Did You Miss Me?

I know I have been gone for a while.  I have not posted anything in two weeks.  Things have been pretty crazy.  I have started back to school.  So between being a full-time parent, wife and career woman, it has been pretty hard to keep up with my blogging.  I don't know if anybody has even missed me except for one person and that is my mother-in-law.  She told me that had been checking my blog everyday and there was nothing new.  So, I didn't mean to disappoint but you gotta do what you gotta do.  So this post is dedicated to my mother-in-law and I hope she enjoys it as her and my father-in-law have been stuck in the house for a while due to his health and the weather. 

Week before last my oldest daugther Kaitlyn was saved.  This was an answered prayer as she has been asking questions for almost two years now.  It was after AWANA two Wednesday nights ago.  I was so excited, proud, blessed, etc. 

We were without power from yesterday at 3:30 until today at 11:30.  I got a lot done around here that has not been done in a while.  The power going out never bothers me as we still have heat, hot water and can cook.  We just don't have the modern technology.  The kids don't like it too well, but it is good for them. 

Kaitlyn spent the night with granny Thursday night because she was almost positive there would be no school on Friday and she was correct.  So her and granny made homemade sugar cookies and Kaitlyn made granny's day by telling her that she needed her own cooking show and she should call it "Granny's Cooking Show."  So if this happens anytime soon, I will be sure and let you all know. 

Here is Papaw enjoying one of the cookies.

Two weeks ago my father-in-law and my husband's aunt celebrated their 70 and 60th birthday.  My father-in-law was born on his sister's birthday.  So he was her birthday present on her 10th birthday.  We celebrated by surprising the both of them at Ryan's Restaurant.

Here is my father-in-law Johnny.  He had no idea.  He thought we were just taking him out to eat.

Here is aunt Billie.  She was surprised as well. 

Here is their cake which I thought looked very nice and tasted wonderful!!  Thanks to Cheryl for doing such a good job on the cake. 

Here are the birthday boy and girl!!

Here is another sister aunt Barb.  She is between Johnny and Billie.

Scott and Bliss Akridge

This is my brother-in-law (AKA Missionary Baptist Preacher) dancing to Happy Birthday Elvis style.  Shh!!  Please don't tell his congregation!!

This is my husband's uncle Carl and his new bride June.  They make such a cute couple and they are always afraid they are going to break my camera.  Well, this is the 3rd picture I have taken of them and my camera is still working fine. 

Uncle Timmy and McKenzie.

Brother Tom and Mrs. Brenda

This is my sister-in-law Tina and brother-in-law Jason.

Brian and Melinda. 

Aunt Pam and Ma

Aunt Billie with all her grandkids.

Papaw and Granny with all their grandkids. 

The birthday boy with his balloons. 

I don't have any pictures of the kids getting out in the snow and playing because Kenleigh has had the croup this week, so I didn't want to get her out and have a relapse.  But I did go out myself and get some pictures yesterday.  It was so peaceful and quiet and so pretty all the snow we got.  The kids did enjoy watching all the snow from the window.  We got approximately 6 inches of snow. 

Here are some pictures of the snow.  The one on the left is of the highway out in front of our house.  The one on the right is beside our house down towards our pond.

This is my husband's shop and his tractor.  Kaitlyn told him this morning she thought he had a flat!  HA!

So pretty!!

And this my friends is our coffee maker/perculator that we use when the electricity is out and it makes the best coffee.  When my husband and I moved into his grandparents old house, this was left and he says I wanted to throw it out.  I don't remember that??  Anyways, we kept it and I am so glad. 

LORI

I have been tagged....

I have been tagged by Amy at Keep'n The Sunny Side.  I have not blogged all week.  I have been so busy.  I have went back to school and am enjoying it but just don't have much time on my hands.  So don't worry if you don't see me around like you used to.  I will do my best to post when I can. 

Some wonderful to news to share with you that happened this week.  My oldest daughter, Kaitlyn was saved after church Wednesday night.  This is an answered prayer as she has been asking lots of questions for a while now and I have been praying for her that the holy spirit would convict her heart.  Praise the Lord!!

Ok, now on to my post.  Here are the rules:

1) Answers 5 questions with 5 answers

2) Tag 5 other bloggers.

Question 1)


Where were you 10 years ago?

1) My husband and I had just got married and had only been married for four months.


2) I had just started a new job as a medical transcriptionist.


3) I didn't have any kids.


4) I had just found out I had asthma.  (My mom says I was allergic to my husband, lol). 


5) I was about 30 pounds lighter.



Question 2)


What is on your "To Do" list today?


1) Do my homework.


2) Change sheets on all beds.


3) Prepare Sunday School lesson.


4) Go get Kaitlyn from Mimis.


5) Laundry, laundry, laundry.

Question 3)


What 5 snacks do you enjoy?


1) Walmart fruit smiles.


2) Honey wheat pretzel sticks.


