Easter!

This is the first year for Brooklyn to really start to enjoy Easter so we decided to make it special for her. I started gathering up stuff almost a month ago. Here's her basket from the Easter Bunny:

The first thing she went for was her TinkerBell PJ's!!

After getting her all dressed up and letting her see her new stuff, we headed off to an AMAZING service at church. We went to the 9:30 service to make more room in the later service for guests. We were a little late and ended up sitting in chairs in the aisle. I LOVED how many people were there to hear about Christ dying for our sins and rising again! What a powerful message! I pray hearts were open!

With Brooklyn getting older and running around so much, its so much harder to get good pictures. She kept getting distracted by the cows and everyone else.

This was the best picture the 3 of us could take. We only took about 50 and this was the best!

She wasn't in the best mood after church (she was so sleepy) so she wouldn't smile much but I finally go one of her smiling:

The kids got to hunt Easter Eggs filled with candy that Grandma and Papaw stuffed. They had a blast!

All pooped out after hunting Easter Eggs!

Hopefully next year will be just as great and we can share with Brooklyn the TRUE meaning of Easter!

A Promise from God

A couple weeks ago, I got a text with a verse from the Bible from Lynzie. She sent the same verse to me again this morning. So did Toya! How crazy that of all the verses in the Bible, I got the exact same verse sent to me twice within 15 minutes! The verse was from Exodus:

"Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today...The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Exodus 14:13-14

How powerful are these two verses! They give a promise that the Lord will fight for you!! The One and Only Lord of all creation will fight for ME!! You can't read these verses without feeling hope. No matter what troubles you face, no matter what heartaches reach the depths of your soul, God will fight for you! He isn't going to abandon you in the tough times. He isn't going to abandon you in the good times. He. Will. ALWAYS. Be. There!

There are so many times when I feel so alone. I had a really rough week last week and even though I was surrounded by family, I felt alone. I didn't feel like anyone could understand what I was going through. I cleaned. I organized. I cried. I baked cookies. I went on with my daily life because there was nothing else to do. But even through all that, I felt hope. I knew and will always know that God will fight for me! He is my protector. My Savior. My Redeemer. My Hope. No matter what trials I face, what joys I am priviledged to experience, my Lord is always there for me! I don't have to do anything for Him, or to help Him. I have only to believe in Him!

Easter Bucket

I've been seeing so many people make creative Easter baskets and other stuff for their kids. After Sarah Catherine (Luke's cousin) made Anderson and Emerson Easter baskets, I decided to follow along and make Brooklyn one too! I also decided to use my Cricut that I got for my birthday to make her some cards to give to her cousins and friends.

My Cricut is my new best friend!! I love it!

These are a few of the Easter cards I made for Brooklyn.



Most of the supplies I used for B's Easter bucket.

The finished product!!

The backside! It turned out just how I hoped!! I can't wait to make another one for Halloween! Personalized (and home-made) stuff are my favorite!

Girls Day at the Park!

Jacqueline and Lexi were planning on being in Conway today so we decided to have a much needed girls day. We had it all planned. Frozen Yogurt. Then the park. So after I got off work, Jacqueline and Lexi met me at my house. I was running a little late but Luke was home so I figured he would just let them in. They rang the doorbell. They knocked. No one answered. They called me and I told them I would be home in a few minutes but to keep trying. So they did. No one answered. When I got home and we finally got inside this is what we found:

It was so precious we couldn't be mad that he didn't answer the door. After Brooke woke up and I got her all changed to go, we headed out to CYC. The girls LOVED the froyo! Then we went on to the park! Here are a few pictures from the day:

This was Brooke's first time on a swing. She. LOVED. it! She would just laugh hysterically. All the people around us kept talking about how much she was laughing just being on the swing. It was great!

How my child learned to climb up the slide the wrong way I don't know. But she loved it! She didn't want to go down the right way. She only wanted to climb to the top, then slide down on her belly. It was too cute and no one else really played on the "little kids" playground so I just let her.

These are two of my favorite little girls in the world. I love them with all my heart and sure hope they grow up to be best friends one day the way their mom's are!

Spring Has Sprung

This week has been Spring Break for me and Luke...but neither of us have gotten any rest. We've painted and planted and worked extra hours. It's been worth it getting everything done but resting would have been nice too. I did take a few hours to take Brooklyn to Wye Mountain on Thursday. It was much colder than I expected and she wasn't much into taking pictures. She wanted to run around and just look at flowers. I took pictures but these were the best I could get of my energetic 18 month old..

With it being just the two of us it was hard to get a picture of me and Brooklyn, but I set my camera on timer and tried to get a good picture:

The drive was breath taking. I ended up having to pull over to take a picture because it was just so beautiful.

It was a great trip overall. Even with Brooke getting car sick (a first) on the way home from all the hills and curves. I'm looking forward to more great spring pictures. We might even venture out to UCA to take advantage of all the pretty flowers they plant!

Home Improvement

We've been in our house for about a year and I've been tired of having the same plain tan walls and no plants in our yard. We finally got a minutes break and decided to paint and plant...

This is the living room BEFORE...

And the living room AFTER

(you can't tell much difference but we painted it a brown and rearranged)

Here is the kitchen BEFORE...

And AFTER..

(the pictures not so great but the walls are RED!! I love it!)

Here is our plain front yard...

And our favorite little helper...

And here's the finished product!

This is from the road.

It's so nice to have color in my house and plants outside. It FINALLY feels like its our house. We've still got some rooms to go, some stuff to get rid of, and some organizing to do before I can feel like everything is perfect..but it's coming along!

Busy Life

Life is so busy right now. I'm going to bed past midnight which is not like me AT ALL! I love my sleep and get grumpy when I don't get enough. But there is so much for me to get done. And it's hard to get much done with Brooklyn awake because I'd rather play/read with her than do my own homework. Even though it's been hectic in my life lately, I've still gotten to enjoy my beautiful little girl. I even remembered to grab the camera to capture some of her fun moments...

She kept trying to put this on her head all night. I put it on her and she actually kept it on! She liking things on her head a little more now that she's getting older.

Thank goodness mommy's phone has an otter box. Otherwise it would not be alive.

"Brusha teef" is a very used phrase around our house. She LOVES to brush her teeth. And looking at herself in the mirror while doing it just makes her more happy. :)

Luke and I started painting our house (more pictures to come) this past weekend. I turned around to paint for a little while and I look back and B has climbed up 2 steps on the ladder. She is such a little monkey...and fearless! I had to take a quick pic before I made her get off. She loved the ladder!

Sunglasses ("gwasses") are another thing she LOVES now too! She loves looking at herself in the mirror while she wears them. She just thinks she's so cute! (But who can argue? She is the cutest child alive!)

Mommy's little diva!

I can't believe she is already 18 months old! She's growing too fast! Here are a few facts about her now that she's 18 months old...

• 18 month clothes are getting too small...24 month and 2T fit really well and will be what we buy for her spring/summer clothes
• She is starting to put together sentences...it's really funny
• Tinker Bell is still her favorite
• She is also into babys and baby dolls
• She climbs everything!!
• She LOVES being outside!
• She will sit still and read several books with me at night! :) (This makes me so happy!)
• She loves people and isn't very shy
• She's a very caring child...she'll go check on anyone that's crying.
• She knows places (we can pull up to my mom's house and she'll say "my mimi" then as soon as I get her out of the car she runs to the door and knocks)
• temper tantrums happen whenever I tell her "no"

There's so much more but I can't list everything. Now that she's tucked into bed..I think I will go to bed too.