Camp Slinkard

The pink rock.

2012-02-12T17:43:00.003-06:00

This afternoon, we went to Grandma Jean's house for lunch...as usual. We go there almost every single Sunday. Aunt Susie also joined us for lunch, which is also pretty customary. This afternoon, however, was a little different. Sophia went with Aunt Susie to a cousin's house across the creek for an afternoon of play time. When we hadn't heard from anyone nearly four hours later, we decided to call and find out what was going on. No answer. Shortly, though, Aunt Susie called and we headed over to pick up Sophia. When we arrived, Aunt Susie was on the driveway with something pink in her hands. She showed it to me and said that Sophia painted it for me. Here it is, folks! My valentine from Sophia...

It's a nearly heart-shaped rock that she painted pink. What's more, Sophia picked it out of the river when they all went on a 'hike' this afternoon. She lugged this rock (which is pretty heavy) all the way back to the house and then painted it. She is so proud of it! I'm so proud of her!

Of course, even though she painted it 'for me', the rock now resides on the dresser in Sophia's bedroom;)

I LOVE this story. I love that this story happened because Sophia had a spontaneous afternoon of play and exploration with cousins/aunts. I love that Sophia is so excited about her art project. I love that we have an extended family close by that enjoys having Sophia around and sharing these experiences with her. What a wonderful day!

Project Life 2012 :: Week 4

2012-02-04T15:46:00.002-06:00

Here is a look at my Project Life album for week four. I'm a little late posting this, as I was traveling most of this past week. Week four is pretty simple...a two page spread with one added 4" x 6" flip up photo protector. Here's a look at the album opened to week four.

On the left side, you can see the basic photos and journaling...

Here's the left side with the flip-up photo pocket lifted...

And, here's a look at the right side...

This was definitely a 'keep it simple' week. This whole thing took me less than an hour, and that's only because I kept getting interrupted by a certain four-year-old;) Actually, printing the photos is what took the most time. Once printed, I popped them in, added a bit of journaling and I was done! Simple!

Still loving this project very much.

#janphotoaday

2012-02-02T20:38:00.002-06:00

Late in the evening on January 1, I happened across a few photos in my Instagram photo stream with the hashtag #janphotoaday. When I explored a little deeper, I found out that someone had created a list of items - one per day in January - that participants would photograph and post on Instagram. I thought to myself, why not? I already do a photo per day for Project Life...why not add this? So, here are my photos. The descriptions are at the bottom. Photos are left to right, top to bottom.

1) You 2) Breakfast 3) Something you adore 4) Letterbox
5) Something you wore 6) Makes you smile 7) Favorite
8) Your sky 9) Daily routine 10) Childhood 11) Where you sleep
12) Close-up 13) In your bag 14) Something you're reading
15) Happiness 16) Morning 17) Water 18) Something you bought
19) Sweet 20) Someone you love 21) Reflection 22) Your shoes
23) Something old 24) Guilty pleasure 25) Something you made
26) Color 27) Lunch 28) Light 29) Inside your fridge 30)Nature
31) You, Again

You can see all of these photos in detail on my Instagram photo stream! You can also click on the photo collage to see it larger.

Charleston (so far) in Instagrams.

2012-01-29T18:48:00.001-06:00

Project Life 2012 :: Week 3

2012-01-23T20:44:00.001-06:00

Here is a look at my Project Life album for week three. (Again, apologies for the photos...had to take them after the sun went down.)

Here is a look at the album when you open it to this week. You can see the two page spread with a 6" x 12" insert.

This is a look at the left side of the two-page weekly spread...

And, here's a look at the right side...

The front side of this week's insert was created using Ali Edwards' 6x12 Layered Template. It is taken from this blog post, and includes some of the photos.

The back side of the insert is simply a grid of 3"x3" photos that I printed from a recent outing to Crystal Bridges Museum with some friends. I kept it really simple. Just eight photos and a simple journaling tag.

Finally, here's a look at the album open to this week's pages, excluding the insert.

I am still very much loving this project, and glad I'm keeping up with it on a regular basis.

My food now looks pretty!

2012-01-22T18:26:00.006-06:00

This week's '52 Weeks to an Organized Home' challenge was to organize the pantry, spices and food storage areas. Fortunately, we did a MAJOR cleaning job on the pantry in May last year after having some....issues. We've managed to keep the pantry in decent shape since then, but it was definitely time for a tune-up. Here's the pantry before I started working on it one evening this week...

This bottom shelf was really the worst part of the pantry...

I worked for about 45 minutes purging, sorting and cleaning. I grabbed a couple of spare baskets I had in the house to corral more items on the shelves, and here is the result.

Even the canned goods shelves got a bit of sprucing up...