3) Chex mix.


4) Granola bars. 


5) Gummy sour candy.


Question 4)


Where are 5 Places you have lived.

1) West Memphis, Arkansas


2) Bald Knob, Arkansas


3) Bradford, Arkansas


4) Those are the only places I have lived.

5) Listed above.

Question 5)


Name 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire.


1) Build a new home.


2) Donate money to the church.


3) Support a cause.


4) Put back for my kids college fund.


5) Help those less fortunate. 


Now, I am supposed to tag 5 people. 

I tag:

1.  Kelly.
2.  Tara.
3.  Brooke.
4.  Rhonda.
5.  Nic.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I have some other things I need to post.  Maybe I can do them tomorrow.  God Bless.

LORI

Music Monday/From Your Wedding

Today is Music Monday and I am joining Tara at Keeping Up With The Kelly's.  This weeks theme is "From Your Wedding."  My husband and I did not have your traditional wedding where we stood in front of everybody for what seems like an hour while a song played.  My husband was just too shy for that.  So we had a tape playing music before our wedding started and this was one of the songs that we had played.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Oh, on a side note I figured out why I was not able to make comments on Saturday when I was reading everyones blog.  I added a update to my computer and I usually go through Mozilla Firefox and apparently the new update blocked some things and adding widgets or comments was one of them.  Just terrible, no widgets, no comments, what is this world coming to???  Thankfully, my husbands cousin came over and fixed it for me, so now I am haivng to run through Internet Explorer. 

If you would like to "hear" more Music Monday's just click here. 

LORI

Another Award..........How Exciting

I have received another award.  I just love getting awards so feel free to send me one anytime you like!!  My dear friend Tara over at Keeping Up With The Kelly's has sent me this "Gorgeous Blogger Award."  Thanks so much Tara.  You are the greatest!! 

Part of accepting this award is to list 6 things you probably don't know about me and then I must pass it along to 6 other gorgeous blogging friends.  So here it goes:

1.)  I cannot start cooking supper until I have completely cleaned up the kitchen.  I know it sounds silly since I am fixing to mess the kitchen up again anyways, but I assume it has something to do with my OCD.  I also like to wash up my dishes as I go if I have time.  This is something my mother-in-law taught me but now with two kids it is not always possible.  But it does make less to clean up after eating.

2.)  Another one of my OCD issues is that if I cannot find something I am looking for, I may tear the house apart until I find it.  It will absolutely drive me crazy until I find it.  I actually had this happen this morning.  I was looking for a lid to something and so I was throwing pots and pans, etc., (Not really, but you get the picture) and was about to drive my husband crazy.  Needless to say, he was very glad when I finally found the lid.

3.)  I was born in West Memphis, Arkansas and only lived there 2 years and then moved to Bald Knob, Arkansas after my parents divorced.

4.) I love lemon pepper.  When I was kid I would eat it out of the palm of my hand.  I know that sounds gross but I just love it.  Sorry. 

5.) I love Build-A-Bear.  My kids have been a few times and have the cute bears, but I would love to go and stuff the bear and dress it up.  I just think that would be so neat. 

6.) One of my best friends from high school set me and my husband up and I am so thankful she did.  Thanks Jennifer. 

Okay, that was kind of hard, but I did it!!  Now, I have to pick 6 gorgeous bloggers to accept this award.  It is going to be hard because I have so many wonderful blog friends but here it goes:

1.  Hannah

2.  Sonya

3.  Tisha

4.  Amy

5.  Mimi

6.  Cathy

Here you are ladies.  You all have gorgeous blogs!! 

P.S. - I have been blogging most of the day off and on and I have tired to make comments on different ones blogs and for some reason my computer will not let me, so I apologize.  I have tried to comment to different ones today. 

LORI

Favorite Foto Friday/Close Up

I am a little late getting my FFF post in but, hey, better late than never is what I always say.  Hannah's theme for this week is close ups and when I first read this I got a little tickled because my oldest daughter LOVES to get my camera and take pictures of herself, ALL THE TIME.  It is so bad that I find myself deleting multiple pictures every week because they are just wasting space on my camera, but for the ones that have turned out, I am going to share those with you today.  I love close up pictures.  They are my favorite, but I must tell you the ones today were not taken by me, they are most all taken by my 7-year-old daughter.  

Here is one of MANY pictures that Kaitlyn has taken of herself.

When I found this one on my camera I literally Laughed Out Loud!!  This was a trophy she got for participating in a gymnastics recital a few years ago and she looks like she is just so shocked that she received this trophy.

Here is Kenleigh before going on in the snow.  This isn't real close up, but I haven't been able to get any shots lately.

Here is another one that Kaitlyn has taken of herself.

Here is one I took of them in front of the Christmas tree one morning before church.

If you would like to participate just join Hannah here for more FFF.

LORI

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday.  I am joining Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey.  If you would like to participate just click here.  

