More cake!

This was the 4th cake I have made. It was for a church Christmas potluck.

This was the final class cake. We learned to make roses.
This I made for our family Christmas dessert!

CAKE!!!

About 2 weeks ago I started taking a cake decorating class. I have always wanted to learn this but never had time. There are four courses and each course has four classes. Course 1 covers the basics. Learning how to make icing and ice a cake without getting crumbs in the icing along with some different techniques. Monday is my last class. It has been fun and I can't wait till February when Course 2 begins! For each class we bring a cake to decorate. Here are the cakes I have made so far.
1st cake - Football

2nd cake - Grapes

3rd Cake - Clowns

I realize these clowns are headless and heres the deal...I had made the cake and then went to Hobby Lobby to buy the clown heads and they were out of stock. So I went to WalMart and they do not sell them there. I decided to go ahead and eat the cake since it would probably be stale before I would find the clown heads!

Christmas list

I got this idea from Alexis over at Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow. She posted about her Christmas list and I thought I'd do the same.
There are so many things I want for Christmas and they are all way out of the question but I just thought I would let you know.
I would like one of these... Although my Palm Centro works just fine
I would really love to go to this concert with Baby J... But would need a babysitter
I would love to have a bigger house... Although the house we have keeps us close
More of this... Would help lots of things!
There are a ton more things I would like, but as long as I HAVE this... along with with our health...I have everything I NEED!
Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our home this year. Just our little family. We ordered a smoked turkey and made all the rest ourselves. We had turkey(of course), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, cream cheese filled celery, stuffing, cranberry, mac and cheese, banana pudding, pecan pie...I think thats it.

Yes my daughters do not have shirts on...therefore no chance of stains. And yes we did choose to use paper plates and plastic cups...therefore less to clean, after all it was just us!
Friday I attended Black Friday shopping!!! I was at WalMart at 4:30AM! I picked up a basket at the front door and made it half way thru the store and realized I need to ditch the basket! It was way to crowded! I found what I was there for(I would tell you but they are presents) wrapped on a pallet surrounded by a crowd! So I joined the crowd for the wait. At 5 o'clock they announced it was time to shop! I got what I needed off the pallet and moved on for other great buys! As I was headed for the checkout a lady(carrying two 3 ft tall baby dolls) stopped me to ask where I had found something she saw in my basket. I advised her where I got them and told her I thought they were all gone. Now, this lady put down her two baby dolls and took off. I stood there for a minute trying to decide why she put the dolls down. I looked at them...one was blonde, the other red head. PERFECT!!! I didn't see her anywhere so...you guess it...I put the dolls in my basket and proceded to the checkout! All the while thinking I said no more baby dolls! BUT we dont have any 3 foot tall baby dolls so I figured, Why not? WalMart was all I tackled but Black Friday shopping was definatly an experience.
Saturday we went to Bentonville to see my family. My Granddad took us to the Walton Museaum. It was nice but would have been better had we not had the lil ones. It was so good to see all my aunts, uncles and cousins. And the girls had a great time on the piano!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend as well!

New Moon!

I debated all day on what time to go to the theater. I knew there would be die hard fans that had probably camped out there. I wanted to see the movie but not spend alot of time in line. So Peanut and I got in line at around 4:00.
The box office opened at 6:30. The first showing began at 7:00. After an hour in line we realized we needed dinner. So Baby J brought Peanut and I Pizza Hut pepperoni sticks. We finally had tickets in hand at 6:55 for the second showing which began at 9:40.
Now we had 3 1/2 hours left till the movie started. After you purchased tickets you had to be in line again for seating. So after 7 hours at the theater, Peanut, my mom and myself got to watch New Moon on opening day! Our local theater should REALLY presale tickets!!!!!

Recovery

It has been nearly a week since Little Bits surgery and she seems to be doin ok. She has complained several times since Friday that the back of her neck hurts and has had a low fever off and on. I called the nurse in the ENT clinic and she advised me to check to see if she was having trouble moving her head around. She seems to sometimes have trouble but most of the time not. So the nurse said to just watch her. Stiff neck is a sign of infection where the adenoids were removed. She will go to daycare tomorrow. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They are always apreciated.

Now we know!

As I mentioned before Little Bit had her surgery Tuesday. Here is how the day went...(these were my status post from facebook)
8:44 - on the interstate
9:49 - We're here! Now mask or no mask? hmm
10:02 - We're checked in and waiting. And they were out of mask so that took care of that decision. Now we are watching the fish swim
10:47 - headed for CT. She is still awake so we'll see how it goes
11:18 - She did it and they gave her a Barbie! Now she just got goofy juice and a stuffed pig for drinkin it. Then movin on to gas!

