Valentine Boxes

I know Christmas is barely over and it's not even New Years.......

But I'm working on an article for Celebrate Arkansas Magazine and I want your help! Actually THEY want your help!! They love featuring my readers and have loved when we did the Christmas card article or a few others we have done where you have shared!

So here is what I'm wondering.......

Who has fun ideas for Valentine boxes that you have done in recent years for your kids? Or yourself? Do you have pictures?

If you do - will you share them with me (by tomorrow)!

Kellyskornerblog@Gmail.com

I am hoping to get to feature several of you!

Credit: http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day.html

I mean I can dig around Pinterest but I'd rather feature y'all!!!!!

THANKS!

What's in a Name?

Well.

Naming this baby boy was much harder than with the girls.  We have had such a hard time committing to a name.  I didn't necessarily want to do an "H" name but I wanted something that would go with Harper and Hollis.  

It's not like he needed an HBS monogram because he wouldn't be wearing hand me down monogrammed dresses. Ha! 

And then we had to put the name through the tests.

The yelling test:  (Not like literally yelling at him) but like "__________, come inside, it's time for dinner".  Or maybe "_________, quit bothering your sisters".

And then of course is the football test:

"___________ lines up at Quarterback for the Razorbacks".

And Scott has to put it through the "make fun of test".  As in what nickname will kids at school give him.

We finally agreed and told our families on Christmas Eve.

This is brother's name:

Scott's first name is William.  So I loved that he will carry on the name.  And I love the name Will.  I also have always wanted to use a double name. We will call him Will Holden but at some point I'm sure he will just go by Will.  Or maybe by Holden.  I will probably always call him both.

Holden was my favorite boy's name.  And it's totally not planned but I realized our kids will all have a literary reference in their names.  (Because Scott and I are such scholars - this makes sense.  ha!)

Harper - as in Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Hollis Barrett  - as in Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Will Holden - as in Holden Caulfield "Catcher in the Rye".

So there you go.  I'm so happy I can finally start referring to him by name!

Christmas Cheer

Well, Christmas turned out a little different than we had planned but it was a great one. 

Hollis and I both were sick the first of last week.  We were supposed to leave early afternoon on Christmas Eve for Scott's family but instead I spent all morning at convenient care with a sick little Hollis.  So we opted to stay home Christmas Eve.  And it was nice.  Minus the sick part.  I wish we could have gone to our church's Christmas Eve service but we kept our germs at home. 

We made cookies and wrote our letters to Santa and everyone went to bed early! 

 Hollis dictated her letter to me and Harper spelled hers out.  

We keep Christmas simple.  Santa brings one gift and stockings and then we give two gifts.  The girls both asked for Samantha this year.  I loved that they wanted an American Girl Doll.  I was too old and missed this when I was young, but it's fun experiencing it with them.  We opened our gifts Christmas morning and ate breakfast and then quickly packed up the car and headed to south Arkansas. 

We took a Christmas family picture with Gigi and Pap-pa.

 My family of soon to be five.  I can barely believe that next year we will have a little baby boy in our mix.  We don't exchange gifts as adults but Scott's mom did fill a stocking for little brother with the cutest football burp cloth and bib and socks and booties.  I was so excited! 

 The girls opened their gifts after our Christmas dinner.  There was a lot of Frozen and American Girl. 

 Can you tell they were happy? 

We stayed until today and had a lot of fun playing with new toys and making cupcakes and just enjoying family.  Christmas is so much fun with kids! I'm going to miss these days when they grow up so much! 

A visit to Santa

One of my favorite things has been our Santa pictures over the year.  As you can see - we have had someone crying in almost every picture.  We have a great Santa at our mall. One of the things I want to do is frame all of these pictures and display them somehow.

I knew that this year probably no one would cry.   We went Saturday morning.

No crying - but it sure is cute! 

I bet we have at least two more years of crying ahead with little brother in the mix.

After we had our pictures made, we decided just to stay at the mall and have a family day.  Our mall is outdoors so we walked down to a restaurant owned by two of my college friends that we rarely eat at and now I'm wondering why because it was SOOOOO good.  It may be a new favorite.  (Fish City Grill if you live in NWA).  Then we went to see "Annie".  (Which Scott is SO fond of a musical so bless him for being a good sport).  It wasn't the original which I will always love but I thought it was cute and Harper loved it.  Hollis was a little restless.

and I'm now 41. 

Yesterday was my birthday and it wasn't the best of days.  Hollis and I are sick and I don't think either of us have been sick in probably three years so it's not great timing with Christmas.  I had to work from home and it was gloomy and we ate sandwiches (my choice) and I ran to Walmart.  I guess this is my 40's. ha! But honestly - I'm just so happy to be here in my 40's knowing how many people didn't make it this far.  And I'm thankful for my three biggest gifts.  They turn every day into a sunshiney day! I'm a grateful girl! 

