuff doesn't make sense to me at all!

I will share all the details of my day tomorrow. Right now I have some reality TV to watch. I'm too embarrassed to name the specific shows, but they are probably the same ones you are watching right now too!

The Weekend

If you know the Beastie Boys, just start singing " She's Crafty" right now! If you don't know the Beastie Boys, then I feel bad for you.

We had another craft night on Friday! Woo Hoo!

AND the bonus was that Marcus made us delicious cheesy chicken enchiladas!


This time we all worked on the same craft.
Tricia's desk!


This was the before:

Katie was sorting bowls for our modge podge:

Tricia bought this mirror and loves it,so she wanted her desk to go with it.

So we all combined scrapbook paper and decoupaged it on the desk.

It took some math skillz that we failed at, at first, but it turned out cute!
And we had lots of fun too!

Speaking of cute and fun:

Ignore the sea of pink toys in the background. And maybe ignore the fact that my baby is in a camo buck too. That's kind of weird!


OK, That was all on Friday. And Saturday was super fun too!
My Godmother was in town from South Carolina for a super quick trip, so she was able to stop by on Saturday.

My parents with Nancy.

They all met when they were newly weds and lived in the same apartment building in New York. I was raised Catholic, so that's why I get to have a Godmother.

Nancy, Me and Katie:


And we ended the weekend with some Katie tossing in the front yard:

Fun times!

Tomorrow is another BIG day. It's a national holiday. And I'm NOT talking about President's Day either!