It must be fate...

I have been coveting this damask comforter set for months ( I am in LOVE with damask prints) but it has been sold out online and I have never seen it in the store. Well if must have been fate because yesterday I some Christmas money and they happened to have one comforter in just the size I needed. I took it as divine intervention and I bought it!! I was so excited to get it on my bed and it did not disappoint!! I LOVE it! It is amazing how a new comforter set can change the whole look of a bedroom.

Krews Bishop

Here are some new pics of our little man! He is currently 27 weeks gestation and weighs about 2 lbs. 6 ozs. He is doing great and everything is progressing normally. It is hard to say who he looks like but to me he looks like Bulldog.

Upon further review..

Bulldog decided he did like the snow after all...

Snow Fun

Its Christmas day and Santa came last night to our house. All the presents are unwrapped, the house is a wreck and Daddy is at the fire station. So the kids and I are snowed in here at home and decided to enjoy Christmas snow! We don't get many white Christmas's here in Oklahoma but we got a great one this year. Bulldog did not like the snow at all and wanted to have no part of it, Bobcat on the other hand was completely in love with it and could not get enough.

Snowed in

All of Oklahoma is under a blizzard warning, something that has never happened in my life time. It is snowing and sleeting and the wind is blowing 40 MPH. So instead of going to celebrate with KB's family tonight, we are snowed in here at home waiting for Santa. Since daddy is working at the fire station tomorrow we are hoping the jolly old elf makes his appearance early!
Until then we are staying warm by the fire and enjoying the snow from our nice warm living room!!

Merry Christmas

We hope all of you have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year. We have enjoyed getting to know new blog friends this year and hope to get to know many more in the coming year. Thank you all for your love and support!! Enjoy your family and friends this holiday season and remember the true reason for the holiday, the birth of our Lord Jesus!!

Christmas babies of the past...

I love a baby's first Christmas, they are so full of wonder and delight!! Around our house we have a baby just about every other year!! LOL. I can't wait to celebrate with our new little guy next Christmas, but until then here a some of my favorite Christmas babies from the past!!

Christmas Frame

I bought this frame some time ago unfinished to make for a friend, then I decided to keep it for myself and make it a Christmas frame. It is so fun making Christmas crafts!!

Flashback Friday

Bobcat's first Christmas, before eye surgery obviously!! There is something so cute about my little crossed eyed Santa.

Most responsible

This morning I went to see Sunshine receive his first award at school!! He received an award for being the most responsible student. He loves school and does such a great job there. We are so proud of him!! He was just a little proud too and a little embarrassed too!!

Santas Cause

Last night Buttercup and I had the pleasure of helping wrap gifts for a great organization called Santas Cause. We just found out about them at church recently and now that we have been and seen their work for ourselves I am sure we will be addicted to helping from here on out. They provide gifts for very underprivileged, overlooked children in our community, then they deliver the gifts dressed as Santa to each family. These are children who slip through the cracks of other organizations and would otherwise receive nothing for Christmas. They have been serving our community for 25 years now. I was so neat to "shop" in their warehouse full of toys for each family them wrap everything up and watch it go out the door with Santa!! What a blessing each Santa received as they delivered Christmas to these wonderful families. It was a pleasure to be a part of it. Check them out here

What do you think??

I made this frame for Sunshines sweet kindergarten teacher. I think it turned out well but I wanted to know if you guys thought it is an okay gift???

The mane that had to be tamed

This mane was getting out of control, the soft curls have mostly turned to frizz and it was getting crazy!! So today i took bulldog for a haircut, still no clipper cut since he freaked out in the chair as it was. But we did cut a lot off and he looks better, less crazy now. His hair is still so baby fine it is hard to know what to do with it. Sorry Grumpa, no buzz cut yet!!

Rarely Seen

Just to prove I have not {Yet} locked her in her room until the teenage years pass like I have threatened, here is a picture of the elusive Buttercup. She is doing well and somehow surviving the various, Christmas traditions that she feels she is too old for but that we make her participate in anyway!!

I won an award

I won an award. Thank you Brandie for my award! Brandie is a fabulous cook and fellow firefighters wife with three or the cutest kids ever. Thanks again Brandie for the Lemonade Stand Award, my very first!

There are rules attatched to getting the Lemondae Stand Award. I must pick 10 fellow bloggers and leave them a comment that I have picked them. Then I then need to leave a link to the blog that I recieved the award from. Thanks again Brandie athttp://brandicastlecooking.blogspot.com/ for my very first blogging award

1. Greygillfish
2. Johnson Party of 7
3. Christensen Chaos
4. Chunky Charmed
5. Life is Good
6. Grandpa Muses
7. Ordinary Inspirations
8. The Little Moments
9. Nourish Baby
10. Foursons

Go check these awesome blogs out and for some great recipes check out www.brandicastlecooking.blogspot.com !!

