Post # 2000

So I just realized last week that I was about to write Post #2000. And today is the day! Wow - that seems like a bunch of posts.  I started my blog 6 and a half YEARS ago. I honestly never thought anyone would read it beyond my mom and a few of my friends.  I never dreamed in a million years that I would have a lot of readers.  I never dreamed God would allow me to do big things with this little real estate on the internet. But I'm SO thankful.

I want to tell each of you who come here and read my boring stories about my little life and leave me (mostly) kind comments and write me encouraging emails and tweet me - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!! I feel like I have an amazing community here. You have prayed for my family, you have given me words of wisdom and most importantly - you have prayed for and encouraged the others who come here to visit! I love it! I am VERY humbled by you! My only goal with this blog besides recording my memories is to make Jesus known and to give Him glory in all I do.  I want to be salt and light for Him.  I mess up - but I'll keep trying.

So I thought I would share a little journey of this blog and what has happened over 2000 posts .........

(us the month I started blogging)

• This was my first post. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2006/03/march-madness.html  My first posts tended to be about one paragraph and not too interesting. ha! 

• In July 2006 I had a miscarriage. We weren't sharing that we were trying and that was the beginning of our journey to have a child. I wrote this post without sharing the details. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2006/07/i-have-gone-through-something-this.html

• I began to write more openly blog about our struggle with infertility - here are a few posts I wrote: http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2008/02/hit-me-with-your-best-shot.html, http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2008/01/its-been-hard-day.html

• Here is the post where we announced we were pregnant with Harper - it was so fun to share because so many of you had encouraged me and prayed for me as we waited for a baby! http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2008/06/tis-so-sweet-to-trust-in-jesus.html

• Most of you began to read here when Harper was born and I'll never be able to thank you enough for praying for her.  She was born very very sick and had a very rough start to life. If you want to read more - you can start here on her story and then just keep going - we were in the NICU a month. Thankfully she came home healthy and we are forever grateful. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2009/01/please-pray.html

• One of the BEST experiences I've had through blogging is traveling with Compassion International to share about them through my blog and to help poverty one step at a time by encouraging YOU to sponsor kids! That's my #1 favorite thing that has come out of blogging. In 2009 I went to El Salvador and in 2011 I went to Ecuador with two groups of AMAZING bloggers (including Boomama, Big Mama, Shaun Groves, Ann Voskamp, Amanda Jones (Beth Moore's Daughter), Heather Whittaker and Molly Piper (John Piper's DIL).  How I found myself in the company of any of these people blows my mind.  I honestly had to pinch myself a few times when I realized I was on a boat on the Amazon River with these famous speakers and singers and authors who all share this common goal of seeing poverty end. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/11/king-of-jungle.html  and http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2009/11/el-salvador-day-2.html

• In 2009 I started the little "show us your life" series.  It has been a fun Link up party to do on Fridays but my #2 favorite thing to come from blogging has been the four Single Days we have had. I love that FIVE couples are now married or engaged and at least four more couples are planning to get married. Seriously - nine couples meeting on this silly mom blog? Completely nuts and completely awesome. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2012/07/five-love-stories.html

• A huge blessing in our life was having a surprise baby Hollis! She has blessed our lives so much and it was fun to share my pregnancy and her life with you! http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/03/hollis-birthday.html

I have made SOOOO many friends in blogging and I've had the chance to meet a ton of you and I have loved every second of it.  I'm thankful that God has opened doors for me through my blog like being able to speak places (even when I want to throw up) or blog for the local news or participate in things I never dreamed I would.  But at the core of everything that this blog is, at the end of the day - I view my blog as a ministry and I pray that I can use it as a place to encourage, to lift up others in prayer, and to share the passion I have for my Savior. Thank you for welcoming me into your home - I hope you feel like we are old friends by now!
You have blessed me more than you know!

Lately in pictures

I feel like I rarely pull out our good cameras to take pictures much lately. I love the convenience of using my cell phone.  I thought I would share a few pictures that I have on my phone from the last few days.
Little Miss Hollywood waiting for dinner. ha! She is so funny. Hollis refuses to eat in her highchair anymore. Harper always eats her meals at her little kid table and now Hollis wants to eat there too.