11:31 - They just took her to the OR. I have eye makeup on and WILL NOT cry!! Why is this so hard? We've been down this road before Should see her in recovery in 30.
11:54 - she's done...waiting to see the doc and then go see my baby! oh I forgot to mention she got to pet the therapy dog before her scan! She loved it!
12:11 - hope she wakes up happy. What are the chances?
12:32 - STILL waiting Come on and hurry up already!
12:39 - going to see her!
1:18 - she was cranky for bout 30 minutes. Now watchin cartoons, eatin a popsicle...still little high from morphine

1:58 - she just got off iv and finished 2 popsicles
2:09 - she is going to be discharged!
3:40 - aaahhh she threw up! yuck!
We talked the doctor and he told us that she had fluid in both ears. So it is good she had tubes put in. Her CT scan showed she has enlarged vestibular aqueducts(EVA). Here is what I googled on EVA.

Vestibular aqueducts are narrow, bony canals that travel from the inner ear to deep inside the skull. The aqueducts begin inside the temporal bone, the part of the skull just above the ear. The temporal bone also contains two sensory organs that are part of the inner ear. These organs are the cochlea, which detects sound waves and turns them into nerve signals, and the vestibular labyrinth, which detects movement and gravity. These organs, together with the nerves that send their signals to the brain, work to create normal hearing and balance. Running through each vestibular aqueduct is a fluid-filled tube called the endolymphatic duct, which connects the inner ear to a balloon-shaped structure called the endolymphatic sac.
A vestibular aqueduct is considered enlarged if it is greater than 1.5 millimeters in size, roughly the diameter of the head of a pin. If a vestibular aqueduct is enlarged, the endolymphatic duct and sac usually grow large too. The functions of the endolymphatic sac and duct are not completely understood. Scientists currently believe that the endolymphatic sac and duct help to ensure that the fluid in the inner ear contains the correct amounts of certain chemicals called ions. Ions are needed to help start the nerve signals that send sound and balance information to the brain.
So when it is enlarged it allows brain fluid to mix with the ear fluid and that has caused damage to the nerve in the tube. Thats my understanding of it anyway. It cannot be corrected and the studies I have read show that it can progress to a profound(total) loss. Not what we wanted to hear but there are worse things to have! She is scheduled to go back in 5 weeks for follow up test, so we'll see how that goes.

Halloween is here!

This morning we dressed the girls in their costumes and headed for the downtown fall festival.
Little Bit was a witch and Baby Girl was a spider charmer. After 3 hours downtown we came home for a nap. After nap we trick or treated the neighborhood and then stopped by the baptist church for their trunk or treat. Then it was time for Grandma and Papa's house. Grandma had chili for dinner and all kinds of goodies! The girls spent the night with them and Baby J and I got to go out! We dressed up too!
Baby J was a baseball player and I was Tinkerbell. What a great day! I love Halloween!

Halloween Time

This morning was the Halloween party at daycare. The girls have been so excited for this day to come all week.
They wore old costumes...Little Bit was a Tiger(costume from last year) and Baby Girl was a sailor(Little Bits costume from a couple of years ago). Here is a picture of Little Bit with a couple of her friends.

They both brought home a big bag of candy and now can't wait to trick in or treat in a couple of days!

Mud Bowl

Last night was Peanuts last football game of the season. The weather was around 60 with a light rain. The field was muddy! You could hear the sloshing of the field as the players ran! My mom watched the girls so Baby J and I could go watch the game together under the umbrella. I wish I would've taken my camera. Peanut made a great play that would have made an awesome picture! He stripped the ball from the other team and recovered the fumble. Not only that he jumped up holding the ball high in the air with excitment on his face. His team WON 18-6. We are sad football has come to an end this year but next year will be here before we know it.

There was a farmer....

had a dog. And Bingo was his name O. B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O And Bingo was his name O.
Baby girl has learned to sing this and has sang it delightfully all night long!

Trip to Children’s

Little Bit had an appointment at 12:30 in Audiology. We arrived promptly at 12:28. It has been almost a year since we’ve been there so I could not remember which hallway got us to the check-in spot. So maybe we were a little late. We had to have Chick-fil-a for lunch! Another hearing test was done and completed with the same results as always. We then had an appointment with ENT. The doctor we saw (Dr R) there has had the most information we have gotten to date. He told us based on her past hearing test he believes she has a sensorineural hearing loss, which unfortunately cannot be corrected (in her left ear, her right ear is good). He did, however, tell us that he does not feel like it is a total loss. So basically if you yell, she will hear a whisper. So she has been scheduled for a CT scan to verify what Dr R thinks is actual. He says she has a small amount of fluid in the ear that he feels like could be affecting her hearing therefore she will be having myringotomy (tubes placed in her ears). This will be her second set of tubes. She got her first set shortly after her first birthday. She will also have an adenoidectomy. Adenoid removal is now routine with a second set of tubes but Dr R thinks this will help her from being so snotty and hackin and coughin ALL the time (which is SO NOT pretty). Sometime after (maybe January) these procedures are done, she will have a hearing screening again. This test will determine if she has better hearing without the fluid and if so she may be a candidate for a hearing aid. So that about covers our trip to Children’s. Sorry no pictures. I know post are always more exciting when there are pictures. I promise to try harder on that!