Naughty or Nice

The jury is still out on these three!! Last night we made our annual pilgrimage to see Santa, the boys were super excited until we got there then Bobcat and Sunshine both said they didn't want to see Santa. After watching Bulldog go they decided to visit Old Saint Nick after all!! Buttercup was entirely embarrassed by the whole thing and stood about 15 feet back so no one would even think she was in line!! LOL. So sadly, again, a Buttercup-less post, sigh. Tis the season with an (almost) teenager! Tonight we make our annual gingerbread house.

These are a few of my favorite things...

There is a lot of talk this time of year about gifts. Everyone wants something it seems. It is easy to get caught up in wanting this time of year and forget about all the everyday blessings that abound in our loves. After reading a post on one of my favorite blogs titled what does contentment look like, I started thinking about all the "gifts" I receive everyday that are sometimes overlooked in the day to day rush of life. So below are some of my favorite things, a few of the things that don't cost a thing but mean the world to me. What are some of your favorite things??

1. Sweet baby kisses
2. the giggle of little boys
3. snuggling in bed on a cold morning
4. seeing my husband come through the door after a night at the station
5. clean sheets
6. the laughing and dancing of a preteen girl
7. a long, hot shower
8. photographs
9. feeling my unborn baby move inside me
10. the sound of the bus dropping my kids off safely at home
11. happy, healthy, sleeping babes all snuggled in bed at night

New Moon let down???

Is it just me or is there other people suffering from New moon let down??? I was totally unimpressed with the movie. I mean aside from the really good looking, not yet legal werewolf , who spent most of the movie shirtless, it was really a let down. I LOVED the book, it was my favorite of the series but the movie did not even cover half of it in my opinion. If you were in the 1% of people who saw the movie without reading the books it would be hard to understand the intricate relationship between Jacob and Bella. The movie left so much of the relationship between the two out. Anyone else??

A gaggle of boys!

My sister and I have lots of boys between us!! Mostly mine but she has two as well. When we get together there is lots of noise, both the happy kind and the he hit me crying kind. But mostly there is a lot of fun. This Thanksgiving when we were all together, since the weather was so nice there was a lot of football throwing, trampoline jumping and critter hunting. Buttercup plays too just in a more girly way!! We managed to stifle the energy for a brief second and get a picture of all the boys in their matching jammies!! If you ask me this is the cutest bunch of boys around.

Happy Thanksgiving

Boy, do I have a lot to be thankful for! A sweet husband who is able to be home more than ever now days, meaning more family time and lots less stress for me. 4 healthy, happy kids and one more sweet baby boy on the way. A great family and great friends and a new house closer to that family and most of those friends. A warm house, plenty of food to eat and a God who loves me. I hope this holiday you to can find a lot to be thankful for. Enjoy your family and be safe!!

1st lost tooth

Today Sunshine lost his first tooth!! HE has been wiggling it for days and it was barely hanging on today. So this afternoon I offered to wiggle it for him and instead I sneaked a pull! That one pull was all it took and out it came. He is thrilled!! Ahh..the toothless days are here.

Bobcat at 3

For Nana B

Flashback Friday

Can you tell I am in the Christmas spirit??

Pictures of the day

The time has come...

The time I have dreaded and so far avoided has come. Peer pressure, crushes and all the typical middle school drama has finally caught up with us :( There are so many things I want to teach her, so many of my mistakes I don't want her to repeat, so much I want to protect her from, but knowing the best way to communicate all this with her is so hard. What is the right thing to say??? What is the right thing to do?? My instinct is to lock her in her room and throw away the key, keep her locked up and safe for the next 20 or so years. I don't think that is legal so I guess I have to face it. I just hate that this time of her life has to be so hard, so full of drama and emotion. I wish I could do it all for her, make all the decisions, take all the heartache. But I will have to settle for lending a supportive ear, guiding her to the right choices and making sure she knows that God comes first, that he is the one who should lead her heart, not any silly boy at school. Those things are easier said than done so I ask for your prayers in this area as we face this new phase in life. Pray that she will have the wisdom to make the right choices, the courage to do what is right and the perseverance to make it through whatever life throws her way. Pray that her father and I have the strength, wisdom, and courage to, through the guidance of our God, always know the right way to lead our daughter through the perils of adolescence and into adulthood, to steer her towards a life fully devoted to him. May God bless and protect our sweet daughter as she grows and changes in this sometime cruel world. May she always remember how much she is loved and how important she is in our eyes and the eyes of God.

Wordless Wednesday

18 months

This little guy is growing up too fast!! He will be 18 months old this week. He is changing so fast these days. Talking more and more everyday and climbing everything. He adores his Grandpa and asks for him daily. He loves playing in the sand and digging in the silverware drawer. He eats anything that doesn't eat him first and chugs milk religiously. He still has a sucker (pacifier) and mostly still sleep in our bed. He gets excited to see the bus bring Buttercup and Sunshine home in the afternoon and always greets them with a smile. He is learning to fight back against his sometimes ornery brothers and can pull hair with the best of them. He is a sweet boy and we are so lucky to have him.