Saturday we had a fun family day.  We had to go to a few stores and run a few errands and then we took the girls to get ice cream and play and then to petco to see the Kitty Cats and Fish. It's like our cheap version of the zoo. Harper was SO excited to see anything that was alive in the store. I told Scott we HAD to take them to the zoo this fall. I wish we had one really close by.  And that it wasn't 105 degrees.

Harper was always a climber and pretty brave but it took her until she was about 2.5 before she would climb to the top of the chick fil a playset. Hollis made it up Saturday. And she did it by going up the long, windy slide backwards. But then she was stuck. And who had to go and get her. ME. 

I'm not claustrophobic but climbing up that small closed in slide nearly did me in. 

At VBS the girls got gift certificates for a free mini pizza at Papa Murphy's. We love that place - you get the pizzas and bake them yourselves. This one the girls actually got to make themselves. They loved it! That was a good Saturday night dinner!

 Sunday I was up early and I did a little instagram picture of my hair PRE, DURING and POST poof! ha! Thanks to Freeze It the cheap hairspray that can make your hair Arkansas big. (And that is my robe - not a dress. But I love it!)
 I got this robe right before I had Hollis so I would have something pretty to wear in the hospital because I knew I would be there a few days. I wear it EVERY single day. I bought it at dillards and the brand is Natori. It came in like 10 colors.

And of course - here is my little princess. It's all baby dolls and princess and Barbie here 24/7. And I love it!

Coming Events

I wanted to share two things my church has coming up for any of you who read this who are local.

Next Saturday, August 4th our church has a Clothing Giveaway.
It will be in our Family Life Center from 7 a.m - 12.

There will be all sizes clothing from newborn to adults.

If you are in need of clothes for your family or you know someone you can pass the word to - please come!

 Also - Attention all moms of girls ages 8 -12

Our church is doing a really special event on August 23rd called Secret Keepers Girls LIVE!
Tickets are available HERE.

This event is about teaching and encouraging the girls modesty, choosing friends wisely and embracing God's beauty. And knowing she can share all of her heart's secrets with her mom any time. There is a team that comes in and does Bible teaching and fashion shows and worship and lots of fun.  I know this sounds like something I would LOVE to take my girls to in several years.  If you live in NWA and have girls in this age - this will be something you will want to look into coming to!

You can read more about the event here: http://www.secretkeepergirl.com

Show Us Your Life - Displaying Pictures in your home

I have always LOVED pictures and putting pictures in frames around my house. I thought it would be fun to show different ways you display pictures in your home. I'm hoping to get some pictures printed and framed soon and make some new display walls. I have this one in our family room but it needs to be updated! 

 I took to interest to look for displays I like. I like the clean look of the white with B&W pictures.

 And I ADORE these frames and this display!

This was my favorite - love the colors and the way they displayed them.

I hope you will share all the ways you display your pictures in your home!

Packing up the Dreams God planted.........

There is a group of women in our church who are all great friends. They mostly all have empty nests now but they have all been at the church since their kids were small. I'm always a little jealous because they all go to lunch after Bible Study and don't have babies to juggle and can eat anywhere they want not just somewhere with a playground.  They are all wise Godly women and I love that they have known each other through young motherhood to grown children.  I always envision my little circle of friends being the same way.  I always hope we will all go to children's camp and youth camp as chaperones with our kids as they grow and on graduation Sunday we will flash up pictures of our kids through the years.

And then sadly - things change and friends have to move on.  I hate it.

We had a girls night tonight at TCBY just to get together and to celebrate our friend Amber who is moving next week.  This is the second friend who has moved in the last few months and I just hate saying goodbye.

My friends will hate me for this but they are so funny and wanted to pose silly. I love these girls!