I have so much to be thankful for but here are 5 for this week.

1.  My husband.  Now I know I list him just about every week, but I am so, so thankful for him for many different reasons but this week I am thankful because he is letting me fulfill a dream that I have been wanting to do for a couple of years now.  I am starting back to school this afternoon and am very nervous, but am also looking forward to it and what God has in store for me.  Thank you Kenny for letting me do this.

2.  My in-laws.  They will be picking up my oldest daughter from school on Thursdays while I am at school and keep both kids until my husband can get home from work to take over.

3.  Friends.  With my new endeavor this week, my friends have been so awesome just giving me encouragment.  That means a lot.

4.  Warmer temperatures.  It is not much warmer but better than we were.  It has been so cold and we have been having to drip water for weeks now in order to keep the pipes from freezing.  It is finally get up above freezing so we don't have to do this as often.  Being from Arkansas, I am just not used to these frigid temperatures.

5.  My health.  I have had a few bad headaches this weeks and it has really made me appreciate that I am healthy and don't know what I would do if I wasn't able to function and do the daily things I do if I wasn't in good health.  

LORI

Word Filled Wednesday

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5

I really need this verse this week.  I am trying to make some decisions and at first I was trying to make them on my own, which is not the right way to handle them and this verse just came to me.  

If you would like to participate in Word Filled Wednesday, join Lori at All You Have To Give and link up.  

Happy Wednesday.  

LORI  

Ruby Tuesday/Red Books

Happy Ruby Tuesday.  Today I am joining Mary over at Work of the Poet and she has a theme today which is to post RED books, covers, pages, drawings inside the books.  So my oldest daughter always checks a book out of the library at school every week and so I read this book to her tonight.

I know it is after Christmas, but this was a really cute book.

Kaitlyn started out going to read to me, but then she changed her mind.

They make a snowman snowdog that looks like Clifford and we have had some snow this past week and it has been very cold here but not enough for a snowman.

LORI

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Music Monday

 Today is Music Monday and I am joining Tara over at Keeping Up With The Kellys.  This week is pick your own song.  So I must tell you that my daughter got the Miley Cyrus CD for Christmas and I think I have listened to it more than she has.  I just love this song.  My husband even likes it.  I hope you enjoy it and be sure and join Tara to see more Music Monday's.

LORI

We have an Alfalfa in the House...

LORI

Now They Both Have One.............

A scooter that is.............

Kenleigh has been doing so good on her potty training the last few weeks and the day that Kaitlyn got her scooter for her birthday.....

 

I think Kenleigh liked it better than Kaitlyn did.  So we told Kenleigh if she did really good on her potty training that we would get her a scooter.  So my uncle got her a gift card for Christmas and we had not used it yet.  So Friday night me and my husband go to Walmart and we looked like we were Christmas shopping because her gift card was for $30 and the scooter that we had been looking at was originally $34 and it was marked down to $14.  WOW!!  So we used her gift card to get her a new scooter and a baby carrier for her baby dolls. 

 

I was thinking they were just alike but after we got it home, we found out they are a little different.  They are both Disney characters but a little different.

The one on the left is Kaitlyn's and the one on the right is Kenleigh's.

 Don't tell Kenleigh, but when Kaitlyn was full potty trained we got her a John Deer Gator.  Shhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!  But my husband had also just sold a litter of puppies and used that money to buy it with.

Here is Kaitlyn's gator that she got about 4 years ago, but no worries, Kenleigh gets to ride it too.

LORI

Favorite Foto Friday/Grandparents

I am participating in FFF.  Hannah over at Me-Me and Monkey's BIG Adventure has a theme for today and it is grandparents.  I have checked out some of the blogs that linked to Hannah's and I notice that they are blogging about their kids grandparents, but I want to show you my grandparents and then I will post pictures of my kids grandparents.  So here we go.

Here is a picture of my Mimi and Papaw.  This was probably taken back in the late 70s.  My mom and dad divorced when I was a year and a half and my mom and I moved in with my maternal grandparents.  They had a huge part in raising me and they are both gone to be with the Lord and I miss them both so much.

Here are my paternal grandparents.  Grandma and Grandpa Young.  They too have gone on to be with the Lord.

This is my husbands paternal grandparents.  Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bill.  We actually live in their house.  We remodeled it before moving into it 10 years ago.  They have both gone on to be with the Lord and we miss them very much.  My kids did not get to meet them.

This is my husband's maternal grandparents.  Ma and Pa.  Pa passed away just this past September.  Ma is still with us and so sweet.  I ask that you continue to pray for her as they were married for over 65 years.

Here is Granny and Papaw that live just up the hill from us and are such a blessing.

Here is Kaitlyn with her Grandpa Young at Thanksgiving.

Here is Kaitlyn with her Mimi at her birthday party this past year.

My kids are blessed to have such great grandparents.

LORI