happy st. patricks day!!!

even frula lula got in on it!!!

poor little kitty even had to have a new matching easter outfit!!! what we put poor lula through!!!!

GO MOM!!!

so we get to the egg hunt and im looking adoring at the kiddos and checking out their brand new easter baskets -when i realize that their easter outfits totally match their easter baskets!!!!!!

oh man - how great is that!!!???? loving the turquoise and pink!!!!

egg hunt

today we went out for an egg hunt!!!! the kids wore their easter outfits and MAN did they look cute!!!!!!! brynn's little dress is just adorable!!!!

amazing

marybeth, the leader of my Christian Scrapbooking Sisters yahoo group challenged us all to come up with a word for the year for ourselves........ this was such an easy challenge for me because i already had something going on in my life that fit the category.... my word is AMAZING!!!! i am going to make some scrapbook pages for myself with this story and my word for the year.... but meanwhile some gals in my stamp club and i have started a circle journal group!!! and the first circle journal i had to complete was one about songs that inspire you!!! so since seal's song amazing was the inspiration for my word of the year.... i made some pages with my story for jeanette's circle journal....

here's what the journaling says

At the end of October I found out my husband was going to be deployed again with the Army… he had only been home for two years since his last deployment… so I wasn’t expecting for him to have to go again… or go again so soon.
We have five kids… and the youngest is only 3 – so right away I started thinking of all the things my husband will be missing out on while he is gone… he will miss a whole soccer season and then a whole football season, he won’t even make it to a single game… he will miss Daniel’s first year of middle school… and Arden’s sophomore year… he will miss Brynn’s last year at home before she has to start kindergarten… he will be gone for an entire summer! So much happens over a summer when the kids are so young…
And then there’s all the work, mowing the lawn, opening and closing the pool for the season, all the gardening and… the list went on and on… I would have to do all of this alone! I started feeling sorry for myself and crying and just feeling hopeless in general. In fact, I started getting upset with God… asking Him ‘why?’ Why was He making me go through this?? Wasn’t I strong enough? Wasn’t I independent enough?? Hadn’t I already shown Him that I could do this two times before?? Why must I go through this again??
And then slowly it started to come to me… the first thing that happened was I heard a new song that came out by my favorite artist SEAL. He sings this song called

Amazing. And the chorus says, “I want you to always feel you’re amazing…” When I

heard it, it caught my attention immediately… and I could not stop thinking about it – almost like God was speaking directly to me… I WANT YOU TO ALWAYS FEEL YOU’RE AMAZING!! Wow!! What does that mean?? I sure don’t ‘feel’ amazing… how do you go about trying to feel amazing… so that song just stuck with me… in fact I ran out and got Seals new CD and started listening to that song all the time… The next thing that happened was I needed to memorize a Bible verse for my Bible study. The verse was, “Now what I am commanding you today, is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.” Deuteronomy 30:11. The more I thought about this verse, the more I realized that it applied directly to my situation today… God isn’t asking me to do something that I can’t do… I was feeling soo overwhelmed and so hopeless – that I just didn’t want to do all of this by myself… I was in complete denial – I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to do this!!! is all I could think of … but once this Bible verse sunk in, I started coming out of this big depression I was in… This is not out of my reach… I started thinking… I want you to always feel you’re amazing… hmmm – what is God trying to tell me here…
Next I started thinking about myself… now THERE is something I hadn’t done in a very very long time!!! My life was all about my husband and my five kids… everything I did was directly connected with helping them out, -doing something for them… somewhere along the road I had lost myself… who am I? What do I even like anymore?? What do I even know about myself? I had completely lost my identity over the past 14 years of raising kids and trying to be a good mom and a good wife…
So then it finally all hit me – What does God want me to learn this time?? He wants me to feel amazing!!! Oh man, now I am excited – feel AMAZING?? – Now who wouldn’t want to feel amazing?? And then I started getting excited!! God wants me to use these 15 months alone to grow even closer to Him… to learn how to be amazing again… to figure out who I am and glorify Him through showing the world what a great work He has done in me!!
So now how do I go about this??… Well first off, it’s time to loose weight!! I have had five kids and five c-sections… so losing weight is all but impossible for me… I have tried and tried and tried… and nothing ever happens… but this time I am going to do it!!! So I started off by saying – ok God, I will give it another try… but God – it’s not going to be easy – and He gave me the verse – “I can do all things in God who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. So on November 9th, I started exercising again… at least once a day I would put in a workout tape and then at the end I would stretch and then do some sit-ups and push-ups. Then I started looking at my eating habits… right about this time a good friend asked me to join a Bible study she was doing. Through this class I started learning about how to eat right and make healthy choices. I changed what foods I ate AND the times I ate them… I also started drinking 6-8 cups of water a day… Now it is march 4th… and I am down almost 30 pounds… I’m not quite to the point where I’m feeling ‘amazing’ yet – but I can see God’s hand at work here… slowly, slowly He is chipping away at the strongholds in my life – most of them that I didn’t even know where there… HE is my security right now – HE is my rock! And HE wants me to always feel I’m amazing!! I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me!!

