Surprise!

My doorbell hardly ever rings, so when the it rang again (for like the 3rd time today) I thought "who can it be now?" The lady from the Flippin Flower Box.

Thanks sweet husband! I was totally surprised.

Happy 1st Birthday Eden!

She loved her cake and eventually she was mess! Well..and so was the wall behind her. I love my sweet niece!

The Rainbow Song

We watch a lot of "The Cat in the Hat" around our house. Thanks Cat for teaching us the colors of the rainbow. In order. So glad spring is officially here! Although outside it feels like winter..

Here We Go Again..

Round 2. The bottom of the base cracked. The manufacturer didn't hassle us about sending a new one so that was nice. But seriously, we only had the first one 4 months. Kinda frustrating.

A Beautiful Day

The weather is awesome! What a great day to stop...

and play...

to text in the sun...

to smell the flowers (or weeds)...

and to play with Mommy.

 I do love her face! She was stoked about the flowers (or weeds..)

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

Psalm 118:24

Visitors

My sister in law Buffy was on spring break this week and we thought it would be good to get together and let the girls play for a few days. Oh the chaos, love, and laughter. They had a good time!

Cousins

 Just for the record. I have never seen a more trashed house in my life! But hey, the girls were having fun. Keep'n it real I suppose. The first night after we ate supper it took Buffy and I over two hours to pick up (with a "little" help from the girls..), and give baths. Thank goodness for my sweet husband who did the dishes. After all that we were exhausted. NUTS!

 

 

 We had a little picnic at the park too. Today was a nice day. For some reason I didn't get any pics of the playing part... Hmmmm...

Okay, first of all I have a very spirited 4 year old that truly lives life in ALL CAPS (as one of my friends says). Everything is exciting and she says it at the top of her voice. Talking soft is NOT in her vocabulary. So now you're probably wondering "why is your child practically nude?" well.. she decided to play in the large mud puddles at the park. I was talking to my sis-in-law and some friends when one of them says, "Lora, Livy is playing in the mud puddles." Oh great! Soaked from the neck down. Mud and dirt were all over her back and rear end. I love my 4 year old, I love my 4 year old, I love my 4 year old. 

Very calmly (while freaking out in my head) I said...

Me: Livy, why are you playing in the mud?

Livy: Mom, I found a mud puddle!!!

Me: Yes, I know. But why are you playing in it?

Livy: I love mud puddles!!!

Me: Okay, well you know what, you're going to be cold. We'll have to take your clothes off when we get in the van..

I figure it was one of those cases when the consequences were worse than spanking her bottom. And she was cold. She hid under some playground equipment to shield her from the breeze.. I wasn't in a hurry to leave. She was learning her lesson. However she went back to the puddles... oh well.

Livy: Mommy, it's cold out here.

Me: Yup, it is when you're wet. Let's go and take your clothes off so you don't get mud on the car seats. 

Anna was ready for her nap and Liv just takes it all in stride.

We miss you Buffy, Bethany, and Eden!

Drawing

She loves it. She's very talented!

Then she decides to wad up the paper instead..

A Delayed Post

I meant to post this a month ago when it was ACTUALLY Valentines Day, but oh well. The girls were in their V day pj's and I thought it was cute. (plus I'm just now getting around to getting a bunch of stuff off my phone.. ha!) I think it's pretty hilarious how Livy almost knocks the phone right out of my hand.

The Chick Bakes

I did something I didn't know if I would or could ever do; I had my first bread making experience. Actually it turned out better than I thought thanks to good ol' Betty Crocker. I tell you what, the red Betty Crocker cook book was the best wedding gift we got hands down. Not kidding! I have used it more than anything I got almost 9 years ago. Go figure..Other than the crazy long process (like, 3 1/2, 4 hours). I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

At this point I had to brush them with butter and let them rise again.

Then I had to do it again before I baked it. Darn.

 I did it again when they came out. Ya know, to keep the top from get too hard..

Then I thought, okay, hot bread and melted butter in a bowl sitting on the counter. Better cut into it to make sure it's good. Slap some strawberry jam on it and it's a winner. But seriously, after 3 pieces I think I was past the point of just trying it.

In the Spencer house growing up we had our "own" version of monkey bread, which was always very good. However I wanted to try it the traditional way everyone else makes it.. The sticky, gooey way it's supposed to be made. OMG! Heaven in a pan!!  I put craisins and almonds in the layers.