Another day off

The morning started off ok. Baby J was off to work and Peanut off to school. I dropped Baby Girl off at daycare. Little Bit and I were off to the clinic. She has not had a hearing test in nearly a year so that needs to be done as well as we have never got that test that has told us exactly why she can’t hear…. like bone deformity, nerve damaged etc? So she was seeing the general practitioner in order for her to get a doctor referral to a specialist. She weighed 31 lbs. She did really well until they had to take blood. You ask why blood draw? I forgot to mention that her therapist has noticed that Little Bit shakes a lot (although I don’t notice it so much at home…in fact maybe twice in the last 4 months). So the blood draw was to check her lead and sugar levels along with a few other things I can’t remember. Little Bit was a lot more cooperative than I thought she would be. It only took three of us…me to hold her down, one nurse to hold her arm and one to draw the blood. They gave her two stickers and we were on our way. We stopped at the donut shop to have chocolate donuts together. We left the donut shop in time to go see daddy at work on his break. Then it was home to get a couple of hours cleaning done. We then went to pick up lunch for us and daddy at Wendy’s. After lunch…you got it…naptime! Peanut had a football game at 6:00 so we made an attempt to take everyone.

After about 25 minutes in the stands we had run out of skittles and Sprite and both girls needed to go to the bathroom. Why is it everywhere we go we have to check out the bathrooms???? So I packed them up and we went to Grandma and Papa’s house for short visit until the games was over. After the game we had dinner, which was about 8 o’clock (so NOT good for the body). What a long day! Is anyone else exhausted?

Here We Go Again

Maybe I should have titled this – What I Did on My Day Off! Anyway, Today started with little sleep due to Little Bits coughing. She started coughing around dark last night and could hardly sleep herself because of it. Good thing I had already made her a doctor’s appointment. Sara (Little Bits speech therapist) had said on Wednesday that Little Bit kept saying her ear was hurting. That is something I don’t like to mess with when it comes to her so I had made the appt. We got to the clinic right at 8:15 after a quick trip for donut holes. As we sat in the waiting room Little Bit kept telling me “Hey Mommy! The car is outside”. She really did NOT want to see the doctor! There were about 4 or 5 other patients in the waiting room. An older couple, a kid with what appeared to be a hurt leg, some lady that looked fine, a boy that looked fine, and a man. Then there was Little Bit….hacking, sneezing, whining and wanting to leave! This was the first time I have been to the clinic and felt like people were looking at us like – Oh my gosh, what does she have! Stay away from us! Which is probably how I usually appear to be looking at them, just not this time! The nurse called her back to be weighed and she would not let me put her down. So the nurse suggested we weigh together (which was 142 lbs if you were wondering) and then I weigh separately. Together weighing was fine but then there was still the need to put Little Bit down so I could weigh alone. The nurse pulled her off me kicking and screaming as I hurriedly jumped on the scale to weigh by myself. So weighing was done and we were directed to a room. Little Bit had no fever, so that was good. As we sat and waited in the room, Little Bit kept reminding me that the car was outside and she was ready to go. When the doctor came in he checked her ears. Little Bit was good for this, I believe because she has been raised having her ears checked and I was holding her! Dr. B said her left ear was good and her right had a little fluid but not enough for antibiotic. Yes, she is snotty and whiny but her breathing sounds good. He wanted to check her throat since her brother was just diagnosed with strep throat on Wednesday. I had to hold her arms and head while the nurse held her legs so Dr. B could look in her throat, all the while her turning red, crying and yelling (with mouth closed) He did get a peek though….enough to say she doesn’t have strep! So we ended up with Robitussin with codeine. Little Bit got to pick out a Princess sticker and out to the car we went and she was happy as could be. I spent the afternoon cleaning house….did the dishes, swept the floors, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the grout in the bathroom tile, washed a load of clothes, balanced the checkbook, paid some bills and then time ran out!!! I had a hair appt for 3 and needed to go to Walmart for groceries before the kids got home. So that I did (with Baby J). By 5:00 I was finished at the salon and headed to pick up the girls at daycare with my new short blonde hair. We got home in time to eat some McDonalds and get ready for the high school football game at 7. Peanut and I went to the game to watch my brother at halftime in the band. We got home from the game around 9:15 to help daddy put the girls to bed. To bed we thought…but…they wanted a snack so we ate some grapes or gaps as Baby Girl calls them. Then we were all off to bed! WHEW! What a day!

Out of the mouths of babes

Sometimes the kids sound so cute when they pronounce words wrong. Here are a few of the things that my kids have said.

