Go Elf Yourself

You gotta see this...

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/BYQpwHIfv1oH6yml

check it out... it'll bring a smile to your face!

when it rains it pours... downpours!

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's been crazy, I mean crazy around here. Lets just jump in and hit the highlights. Friday night we had some kids sleep over (friends from church, they were so good, we had fun!). Saturday morning I woke up early b/c we had a very busy day. As I was in the shower I started to smell this horrible burning plastic smell. You know the one I am talking about it scares you to pieces. It's a horrid smell. I jumped out of the shower and began searching my house to see what could possibly be on fire (and no we didn't even have our tree up yet!) After a long panic attack, I realized it was in the bathroom. We turned the power off to that side of the house and called the electrician. After cheerleading practice and rehearsal we headed home. The electrician came by at about 4 o'clock and soon discovered that is was the illegal ceiling fan in our master bath. Yeah, we know who puts a ceiling fan in the bathroom. It was here when we bought the house and it was on our list of things to remove/change in the remodeling process. The electrician told us it was a fire waiting to happen. The light bulb was sizzling and causing that horrid smell. He said we were really lucky and that it could have caused the house to burn down. So that was Saturday. Sunday we went to church, then to a cheerleading competition that started 45 minutes late and lasted a really long time. When we all got home we were exhausted. So we didn't make it to the Battalion Christmas Party. Monday came faster than we ever imagined, the kids went to school, I went to work. We got home as usual and I was greeted at the door by the 'easement man'. He had to tell me that all of the big beautiful hardwood trees in our backyard must come down. There are within the easement area for the power lines and they have to cut them down. So one of the reasons we bought this house, all of the beautiful trees, shade and great backyard is now going to be cut down. I know I should look at this as a blessing, but it is so hard to imagine our yard without all of these beautiful trees. I love huge shade trees, & I love the way the yard smells after a fresh rain. That will all change because we are losing all these hardwoods. Oh did I remember to mention that they want to do all this work right before Christmas? I am not ready for all of this... and now our poor dog. She's 14 years old and has developed a horrible infection in her front right leg. She's been on 3 different antibiotics for the past 3+ weeks and it's not healing correctly. She's is now scheduled for surgery to remove the infected area this Thursday. I know she's older, but she has a lot of life left in her. She's got more squirrels to chase and lots more love to share. So see, it's been a little crazy and a little stressful around here lately. I am creating and I'll be posting my new classes and creations soon! But in the mean time, pray for us, pray for our dog and continue to pray for Mark and the safety of his team.

my own flowers...

When I started this project I didn't know Mark was going to have fresh flowers delivered monthly. So this has really been a wonderful compliment to the flowers he sends me. When Mark left for Iraq I forced bulbs in my kitchen. I bought a great big box of paper whites at Sam's Club. I thought if I could "force" the bulbs and grow them inside I could have beautiful flowers the whole time Mark is gone. My plan is to plant new bulbs every 3-4 weeks. The first set should have bloomed about the sixth week after Mark left. The 5 planted in the first set didn't grow at all. But I learned a lot! I started the second set of bulbs 3 weeks after the first set. It was awesome. I planted 5 in this really sentimental bowl Mark had given to me, I don't even know if he remembers it or not. Many Easters ago back in Virginia Beach, I think it was Katie's first Easter, Mark got me yellow tulips in this bowl and they were so pretty in our bedroom. I've kept the bowl and used it over and over again to plant flowers for our patio. But this time I used it to plant my paper whites. Of the 5 bulbs I planted in this container, 4 of them have bloomed. Kinda of significant since our family of 5 has one missing. They are gorgeous and smell amazing. At the same time I also planted individual bulbs in two antique desert bowls my mom passed down to me. She thinks she received them as a wedding present in 1963 (that makes them 45 years old). Those bulbs are also blooming. I have all these bowls lining the kitchen windows. They are amazingly beautiful and they smell so sweet. Here is just a sampling of how beautiful they really are.

Mark's gift to me

Mark knows my love of fresh flowers. He has purposed in his heart to make sure I have fresh flowers every month while he is gone to Iraq. Every month and sometimes twice he has the most incredible flower arrangements delivered just for me and just because he loves me. I love him too...he's amazing!

New Class!

This is for a new class I am teaching at Combat Creations. Check out the website and sign up today! It's called the MIU Album Tin. It is entirely Memories in Uniform and I am using this as Mark's deployment album of all of the pictures he's taken since he's been in Iraq. The really small pictures are the index prints you can get printed. I love it because you can get a lot of pictures on one page.There are several more pages in the accordion but I only shared a few. I also plan on putting his welcome home photo on the front of the tin right below the star and journal the dates he left to the day he came home on the tan tag lines. I can miss him can you tell!

Meet the World's Best Kids!

We had a busy weekend, relaxing, but we got a lot done. ALL of our Christmas shopping is done! It feels great! I'll be sending out packages this week. Now I can relax and float through the holidays... yeah right! Many of you will get these in your Christmas cards but I just couldn't wait to share them. I am so proud of our kids. The first picture is in the same pose the kids did last time Mark was deployed to Iraq. This year the boys are wearing their Webelos uniform (Cub Scouts) and Katie is wearing her Cheer America All Star uniform.

Mark and I cannot believe that these amazing kids are OURS!!

Caleb, Seth & Katie

Thanksgiving with friends and family

I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone. It went by so fast, I think because it was so relaxing. We cooked a simple traditional dinner, and we had some great friends over. It was so relaxing and I think we all took a nap (okay the kids didn't but we the adults sure did) next to the cozy fire. Our prayer for you all was to have a safe, relaxing and joyous Thanksgiving weekend, we sure hope you did!