Seriously, I don't know how I'm not 400lbs. Just a side note I really don't bake like this all the time. One, I don't have the time very often. Two, still trying to loose that pesky baby weight. So now I have to quit baking like this or I'll have to go buy bigger pants.

Playing Catch up

I guess the last time I blogged was at the beginning of Feb. Now that it's the 1st of March I thought I needed to fill in the blanks. Here goes...

 Valentines Day

I am biased of course, but these are the two sweetest little gals in the world! I think they get the open mouth picture thing from there Dad. Which by the way, is the greatest husband in the world!

 I made "the greatest hubby in the world" a valentine. I felt creative that day for some reason.

 I also made valentines for the best babysitter's in the world! They offered to watch the kids that night so we could go out. What would we do without Mr. Doug and Ms. Mille?

Me and Liv cut out some cookies. I decorated some of  them with the always popular cheesy valentines sayings, then I got serious and put the things that are dearest to me on some.

Of course Livy decorated some too.

Anna's Therapy 

She is coming along in that department. Every week God gives me glimpses of hope, which I am so thankful for. She is so very close to sitting herself up on her own and she is bearing weight. (she doesn't pull up. I put her there myself to work on bearing weight)

She still army crawls up a storm and we are trying to get her to get up on her knees and crawl. I know if she could do that the sitting up would come. Mr. Jason is working on lots of core strength with her. Of course she is still not a fan of PT. She cries and cries. It's very tiring for her and she has to work hard.

She also does yoga in her spare time.

We have got her set up for developmental therapy in the home starting next week. Speech therapy will come in the next few weeks and begin working with her as well. The development lady we have been talking to said that on her development she needed to score a 25% or higher to qualify for in home therapy. She did on most things except for all the social catatgories. She is wonderful socially and grins and loves people!! So not a problem there.. That she comes by honestly. Ha!

We didn't make it to Little Rock a couple weeks ago for her appointments. Got snowed in. We'll go back in April for her swallow study and her pulmonary visit. She also has a yearly EEG (brain scan) coming up. The last one was last April and the results were "somewhat abnormal". God is still good and I praise him everyday for our miracle!

The old has gone, the new has come!

First of all, I love old things! Especially this old door. Our friend the Millie and Doug (that watch our kiddos from time to time) are in the process of moving out to the house that they are renovating. Millie grew up in that house. Cool huh?!? A while back she offered me an old recessed panel door. The first thing that flew out of my mouth was YES! Well, immediately I saw potential. I have always wanted to make an old door into coffee tables. John and I went to pick up the door and the next day we went to Lowe's and bought our supplies. I think John was pretty excited too actually..

 John made the bases in one day. All that he needed to do was cut the door and glue and nail in down.

 This was afterward. They looked so great already!! This is coffee table.

 

 End table

 So after lots of thought as to how I wanted to finished them (yes, I said me. I did the finish work myself..), I decided I wanted a crackle kind of roughed up look.  To add to the "living room redo" I wanted to change up the valances and cover the pillows. It's NOT in the budget to buy everything new. This was about making old things new. Speaking of which, it's funny how the Lord speaks even when painting in the garage. This verse came to my mind.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; 

old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 

2 Corinthians 5:17

It's amazing to me that even while working on coffee tables, God speaks to me. He told me that just as this table is old and rough around the edges, I'm making you into the person I want you to be. There's a spiritual illustration for you. Okay back to the "redo"......

 

First of all, Livy took this picture. I don't put pics of me in here too often. This was the only before pic that you could see the blue toile valances. So note those... I had flowered, and white pillows on the couches. I bought couch covers in Jan because honestly I was SICK of blue gingham. Gag me with a fork! I have always wanted a living room with red, black, and white, with yellow accents.

 This is the table that John and I worked on lovely huh!?!?!!! Note: I kept the door knob case. (is that what you call it?)

 This is crackle finish I accomplished. Go me!

This is the end table. A very sweet lady help me with the pillows and valances because honestly I can't sow to save my life. But I did help press, cut, and pin. So I guess I can be helpful in the creative process.

Aren't the valances just amazing! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Pillows. I have the red and white on the love seat as well. I hope to make a buttery yellow colored pillow to throw in at some point.

Looks so much better.

A weekend with my family

To finish off February, my family took at trip to Branson to hang out for the weekend. My bro-in-law Olin is a manager at the Wyndham Resort so we got a deal and split it 4 ways. Made for a cheap, family fun weekend. We told him he could never quit his job! Throw in a bit of shopping with a hot tub and indoor pool and it was great! (the pool was Livy's favorite part)