Go Hogs!

My cousin, Stacy, got Kate this cute little Hog outfit last Christmas. She is an Ole Miss alumni, and my uncle Ron and Stacy's husband, Brian, are 2 of the biggest Ole Miss fans around, since they live in Mississippi. Of course Michael and my dad have to give them a hard time every year around this time. The trash talking never seems to end, especially since Ole Miss has taken up with our no good ex-coach Houston Nutt! ha

Since today is the first Hog game I had to dress Kate up in it. Tonight we are going over to my parents to watch the game and grill burgers...yummmmyyyy!!!

She loves to read....the teacher in me is so proud!

GO HOGS! BEAT MISSOURI STATE!

Not me!

OK...it's time again for Mckmama's "Not Me" Monday!

When I was putting up clothes Saturday in Kate's closet, I did not dress her in one of the outfits that I was about to hang up because I didn't want to take the time to walk 10 feet into Abby's room and get one of her hangers because Kate was out of them. I would not put my toddler in the same outfit that she wore the day before when she has soooo many clothes in her closet that I can barely fit another outfit in there... that would be just shameful. Not me!

I did not for the second week in a row skip church on Sunday night to watch "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." And I do not have a crush on Regis!!! Not me!

After seeing me for numerous weeks in my ghetto and falling apart black sandals, watching me walk around with only one sandal (because one of them fell apart) of the outside of our church looking for "The Promise Land" with my Wednesday night kids group, and reading about my pitiful Wal-Mart journey in my last post, my good friend Kacee did not take pity on me and go out and buy me not one, but TWO pairs of black sandals! Not me! (I love you Kacee!)

And ...after buying me those two pairs of sandals, I did not carry one of those pairs of sandals in my purse Sunday morning because I was afraid that my black heels would hurt my feet to much by the end of church! Not me!

One night last week Michael was playing racquetball and I had put the girls to bed, so I was alone...in the living room...with the TV remote all to myself. I did not use that precious, rare moment to watch "Sonny with a Chance" on the Disney Channel....and really enjoyed it! I would never do that by MYself...voluntarily...Not me!

After hearing the "8 Point Lesson Plan" that I'm going to have to start writing for every single lesson, I did not actually consider that maybe I won't last another 21 years in teaching before I can retire. Because I feel like I'm fresh out of college! So young and excited about EVERYthing! Not me!

And....during our family game night, Michael and I did not get so irritated with each other that he got up in the middle of our game, stomp off like a 2 year old, and refuse to play with me! Not HIM!!!! And I did not think that I did permanent damage to our daughter who had to witness how immature we both were....Not us!

And there you have it...this week's edition of Not Me Monday!

***I'm really going to try and get on here and post some pictures of Abby's 1st day of Kindergarten this week! :(

Not Me! Monday

So today I'm going to join in on the "Not Me" Monday! Mckmama posts her own "not me" Monday's...you can read them here. We are not perfect, and it's funny to read about how "not" perfect other people can be...so...here it goes...

This morning when I heard Kate cry out to let me know that she was up and ready to start the day, I did not just lay there in bed and let her cry out a few more times before she finally got the message that I was not coming in to get her at that moment....and we all fell back to sleep. Not me!

I did not just nod my head, smile, and look at Abby as she continued to talk and talk and talk...about what...I'm not quite sure, but it involved Halloween and decorations for Halloween. I'm always the type of mom that listens to every single word that my talkative 5 year old has to say. Not me!

I did not send my husband to church by himself last night because I wanted to stay at home and watch Regis on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" because that would be just sinful! Not me!

After I did get out of the bed this morning, I jumped up and down at the thought of returning to work tomorrow and that this was going to be my last day of summer vacation. I did do that, didn't I??? Yeah right! Not me!

When I was at Walmart this past week, I did not have such badly beat up sandals on that the bottom of my sandal was completely coming off and was flopping around like a dead fish. So that means I did not look like a fool as I tripped over the flopping sandal several times before I decided to just drag that foot. Not me!

After reading the "social networking rules" from my school district's newsletter, I did not panic and go back and start reading and deleating comments that I made on Facebook or my blog because I was scared that my license would be taken away from me. Not me!

I did not tell my 14 month old the other day, when she was throwing an absolute fit, that I somehow must have been given the wrong baby at the hospital 14 months ago because no child of mine was going to act like that....and...I most certainly did not threaten to take her back to the hospital and exchange her for a more pleasant baby because what mother would say that? Not me!

Wow! That was fun! I'm going to have to start doing that every Monday!

Footlose!

I got my necklace this week. I love it! It's so pretty and I can't wait to wear it. I love anything that is custom made or has to do with my girls! I've been wanting something like this for awhile. I had originally wanted a bangle bracelet with the girls names on charms somehow, but I found this and I really like it. You can get them or other hand-stamped jewelry at The Vintage Pearl. I'll probally order something else!