But just like the circle of life - we had two new girls join us tonight. If we didn't scare them off (and there is a good chance of that) - maybe they will come back to our group.  I think back to all the friends I have had throughout my life. So many were just for a season. I want everyone to be my lifelong friend but I think some people are just supposed to be in your life for a reason at a certain time.

Then I have friends like Laurie who have been my friends for 20 plus years and I know that I will be eating at Luby's for the senior special when we are 78.

I just want to break out into a chorus of "Friends are Friends Forever" right now. I also need a written form from each of my friends promising that they will not move anytime soon.

Amber - I will miss you sooooooooooooooo much! Thank goodness for Facebook and texting - I won't let you forget me yet! :-)

Choosing the Right Pediatrician

This is a post in a series I am writing for Huggies and BlogHer all about pregnancy and the first year of a baby's life.
Today is about finding the right pediatrician.
This can be different depending on whether you live in a metro area or in a rural area. Sometimes, especially in small towns, you may not have much of a choice. Or it could be a daunting task to narrow down a good pediatrician if you live in a big city. It is SO important to find someone you are comfortable with and trust with your precious child! And you may see a lot of him/her in that first year!
The first thing you should do is ask your friends with children. People normally have pretty strong opinions and pretty strong attachments to their pediatricians so if you have people you trust, get their advice. They can recommend someone. Word of mouth and firsthand experience is so much better than any google search. Something that is important to me is location. I know some people don't mind driving 30 minutes or an hour to their doctor but I prefer someone close by. Taking an infant or small children to the doctor can be a big task and it helps when they are close to home.
I went through a journey finding the right pediatrician. I chose someone that was close to where I had worked and who people recommended and very soon after that we had Harper, who left to be a medical missionary in Africa. Obviously we had chosen a great doctor! Ha! So we moved on to another doctor in the practice, but he also left that practice, and at the same time I realized that a friend from college had a practice very close to us and we chose to go to him and it was the best decision we ever made.
Something I like about our doctor is that he has four kids himself who are still young so he not only has knowledge as a doctor but also has understanding as a young parent. He puts me at ease by often assuring me that his kids have experienced similar things when I worry about something. He takes time with me and always listens to any concerns that I have. I'm not a hyphochrondiac at all--I'm probably on the other extreme-- but I feel like I've taken my girls to the doctor 1000 times thinking they "might" have an ear infection or some other kind of serious disease I've googled at 3 a.m., and he never makes me feel dumb when it turns out to just be a cold or a bad night's sleep. Ha!
Pediatricians are busy, but if you go to one who rushes in and rushes out and won't take time to listen to you or fully examine your children, I would suggest finding a new doctor. It's also important to find one that is not so busy you can't get worked in when you need to. Babies get sick and it's normal to feel concerned and that means calling last minute and hoping for appointments sometimes.
The nurses and office staff can also make or break your experience with your doctor. Our doctor has a very kind and welcoming set of people in his office and it makes a world of difference. Remember, just because you start out with a doctor doesn't mean you have to stay with him/her. There is nothing more important than your child's health and you want them in good hands. I am SO thankful to have a doctor I trust.
Check out the Huggies Mommy Answers Facebook app!
Find more posts from bloggers sharing their experiences of motherhood on the Huggies page on BlogHer.com.

What Matters Most

It's been here since they were both born.

The incessant need to constantly compare them to other kids.  Are they sleeping like normal kids? Are they crawling or walking when they should? Are they talking when they should be?

And I see this starting to escalate as Harper is beginning preschool.  I see some kids her age reading and Harper barely knows her letters (not for a lack of trying on my part) and I have panic attacks. What if she is behind? I feel like I'm constantly trying to get around other 3 year olds and listen to them talk to see where Harper is on her speech. Obviously she is delayed because of her hearing but I also wonder socially and physically where she lines up. And the same for Hollis. It keeps me up at night worried about how each girl will do as they grow up.

This has just been on my mind SO much lately as Harper moves into preschool both in school and at church.  I am trying to hard to set my "momma mind and heart" and focus on this. 

