Snowy Sunday

We didn't have church today. A lot of roads are clear but a lot are still really bad. So we spent another day inside. Scott watched Harper most of the day so I could tackle some projects. They had fun - doing things like wearing bowls on their heads. ha!

Before & After

One of the main projects I wanted to tackle from the day I quit to stay home was to organize my pantry on the side that holds all my serving dishes. We were given so many wonderful things for our wedding and I love to entertain so I have a ton of serving platters and bowls, etc. But over time it had become a big MESS! (as you can see on the left). So I took everything out and finally got it organized. YEAY! That's one project down.

Another thing I wanted to do even before Christmas was to put together a box to send to the Promise House in Little Rock. Every since I visited them in the fall - I have had them on my heart to help them so I try to get things here and there to send them. I was excited to include copies of a blog friend Marla's devotional book for pregnant women called Expecting: Praying for Your Child's Development-Body and Soul

I hope through this book - it will encourage those girls and point them to Jesus.

(By the way - if any of you live anywhere around Central AR - they are doing a maternity clothing drive for the girls so if you have any clothes you would like to donate - you can find out what to do HERE.)

This afternoon - one of Harper's friends Ella Kate was having a birthday party. We REALLY wanted to go. I know it was something Harper would have SO much fun at and I was ready to get out of the house. So we got all dressed and I got in the car and drove through our neighborhood - got to the end of our subdivision and then I drove straight back home. I have NEVER driven on roads that bad and even though I was sure the main roads were fine - I decided it was just not worth it and didn't want to risk anything happening to me or Harper just so we could go to a birthday party. Scott offered to drive us but by then - the party would have been halfway over before we got there. So we are sad to miss but I guess it's for the best.
It looks like we will spend another day at home tomorrow. I'm really wishing Sonic made home deliveries. ha! Hopefully things will begin to melt tomorrow so we can get out this week!

At least I have a cutie to spend my days with. She cracks me up - she is constantly smiling and she crinkles up her nose and shuts her eyes and shows all her teeth when she smiles. She has also started to "give us five" and she LOVES to do that! She is just the BEST!

Snow Day

It snowed all day yesterday and we wound up with about 6 inches of snow - which is a LOT for Arkansas. I think this is the most snow we have had in 10 years. Luckily it was more snow than ice so we didn't lose power. I think it is SO pretty!

Scott got up this morning and decided he would make Harper a snow man. It pretty much took him all day! Yes - he was using a shovel. The snow was dry and wouldn't pack well and he ended up making an enormous snowman!

I decided to make snow ice cream (well - Scott kept asking me to make snow ice cream)

All you do is get 2 quarts (or more) of FRESH CLEAN snow! Mix in a cup (or more) of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla and milk until it reaches the consistency you want! It's really good!

Especially served with a hot brownie! :-)

We let Harper have some after lunch

And this was after she had it - think she liked it?

While Daddy worked on the snow man - Harper and I played and played and played

and played........

and finally Scott was finished with the biggest snowman in AR. Feel free to come visit us in April - it will still be in our back yard. ha!

We took Harper out to see it!

She liked it!

She WASN'T so sure about being bundled up.

Just so you can get perspective on how big the snowman is! ha!

Dawson had a great time! He got some kind of burst of crazy energy and kept running around and around the snowman.

We love snow days around here!

It looks like we will have another one tomorrow because our church was cancelled. So hopefully we can get a few projects done around the house while we stay home.

I'm off to watch my own personal Super Bowl - MISS AMERICA! I can't wait for 3-4 more years when I can let Harper stay up and watch it with me! We are going to wear tiaras, eat cookie dough and keep score sheets! (Go Miss Arkansas!! Whoo Whoo!)

Show Us Your Life - FASHION TIPS

Today is Show Us Your Life - Fashion Tips. And honestly I'm a little "chawed". I just feel real out of style most days. I have learned to just figure out what works for me. I like to stay as close to "in style" as I can but I'm 36 and have big hips and let's face it - all styles will not work.

And my style has changed over the last year. I always used to wear heels and now I NEVER do. I've traded all my shoes in for flats and flat boots and I'm so happy. I just can't do heels anymore. Especially being a SAHM and carrying around a big baby and a lot of gear all the time. I refuse to be in pain. ha!

