Jett's Birthday

Over the weekend we went to Louisiana to visit the family! It has been awhile since I have been down there and I needed to bring some orders from Sweet Tea and Southern Charm. It was also my best friend from childhood son, Jett, 2nd birthday!

Seriously, all of these babies are growing too fast! 

It seems like just yesterday I was visiting Larb in the hospital after she had him!

Lexie and Sydney LOVED playing at Laura and Jason's! 

It was so very special to me to see them playing in the same place (Granny's) that Larb and I spent hours playing together!

The renovations that Laura and Jason had done to Granny's house are AMAZING! I was in love with everything! I love how they kept just a bit of the old(the mudroom) just to remember!

It was soo good to see Papa B! Papa B was like a second dad to me growing up! I have NEVER met a more patient and precious man than Papa B! It was soo cute hearing my girls talk about "Papa B"! 

My girls could have stayed all afternoon at Laura and Jason's! They had the best time!

Because we don't live close, these moments are so much sweeter! 

I absolutely pray that my girls are blessed with such a great and precious friend like Laura!

I thank God for bringing her into my life and always being such a great role model and friend to me!

sometimes I have ah-ha moment..

So this is going to be a little confessional time:)
I am obsessed with bags. I have been since I can remember. I remember when I would get a new purse or especially when my grandmother bought me the red Liz Claiborne bag that I drooled over for over a year. I was about 11. When I would get a new handbag, I would hang them on my door knob and just stare at them. Seriously, obsessed.
I haven't changed too much except now with twin girls it is usually so much more fun to buy for them instead of anything for me. Except that occasional must have, drool over, dream about, can't stop looking at bag.
Just the other day I was thinking about the Kardashians. I know what you are thinking, but stay with me:)
I saw somewhere where Kim has a Hermes in every single color.  For those of you who don't know, Hermes is a brand that carries mainly verrrry high end accessories. The Berkin bag they sell can be anywhere from $14,000 to much higher--if you can even find them.  I began to think so very negative about her and in my mind call her selfish and materialistic.I began thinking how many people she could feed with just one of those bags.
Not an hour later I was at work and I got in the elevator with a lady holding a gorgeous, mind altering LV. I was so insanely jealous.
It was standing there that I had my ah-ha moment.
Here I am. Drooling over and trying to think how  I could save and get my own. Wait??? Wasn't  I was just thinking what a self-centered heifer someone else was for doing the same?  The truth is, Kim doesn't even need a budget. I also realized that their was another lady in the elevator who was probably looking at me and my Coach the same way I was looking at KK for her Hermes.
Compared to salaries, I should be carrying about a $10 special compared to Kim. I could feed the needy on the extra, right?

Living in the world we can so often be of the world. This is something I battle daily.
Whether it be Kim K and her collection of Hermes or my small collection of baby LV's and Coach, its all worldly.
Trying to surrender my worldliness while living in this world is tough!
I remember a good friend in college always said "I can live in this world but I don't have to be OF this world." That my friends is the truth. That is what I am going to tell myself every single day!! Especially those days I end up in an elevator next to something that makes me drool:)

a little distraction..

Due to my new silhouette, I have been keeping busy! It started as just a fun thing to play around with and now, it is keeping me busier! I love making things for people and just making simple things, pretty.
Here is just one picture of some beautiful wine glasses! How fun does that look!

So, that is what has been going on! Sorry I have not updated sooner!

my new little obsession...i mean hobby:)

With money I got for Christmas I have purchased a new Silhouette cameo! Can I tell you how much I love this thing!! It's WAY too fun! I have already made several things!! How did I go so long without one of these?!?! 

I will get into more later about all the cool things I have made and tricks I have learned! 

Stay posted!

The things that matter

Before my children were born I was a clean FREAK. I was a organized FREAK. I was one of those who didn't go to bed without all my clothes and dishes put up..yeah, the kind that disgust me now:)  When I taught 2nd grade everyone, including the principal, raved about my organization skills! Let me just say, I don't know what happened?!? Yeah I do, TWINS happened! The greatest things/people in my life happened:) 

Most of the time it doesn't bother me. Probably because I'm too tired to care that its such a mess. But with two toddlers and two inside fur babies, we have a pretty messy life. But then there are the times when I get on a Pinterest and blog(usually organization related) reading frenzy....this always leads me to wanting to vomit and stay awake until crazy hours making list of what needs to be done!

How in the world do these people find the time to do these things?!? I really find myself getting insanely jealous and wanting to throw 90% of the stuff in my house out and start over(minus the hubs, bambinos and pooches).  But then I stand in my messy and unorganized house and I see the things that really DO matter.

