Quick Update

Kimber took her first steps tonight! She has been able to pull up and walk around while holding on to things for a couple months. But, tonight she took her first steps by herself! I can't believe how fast time goes by. Even though last year was difficult, I miss it. My babies are growing up too fast.

Spring Fever

The temperature was 71 degrees today! Too bad I couldn't enjoy it. I am in desperate need for a break from school. The warm weather gets me excited. I can't wait for flowers, flip flops, and most of all I can't wait for garden veggies. YUM! Garden season is a busy time for us. Working in the garden is very time consuming. We also can, freeze and pickle veggies. We have lived off of our garden all winter. Luke goes overboard. He has over 400 plants in the window. But, his garden last year fed us and most of my family. When the time comes I will post my favorite recipes. We make dill pickles. We make salsa, rotel and juice tomatoes. We make strawberry jam. We even made three different kinds of pickled okra. The most time consuming and the most rewarding will be Grandma Veda's frozen corn. It is the most amazing corn I have ever eaten. Had I known how much time, effort and love she put into each quart, I probably wouldn't have eaten as much as I did when we went to visit. It is hard work. But, it will be something I do every year.

Luke has been building me a flower bed. I should have taken before photos. But, I didn't. When I get it finished I will post some photos. I can't wait. We needed some landscaping to make our barn a home. :)

My Monet Part II

Kinnison's Bird
(Awesome!)

Kimber is a smart girl as well! I was doing some homework and heard Kinnison yell, "Kimber is using that for a cupholder." She had her sippy cup stuck in Kinnison's boot!

This is how Kimber gives kisses. I had to post a picture. She looks like a baby bird!

Happy Birthday Kimber!

Yesterday I stayed home because Kinnison & Kimber were both sick. Kinnison was throwing up and they both had 101 temperature. We went ahead and had the party, even though they still weren't feeling well tonight. My mom cooked some really good food. We got a fabulous cake from Rick's Bakery. Kimber wasn't really a fan of eating the cake. Her daddy stuck her hand in the icing and she started screaming. She couldn't really open presents, so some of her friends and family helped her out. They all had fun. She got a lot of really great presents. THANK YOU to everyone who shared Kimber's special day. I am still in disbelief that Kimber is one. I wish I could freeze time. I don't want my babies to grow up.

Here are some photos:

And here is the montage I made her for her birthday.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sisters Are Great Part II

For Christmas we got the girls a foam doll dress up set. It is like paper dolls. But, these are made of foam and they stick to the side of the tub. Kinnison loves to dress them up in different clothes. Kimber tries to eat them. Anyway, when we go to get the girls out of the tub, this is what we find:

Kinnison likes to stick the dolls and their clothes on Kimber. Kimber thinks it is funny.

Bittersweet

Valentine's Day is a fun day. It is filled with love, flowers and more importantly, chocolate. I have always enjoyed Valentine's Day....up until 3 years ago. The first baby I miscarried was due February 14, 2007. So, tomorrow Luke and I will watch a movie, I will devour an entire cookie cake, and I will be thinking of our sweet baby.

We're Back!

After 15 days, we finally have power. WHEW! It was a long, hard two weeks. Ozark Electric said it was the biggest power outage in their history. They were 97% restored on Sunday. So, we were in the last 3%! The ice storm was horrible The damage is extensive. I won't go on my rant about how long it took to be declared a disaster area. It looks like a tornado hit. Speaking of tornado, we are under a tornado watch tonight.

I tried to keep an upbeat attitude. I am appreciative of those who are working diligently to restore power. However, I did complain. I had more than one breakdown. It was horrible. Luke and I both work full time. We have two small kids. I am taking 12 hours of ONLINE classes. Typically I do 2-3 loads of laundry a day. There were days we didn't bathe. The kids didn't get a bath every night. There were days we didn't wash dishes and clothes. I hope I never have to start or fill up another generator in my life. I am sick of flipping breakers. I refuse to do homework while using a lantern! Boiling water, lighting candles, folding blankets, washing my hair in the sink.....it is exhausting! I am thankful that we have electricity now. However, I am sad for those who still don't have power. I hope we never go through this again. I'm not sure I will ever catch up.

I will continue to pray for the people who don't have power and the men and women who are working hard to restore it. I am thankful for the kind people who offered to let me shower at their house or use their washer and dryer. We appreciate you!

Here are some more photos

We have tons of cleanup to do. It will takes months. I hope we can move forward and put the Ice Storm of 2009 behind us. It has been a horrible two weeks. Koko, you will be missed. We love you.

Horrible Ice Storm

Luke left Saturday for his great grandpa's funeral in Illinois. It snowed there the whole time. Monday he started driving home. Monday night we got freezing rain. He didn't get home until around 1 a.m. By the time we woke up Tuesday morning we had no power. He drove to Fayetteville to find a generator. They were sold out, but said they would get a shipment later that day. So, he drove back to Fayetteville at 2. The roads were covered with trees. Lowes lost power while he was buying the generator. When he got home he couldn't drive down our driveway because there were so many trees down. So, he walked to the house to get the four wheeler. Our little dog Koko decided she needed to help him. He had to cut a path to get his truck through. As he was cutting more trees were falling all around him. Somehow when he moved his truck he ran over Koko. I am devastated. She was so young and so small. She was so stubborn. I yelled for her to get in the house and she took off down the driveway. He even tried getting her into the truck. She never listened to us. She loved to eat random things. Most of all she loved shredding toilet paper rolls in the laundry room. She was a mess. We loved her very much.

She will be missed.

Last night was very sad.It was also scary. We could hear the ice falling off of the trees. Everytime a limb broke or a tree fell it sounded like a gun shot. I felt like we were in a landmine. We had many trees and limbs hit the house. We made a bed on the floor downstairs. We didn't want the girls in their room because there is a tree leaning on that side of the House. Luckily the girls didn't understand what was going on. They thought it was fun to get to party downstairs.

Here are some photos from the ice damage.

Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Kimber's Eye Is Pink, My Nephew's Are Too

That's Right! Kimber has pink eye. Kinnison and Kimber have both been sick for a couple weeks now. My nephew finally caught it on Saturday. But, his eyes were red, swollen and draining green stuff. Sunday morning we woke up and Kimber's left eye was red, swollen and crusted with green stuff. My sister took my nephew to the doctor and was told he had pink eye. So, we decided to take Kimber. The doctor wasn't comfortable just giving us drops, so she sent us to the ER. The nurses at Mercy Medical Center in Bentonville were wonderful! They gave both girls a teddy bear and gave them popcicles. The doctor was certain it was pink eye but did a culture just to be safe. He gave us eye ointment and she is already looking better.

This is just one of many visits to the doctor in the last three weeks. Kinnison has been twice, Kimber has been to the doctor twice and hospital once. I also went to the doctor. And, I had to take my dog to the Animal Emergency Clinic because Luke accidentally ran him over. He has two pelvis fractures.

Kinnison has one medicine in the morning and three at night.

Kimber has eye ointment six times a day and just finished ten days of antibiotics.

Mag has one medicine three times a day, one medicine once a day and pain pills every six hours.

I have nasal spray in the morning and two medicines to take at night.

Hopefully I don't mix up the dog and kid medicines. That would be bad.

Will we ever catch a break? I am tired and poor!

Recipe For A Happy New Year

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work, hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest, prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor. ~ Anonymous