Girls Night Out

A couple weekends ago (i know..this is late!) 2 very special friends of mine, Jill and Meredith, and I went out to celebrate my birthday. We went to Hot Springs and went by the Convention Center to check out a Christmas sale called Tinsel & Traditions. We saw a lot of neat boutique items that we all loved, checked out thoroughly and decided we could probably make them on our own for half the price! LOL Then we headed over to Outback Steakhouse where we ran into half the town of Magnet Cove! LOL Actually it was parents of people we went to school with. We had a yummy meal and it was so nice to talk and laugh without any interruptions from the kiddos! Towards the end of our meal, the waiter decided to serenade me with his "boy band" version of Happy Birthday! I think the look on my face in the picture says it all! LOL After that bit of excitement, we headed over to T.J. Maxx. I was on the hunt for a good pair of boots, but couldn't find any I liked. I'm still searching..... Thanks girls for such a fun night (we missed ya Lindsey!), I can't wait until the next outing!

My BFF...she loves me!




Couldn't resist the hats at T.J. Maxx...aren't we stylish?

A work in progress.....

Well, I am what Arkansans call a "deer widow" this weekend. It's a Friday night and i'm bored so I thought I would try out a few new looks for the blog. This probably isn't the final product, but it will do for now until I figure out what I REALLY want! LOL Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

My little DIVA!

Oh how I LOVE this girl!!! She is so much fun right now...dressing up, baby dolls, fabulous art work, the funny way she interprets things, the best big sister ever...i could go on, but I think you get the picture! She is such a girly girl, but LOVES to go outside with daddy in her camo overalls and ride the 4-wheeler, dig in the dirt and pretty much what daddy does, she's going to do too! She is getting so big and to be honest...it breaks my heart somedays! To think that she's almost FOUR already...my BABY will be starting T-Ball in the spring (many of you have been hearing about her playing T-Ball for about a year now..LOL)and will be starting Pre-K next August!!! How has this much time passed so quickly? I am so grateful that I have been able to stay at home and enjoy every second of the past 4 years with her..what a blessing!!! As I read this post, I realized that I might be having an "emotional day" today...but I guess we are entitled to those every once in a while, right?!

Little boy on a mission.....

Grant is ALL OVER the place and into EVERYTHING since learning to crawl! I have to watch this kid 24/7 because he is always trying to sneak around and get into things. Well, Monday he was on a mission to wake his sister up from her nap! He kept squealing to the top of his lungs and the fact that I kept saying "SHHHHH, be quiet Grant" didn't even phase him! Then he took off down the hall to her room and kept pushing on the door trying to open it..it really irritated him that the door wasn't opening so he started squealing AGAIN and even louder than before! LOL I brought him back to the living room and he turned right back around and headed towards the room again...by then I GAVE UP! Who am I to stop this little guy that wants so badly to play with his sister??!! I think the pictures explain the rest......
And...he's off!

In deep concentration

Almost there....

Taking a second to look back at me...he knows he's not supposed to be going in there! Little Turkey!

Squealing at sissy...which in baby talk translates to "Hey! Wake up"

I might as well see what I can get into since i'm in here...

Mission Accomplished! The look on his face kills me...like her really knew he succeeded!

YAY she's up...let's play!

My sweet (and mischievous) little man!

Guess this is it......

The last year to enjoy life in my 20's!!! LOL Yesterday I celebrated my 29th birthday...it's so hard for me to believe that I will be 30 next year!! I don't think it's a bad thing...just hard to absorb! I had a great day and went to dinner last night with my parents, brother and in-laws. I received some very nice gifts...but I have to say that I about flipped out when I opened my brothers gift! He got me a gift certificate for a 1 hour massage at the health club where he works...I have always wanted one and will be scheduling that appointment VERY SOON! Thanks to my family for a wonderful birthday!

Me and my sweet little man!

My baby girl..she sang Happy Birthday to me AT LEAST 10 times yesterday!

My wonderful hubby...he was so tired because he had been up since 4 that morning!

Our 5th Annual Fall Bash

WOW...it's hard to believe that it has already been 5 years since we started this Fall tradition! It is such a huge event and takes a lot of planning, but it's something I look forward to every year! There were a few families that weren't able to attend this year and we still had about 70 people at my house last weekend! I wasn't able to get a lot of pics of the activities because I was too busy taking everyone's family pictures, which I love! We had Bingo, Pumpkin Toss, Pumpkin walk, face painting and everyones FAVE..the hayride!. What Fall party would be complete without CHILI?...we had about 6 different kinds to appeal to everyone's taste, along with Fritos, hot dogs, yummy desserts and hot chocolate! It took me about 2 days to recoupe from the event, but it was SOOOO worth it! I am so grateful to have such an amazing family and wonderful friends to share this tradition with!


I always decorate the porch for family pictures!


It's funny...I never was the "artist" but I will say my art skills have improved drastically since high school art class!

The hayride leaving

Me and my girls

Once Upon A Time.....

There was a Princess and a Frog Prince who were the cutest in the world...at least their mommy thinks so! I was trying to decide on the kids costumes this year and Emma kept saying she wanted to be a "beautiful princess"...so when I came across the Frog Prince costume, I had to have it!! So cute!



I LOVE this one...they look so sweet!

Halloween night we met up with several of Emma's cousins and went TOT'ing in downtown Malvern. All the businesses on Main Street pass out candy and it's quite a site to see all kids in their costumes! This is the 3rd year we have done this and the kids seem to really enjoy it!

More Halloween fun.....at school!

Emma could not wait for her Halloween party at school...she asked me about it EVERYDAY for a week! She found it quite amusing to see one of her teachers dressed as Cat in the Hat when we walked in and was happy to see all the yummy treats on the counter. They danced, had juice and cupcakes and all got to take SEVERAL treat bags home. When I picked her up that afternoon, she said "Mom, this was a great day!"



Dancing to the Peanut Butter & Jelly song...not sure what her facial expression is all about!