I honestly have never had the desire (even before I had kids) for them to be the smartest kids at school. I would love it if they were but that just doesn't seem like the most important thing to me. I don't need them to be super athletes - but if they were I would be proud I'm sure. I know kids all develop at different rates. I think about myself - My mom has told me my whole life how I was reading books at 3 and I started school at 4 and teachers would take me around to let others hear how well I read for such a young age. So you would think after all that I would be a brain surgeon.

I always say I peaked in the first grade.

I made good grades in school but I was never a national merit scholar (I know all you grammar police out there know this if you read my blog). I still managed to graduate college and have a pretty good business career and now I'm using my smarts to change diapers. And I have a pretty great life.

I think I have to continually put myself in check almost every day. Even though panic starts to arise when I think about how Harper will do in preschool - I remember that honestly I only care about two things when it concerns my girls. I don't care if they are the smartest girls in school. I don't care if they are cheer leading captains. I don't care if they are homecoming queen.

My desire for both girls is that they are kind and giving and that they love Jesus with all their hearts.

That's IT.

I will cheer and clap and jump and holler a whole lot more if they will sit by the kid who is a little different in the cafeteria and offer to share their cookies. Or if they will dry the tears of the kid in their class who gets hurt. Or if they are the first to volunteer when a friend has a need. I will be thrilled to death if they save all their allowance money to help orphans or buy poor kids Christmas gifts. My heart will soar if they will share Jesus with their classmates or invite friends to church.  I'm already so full of pride when Harper demands we pray at every meal and then says the sweetest prayers.  That's better than her being a child prodigy to me all day long.

Those things are eternal. I know being kind and loving God won't pay the bills but they will buy up mansions in heaven.

So I may spend more time teaching kindness or singing "Oh how I love Jesus" and praying with them  than I do teaching multiplication tables or Latin verbs.

My biggest prayer as a mom is to train their hearts and not their heads. I know that's NOT the popular way or what seems to be what most people do.  And it's a conviction to me to be the example - which means I have to shape up in where my priorities lie.  BIG TIME.

Loving God and loving His people to me is what matters most.


(cute little skirts by http://www.thechirpingmoms.com/)

Five Love Stories

Another Bachelor season has come and gone and who knows if Emily and Jef (with one F) will make it but I'm here to offer REAL hope to singles out there!!!! Y'all know Singles are HUGE on my heart so exactly TWO years ago I had the wild idea to do some kind of Single Match up.  And guess what? It WORKED! Since then we have done four "Show us your singles" days and another is coming up in September.

And I nearly pass out from giddiness every time I think about this but there are FIVE (F-I-V-E) couples who are now married or engaged. FIVE, Y'all!!! I'm going to share their stories with you today (I have their permission) NOT to give myself Glory. I'm the FIRST to tell you - this has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the fact that God can use ANYTHING - even a silly mom blog - to do His will! I want HIM to have all the glory on this! And I want to offer HOPE to all of you singles who think you will never find the ONE! You never, never, never know!

I've heard from FOUR more couples who are planning to be engaged in the near future!!!! Unreal!

(And I know of a few other couples who have met and are seriously dating - and if this is you - or if I don't know about you - will you PLEASE email me and let me know! I like to keep up with successes - it encourages me to keep this up!) (And I can pray for you!)

This is a LONG post - but worth being read! Married or Single!

Sarah and Christopher

Sarah is a sweet girl who commented on a post Christopher's sister wrote about him.  Christopher ended up emailing her. He was deployed to Iraq at the time. They started writing back and forth. He came home and they met up. The second time they went to a military ball. They began to see more of each other and on April 29, 2011 they were married!

You can read more of what Sarah wrote here: Part one and Part Two

Leslie and Stephen

Leslie is a local girl who I had met a few years ago - she is so sweet. And doesn't Stephen look like Tim Tebow? I'm just saying - we have some quality singles on here! :-)

Leslie happened to read a post Stephen's sister Sarah wrote about him on Singles Day. (Do you see the theme of sisters - love it!) Leslie left him a comment and he wrote her back! They both lived here in NWA so it was pretty easy. They talked and went on a date and the rest was history. 

