i {heart} you!

How cute are these cupcakes?!!!

Go here to learn how to make them!

(You will find them a few posts down, I am lame and don't know how to link to a specific post yet!)

Happy {heart} day!

Valentines for School ~ check.

Valentine's Day is one of my very favorite "holidays".  I just LOVE making the goodies and trying to come up with something cute and unique for my girls to give their teachers and friends.

The blog world has provided so much inspiration.  What fun to look at everyone's ideas!

I found this picture idea and could not wait to try it on Lindsay!  She is not the easiest to take pictures of, but I still like these, and every time I look at them I laugh!

 Anna was having NO PART of handing her picture out to her friends, so we went with marshmallow pops instead. Easy peasy.

 I absolutely adore the teachers in my girls' lives and I always want them to feel appreciated, so I try to do little gestures for them as often as possible.  I am always on the lookout for their initials and I scored these darling monogrammed tablets for Anna's teachers at Tuesday Morning (one of my favorite stores!) (and these are sewn monograms!)

 Lindsay's class is having a big party tomorrow and I got a note requesting these delicious sugar cookies.  They are a "Luff girl" tradition and all the teachers over the years have loved these cookies! (I will share the recipe later)

 Being in Special Ed., Lindsay has a lot of people to bring gifts to..there are 5 aides in her classroom! Four ladies and Sir John, she adores all of them!  I struggle with "boy" gifts sometimes, but this time John is getting white chocolate dipped pretzel sticks and a Starbuck's giftcard.  Lindsay insisted that "Don-Don" the janitor gets a gift too!

The ladies are getting cute heart dish towels and candy.

 Lindsay's adorable teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, is getting a vinyl "monogrammed" hurricane jar with pencils and chocolate!  I LOVE that Jenn's silhouette cuts vinyl (mine doesn't) so she hooks me up on etching and vinyl projects!

 I have made good use of this new little toy I got last summer. (My Brother 5x7 hoop embroidery machine).  My mom and dad bought it for me!  My mom actually kept telling me "you've always been such a good girl and you have never given us any trouble, so we want to do this for you..." hahaha I guess it does pay to be a nice girl.

( I am so thankful for my parents...they pay Anna's (and paid Shae's from K-12) tuition to Redding Christian School.) What a gift.  Immeasurable. Priceless.

 I have enjoyed making aprons, towels and other odds and ends.  It's so nice to be able to whip something up for a gift.

Anna is going to winter camp this weekend with our church (at OUR camp, so her Daddy will be close by.. haha).  It is her first time to ever be a "camper" so I embroidered pillowcases with their names for her and her two friends!

 Looks like tomorrow I can put my feet up for a bit and visit some blogs to cruise around for some inspiration in decorating, organizing and crafting.  But, the blog I am most in need of right now is written by my friend from high school, Shannon.  Check her out, you'll be inspired.  She's a ray of sunshine and her happiness is contagious!

Happy Weekend!!

 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassion's never fail.  The are new every morning."

Lamentations 3: 22,23

and boy am I glad that verse is true...

Because mornings with this girl are not always easy!

She talks almost endlessly, she wants to "help" make lunches...

(here she is in Shae's old jeans! Yeehaw! I'm glad I saved 'em!)

 she wants to put her own shoes on... yes, i realize she is supposed to do this according to her OT and PT people but c'mon, it takes for~ev~er, and i have to re do them anyway!

 Then she has to strike a pose and show Daddy "how cute his Binny-Boo 'wooks' today..."

Mornings are, indeed, a challenge around here...so I am VERY thankful for

*This girl*

and the comic relief she brings to us!

Where's Anna?? 

Oh, she's in the hot tub watching The Brady Bunch on the iPad....

Valentine Blog~Swap Goodies from Hannah!

It's SWAP time~ Valentine's Style!
I got an exciting knock on my door on Saturday! My mailman delivered my Valentine Swap Package from Hannah!
My gifts were all tied into the acronym:
H~Heart pancake rings AND recipe for "Red Velvet Pancakes w/ cream cheese glaze"!

E~"Easy on the hands oven mitt" (and it's a cupcake! Helllooooo cuteness!)
A~Apron (it's reversible! Darling stripes on one side, darling cupcakes on the other!)
R~"Ring around the collar"necklace. (handmade and I AM going to copy this!!)
T~Towel (matches the oven mitt and apron...I almost don't want to use it, it's so cute!)

Along with my sweet goodies, AnnaPreston sent Lindsay and Anna some little goodies too!!

They were thrilled!!

Lindsay's gift came in handy this morning while she waited for everyone to be ready to leave for church!

Thank you so much, Hannah! What a fun gift, I love each and every item and it really couldn't be more "me"!

Go here to see everybody else's loot!

Photobucket" border="0">

Love, A Stripper and other Randomness

We have been going from one thing to another around here. I feel like a need a secretary or a personal assistant!
I did, however, make time to put out a few little Valentine's Day decorations (Anna and Lindsay LOVE holiday decor) okay, so do I!!


My "Southern Living at Home~ Dress Me Up Plate", is one of my favorite things.
(Thank you, Dawn Smith!)

I couldn't think of a more appropriate verse about "true love" than John 3:16.

The mantle is something I look at every.single.day. so I put most of my little touches there.
(go check your local Kohl's to see if they have any of these precious mercury glass candlesticks on the Christmas clearance section for $2.99 like ours did!)

It's funny how just a few little bits of pink and red can get you feeling all festive.