introducing Frula Lula

so we found this kitty outside freezing to death.... i made the mistake of bring her into the house to see brynn (you think i would have learned not to bring things inside after the praying mantis fiasco) so i thought - it's soo dang cold outside and brynn would love to see this cute little kitten - i will just take the cat inside for a couple minutes so brynn can see her...... well the couple minutes turned into a couple hours and next thing you know we're picking the kids up from school with the cat in the van!!! and then if that wasnt enough we went to the store and got the cat some food....... even now - two weeks into 'im just going to bring the kitty in the house for a minute' - i still have it in my mind that we're going to put this darn kitty back outside.........

i am soo not a cat person...... really im not a pet person at all...... i dont care for the mess, i dont care for the smell, i dont care for the extra work....... like really - do i need to add one more thing to my plate right now!!!??? so wwwwwhhhhhyyy is this little kitty still in our house??? well, i just have no clue....... i have even found myself picking the freakin thing up and giving her eskimo kisses!!! what in the world am i thinking?????

so i guess im going to have to face the reality here........ i think it's time to take frula lula off of sleepover status and officially welcome her into our family........ think she can handle it????

tea for two

so poor little frula lula........ brynn has been making her come to all the tea parties...... which is kinda nice for me - because im off the hook....... but frufru has to sit there in that chair and have tea for hours on end....... and now the poor cat is being subjected to dress up too....... really the kitty is soo patient with brynn and her whims........ she just patiently sits there .... and when brynn insists that lula take a drink, that little kitty will put her front paws up on the table and look into the cup - it's pretty darn cute to tell you the truth........ but the funniest part is the look frufru gives me when i walk into the room - her expression just has "you've got to be freakin' kidding me" all over it!!!!

happy st. patrick's day

here's little miss brynn all decked out in her green for st patrick's day...... i just love her in this outfit!!! and then here is the card im sending out for the occasion

another one bites the dust

we've had a passing...... dewey died this afternoon......... this one was particularly hard on us now that are numbers are down so much!!! we really felt close to this little guy.... or i guess i should say gal........ now we are down to just three baby praying mantises.......

it looks like they are all three females....... and with this last molting we noticed they are starting to grow their wings!!!! hope one of these guys makes it to spring!!!!!

we got snow!!!!

over the weekend we got snow just dumped on us down here!!!! we've not seen this much snow since we've moved here!!!!! the kids were just soo excited!!! it must have been about 6 inches - which is crazy for kentucky!!!! all the cul de sac kids met outside and went sledding and made snow angels then went in for a quick break and drank hot chocolate while their gloves and hats and coats ran through the dryer... then it was back out!!!! on the second day of snow they started building an igloo!!!!!!! this is going to be the winter storm that they talk about for years!!!! what a fun time!!!

Brynn's law

lately Brynn has been coming up with her own rules...... they sound kinda like murphy's laws to me....... she'll walk up to me, and say......... "so, if a little person lays down in their bed and closes their eyes, then a big person has to come in and pick them up and hold them......" that was the rule she told me about last night as she was stalling at bedtime........ now the rule this morning was....... "so, if a little person does work for the big person, then the big person has to get the legos out and play with them........"

i think it's a requirement that these rules always begin with SO..... and you must say it with a ton of attitude - like you are informing others that you certainly know more than them.... and you are definately the boss of them!!!! haha!!! what a crazy girl!!! im loving the new laws!!!! (today anyways!!!)

oh - ps - check out these new pants - those ruffles on the bottom are just soo cute!!!

Spencer County FFA wins regional jr. parliment!!!!

Arden travel by bus to U. of Kentucky today to compete in the Future Farmers of America Junior Parliment Competition. It was the regional competition - and she said there were about 15 counties represented there..... well anyways Arden's freshman team won the competition!!!!! she now gets to go to the state competition!!!! Spencer County FFA took 7 first place finishes and 7 second place finishes out of the 20 categories you can enter!!! Go Spencer County!!!

hey cupcake

my BFF sent me this little cupcake stand...... i am sooo into cupcakes right now!!! they are just soo cute!!!! since it was setting right in front of me i used it for inspiration for my new cupcake card!!!! wish you could smell this post - the card is scented with a birthday cake scent!!!!!!

fairy tales do come true

little miss brynn just got these new fairy wings!!! she looks soo cute running around the house dancing around like she's a fairy!!!

i found her curled up on my bed one afternoon - guess this fairy business is tiring!!!

matching card

here is a card i whipped up with the leftover scraps from the page...... loving that fairy!!! oh man is she cute!!!!

challenge

so a friend gave me a packet of scrapbook stuff and said here - i challenge you to use everything in this envie on a scrapbook page....... how fun is that!!! i love a challenge!!!! so here is the page - SNOW DAYS....... im just loving the photo of daniel and his friend anna sledding down our back hill!!! what a great shot!!! thanks for the challenge my friend!!!

what im working on now

so here's what im working on now - arent these little girls sooo cute!!! I can't wait to make something with them...... but i cant decide on a scrapbook page or a card.... maybe i will do both

a new bella card!!

it has been such a long time since i have posted anything.... so here is a picture of a bella card i just made..... need to use this gal more often - i just love her!!!!!!!!