We love to dance in our house. The girls love to put on their CD's and just jump around. The other morning we put on some songs and got to dancin'.
I'm not quite sure what Abby is doing here with her hands between her legs like that. Who knows!!! Their feet were cut off and I hate that because I caught them jumping!



When Kate dances she does a little bounce. Also, she loves to wear necklaces! As you can see, she has some of Abby's beads on :) She loves to get headbands and sunglasses and stick them on her neck like they are necklaces! So cute!











Gotta love this smile! or attempt at a smile! ha













Love those blue eyes! I hope they stay that way!







Here is my green-eyed girl! I have green eyes that are almost that exact color...













Still cuttin' teeth!!!










The girls love to hear the "Cha Cha Slide" and dance to it. That was one of the songs they were dancing too. I started videoing Kate dancing the way she dances. It's so funny. Please excuse the mess on the floor. We had been playing with Kate's toys so they were left out. I also spotted one of Abby's flip flops, her black bag, and a book. I almost didn't put this video on here because I didn't want people to think I was a slob. If you know me, then you know I'm a neat freak. I've been called a little OCD about it. But I thought it was so funny, her dancing, that I could get past all that and share this video with you :) Please ignore the HICK sound to my voice that I have going on. I pray that's not how I really sound!

Also...Praise the Lord that Stellan is doing much better. I've been following very closely and the pictures that have been posted today are so much more encouraging then the ones from earlier this week. He looked so sick this week, but today he looks so much better. He still has a ways to go, but he has improved so much. Continue to pray that his heart completely heals so that he no longer has to rely on any medication. Our Lord is the Almighty Physician! God is so faithful. Pray for comfort for Mckmama and family. It's so incredibly hard when there is something wrong with your baby and she needs peace, comfort, and strength.

I will be attending a funeral tomorrow for my friend and colleague that left this world last weekend. Her son is doing very well, considering. Please continue to pray for that family. Peace and comfort...

Calling All Prayer Warriors

Please pray for baby Stellan and his family. He is around 10 months old, I believe, and his heart is failing on him. I can't imagine what this family must be going through right now. Stellan did not have a good night last night. You can read about him HERE.

A teacher at my school died this past weekend. She leaves behind an 11 year old boy. He was her world. This woman was a wonderful person who always made me feel better about myself whether it be a nice compliment or a smile and a greeting. She will truley be missed by many. Please send prayers for her family as well.

It's times like these that are so saddening and many questions are asked as to "WHY?!?!". I don't have answers but I do know that our God IS faithful, IS loving, IS listening, and IS miraculous. Let's call out to God today with prayers for these 2 families and these 2 boys.

Tasty Kitchen

I was going to show some picturs of the girls and all the fun we had dancing around the house yesterday, but the pictures wouldn't transfer over to my computer for some reason. I'll try again tomorrow.
I'm really excited because today I found a website that The Pioneer Woman recently started. Who doesn't love her anyway? It's called Tasty Kitchen. It's full of receipes that viewers (and cookers too!) have posted. If you're anything like me, I sometimes have a hard time deciding what to cook for dinner. I feel like I make the same thing over and over again. Luckily I'm blessed with a husband who just likes to eat and who will eat pretty much anything! I was looking for something different to do with chicken when I came across this Crescent Chicken Squares. It turned out really good and it was different than anything I had done like that in awhile. If you are looking for some receipes give Tasty Kitchen a try. Also, Campbell's Kitchen is really good too! I have gotten tons of good stuff off of that. Like the Easy Chicken and Cheese Enchildas. Those are to die for! (I use hot sauce instead of picante sauce in that one) Check out these sights and also check out The Pioneer Woman. She's a hoot!

I also ordered this necklace recently from The Vintage Pearl.

Of course it won't say luke and london, but abby and kate. Her jewelry is sterling silver and hand stamped. I've been looking for somthing like this. Beautiful stuff! I can't wait to see it when it comes in.

I don't think I've ever posted 2 times in a row without putting a picture of the girls in it....so...here's an old one of Abby. I loved this picture of her. She was 3 and playing dress up. That boa gets fuzz EVERYWHERE!!!! Oh the joys of dress up!

Vampires, Edward, and Twilight...Oh My!!!

Summer time is really the only time I get to read books that are appropriate for my age (or around my age). Since I'm a teacher I spend my day reading picture books and kids chapter books and then the same thing at night with the girls. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but sometimes it's nice to be able to read a book that is more on my own level. My friend Becca has been telling us girls at work about the Twilight book series. I was like yeah I don't want to read those, vampires are really not my thing. I'm more of a Nicholas Sparks or Mary Higgins Clark type girl. She kept saying oh no...it's not like what you're thinking at all. She just loved these books!