They were married on September 17, 2012

You can read more of what Leslie wrote HERE.

Savannah and Aaron

Savannah is another local girl who I met in a totally random way and I consider a sweet friend now. 

One of Aaron's friends posted about him on Singles Day. Someone sent him Savannah's blog and he started reading it but decided she was too good for him. He ended up finding her on facebook and they messaged back and forth and then went on a date. They are PERFECT together and were married on February 24, 2012.

You can read the engagement story HERE.

Avery and Cash

Avery is an AR girl and Cash is a TX boy. Avery saw Cash's profile someone put on Singles Day and left a comment. He facebooked her and then called her and then came to AR to visit her. And soon they were traveling back and forth and back and forth.

And just a little over a week ago on July 14, 2012 - they were married! 

You can read the story of their engagement HERE.

Toi and Bryce

Toi doesn't have a blog and she wrote a really great story out so I thought I would put it all here:

Kelly asked me if I would share my story about meeting my fiancé through her Show Us Your Singles post.  I jumped at the opportunity.  It’s not so much that I want to share my story as much as I would like to offer a little glimmer of hope to all of those single girls out there who feel like Mr. Right just isn’t in the cards for them.  
I know that some of you are out there rolling your eyes and thinking, “Oh great more advice, just what I need.”  Trust me, I know.  I KNOW!  Everyone has advice for the single girl.  I hated it when people would give me advice and then tell me that they had been with their mate since they met in the nursery 3 seconds after being born and had been together ever since.  Oh, and never fought or broken up the whole time.  This isn’t that kind of advice.  I’ve been in your shoes.  In fact, I only recently took off those shoes.  This is honest advice that I wish I could go back and give myself.  
When I was younger I always just assumed that I would be married with kids by the time I was in my late twenties.  In my head I had it all figured out right down to where the kids would sit in the mini-van.  Funny, how life doesn’t always work out like we plan it out in our head.  Instead birthdays kept passing by and still finding me single.  Then the worst thing that could ever happen happened.  The BIG 3 0 came and I was STILL single.  How was that even possible?  Then 31 came and went.  Then 32.  Then 33.  AND OH MY GOD 34.  All those dreams and hopes of a husband and family were going away faster than I could blow out my birthday candles.
When I turned 34 I resigned myself that maybe God just had other plans for me.  Even though I wanted nothing more in life than to be a wife and mommy, maybe that just wasn’t what He had in store.  I had decided that when God was busy making everyone’s soul mates that he got distracted when he got to my name and forgot to come back to me.  I was the one person roaming the Earth without an equal half out there searching for me.  
I was never one of those girls who needed a man in my life to make me happy or complete.  Even though I wanted nothing more than to find my mate, I was still quite content being single.  Well, as content as you can be being single and wishing you could find your soul mate, but oh wait, God got a phone call the day he was supposed to create that person and forgot to get back to it.  I never let being single hold me back.  If there was something I wanted to do, I did it.  If there was somewhere I wanted to go, I went.  I also have the best friends in the world and they always made me feel loved.  But still, I was always the only single girl in my group of friends and when I was going or doing those things I wanted to do there always felt like something was missing.   That gets depressing sometimes.  And no matter how hard I tried, it got lonely.  At times that loneliness was overwhelming.  Almost palpable.  
So what does any single girl do when loneliness becomes palpable?  Especially late on a Saturday night after you’ve either drank all the wine in the house or eaten all of the ice cream?  You join an online dating site of course!  (FYI, single girls if you learn nothing at all from me, please at least take this tidbit with you, DON’T join an online dating site late at night out of loneliness!  Do it after you’ve given good thought to it.  Then wait three days.  If you still feel good about it, then put your profile out there.  Much like buying a firearm.)  Then you go on so many bad dates that your stories become your friends’ number one source of entertainment.  And you also remind yourself that being alone isn’t always so bad.  