You've Got Mail

I will admit, probably my favorite thing at Christmas is getting cards every day in my mail.  I LOVE snail mail and I LOVE looking at everyone's cards! 

I like to try and get our cards out the first week in December each year but this year I'm just behind on life for a million reasons so I'm mailing out the last batch tomorrow.  Maybe it will get to everyone before Christmas day. 

I wish I could mail out 10,000 cards but since I'm limited - pretend this is in YOUR mailbox from me to you! 

We didn't take family pictures this year (see above about me being behind on life) so we just put the girls on the card - which is really the best of our family anyway.  I can't wait until next year to see a sweet little baby in the middle!

I was thinking if I sent out a Christmas letter - these would be our highlights for 2014:

* Of course the number one highlight is finding out we were having a third baby! If you would had told me last Christmas we would be adding a boy to our family - you could have picked me up off of the floor. I'm still as shocked but mostly excited!  I am so thankful for this unexpected blessing!

* Harper starting kindergarten.  The years from baby to school age really do fly! And I was so nervous but she has blossomed in school.  It has been an enormous blessing to watch her soak up learning and smile that huge toothless grin while she runs off to school each day! I love everything about her being in school!

* Hollis starting preschool.  She is so shy but has warmed up to her teacher and friends and loves going! She's just ready to be in kindergarten like her big sister! I won't be as worried when she starts because she will be ready!

*Our beach trip this summer with our best friends.  It was the most fun week and the girls ask me literally almost daily when we can go to the beach again.

*Revival in our church.  I just love seeing God move in such a big way!

* Me working most of the year.  It has been very eye opening to me to be a working mom.  It's made me appreciate working moms in a WHOLE new way and made me re-examine my plans.

There have been a few down moments like my grandmother dying and finding out Harper is losing her hearing but for the most part our year has been full of more happiness than any family deserves. I always say you never know how much your life can change in a year.  I have no idea what things will look like for us this time next year but we are going to take it one day at a time and try to enjoy each day as it comes!

December happenings

Just a few goings on around here:

I couldn't find Hollis the other day but I finally heard her talking in her room and she had a chair pulled up reading to her baby.  It was so sweet.  I think she's ready to be a big sister! 

Harper's hair is so thick that it's hard to do things with and every time I DO fix her hair, she comes running out of school with it pulled down.  But I fixed her with braids tied back this week and she LOVED it and it was exactly the same after school! It was a Christmas miracle! 

I'm SOOOO behind on Christmas this year.  I haven't sent out my cards yet, I haven't shopped and I'm just overall behind.  We don't exchange gifts for adults in our families any more (which I have to say has made Christmas a million times better - none of us need anything) but I hadn't even bought for the girls.  So we got a baby sitter last night and went out to eat and shopped for the girls.  It was a really fun date! 

 Today, Hollis' preschool had their annual Christmas play. It's so sweet.  The 3 year olds are shepherds. 

 Hollis was SO proud to be in her play.  Her little face just kills me. 

It doesn't really matter in the end how many nights we go to see lights or how many gifts we get or give or how "AMAZING" our Christmas is.............having sweet babies to love and remembering that Jesus was born simply to live and die for us and how overwhelming that love is is the simplicity of the joy of Christmas.  

And I'm OVER joyed this year. 

Que Sera Sera

Every December for the last six years, I have taken a picture in front of our Christmas tree with my babies.  I try to take one when they are dressed up for Christmas.  I love it because I get to see how they grow each year.  And I can't believe next year we will have THREE in the picture! I'm amazed at how much they have grown since last year.  I'm sure you are amazed at all the different hair colors I have managed to have! ha! 

My friend Ashley invited me to be on her blog today for Merry Monday.  She did an interview with me about Christmas! You can read it here!

A few months ago, I asked you to send me your Christmas cards for an article I was writing for Celebrate Arkansas Magazine! I had a huge response - I wish I could have used them all but we had to pick just a few.  I thought you might like to read the article and you might even see yourself! 

And on a sad note (but also a joyous one) - my grandmother passed away last night.  It's sad because I will dearly miss her but joyous because she had an amazing 92 years on this earth and now she gets to celebrate Christmas in heaven with her husband! Wouldn't we all wish for such a long life and homecoming? We will be traveling to Dallas this week to celebrate her life.  One thing I always remember her singing was "Que sera sera......whatever will be will be".  My aunt said she sang that to the doctor last week when they told her she needed surgery.  I feel like that's very fitting.
I wrote this about her on my instagram:
I always thought my Grandmother was so glamorous. She always listened to 40's music in the car. She loved football - especially the Cowboys. I spent a lot of summers with her growing up and she was so much fun. She took us swimming, shopping and to the movies. And she was a wonderful cook. I always imagine her moving around her house humming a song. She lived a lot of her adult life overseas and landed in Texas. She was my last grandparent and the only one to meet my kids. So thankful for the legacy of this amazing woman. She went to be with Jesus today. I imagine my Poppie was so happy to finally have her home!

