I know; I know. I promised to be a better blogger, then I left you hanging...my bad.  Being a working mom is not for the faint of heart.  What can I say?  I've been busy. You know, working, running a house, trying to get skinny.  Then we traveled this weekend, and now Ellie is giving me a run for my money. I can't complain, really.  She's transitioning a bit.  She's eating more at every feeding, going longer between bottles, and trying to sleep through the night which puts her overnight feeding at 4:00 am.  It means more straight hours of sleep for me, but it also means a 4:00 wake up call since I don't have time to go sleep again. 4:00 really isn't that bad, except when you have an Eli who keeps you up later than you would like, and sometimes wakes you up in the middle of the night too.  Poor boy, sleeping just isn't his strong suit. Add a stupid head cold into the mix and you have an exhausted, grumpy momma who may or may not have been a to...

Ya'll know I love to make a bucket list for each season.  It just keeps me from getting bored, and it gives us something to look forward to.  Plus, it holds me accountable for being intentional about making memories with our kids. Does that mean everything gets checked off the list? HECK NO!  My spring bucket list is about half complete, and I'm ok with that.  I did have a baby you in the middle of it all.  So, if only a few things get checked off this Summer list, that's ok too.  I define summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and here is what I have down: 1. Memorial Day In Marion 2. Open Our Pool 3. Swim 4. Play In Spinklers 5. Eat Snow Cone 6. Celebrate Father's Day 7. Celebrate My Birthday 8. Amy's Bridal Shower 9. July 4th Celebration 10. Nan's Birthday 11. Play In Downtown Fountains 12. Visit Alabama 13. Amy's Wedding 14. Hot Rod's Game 15. Beech Bend Park 16. Pick Strawberries 17. Eli's Monster Jame Part...

From the moment I heard, "It's a girl."  I have dreamed of Texas size bows...you know... the ones that are bigger than a baby's head.   I think this obsession goes back to my childhood where my super adorable and blond sister wore cute bows every day.  Meanwhile, I was sentenced to "the bob" - that would be a short, single layered, chin length haircut parted right down the middle.  I guess if I'm being completely honest, I did have Texas size bangs. Ha!  Big bangs, and big bows are hardly the same thing!   The truth is I did wear bows, but not nearly as often nor as big as Amy's.  Call me jealous if you will.  Ha!  I promise, I'm not scarred for life over this.  I am, however, in love with big bows! I even tried my hand at making them, but seeing as I don't have a crafty bone in my body, that was an epic fail!   Lucky for me, one of my pageant sisters is talented in that area and has a small businesses making ...

My heart breaks today for the people of Moore, Oklahoma whose lives have been forever changed.  No doubt they will carry with them throughout this earthly life the scar of this day. I have been to Oklahoma once.  That was in the spring of 2005, my sophomore year of college, and I fell in love with the people.   We nearly lost our lives in Tulsa which is way too light of a story to share with you under these circumstance, but one day I'll do just that. We stayed with my roommate's family in Enid and visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Faith, Family and Love would sum up my view of Oklahoma folk.  They are a good people who no doubt have a lot of healing in front of them.  Will you please join me in praying from those who lost homes, earthly possessions, loved ones, children or their mere innocence yesterday? "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." - Matthew 5:4

Ellie redeemed herself last night by sleeping EIGHT STRAIGHT HOURS!!  Ya'll, we are so blessed to have a good sleeper, and Eli is doing great too!  There are no word to express our gratitude. I try to get pictures on Sundays before church because it's pretty much the only day that we all look presentable, at least at the same time.  Some days I still have on work clothes and look ok, but the kids are in sweats from daycare, or they're looking super cute and I'm in gym clothes.  Please tell me you understand this! At church today, a friend's son gave Eli two brand new pair of baseball pants.  Brett plays ball for a local high school, and Eli thinks he hung the moon.  You can imagine how excited he was to sport his new pants.  As soon as we got home, Eli had change into them and a baseball shirt...love his heart! Eric let me take a little nap, and when I woke up we decided to let Eli swim in the kiddie pool since it's about a ba...

My mom and dad came down for a quick visit this weekend.  It's been awhile since they've seen the kids and even longer since they've been down for a visit.  Eric and I have cut out almost all traveling for now.  It's hard because our parents are busy people with busy lives too, and that makes visits more scarce.  However, we know that this is just for a season of our lives, and one day we won't have two small babies.  Until then, we make the most of every minute we can get with family.  My parents got here Friday evening.  They brought Eli a HUGE riding horse which I failed to get pictures of...oops!  Honestly, I wasn't too thrilled because I had finally de-cluttered most big toys.  Now I have a stupid horse in my family room.  Ha!  Oh  well, Eli loved it! We let Eli play for a few minutes then we headed to Smiths Grove to get milk shakes at Flavor Isle.  They were pretty amazing!  My mom had never ha...

 I have followed so many bloggers who just stopped writing after the second baby.  I swore I wouldn't do that...famous last words, right?  Never say never! I actually haven't stopped writing completely, but I have slowed down...a lot!  I just can't find the time anymore.  For starters, I hardly ever pull out the camera...at least the real one.  My iphone is just always handy.  Plus, I can add pictures to Facebook or send them to family without having to physically sit down at a computer.   I tried to figure out the whole intagram thing, but I really stink at it. Anyway, I want to document my resolve to be a better blogger.  I really enjoy looking back on the memories we've made as a family.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I disagree.  Pictures capture a moment, but they can't express the heart.  That's why I love blogging.  Sometimes I look back at old posts and think, "Awe, that was such a fun day."...