That’s exactly what I did.  All of those bad dates, while funny, were just a blaringly obvious sign that this isn’t what I wanted.  I was NEVER going to find my future husband this way.  (I know lots of people meet their spouses this way.   I have nothing against online dating, it just wasn’t for me.)  I felt like I had run out of options. I’m not a social butterfly so my social circle wasn’t going to lead me to anyone.  I worked in a job that had little contact with anyone other than my three or four co-workers.  That wasn’t going to lead me to anyone.  I don’t do the bar scene and people are wrong about being able to meet single men at the grocery store.  Or at least at my grocery store.  I felt stuck.  Obviously, Mr Right was just not in the cards for me.  
Then one day I was sitting at my desk at work going through my list of daily blogs and Kelly was doing Show Us Your Singles.  I think she might have even featured a few people who had met through her previous event.  I probably read those while rolling my eyes because seriously?  Who meets like this?  And then I probably rolled my eyes again.  There were a lot of links that day.  I scrolled through them quickly and out of the corner of my eye I saw KS.  Out of curiosity I clicked on it.  It brought me to this.
http://theholtzmans.blogspot.com/2011/01/uncle-brycie-great-catch.html
He and I had A LOT in common.  I left a comment and really thought I would never hear back.  (Seriously, who meets like this?)  A few days later I got an email from him.  That email gave me butterflies.  I forwarded it to my best friend who instantly replied, “He sounds perfect.”  After emailing for about a month we decided to meet.  We drove halfway for the best first date in the history of EVER!  I knew immediately that this man was something very special.  The next day I lost my job.  And I thought it was the worst day in the history of EVER!  Best first date and I lost my job all within 24 hours.   If this was some kind of divine joke I was not getting it.  Fast forward to a year and a half later…..I live in a new city, have a new job and Bryce and I are getting married in three months.  It wasn’t a divine joke.  No joke at all.  It was God showing me his perfect timing.  
I know this has been long and drawn out, but single girls if you are still with me, this is my message to you.  God knows what he is doing.  He knows the pain and he knows the loneliness.  You aren’t single and going through the loneliness and bad dates and sad holidays and pints and pints of ice cream (maybe that was just me) for nothing.  He knows.  And he has perfect timing.  He knew exactly when to lead me to Bryce so that I would be the best person I can be for him.  If He had brought me to him any sooner I wouldn’t be able to be the best wife that I am going to be able to be for him.  I needed to learn things about myself and the only way I could learn those things were through my life experiences.  Were those experiences always good?  Absolutely not.  But, standing where I am today and looking back I know without an ounce of doubt that I needed every last one of them.  
I joked that I sometimes thought God had forgotten to make my mate.  Most of the time that was joke, but every once in awhile I would let myself believe it.  When Bryce and I went to meet with our priest to set a wedding date the first thing he said to us was, God made you two for each other.  He has always known that you two would be together.  Before anything else in the universe was created he knew that the two of you would be made for each other.  
Single girls, don’t give up.  God knows.  He knows your pain, but he also knows who you are made for.  His perfect timing will bring you together when it is right.  In the mean time, stay true to yourself.  Don’t falter for someone you know isn’t right.  I promise you, your time is coming.  And when you do find him it’s going to be even better than you ever imagined.   
My future sister in law wrote this lovely post about our engagement.  
http://theholtzmans.blogspot.com/2011/11/happily-ever-after.html
This September when Kelly does another Show Us Your Singles don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.  I never thought that random day when I left that response that I would be planning my wedding and future with Bryce.  You just never know what can happen, but trust me, He knows! 

and they are getting married October 27, 2012!!

And I also want to add that every one of these sweet couples have invited me to the wedding. Unfortunately Sarah's was too far away, I had a conflict with Leslie's, I was in the hospital with staph on Savannah's (and I was just sick I missed it) and I was at the beach when Avery got married. :-( But I'm so honored that they invited me anyway.  

To God be the Glory Great Things HE has done!

Help has arrived!

 My father-in-law has a meeting here this week so my MIL tagged along and is staying with us for a few days.  Harper is beside herself she is so excited to have GiGi here!

