Busy Busy Busy

Wow! We have been super busy this past week. Lots going on for us = lots of fun updates and pictures for you! So...let's get to it.

Last Saturday, my friend's little girl turned 1 and had a big fun birthday party to celebrate! Mabry was adorable and Mandy did a great job with the party. Hannah, Catherine and I were so glad to be there to celebrate with them.

Later that night, Emma was in her first pageant! I was really nervous about it for her. She is usually fairly shy and isn't a fan of being in front of a whole lot of people. But, she did great! She looked gorgeous and was hilarious in her on stage interview (Yes...you read that right. There was an on stage interview for the K-2 contestants!)

Of course, we all thought she was the most beautiful girl on that stage. But, she didnt' win the crown. Afterwards, she told me that she had so much fun and wants to do another pageant.

(I am not sure I can handle that. But, she is anxious to start dance in the fall, which thrills me to no end!)


Honey was so awesome to come help me get her all ready and calm some of my Emma's nerves. She's the best! Emma also had TONS of fans! Honey, Daddy Brooks, The VanBebbers, Grammy, Grampy, The Browns, The Hermans and Tara all came to cheer her on. Thanks for coming everyone!

Sunday, we hung around the house and I got ready for the week. I also ran over to Sarah's to visit her. She looked great and her spirits were great. I had fun just sitting there chatting and laughing with her. Remember: March 2nd....pray hard!

Tuesday, I left for Miami. I had to go for my National Sales Meeting. It was a good time. One night, I met Chef Fabio (from Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars). He signed a cookbook for my mom and snapped a picture with me. He was a super nice guy and is officially fascinated with Arkansas Girls! (it's the accent!)

(I cannot get this picture to rotate. It looks right on my computer, but not on here!)

I was so glad to get home yesterday. It's nice to get away for a few days for work, but I miss my family like crazy! :)

We have lots of fun plans for this weekend, so check back for an update next week!

Sarah

I remember the VERY first time I met Sarah. We lived in DeQueen on Marcone Drive. I remember my mom telling me there were some new people moving in next door with a little girl EXACTLY my age. I was excited as our neighborhood was BOOMING with boys (gross!).

In between my yard and our neighbor's yard, there was a little 2-inch wide-concrete-ditch-thing. (I never did know why it was there, but it was fun to send bouncy balls down the "chute" into the road). I remember walking to that little ditch and standing there was Sarah "Butch" Slaughter...AND WE HAD ON THE SAME OUTFIT!

That was a great ice-breaker and we were partners in crime from that moment on. We ran around in the woods together looking for "hobos", jumped on the trampoline for HOURS belting out "Bigger Than the Beetles" by Joe Diffie and we burned up the roads on our bicycles. We played basketball together, made the cheerleading squad together and worked at the pool together.

Sarah eventually moved away and we tried to keep the relationship in tact, but when you are young, it's hard. I remember moving up here and running into Sarah at the UofA. We saw each other around campus occasionally and enjoyed our time laughing and catching up.

But, it wasn't until I had Emma and Sarah was pregnant with Lynlee that we really got back in touch. I don't even remember how, but she and Kimberly ended up coming over to my house where we sat and talked for HOURS. It was like we had never even missed a beat.

Since then, Sarah and I have kept in touch. Each time we manage to catch each other on the phone (in between picking up/dropping off/running kids around), it's always as if a day hasn't passed. There are only a few friends that I have where conversations work like that. Good friends. True friends.

I am writing all this (not only because my mind wanders and that's what I was thinking about) but also to ask you to pray. Please pray for Sarah, her family and her doctors. Sarah has a brain tumor and will be traveling back to MD Anderson on March 2nd to have surgery. I haven't talked to her on the phone, but we have text a few times and she seems to be in good spirits. Staying strong and clinging to Him and His Word.

(Sarah's blog can be found here for more details)

So, on March 2nd, when you wake up, when you get ready for work, when you go through your day like a normal day, please pray for Sarah, Pat, Lynlee, Owen and the rest of her family/friends. Because March 2nd will be anything but a normal day for them. It will be a scary day. It will be an exhausting day. It will be a day that will test their faith. But, I also know in my heart that it will be a day of great healing. So, just pray. Pray hard.

March 2nd.

Pictures courtesy of Rachel Blackwell Photography.

Icicles and Hearts

Friday, it was very sunny and our snow started SLOWLY melting away. I snapped this picture of a HUGE icicle hanging from our house.

Of course, today is Valentine's Day. It was also a rough morning in our house. We have been sleeping in and being lazy for 5 days now. As reality set in this morning, I heard Emma tell Hannah" Why can't school start AFTER we hang out in a jammies for a while?"

A gift from Mommy and Daddy sure did make the morning better though. And, here are the pics of the girls all decked out in their V-Day Gear. (shirts are courtesy of "The Uptown Baby" on Etsy. Go check her out!)

And, I'll leave you with Catherine's new "camera face"...

Snow, Super Bowl and More Snow

Last week, we had all that snow and ice that kept us indoors for about 4 days. Sunday, we decided to finally let Catherine go outside with the big girls and play a little.

Needless to say, she was NOT a fan. So, we were all forced glad to come back in to our jail cell warm house.

The girls were losing it...seriously, it was out of hand. Hannah was trying to RUN through the house in my rain boots. Emma was just wallowing (is that word? oh well...my blog.) in the living room floor and Catherine was still crying from her traumatic snow experience.

I decided it was time to break out the big guns! We got this little ball pit for Catherine's birthday lasts year and just never blew it up. What a life saver it was on Sunday! The girls played in it and threw the balls all over Catherine's room. (I didn't even care about the messy chaos that was ensuing, at least no one was crying). But, I finally had to go break up the party when I caught Emma jumping from the rail on Catherine's crib into the pit...while Catherine was sitting in it!

We had planned on having a Super Bowl Party with the Browns. But, they were under the weather and the roads still weren't the best. However, the party MUST go on! I cooked up Little Hammies, Meat Dip and a Cookie Cake (okay okay. I didn't MAKE the cookie cake...I bought it. Details, details!). It was all super yummy and we had a fun little "party" of our own. But, we did miss our friends terribly!

Last night, we went to eat with the Browns as one "last supper" before another "4-6 inches" fell on our heads. We had a blast preparing ourselves (mostly mentally) to be stuck in the house for another couple of days.

Travis and I watched the weather last night before we went to bed. They upped our totals to 5-7 inches of snow. That was yucky, but what were we gonna do about it. (Besides letting our kids stay up too late, skip baths and Emma skip her homework...all sure fire plans for school NOT getting cancelled the next day!)

We got up this morning and it looked like this outside.

We already had 9-10 inches on the ground and the heart of the snow wasn't even here yet. WHAT!? As the day went on, the snow got deeper and deeper. It was more than I have ever seen before. It is craziness. The finally total (per our tape measure average from several spots in our front and back yard) is 20 inches (rounded up from 19.6).

This afternoon while Catherine was napping, we took Emma and Hannah outside. It was hilarious. Emma would just lay down in her trail through the snow because it was so hard for her to walk. Poor Hannah is so short, she couldnt' walk. She would just fall down and try to crawl out. Travis and I were laughing so hard at them we could hardly even rescue them. (Parenting at it's best right there!)

That lasted about 10 minutes and it was time to come back in. It is just too cold to be out there very long. Needless to say, we probably will not be going anywhere for the next couple of days. :( This is how Catherine feels about that... (And me too!)