I guess my fashion tip is just my signature look. I say it's my signature look only because people are always dressing like this and then saying or sending me pics and saying "hey - I look like Kelly today". ha! I do this out of complete necessity - it stretches my wardrobe.

My main fashion wardrobe consists of a lot of dresses and in the winter I put turtlenecks or long sleeve shirts underneath with tights or leggings and flats or mostly boots. And then in the summer - I pair the same dresses with flip flops or sandals. As you can tell in this pictures - I've started putting Harper in the same thing. I find myself putting long sleeved shirts under dresses for her all the time. ha!
I got this cute Gold Dress at Ann Taylor loft on sale for $20!!! So I put my black t-neck and tights underneath and I just loved it. I had a big pearl necklace to wear with it.

Here is Harper sporting the look once again.

I found I had to really change my wardrobe when I was nursing......whoa - that's a whole other post for a different day. I'm so glad to be free to wear what I want again and not worry constantly about how Harper was going to eat. ha!

Ya'll are all at different places in life - so it will be fun to hear different tips - or what you like to wear. Maybe I can get ideas on how to stretch my wardrobe even more. I've been adding scarfs to plain black dresses and that has been fun and I've also worn jeans a LOT more this year. I have never worn jeans in my life until this past year but life changes, huh?

And leggings have become my best friend! SO much more comfortable than jeans but you can make them dressier like under a dress or tunic and better than yoga or sweat pants! LOVE them!

One Year Ago Today

This was Harper one year ago today - January 28, 2009. We were in the middle of an awful ice storm both in Tulsa and at home. I will never forget it. Scott, Mom and I stayed together in one room at the Ronald McDonald House which luckily was right next to the hospital so we could slide down the road and be with her all day. One year ago today when she was 12 days old - they took her off the ventilator and let us hold her for the first time.

One year ago today was the best day of my life.

and here is Harper one year later wearing the same flower headband and the same sweet smile.

Every day since then has been my "next" best day of my life!

(her sweater came from Target since several of you are asking)

and we are preparing for another big ice storm this year! I'm so worried about losing power. We could live if it was just Scott and I but having Harper adds a whole new dimension. I'm pulling out containers to put water in "just in case". Hopefully we won't lose power. We have plenty of food, diapers and other necessities.

And as I worry about losing power and how we will live - my very next thought is the people of Haiti. They have been living without food, water, shelter or really ANYTHING for over two weeks now with no end in sight. They have lost love ones and everything they owned. Puts my little ice storm in perspective and causes me to pray even harder.

Because I don't always use my nice camera

I took several pics with my phone today because I never had a camera handy.....so here is our day through my phone!

I wore glasses today for the first time I can remember. My problem is I have never practiced "good contacts care" so I obviously need to work on that.


I met a blog friend, Courtney cox (real name) for lunch at Olive Garden. She is so fun! Her little boy Tate did not want to pose. Harper really liked him!


After lunch, Harper and I hit target. You can see how happy they made her! We are supossed to get a huge ice and snow storm starting tomorrow which means cabin fever! It's crazy because exactly one year ago there was a HUGE ice/snow storm here and we were in the hospital in Tulsa.


I got Harper a little princess little people Lego set. I'm hoping it will help keep her entertained while we are stuck at home for days.


And I had to get last minute supplies ( you don't see diet coke and food I already bought a couple of days ago to prepare). (No - the Peanut butter isn't for the brownies.......Scott likes to eat PB and I like to eat brownies. ha!)

Stay warm!

Ch-Ch-Changes...........

We had Bible Study this morning and when I went to pick up Harper afterwards - she wasn't in the nursery. She had moved on up to the big kids room! I think she was really happy in there! I know most moms probably get sad as their kids move up.......but I'm actually excited. I love watching her grow and change and I think it's so fun to experience each stage! They told me they just had to watch her and Sarah Kate because SK was Loving on her especially hard! :-)
She was reading this book that makes sounds this afternoon. She loves this!
She wouldn't wear her bow - so I put it on Dawson hoping it would encourage her. ha! I don't think he was too thrilled. He got it off himself faster than she gets it off her head.

