6 Years Ago Today

Six years ago today at this time, I looked like this...

At 6:25 p.m., God blessed me with the best early Christmas present I could have ever received.  

You were a perfect baby and all we could have every hoped or dreamed for.  You grew into a sweet chubby cheeked angel that made us laugh and see so many new things through your precious eyes.  

We moved to a new place, met new friends and you flourished into a big girl who has so many friends and loves to learn about everything!

Your daddy and I can't believe how quickly you have grown and we thank the Lord above for the best thing that has ever happened to us.  Happy Birthday my precious Jemma. 

May you always walk in sunshine,
May you never want for more,
May Irish angels rest their wings
Right beside you door.


May your day be filled with blessings,
Like the sun that lights the sky,
And may you always have the courage
To spread your wings and fly

I love you the most,

Mommy

Thank you

I just wanted to say thank you for all your prayers and kind words.  My stepbrother passed away today.  Please continue to pray for our family.  I will back soon.

Praying

We received the devastating news on Thursday that my step brother has cancer.

He has been a quadriplegic for the last 13 years and faced many challenges.  This is the toughest road yet.

A mass about 8 inches in diameter was found on his liver and a biopsy showed cancer.  He is unable to have surgery due to how much it has already spread.  They believe it may have started in his bowels or lungs.

He will begin chemotherapy as soon as he is strong and well enough to handle it.

My step mom, step sister and nieces have been so strong and supportive.  It is times like this that makes living far away so hard.

Please pray for him and for the strength that he will need to fight this battle.

For the Four Legger

You know how much we love our Four Legger around here.  She is our first baby and Jemma tells everyone it is her sister!  

She loves her treats and we needed a place to put them other than the ugly box on the kitchen counter.  I had bought this dog treat jar from Longaberger years ago when I sold their products.   I basically did it to support my basket habit!  I loved this jar, but the blue doesn't go at all.  Then it hit me!  SPRAY PAINT!!!  I primed it and hit it up with the good ol' Almond color.  I was going to rub some Burnt Umber on it, but I don't know how it will look.  What do you think?

It looks so beautiful on the counter now and all those treats are hidden away!

This and That and the CARD

I have been doing this and that... just keeping busy!  The BHW (Best Husband in the World!) has been gone thirty days in the last two months.  We have missed him so much and are glad he is home for good for a while anyway!!  I have been taking some pictures, visiting with family and wanted to share.


The four legger will actually lay with her head on the pillow in her bed downstairs.  Cracks me up to no end!

Jemma worked on her "invention" while cleaning up her playroom.  It was tongs made up of a Princess Tiana wand, a wooden spoon (stolen accidentally from the house in Ireland), a thing from her tool box, gift wrapping ribbon, and her giraffe that sings, "If you want my body" by Rod Stewart.  All these items together created tongs that helped move barbies from the floor to their tub!  I LOVE THIS KID!!!!

My in-laws came for a visit.  It was so nice to see them and Jemma enjoyed being with them.  I will share more on those adventures later!

One rocking four year old birthday party!  It was a royal ball and they had cleaned out the whole garage.  It was so cute!!  Check out the cake!  It was beautiful and yummy!

This picture is for Deb from Confessions of an Ugly Mom.  You may burn heart shaped things, but I found a lettuce leaf shaped like a heart!  Ha!

The BHW has started Jemma a mini smoking man collection.  This was the newest one he brought home.  Jemma has deemed her a she.   We have a book called Apple Trouble about a hedgehog who gets all kinds of things stuck in her quills including an apple.  Isn't this perfect for the story!!  The hedgehog in the story is a she so that is what ours is!

I did a photo shoot for  sweet friend and Jemma's best buddy.  I love the family and the fall colors just made the perfect backdrop!

I am linking this fun photo up with i heart faces Autumn Splendor photo challenge

Last, but not least, these bad boys arrived.  

Yep... that is a business card.  I am doing this.  I am going for it.  You have all been so complimentary and uplifting and have given me so much courage to go for it.  I read this quote on Kelly from Jax Does Designs blog and it really hit home.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the

 things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So 

throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch

 the trade winds in your sails.  Explore. Dream. Discover.”

