Last one I promise!

I can't wait to be back in AR! We have a countdown going, although we have currently been distracted by the countdown to Chicago. Look how young the girls look! They grow so quickly! I can't wait to be driving down that gravel road to my parent's house!

And two and a half years later...

And here is Annika. There was no running around the block after her. And no, I am not getting sad to not have a baby. I love looking through pictures and everyone knows 2 is my favorite age. I am sad I missed a lot of that with Olivia b/c I was so busy with Annika, but I can see some of it when I look at pictures. Oh, my sweet girls. I love them!

A flash back

Sweet Olivia's first few minutes in this world. I was so happy to not have any more pain! I think I could have run around the block with joy!

About this time last year...

My sweet friend Dedra bought this for Annika. Olivia loved it and she squeezed into it instead. Annika was a little shy with trick-or-treating, but you can see she quickly learned what a fun little game it was! Today she said," I want Halloween." She knows costumes and candy are involved, but beyond that she doesn't know when it is or what it really it. So cute!

Easy Does It

First of all, why did I use that title? I don't like little sayings like that. My dad used them a lot when I was little. It is on my list along with "simmer down," "calm down," "quit horsing around," and many others. But this is easy, so I want to share. I have been wanting to make my blog cute for a while. There are hard ways to do it, but there is also an easy way to do it! Thank you to Allison for sharing! (you can see her site- The Nelson's over to the side)

First I made my header picture in Photoshop. There are tons free sites to download really cute digital scrapbooking stuff- paper, images, ribbon, etc. Some of my favorites are Shabby Princess (shabbyprincess.com) and Summer Driggs (http://www.summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/), but they are all over the internet. Some sites are better than others. You can usually find like "freebies" or "downloads" that are free. Ok, so after you make what you want, you save it as a jpeg and then in the edit part of blogger, you just enter it in your header. There the option of inserting a picture. It took me a while to figure out the exact size to fit in the box from my blogger template. Mine is 648x343 pixels.

Then you can go to this really cute site- http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/index.php They have premade templates that are so easy to download. They are so cute! You could change it all the time b/c it is so easy! Down the left side just click on backgrounds. Then when it opens you can select "3 column backgrounds" Those look really good on your blog. They have really easy directions. Again, back at your edit page, you just insert their html code under one of the gadgets. So easy and fun! Good luck with it!

Here is a picture of the girls at a historical working farm we went to. I will post about it later! I love this picture though!

Yummy, Yucky, Yummy!

Here is the first yummy! Olivia did so well at piano and learned all of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, so she got a yummy Jerry Queen (that is what she calls it) popsicle as a treat. They are so good- but they aren't on the menu- you have to ask for them.

Here is our yucky picture! My mom sent the girls each a Halloween box. (this is actually the second time she has sent them a Halloween box). The girls love her boxes- they are really fun. Here is one funny thing she sent.

Travis had a business meeting all day today and then they went to a nice dinner afterwards. He brought me a piece of Key Lime Pie. It is so good! I am eating it now! It made me think of Kenny Chesney's Key Lime Pie song which reminded me of a comment someone made on one of the football sites he reads. Somehow it came up that Kenny Chesney isn't as tall as he claims. And someone else said, "She thinks my step stool's sexy." It still makes me laugh. Hope you get a laugh too! (not at his height- just the song title...oh, I'll just let it go!)

Heavy Weight

Well, after I wrote that blog the other night I headed to the shower. This is often my only place to think during the day. It is a time that I pray for people- just because it is quiet. I felt like God was wanting me to change my thinking about Olivia's dental appts and other upcoming things I was worried about. These appts, although not fun, are just a few days of her life. I need to instead focus on all of the fun things she gets to do on a regular basis. That's how kids think- she isn't dwelling on her appt or her upcoming ones, so why I am so worried? So I am trying to see the girls having fun during the day and be thankful that God has blessed us with fun days- as many people don't get those days. It is drastically changed the way I look at things and removed the burden I was carrying. I am so thankful God spoke to me. And I am thankful that Jesus says to leave our burdens with him. He'll take them and give me a lighter one. That's exactly what he did.