My dad posted this picture of her.  Doesn't she look like a movie star on the set of a 1940's movie? 

And one more of her and my dad.

Because doesn't Hollis look just like my dad???? :-) 

It's the Most wonderful time of the year

Thursday morning we had our big ultrasound/anatomy scan.  I was so nervous and excited.  This is where we usually would find out the sex of the baby so it was a little weird going in already knowing.  

We took the girls so they could see their baby brother. They were less than impressed.  I'm pretty sure when I said "do you want to see your brother" they weren't imagining a dark room with barely recognizable parts on a screen.  Oh well, I was happy to have them there.

We are beyond thankful that everything looks okay.  He's measuring almost a week ahead which scares me a little knowing Harper weighed 10 pounds and never measured ahead.  I'm not looking to set any records! ha! But I will have a c-section so it's really not a big deal. 

 Thursday night my friend Marci hosted a girls night for our Sunday School class.  It was so much fun.  We ate and visited and just had so much fun.  I"m so thankful for these girls.  Even when they wear plaid or puffy black vests and forget to send me the memo. 

Friday Harper got to wear pajamas and make gingerbread cookies and watch a Christmas movie.  I'm worried first grade is going to be one big letdown after how fun Kindergarten has been! 

Friday night I went to a fundraising dinner for Help One Now with Laurie and my friend Nina.  Help One Now is an amazing organization that helps orphans and vulnerable children in several countries and they build schools and orphanages and give food and medicine but they work through local pastors and communities.  It was an amazing night and I was so honored to get to be there. 

I was especially excited because Jen Hatmaker was the speaker.  She is on the board with Help One now.  We have met a few times but I wasn't sure she would remember me but she acted like we were long lost friends.  She is so funny and down to earth.  I got tickled when she introduced me to her husband and told him about us meeting and that we were "internet friends".  It's a strange world but I love that I've gotten to meet so many extraordinary people through blogging. 

 Saturday was a catch up day for me.  I have been so busy I just needed a day at home to clean and do laundry.  But late afternoon, the girls and I went to a new toy story and saw the Lum Lum dolls that are their new obsession.  

This morning Scott and I had the honor of helping with the baptism of 10 people.  It was a little crazy because 5 different people baptized them.  They each had different staff members who were special to them and most of them shared their testimony as they were baptized.  We are so thankful to serve in this ministry and especially now because we are baptizing so many people each week.

We went to Fayetteville this afternoon to hear the NWA Symphony Family Concert.  It was so much fun.  I didn't know what the girls would think but they loved it.  They played some fun Christmas music and some songs from the Nutcracker.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

2014 Christmas Tour of Homes

It's one of my favorite things ever in Blog Land today........the Christmas Blog Tour of Homes! I love seeing all of your decorations and getting ideas! And the best thing - is I love to see houses of all sizes - apartments, dorm rooms, houses, everything is included!

I follow all of these homes on Pinterest and Instagram and sometimes I feel a little pitiful with my decorations and home.  It's no interior designer home.  But it's comfortable and it's the people who live here that make it a home.  And that's what I love about seeing about your homes - not showcases but real live places where families or individuals live! 

AND if you don't blog..........

 

Instagram your pictures with the hashtag #KKtourofhomes

Welcome to our house! I would love to serve you some hot chocolate and red velvet cake balls and visit with you!!!!

I got this nativity in El Salvador 5 years ago and the girls love it so much. 

 I found this sign at Hobby Lobby this year and added it to our mantel.  

I feel like "O Holy Night" has some of the best lyrics ever written. 

 I love our stockings. I bought 5 the first year we were married.  One is for Dawson our dog and then I filled in the names when we had our girls.  Now I need to order one more and get it monogrammed for next year! 

 I toned down the decorations this year and we only put up our one small tree and not our big tree.  

 A little side table decoration

 This nativity is new this year and I think it's the cutest.  And the girls love it! 

 Our living room

A corner of the kitchen.  I have a lot of Christmas Southern Living Cookbooks I love to read and display.  

 Another view of the kitchen.

 Our advent calendar hangs in our breakfast area.  I think my girls love this more than anything. They can't wait to hang each day's card.

Without a doubt, my favorite decoration is our Christmas Card tree.  Love filling it with pictures of people we love and being able to look at them all season long! 

The little tree in Hollis' room.

And Harper's pink tree! 

Now I hope you will share your home with all of us!