Well...I saw the movie, and I thought it was good, but not the best thing I have ever seen. I was disappointed in a way and was kinda wandering what all the hype was about. So I went to work and told Becca that I had seen the movie and it was OK. She was asking me some questions, and she just kept saying that in the book you really get into Bella's head and what she is thinking. I told her I would read them this summer.

So, after Disney World and church camp with the kids I bought Twilight. Oh my goodness! I could say that word over and over again because it doesn't even BEGIN to describe how I felt about this book. It was wonderful!!!!! I couldn't put it down and had it read in 2 days. I read at night after the girls were asleep and when Kate was taking naps and Abby was playing on her own. So, this book

was my new favorite book. I was obsessed. I quickly ran (or drove, ha!) to the store and bought this

New Moon...which is the 2nd book. I was a little disgusted at first with it because (I won't give too much away about it if you haven't read it) there was one character who was in it a whole lot more than what I would have liked because this character kinda annoyed me. It was still very good, got me deeper into Bella's story until I had to quickly go get this

the 3rd book...Eclipse. I loved this one. When you start reading these, it makes you really look at your spouse and for me it made me just fall in love with Michael all over again. I know that sounds so silly and high schoolish, but it really did. This is a classic love story, and I just loved reading it. So after Eclipse, and my eyes about falling out of my head because they were sooooo tired from reading, yes I ran again to go get this

Breaking Dawn...the 4th and last book in the series. Like I said before I don't want to give anything away so all I will say is **sighhhhhh** it was wonderful! I'm so sad that there is not a 5th book to dive into and read. I do hear that there is one on the Internet that is from Edward's point of view. Someone asked me if I was Team Edward or Team Jacob...well if there HAS to be a choice...I am most definitely

is there really any other choice girls???

Happy 1st Birthday Kate!

Ok...for some reason my pictures are in front of everything I wrote. I've done that before and I have always been able to move it. It's not working right now. You can enjoy these pictures of Kate's 1st birthday and then read about after! Enjoy!

Kate was upset here because she couldn't reach her balloons.

This was after her party. She was just laying there looking at stuff :)

Here was her cake after she "ate" it.

Don't you just love the cake all in her fingers?!?!

We started out just barely touching the cake.

About to blow out the candle.

I loved her cake.

In the pictures her cake looked really small, but it wasn't.

Abby wrapped Kate a gift from her. I had no idea what it was. It turned out to be a book (that was actually my book when I was a little, little girl that I gave Abby) and a stuffed little dog. Kate loved it!

I meant to post this about a month ago, but like I've said...it's been busy! My baby had her 1st birthday on June 9. It is so hard to believe that it has been 1 year since I had her. She looks so different than she did when I first laid eyes on her. When she was born she had this curly, DARK brown hair and she looked like a little Indian baby. As you can now see, it is NOT dark brown. It's blondish with a red tint to it. She got that red tint from me. Everytime I go in to get my hair highlighted, Jody, my stylist, says that I have a red tint to my hair and I say GET IT OUT!!!! No offense to people with red tints of any way in their hair, but it just doesn't flatter me at all! Back to Kate...her hair is still curly when it is wet and if I would let it dry withOUT combing it, it would curl. But it's not a pretty curl, more of a messy wave, therefore I brush it when it's wet. We have come so far to the little one who had that little cry and would ball her fists up. Actually she still does cry and ball her fists up, but the cry now is MUCH louder. She has quite the little temper (she in NO way gets that from me! ha) that matches that red tint in her hair! She also no longer looks like a little Indian baby, she is very fair skinned!

She had a wonderful birthday and a lot of fun.

What are you doing at a year old Kate?

Hmmm....let's see....

*You go to sleep at 8:00 and wake up anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00.

*You take 2 naps a day - one around 10:00 and one around 1:00 or 2:00. You take one really good nap that lasts about 2 hours and the other nap usually lasts about an hour.

*You are walking VERY good! You don't fall as much as you used to!

*You like people food! You love chicken, oranges, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese.

*You LOVE breakfast. I think it's your favorite meal. You have milk, a blueberry pancake, and a ceral bar.

*You love your sister. You really look up to her and want to do what she does.

*You get into EVERYTHING! I have to close all doors except yours because you will get into it all.

*You love taking baths and also showers:)

*You love our dogs, especially Dixie. I can ask "Where's Dixie?" and you will run to the door and knock on it so you can see her.

*You like your ki-ki (pacifer). I was thinking the other night how MUCH you like and how HARD it will be to get rid of it.

*You love to go outside.

*You will not stay in the nursery at church. You cry and cry.

*You don't like strangers.

*You love to wave hi and bye to people.

*You can say hi, momma, dadda, bog(dog), and abbbb (abby)

*You weigh 20 lbs 14 oz

*You are 31 inches tall

*You were very brave for your 1 year shots.

*You are an absolute joy and your daddy and I wish that you would stay this age for awhile!

We LOVE you Katelyn Rose! Happy 1st Birthday!!!