I am a great mom.  I know that because my children tell me in so many ways daily. They tell me when they call me crying for the twentieth  hug and kiss before bed. Sydney always wants another  "tight, tight squeeze" and Lexie just needs a whole lotta kisses. They tell me when I get ready to leave in the morning. Goodbye hugs and kisses have to be done multiple times:) They tell me when we pick them up and Sydney says "Momma, I missed you so very much" and Lexie gives me her most excited face and yells "Mommaaaaaa" and I enter her class. They tell me when they talk about something I have taught them. They tell me when they pray at night and really want to make sure we pray for everyone we know:) I know I'm a good momma because they KNOW Jesus loves them. The fact that my children KNOW their momma and daddy love them unconditionally and they will always be number ONE in our book! 

These are the things that matter. 

I guess human nature will always lead us to comparing ourselves to others while always focusing on the not- so perfect and not the perfect parts of our lives. 

I truly have more than I deserve. An amazing husband and two absolutely perfect bambinos. Incredible family members that love us and help us without us even asking! A beautiful(yet messy) roof over our head and a God that loves us and forgives us! 

I will take all of that over the most clean and organized house around!

this winter weather...

     This winter weather just stinks! Lexie was supposed to go to the asthma/allergy doc this past Thursday but instead had a high fever out of nowhere:( I was looking forward to getting a little extra help/wisdom about her asthma, but we will now be going at the end of the month.

     We, at work, have all been sharing this yuck bug that is out there! This weekend I was miserable and Dustin was pretty sick too! Lollie and Pop kept the girls Friday and Saturday night so we could keep our germs to ourselves! They went to Grandma Spickard's on Saturday. All the kids met there to help with the yard pickup. Apparently, after the winter storm, there was a crazy amount of limbs down!  Lexie LOVED helping pickup and organize while Sydney just wanted to play inside! Sounds about right.

Here is Grandma Lexie(90 years young) and little Lexie and Sydney.

     Lexie LOVES making sure things are put up and clean! Our new "game" at night is that each of them "get to" use the real dirt devil and vacuum for about 5 minutes each! They love it and I could use all the help I can get keeping our house clean!

I think I might just buy another! That way one can do one room while the other does another! Sounds good to me:)

A WHITE Christmas!

     What an amazing Christmas 2012 we had!! We left for Louisiana on Sunday and that night we were blessed to get to be a part of Saint Rest Baptist Church's Christmas Party! St. Rest is where I grew up and is still home to me in so many ways. I also love how much the friends and family there love my bambinos! 

Santa made an appearance and of course L&S wanted nothing to do with him! They  hid head deep in momma and daddy's shoulders. Like I said last year, maybe next year they will like Santa?!?!

     After the party we took a quick trip to Ruston to see one of my friends Christmas lights! Jennifer does her lights herself and has a beautiful display of about 30 inflatables! The girls LOVED getting out and looking at all of them! They were most impressed with the Hello Kitty one, of course! We then had to go for a Sonic run per L&S's request!

     Monday morning we got up and went to Dubach to see Santa on the firetruck. This has been a tradition as long as my momma has been alive and I knew it would so fun for her to get to experience that with the girlies!  I even remember being in college and living in my grandparents house and my mom knocking on my door on Christmas Eve. When I answered and asked what she was doing she said "coming to see Santa on the firetruck." So that we did! The girls atleast looked at him! They were on mom and D's shoulder's so I guess that made them a little more brave:) We them had to make a trip to Johnny's as no trip home, Christmas or not, would be the same without one!

     Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year. Growing up we would go to my grandparents and then go across the street to my great-grandmothers where the WHOLE family would get together in a little house. Time with my family. Time with a lot of people who are spending Christmas with Jesus now. Now that my grandparents are in heaven, we have Christmas Eve at my Aunt Lisa's. Now we grands have babies! This is where they make those amazingly special memories that I have of Christmas Eve. My girls sooo enjoyed their gifts...but I KNOW they enjoyed playing with P-man, Jo baby and Ty so much more! After stuffing our faces, opening gifts and saying goodbyes we headed back to Arkansas. We wanted to spend Christmas Eve in Louisiana but wanted the girls to wake up at our home on Christmas!

     I guess the getting home late, even though the slept almost the whole ride home, was tiring! My girls had to be woken up at 9:45 AM on Christmas morning! 

We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then the girls started in opening presents!   

We then told them that Honey and Papaw and Lollie and Pop had sent gifts with Santa because they were too big for them to bring! 

Lollie and Pop were able to find a ROLLER COASTER

 and sent it with Santa!!! 

Honey and Papaw sent a TRAMPOLINE!

These are some blessed babies and we, as their family, are so very blessed as well! 

We had plans to go to Bauxite for Christmas Day but the weather changed our plans. Just two hours after these pictures were taken the rain and then freezing rain started! The 11 inches of snow fell right behind it!

Syd LOVED the snow!! She was fearless and had so much fun!!! We had three layers of clothes under some onesie pajamas! Most folks in Arkansas don't have snow clothes! 

This picture sums up Lex's feelings on the white stuff! She really didn't care too much about it! She just wanted to play on her trampoline and roller coaster!!

What a fun snow day we had!!!

If this is what the rest of the winter will bring, we might need to invest in a snow suit!