I can't lie - I'm SOOO thankful to have her here. She has been playing with the girls all day and I have gotten so much done.  I've been able to do more today than I can usually do in a week because I have super nanny here. 

 This is what happens if we try to get a picture with both girls and Gigi (or anyone).  Harper will smile and pose and "little wildcat" as we call her is all over the place! ha!

She was still for a nano second this afternoon. 

 I have a little cabinet in my laundry room I call my "party" cabinet. I keep all my tablecloths there and all my party supplies like cups, plates and napkins. I was cleaning it out today and couldn't believe all the napkins I have. I feel like I need to go to Napkins Anonymous. I just tend to over buy when I have things at my house. This is from years of get togethers. I never want to run out of cute napkins at things. But I think maybe I won't buy anymore for a while - I'll just pick from these colors. And don't worry - the paper plate stack was equally as high and colorful.  Do you have a napkin addiction too? Or something similar? 

June/July Sponsors

Every month I am featuring "small businesses" as sponsors on my blog. This is something I am doing for free so I can help out these women/men who are entrepreneurs. I'd love for you to check them out if you are interested! I got behind so these sponsors have been up for June and July!

Ruth and Rose has the cutest shop.  She sells all kinds of cute baby clothes and the CUTEST baby bows ever!!!!!

How cute would this little car onesie be on your baby boy? Or your friend's baby? Or your grandchild?

I've mentioned local store Riffraff before. It's a store I'm in love with and the great thing is - you don't have to live in NWA. They have a Facebook page and you can order all their cute clothes and jewelry and they will ship! You have to be local to check out all the darling furniture, sorority pictures, and fun home accessories.

They have the CUTEST clothes and the prices are good too!

I think the thing I'm most smitten with is their jewelry! If you shop from them - tell them I sent you!

Monkey Stitch makes the cutest little outfits. My girls had this exact set above and I LOVED it!!!!

and every kid needs a cute "back to school" shirt for preschool or grade school. Aren't these so cute?

Robinson Lane makes amazing state necklaces. I'm pretty sure you can guess how much I love these Arkansas ones. I love the "raised and stayed" one!

BUT LOOK - she can make any state!!!! I know so many of you love your states as much as I love mine - now you can wear that state proudly around your neck! Check her out! Or great birthday gift for that person in you life who has state pride!

More beach pictures

I'm that super annoying person that makes you sit down and look at their vacation pictures. ha! But I'm sharing a few more pics from the beach anyway.

The girls had a bunk bed in their room and Harper was OBSESSED with the top bunk. They would sit in here and watch movies in the afternoon. Harper and Sarah Kate slept on the bottom bunk and it was a total slumber party. They had so much fun.

Little surfer girl

How can you not believe in God when you see the ocean?

The girls had the best time collecting seashells. 

The three amigos

We didn't take a lot of pictures on the beach because we hated having our camera out with the sun and water so we mostly took pictures every night before we went out to eat.  We have this routine of getting to the beach in the morning and staying until mid afternoon and then getting ready and eating out early. 

Harper wasn't happy because she wanted to be in their family picture and not ours. ha! She spent half the week calling Laurie "momma".  She loves her so much I think she wishes she was her momma. 

This is the only swimsuit I bought Harper this summer. All the rest of hers were handed down to us. I absolutely love this and know Hollis can wear it one day. Harper HATED it and cried when I made her wear it. I think it's the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

This was a different night. We love eating seafood and then going to ride rides or do putt putt and then end the night with ice cream. We are a wild group! 

It was cloudy and rainy our last day at the beach but that didn't stop us from having fun.  Harper on our little dock headed to the beach.

Our last night. We ended up eating at Louisiana Lagniappe two nights in a row because it's just that good. It was a good choice.

I never get tired of the beach. I like going to cities or doing other things for vacation but we are just a beach family. I never ever get tired of how amazing the ocean is. I could stare at it for hours. I never get tired of hearing the waves crash in. If I had my dream life - I would live on a house on some beach somewhere. But I'll settle for the next best thing - in Arkansas. :-)