Peanut (Although he doesn’t say these things anymore)
Cooba = school bus (He loved to see cooba’s)
Fag = flag (Hey Mommy! Look at that big fag!)
Donimoe’s = Dominoe’s (He just got this one straight about a year ago!)
Chick-a-fil = Chick-fil-a

Little Bit
Crina = Christina (It’s not Tina Baby Girl! It’s CRINA!)
Chokey = chucky (She named one of her baby dolls this)
Carcoons = cartoons
Mack-a-moni = macaroni
Bayball = baseball
Tana Tana = Hannah Montana

Baby Girl
Bobo = bubbles
t.b. = t.v.
Mi hee = Misty (One of her teachers at daycare)
Ankees = Yankees

I know there are more but dad-gum-it, I can’t remember them! I have got to do better at writing things down! So what cute things do your kids pronounce wrong that you would like to share?

Things I am passionate about

Hhmmm Where to start
March of Dimes
Most of you are probably aware that the March of Dimes Foundation is a charity that is dedicated to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Since two of my three children were preemies, I very much believe in this program.

Early Childhood Special Education Intervention
This is a program that provides services to children ages 3 - 5 with disabilities.
Their services are activities designed to enhance the development of the preschool child and provide experiences in one or more of the following areas: talking, seeing, hearing, learning, walking, behavior. A child may be eligible for special services is he/she is experiencing difficulties which interfere with normal development in these areas: speech/language, vision, hearing, motor skills, behavioral/social skills, self help skills, problem solving skills, cognition/readiness skills. These services have helped our family a great deal and it is my goal to make more families aware of this program.

My Family
I love everyone in my family and would not be who I am today without each and every one of them.

And first and foremost God
For He is my source!

Pageants
I love attending, judging and competing in pageants. Little Bit has many titles.
Just to name a few, Morrilton's Best Infant Ms 2006, Little Ms Independence 2006, and below Ms Infant Arkansas 2006

Baby Girl has not been in as many pageants but was Little Ms Spring Splendor 2008 and Rsvl's Our Diamond Infant Ms 2007. Below is a pic of Baby Girl at the Spring Splendor 09 pageant. She returned for crowning and I was there to speak about Early Childhood Spec Ed.

I have competed in two pageants.

Mrs Jingle Bell where I got 1st runner up

(me and my brother Aaron)

And Mrs Arkansas International

Evonna and I at rehearsal

Tina, myself and Julie

Baby J and I before the pageant
I did not make the top 5 at Intl but did receive the People's Choice Award.

American Heart Association
I have been a Go Red for Women supporter for almost a year now and have learned so much. Did you know many women die each year because they don't know heart disease is their No. 1 killer? Share the facts that heart disease is largely preventable and even the small, personal choices women make can help them live, not die.
Intl contestants and American Heart Assoc Luncheon


Locks of Love
Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Little Bit donated her hair!


So these are a few of the things I enjoy. Tell me about your passions!!!

3 post in 1

Last week we attended VBS at a co-worker/friend's church.
This is Little Bit with her new friend Allauna doing crafts.

I LOVE it here! This girl loves her some church! She learned about the the burning bush and the plagues.

Little Bit and Allauna

They put cardboard over the stairs to make a slide and ALL the kids loved it! I even went down a time or two.

I know, that picture is out of focus but it was all I had of the slide!
Even though this wasn't our home church, they all made us feel very welcome. Peanut got to go Tuesday-Friday and even took some of the neighborhood boys! Baby Girl went Monday.....what at a tornado! She saw it as a lot of room to run and giggle and thats exactly what she did. That is until snack time.....she was still for that. She loves her some food! Cathy tried to contain her in a little playroom, but Baby Girl was not liken it! Hopefully next year Baby Girl will be better.

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Last weekend I took Baby Girl and Peanut downtown and took their pictures too! I wanted to get a picture of each of them to frame.
Baby Girl

Peanut

This is why I took each of them separately....if they had all gone together, one of them would have gotten away!


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Last night 7th graders (oh my gosh - just as I typed that I realized my baby is going into 7th grade!) were scheduled to pick up their football gear. Peanut must have tried on every helmet they had to get one that fit! I took this picture of him opening his lock to his football locker. I wanted to get one of him standing by his locker with the door open so you could see his gear inside BUT I was told "MOM I know people here!" so...I put the camera away!

Favorite Kid photos

I missed the favorite kid photo blog hop but here are my favs anyway!
Little Bit

Little Bit - do you see the pageant girl comin out in her!

Baby Girl

Peanut and Little Bit

OK Your right these are not nearly all my favorites, just my favorites that were already saved on my computer!

I love taking pictures!

Today Little Bit was the subject. We went downtown and took a few pictures.
#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

I can't decide which one is my favorite. Maybe #4 and #6. What do you think?