Valentine's Day Is NOT A Made Up Holiday

Valentine's Day. I have never hated Valentines Day, but I never really loved it either. Until this year. This year, I was offended by the people who call it a retail holiday. I was offended by the people who say "we show love all year, not just one day." Bull.
It's a DAY to CELEBRATE LOVE!!!! People! It says in the Bible "the greatest of these is love." And we are given an entire day to celebrate that! Do I love my family on other days and show them this love? Of course, but we are given an excuse to go beyond that, to celebrate love! And we did just that! I mean, how can you not celebrate when these are some of the ones you love??I love these two so much my heart could burst! I am so blessed and grateful to be given the opportunity to spend an entire day fully focused on sharing with them how much I love them. Happy Valentine's Week...go share the love!

Snow Day!

We have had an unbelievably mild winter so when the weatherman said snow was in the forecast, we were actually excited! We got maybe an inch Sunday night and by the time Olive got out of school on Monday it was almost all gone, but we bundled up to try to play anyways! Daddy spent most of the afternoon moving snow from the back yard and putting it in the front yard so she would have enough to make a snowman. She was so funny about it this year!

"Hey guys! Did you see the snow?"

"Wow! Daddy! Thanks for all the extra snow!"

"That snow is neat and all but did you see these puddles?!"

When she was finished puddle jumping, we attempted to paint in the snow. Mommy couldn't find any good squirty bottles, so we opted for a paint brush and she was pretty content.

We hope that you were able to enjoy the snow too! Maybe we will get some more before spring so we can actually play in it.

Olive's Book Nook

Our house was built in the early 50's and with it comes lots of great built ins and storage. We have a closet in our back family room that we have converted into a toy closet for Olive, and inside that closet is another closet that we just had random stuff in. I had been wanting to make it a useful space for a while, but it is really small so we couldn't think of anything...until I was searching pinterest one night and found these book shelves. We decided to turn it into a little "book nook" for Olive! It is one of those spaces that unless you know it is there, you would never know existed which makes it even more fun! Here she is pre-transformation...

We measured, made a list and headed to our favorite place...The Home Depot!

Daddy got right to work building the shelves. Those of you who knew my Dad know that he was the ultimate DIY guy. He could pretty much fix or make anything and it was always done to perfection. This is one of those projects he would have LOVED to have helped with. My Mom brought down several of Dad's tools that we needed and Stephen used those to work on the shelves. It was kind of like he was helping all the way from heaven.

Stephen did a great job building the shelves and installing them very securely just in case anyone ever comes up with the idea to climb on them.

While Daddy worked on the shelves, I painted the room a bright yellow that Olive had picked out herself. I also went to work making pillowcases for a few pillows for seating. Olive saw the first one and immediately claimed it for her bed! Now I am making a new one for her bed, so she will return this one.

Shelves installed and ready for books!

We hung a chalkboard on the wall that used to be a part of an easel in my classroom.

Ready to be used! She thinks it is pretty great!

"Look at all my books!"

It is a great place to start your day! Happy Reading little one!

A New Adventure

We have started a new little adventure...Mommy is running! This is a pretty big deal because until the beginning of January, I hadn't run at all since my last day of softball practice my Senior year of high school. (we won't mention in years how long ago that was, just to make me feel better) I had run so much in athletics that I really didn't ever care to do it again. It seems like in the last few years everyone I know has started running and they all love it and claim that you get bit by the "running bug" after your first race. I have always been skeptical, especially of any bug biting me. Then at the beginning of January, I got a message from a girl at church who was encouraging a large group of women to run the memorial marathon in April. Of course, I thought, "wow, yeah right. Why would she send this to me?!" In fact, I responded that I firmly believed the only reason to run was if you were being chased. Then someone mentioned the relay. You are on a team, you only run part of it. This intrigued me. I called 4 friends who I knew would think I was crazy a little, but that would say yes to doing this with me. And so our team was born...Me, Deanna, Anna, Misty and Jill! Olive has become my little training partner and on our running days she thanks Jesus for "running time" during her nightly prayers. Luckily the weather hasn't been terrible so it has been nice to be outside. The first day, we met Deanna and her kiddos to run together. It was seriously 38 degrees outside. BRRRRR!!!! But we made it!

Day 1...Here we go!

The Beverages all bundled and ready to go! Doesn't Grady look thrilled?!

For some reason, Olive has insisted that Gardenia, her rabbit, goes with us every time. I strap her in and we hit the road!

Some days it takes a little longer than others and the best way to ride is like this...

And yes, she is wearing mismatched shoes, it was a battle not worth fighting when we left the house. She is also wearing a princess skirt, you just can't see it. She has enjoyed accessorizing herself for these little adventures. It isn't uncommon for her to wear a tutu or crown for "running time".

One day last week, she decided to help me stretch!

I am hoping to survive the race! And I have to admit that I have really started enjoying it. If it is above 45 degrees, that is.

Big Poppy

Monday night I got to celebrate my birthday with some of my favorite friends! We went to the greatest little place in Edmond called Paint Your Art Out. Everyone gets to create a masterpiece of their own with a guided instruction from the owner. I have mentioned before my true desire to be an artist. Let's just say that once again it was confirmed that desire doesn't create skill.

It is the cutest little studio and they had everything ready for us when we got there!

We had yummy snacks and special birthday Julie cookies that were so adorable and delicious!

I had gotten to choose what we were going to paint and I opted for a
Georgia O'Keefe inspired "Big Poppy".
Everyone getting started!

I got to wear the special birthday apron which was zebra print. Since I was already wearing a leopard cardigan, I pretty much looked like a walking safari.

Working on backgrounds...

I loved seeing how different they all came out!

Here is Misty's masterpiece!

Kimi's masterpiece

Deanna's masterpiece

Anna's masterpiece

Andrea the professional's masterpiece

Shannon's masterpiece

My masterpiece

Traci's masterpiece

Somehow Julie got out of having an individual picture.
Aren't they beautiful?!

Thanks friends for the fun night!

Family Birthday

My birthday was a few weeks ago and my wonderful husband went above and beyond to make my birthday special this year. We had a fun day together and then he surprised me with a delicious cake and flowers. As well as the news that I was getting the pantry remodel I have been scheming, I mean dreaming about!

Olive was so excited about the cake!

Then the next night we went to dinner and had so much fun.

Thank you Stephen for making my birthday so special!

Fourth Annual Miss America Watch Party

I am so behind on blogging. I blame it on January, it is just a slow month. We had the fourth annual Miss America watch party a few weeks ago and it was a fun time! I am still a little shocked that the Irish River dancing, "Milk It Really Does Do A Body Good", small town, good ol' girl from Oklahoma didn't win. And she was BEAUTIFUL! I guess first runner up isn't terrible, but she should have won.

Here is the whole group of beauty queens!

Every year we fill out ballots and each section is worth a certain number of points. The points are tallied at the end to determine who is our Miss America.

Second runner up, a newbie to our party...Miranda!

First Runner Up (who isn't afraid to show she is disappointed)...Misty!

And our Miss America...Anna!

Congratulations ladies! Can't wait for next year!