I am learning so much in my Bible Study ("Lord Change My Attitude") - Boy do I have a lot to work on. After learning about not complaining and not grumbling........Laurie and I and a friend Karen went to lunch at Chili's. We were SOOOOOOO sad because they have changed the menu and the changes are NOT GOOD. Chili's has been one of my favorite restuarants for the last probably 20 years. But the one thing I have always ordered - chicken quesadillas is gone. They have jalepeno or bacon ranch quesadillas but not the normal kind. They also don't have normal dinner salads or baked potatos anymore. And they changed the chicken tacos to something weird. Basically everything the 3 of us wanted to order was changed. Good thing they still had chips and salsa or we might have bolted for the door. (If anyone from Chili's reads this - I REALLY hope you go back to what made you great!)
We had four girls between us: 1, almost 2, 3 and 4 and they all had big pink bows in their hair. I should have taken their picture but again they were 1,2,3 & 4. ha! Good luck getting a picture of that. We were lucky to just get to eat lunch. ha!

About once a month for the last few months - I've gotten some kind of crazy eye infection. I had it when we went to El Salvador. My eyes get completely red. I look like someone that Dog the Bounty Hunter just arrested and put in his suburban. Harper and I went for a little outing today and my eyes were killing me so I bought some cheap sunglasses at T J Maxx. Harper helped me pick them out. I would try them on and she would smile real big when she liked them or look serious if she didn't. It was so much fun!

These are the pair I bought - she wanted to try them on. I thought she looked just MARVELOUS! ha!

Sisters

This weekend was Bid Day at the college I went to and I was looking at pictures on facebook because one of the girls in my sorority when I was there is now the sponsor. I was thinking back to rush and the week I pledged. That was such a fun time in my life. I went to a Baptist College and we didn't have national sororities .......we had "social clubs". Some of the girls I pledged with are still my friends today.....including my best friend Laurie.
I was thinking about why being in a sorority is so fun. I think as girls/women - we just NEED girlfriends. We need people to laugh with and to cry with. We need friends to go out to eat with and shop with and to pray with.
This may look alarming if you didn't go to OBU but our letters were XXX. ha! (Tri Chi was the name of our club.) Chi (X) is the Greek symbol for CHRIST! Our motto was sisters in Christ. So the motives were pure when they picked that name but it later started to look bad to outsiders and they use the letters TC now. ha! I'm the dark headed girl holding the football! I LOVED intramural football!
Anyway ....... my college days are long over but lately I feel like I'm still in a sorority. The motherhood sorority. These girls in my Sunday School class have been like that for me. We may not go to functions, dances, date dashes or outings...........but we go to MOPS group, play group, Bible Study and Sunday School dinners. These girls prayed for me when we wanted a child and now are there to talk about everything from dirty diapers to runny noses to cute dresses to missions. We keep each others kids, we take each other dinner, we throw each other showers. My heart is so full and so thankful for the friends God has given me.

I just think it's SO important to have girlfriends. You may only have one. You may have fifty. But we all need some kind of "sorority". I feel like all of you in blog land are kind of a Sorority for me as well! I feel like we should hold hands in a circle and sing. And then take a bunch of pictures and pose in the "sorority squat". (See me in the picture above!)

Girls Weekend

Scott and Steve left Thursday night for south Arkansas to hunt. So it's just been me and Harper the last few days. He picked a great time to leave us because poor baby has been getting her molars and is MISERABLE! She's been so fussy. Today was a little better so hopefully we are on the mend. I kept thinking today about how fun it will be in 4-5 years when Scott goes hunting for the weekend because she and I can have a REAL girls weekend and go to the movies, paint our toenails, eat at girly places that Daddy doesn't like, shop....... I look so forward to that! Of course I also think that there will come a day in about 12-13 years when she will likely not want to spend any time with me. :-( I'm scared of the teenage years.

Anyway.......we have not done much over the last two days because the weather has been dreadful and Harper has just felt crummy. We were supposed to go to a birthday party today but I hated to take my snotty girl to it. So we just stayed home.