~ Mark Twain ~ 

I don't want to look back and regret not doing what I love to do.  I want to teach Jemma to reach for the stars even though you may be terrified.  I want to do this for me and my family. 

I am setting sail.

Family Craft Night

I love traditions.  They make me feel like we are really a family and I try to do as many traditional things that I can.  For example, we have spaghetti and a movie almost every Friday night.  Weird, but we love it.  We listen to music every night at dinner and we change up the genre all the time.  If it is a holiday we listen to that type of music!  We have Halloween traditions like we always USED to eat Sloppy Joes, but some short person (and I am not talking about me!) decided they didn't like sloppy joes.  Oh well!  I try to shove as many traditions into Christmas as I can but I think it is the things you do on a daily basis that really make memories to cherish.


With all that said, I decided it was Family Craft Night!  I had seen this adorable tree on Pinterest from ALittletipsy.com.  I loved the more fallish colors in the reds, yellows, and greens.  She did this by using the arm painted brown and then just squirting the other colors on top of the brown and mixing it a little bit.  It truly made a difference than just a red handprint!

I decided to make one using the whole family's arms and hands!  I had the paints in our art tub and bought the canvas at Walmart!  They aren't the super best quality but they did the trick.  We got to work!  Hubs was put on the job of opening bottles of paint!

The supplies and a pony!

The wink

The finished product!!

I just love how it turned out!!!  Jemma kept saying how much fun this was and when could we do Family Craft Night again!  It now sits proudly on my sofa table in our living room and it just makes me happy every single time I look at it.  


We all had a great time and I think Family Craft Night will be a new tradition!  What traditions do you have? 

I am linking up to

 Carrie's Amaze Me Monday Party at Dittle Dattle 

and to 

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday Party at Savvy Southern Style

I am also joining at new linky party with 
Suzanne at Privet and Holly called Monday Moments.  
If you have never read her blog, go there right now and read.  She has a gift with words.  Her posts are always inspiring and moving.  She has such a heart about her that comes through in all she does.  Go.  Read.  You won't be disappointed!!


Can't forget the wonderful Beth at Stories from A2Z and her Tuts and Tips party!!

Thanks to these  ladies for always hosting such wonderful parties! 

Trick or Treat Y'all!

We had a Southern Belle this year for Halloween!  Well, actually two!  I got in on the act also!  It was a wonderful day.  The BHW took off as he leaves today for a 10 day trip to Germany so we just made it a family day!

 It started with Trick or Treating at Jemma's school and her party.  The mom's had wrapped the juice boxes with white tape to make mummies!  So cute.  Yes, Jemma is wearing a different costume.  She had been to two birthday parties in her costume and one night of early trick or treat in the neighborhood so I had some sewing to do!  She wore the second one she had picked out. 

The wink!

Then we ate lunch at the mall and roamed around.  We had pictures made in the photo booth and Daddy and Jemma had fun in the $2/two minute tornado tunnel!  Then it was home to carve our pumpkin named Sally.

Jemma does not enjoy the guts of the pumpkin, but we make her do it!  We are evil that way!  She felt as long as she used a spoon, it was o.k.  Just so you know.  I removed the giant knife from beside my daughter right after I took the picture!  Pictures first, then safety!!!  Ha!

Then a dinner of mummy dogs1  Thanks Nana for the recipe!

Then off to trick or treat!

I found the costume for Jemma at Walmart and she loved it.  She then found the green one at Hokus Pokus and liked it better so we bought it (for $40!).  By the way, at the Halloween store they can't be returned.  Well, Jemma wanted us to dress up too so when we looked online, there was one for an adult just like her $20 Walmart one.  I actually won it on ebay for $30!  So now we had two costumes which actually worked out pretty well.  I just wish I had thought for her to wear the green one to the parties!

Jemma and a completed Sally.

Trick or Treat!!!

 We started out a bit later, but then met up with buddies!

It was a wonderful night!  One of my best memories was Jemma saying several times that she had the best momma.  She said that not many mommies would dress up with their "childs" and she was lucky to have a mommy who did.  My sweet baby!  

I hope you all had a Spooktacular Halloween!!!