Our weather has been so beautiful for the past few weeks. It has been in the mid 70's, so Lindsay has been doing a lot of "chalking" outside. Just about every inch of our patio and sidewalks have her little "drawings" (which are honestly usually just scribbles). She ventured to the front yard one evening while waiting for Grandma and Papa to come to dinner and we literally were blown away by what we saw.

I asked her what she drew and she said, "A fwower garden, Siwwy". Duh.

Now THAT, is what I call a blessing.

Another HUGE turn Lindsay has taken is her tolerance at the dentist. Yesterday was the third cleaning she has endured completely from start to finish, including the fluoride treatment AND X-rays! (In the past, we have had to drive an hour to another dentist who puts kids like her under sedation to do the work.)

It helps to have Daddy there.

It also helps to be in charge of your own suction tube thing-y to use whenever you feel like you need it!

Anna got her bottom braces on and her teeth cleaned at the same time. AND, the BIGGEST NEWS is that Lindsay has done so well over the last few visits, that Dr. Petras says she can have braces too!! She is OVER THE MOON about it (until she actually has them on, I am sure!!) Hers will be a limited version of what normal kids would have. We are NOT going for perfection here, I told him we just want to get those"Bucky Beavers" under control! (of all of our girls, Lindsay's teeth are the most crooked~of course. She was also the one with ear tubes. If it CAN happen, it will happen to Lindsay. Poor thing.)
And to think that I was so happy that none of my girls sucked their thumbs, thinking that we wouldn't have to deal with braces...UGH!
Now to figure out a way to pay for them along with Anna's braces AND Shae's college tuition...
uh, the the big space between Shae and her sisters (unintentional) seemed like it was working in our favor for a little while there...

In the midst of our crazy lives these last few weeks, Lindsay got a very special phone call,

from her "Best Buddy EVER" at camp, Micah. He has graduated college and is living in South Carolina with his family...but we are hoping he might have time to come to camp this summer!

Anna's schedule is getting busy too. Basketball is twice a week, which keeps us hopping, but it is fun!

It's fun to have a friend from school on your team, and Aubrey is a fun one!

Anna had another great game last night and received the Jamba Juice giftcard from her coaches for the second week in a row for having the most rebounds!

She's turning into an aggressive little player too! (much to her Dad's delight!)
Speaking of her dad...along with all his other talents,

it turns out, He's quite a "stripper". ;)

My purple (garage sale score) furniture is 1/3 ready to be painted. The bench is completely stripped and sanded (not that I did any of it..I got weary of the whole process after doing one of the flat side pieces...). Scott warned me that it is not as easy as "all those bloggers make it look... blah blah blah" (I stopped listening right around there).

There is a chair AND a precious dressing table still in my garage as of right now (but they live here under the constant threat of "being loaded up and taken to the Salvation Army!") and they are still purple. I'm not sure they will be sticking around here much longer. I am hoping to find my personal stripper (and his change of heart) out there working on them soon though.

Photobucket" border="0">

Valentine's Day Decor Idea

One of my favorite blogs to read is Eighteen25. There are always fun ideas and beautiful pictures to look at. Right now (it is actually a few posts down) there is a link to download this darling print for FREE! Just go here and get one for yourself! I downloaded the brown, pink and red one, then uploaded (is that the right word?) to Costco and had an 8x10 print made. I am going to put it in a white frame later, but I wanted to hurry and share this idea, so you get what you get!

And just for a laugh...Anna and I spotted this hilarious pillow at Home Goods last weekend! I wish I would have splurged on it but my husband may have actually acted out the phrase!

Hope you are having a Happy Week!

Lessons I Have Learned From My {disabled?} Daughter

Today it's just Lindsay and me at home. Shae is back at college, Anna and Scott are up at camp serving 160 junior high kids.

As I listen to "Go Diego Go" playing on the TV and hear Lindsay answering the questions he asks, laughing hysterically at the funny parts while she plays with blocks, my mind wanders to what could have been. {a dangerous place for a mind to go}
Lindsay is 13 years old. Thirteen. In seventh grade. Jr. High!

She should be at Jr. High "Winter Camp" this weekend with all the other kids her age.
She should be able to dress herself, take care of her own hygiene, and text her friends on a cell phone.
But God, Almighty God, allowed Lindsay's life to be altered when she was just 8 months old.
Heart failure. Brain damage. Blindness.

a small price to pay for,

a pure heart that loves with no reserve,

fresh, pure JOY on a daily basis,

the BIGGEST, most sincere, loyal and loving heart....ever.

And the greatest gift God ever allowed our family to have.

HE could have easily taken her home to live with Him in heaven all those years ago. But He loved us { Ohhh, how He loves us..} so much that He, in His powerful wisdom, left Lindsay in an altered state to live in this family to change us. {Ohhh, how He loves us...}

My mother-in-law and I were talking about Lindsay today. She told me that she had mentioned to my father-in-law how sad it sometimes made her to see Lindsay playing with blocks when she thinks about Lindsay's age. He told Dottie that all that doesn't matter because she is happy. Happy she IS!

She really doesn't know what she is missing, only WE do. Her life is so beautifully simplistic.
I often catch myself comparing my life with that of others, (which the Bible specifically warns against) thinking how great it would be to be able to run errands quickly, or just tell everyone to "go get dressed for school" and only have myself to get ready. But, I realize that God, in all His wisdom, gave me this child so that I would "turn my eyes upon Jesus"!


"At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."
Matthew 11:25

Photobucket" border="0">