Tonight we had 3 couples over from our Sunday School Class. We have a real fun fellowship a few times a year called "Guess Who's coming for dinner". One person in our class coordinates it and we have it in 2-4 homes. You are told whose home to go to and what to bring or if it's at your house you are told how many people are coming and what to make but you don't know who until they ring the doorbell. I had thought I had it all figured out but I was all wrong. But pleasantly surprised!!! I haven't entertained in a while so I broke out some flowers and crystal candlesticks. I may have gone to far because I used these paper linen monogrammed napkins and the guys later told me they were afraid to use them. ha!
I put Harper to bed before everyone came. I didn't want her to infect any of the kids and it was her bedtime anyway. This is poor Caleb having to use a pink highchair. ha!
The guys sat at one table with the kids and the girls sat at another. I had so much fun visiting with my friends. These fellowships are fun because it's just a few people and you really get to talk.

Amanda, Robin and Jessica

I couldn't believe Harper didn't wake up with all the noise we were making but towards the end she finally did. Neely and Parker who are both 2 came in with me to get her and she kept blinking her eyes and staring at them like "why are there kids in my room in the middle of the night? (8:30) ha!
Neely and Parker had fun together and they were hugging and kissing by the end of the night. Young Love.

I'm hoping to have a low key week this week. I actually don't have much planned which is nice for a change. I hope ya'll had a nice weekend too!

More on Haiti

I'm sure most of you are watching the Haiti special tonight. I still pray and think about Haiti every hour of every day. Compassion is putting together something very exciting to support the work there - hopefully I'll be sharing about that soon.

I wanted to tell you about one of my good friends from college. She and I lived on the same hall for a couple of years and now she lives practically down the street from me. Her husband is a doctor in our area. He also went to OBU but was older so I didn't know him (although I was pre-med for 3 semesters and I remember him being in charge of our Chem lab)(Yes - I was pre-med - that's a story for another time entitled "how I nearly flunked out of college").

Anyway Lance (or Dr. Faddis) called his mission pastor at his church this week and said "I want to go." They quickly put together a team of doctors, nurses and pastors and they will be leaving Thursday to go. They are taking tents to stay in and protein bars to eat. It's going to be a rough trip for them but they are going to set up a clinic and do medical work. I have been thinking a lot lately that if I was a doctor - I would want to go over there. Well, I'm obviously not a doctor (since I BARELY passed anatomy) but I can do two things - pray for my friend who is going and ask you to and support him and his team and ask you to. Lance and Jennifer have four young children so obviously pray for them and for his safety.

I've already asked you to support in one way or another and you did in a big way. We recieved 842 comments and we will be making our donation to Compassion this week in YOUR honor!!! If all of you gave even $10 - that's $8500 before we donate! AWESOME!

Dr. Faddis and his team are working through a group called Thirst No More. 100% of donations are going to medical supplies and Primary assistant kits. You can read about it here. You can know that if you donate - it will be going directly to help the Haiti people who are sick or injured or need supplies.
Go here and read more and I'd love if you would think about helping!
http://www.fbcrogers.org/serving/TheCrisisInHaiti.html

Show Us Where You Live - where do you shop???

Today on Show Us Where You Live - It's all about Where do you shop? On-line or In Stores?

I think we'd love to find new places or good ideas - so tell us any unusual spots!

These are a few places I have been loving lately:

Of course - I love Target, T J Maxx and even Wal-Mart for cute, cheap clothes!

I love Ann Taylor Loft - especially lately. They have had the cutest stuff! Very girly and ruffly. It can be a little pricey BUT they have great sales!

I found this web site called Shabby Apple recently and I think they have the CUTEST stuff. It's all dresses and they are really pretty!!!The Latest Dresses from Shabby Apple
I love this one!

And I think this would would be great for Razorback games! :-) Or any other time!
My sweet blogger friend Caroline who has the BEST style - recently twittered about this site : www. modcloth.com and I am LOVING it. Kind of retro dresses! So cute!

And I really love Francesca's for cute tops and dresses and they also have very cute jewelry!

I was going to talk about Harper's clothes but I think we may just have a separate day for children's clothes!!!

WHERE DO YOU SHOP?