Saturday, I decided to tackle the spice drawer. It's located adjacent to the cooktop, which is handy. We've even attempted to keep it somewhat neat and orderly by having a slanted organizer. However, I'm married to a bit of a spice hoarder. The drawer was crammed with spices galore, including several duplicates...

After I emptied the drawer of all the spices, I discovered this (which I was almost too embarrassed to post)...

So, I spent another 30 or 45 minutes cleaning out the drawer, washing the organizer, eliminating duplicates, and purging spices that I know we will not use. Here's the drawer after...

This week really wasn't bad. Our food storage areas were relatively decent (minus the spice spillage), so it didn't take long to whip them into shape.

We are still managing to keep the kitchen counters free of clutter, and the sink empty most of the time. Our kitchen is really looking and functioning much better. I even got a jump start on next week's challenge by defrosting and cleaning the beverage refrigerator this weekend.

My girly girl.

2012-01-21T16:47:00.003-06:00

In case you didn't know it already, my Sophia is a true girly girl. She loves to wear dresses (throws a fit if she 'has to' wear pants), wear jewelry, play with princess dolls and she even likes playing "makeup". She likes to watch me put on my makeup in the morning, and sometimes I let her help me by holding the brushes, etc. When we were in Disney World last year, we took Sophia to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where she had her hair and makeup done. She even got to keep the little makeup kit...

She likes to use this kit to play "makeup" with me. She loves to have me sit in the floor while she does my makeup. Here was the scene a couple of nights ago...

She also likes for me to put makeup on her...

She doesn't quite get the concept of 'less is more' yet...guess that's normal for four-year-olds;) I think it's precious that she's such a girly girl, I just don't want her to grow up too fast! I'm sure I will blink my eyes and she'll be wearing 'real' makeup. I will cherish these Mommy/Daughter times together while I have them!

Relieved.

2012-01-20T20:11:00.003-06:00

In December, Sophia had some pretty in-depth and thorough testing done at the recommendation of her neurodevelopmental pediatrician. It included cognitive testing, a speech therapy evaluation, a parent interview and a hearing screen. I was pretty surprised to hear that Sophia failed her hearing screen. My first thought was that she was tired, hungry and disinterested, and that's why she didn't pass. The specialist referred us to our regular pediatrician for a follow up screen.

Sophia had her four-year check up a couple of weeks ago, and the pediatrician just referred us to the ENT clinic for the hearing test. I was disappointed not to have it done then, but okay with the fact that we would have an audiologist do the follow up testing.

We went to the audiologist this afternoon. Sophia was cooperative and didn't fuss, which is a blessing. She followed instructions pretty well, and even paid attention when listening for sounds in the special headphones...

I am relieved to say that she passed all the various tests with flying colors. The audiologist did not see any signs of concern. Sophia most likely had some congestion the day of the first test, which may have caused her to not hear the lower range sounds as well.

No follow up was recommended unless we notice a slowing of her language development or sense that she's not hearing us. I'm grateful that this was much ado about nothing. My sweet girl doesn't need anything else to deal with;)

Project Life 2012 :: Week 2

2012-01-15T15:04:00.003-06:00

Welcome to Project Life 2012, Week 2. This is the two page spread as it will be in my album, including an 8.5" x 11" insert I included...

Here is the two page layout without the insert...

Here's a look at the left side for week 2. It's a little hard to see, but there is actually a flip-up 4" x 6" page protector in the lower right hand corner. We received a cute card in the mail from a friend, and I wanted to include it in our Project Life album. My POTD (photo of the day), is under the flip up protector.

Here you can see the flip up page protector and the two photos underneath, one of which was taken by Toby;)

And here's the left page with the flip-up page protector all the way open...

Sophia had her four-year-old check up at the pediatrician's office this week, and I included a chart they gave us showing Sophia's weight (percentile) and a 'historical' data sheet of her weight, height, BMI, etc., on the back...

Finally, here's a look at the right side. A 'standard' layout...

It feels good to have two weeks of completed PL under my belt. I think I've come up with a pretty good system for staying current. Also, I ordered two of the black signature binders, and they should arrive this week, which will make it even easier to keep everything organized!

I'm a slacker...

2012-01-14T20:39:00.003-06:00

Last week I blogged about accepting the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge. This week's challenge was to organize/declutter/clean your kitchen cabinets and drawers. I must say, I have been a bit of a slacker this week. Well, actually a big slacker. I'm going to blame it on a VERY hectic work and home schedule this week. And, of course, I just flat didn't get it done.

I will say, though, that overall my kitchen cabinets are pretty organized. I purge items on a fairly regular basis, so I don't have too much excess and unused stuff lingering in the dark recesses of the kitchen cabinets. Additionally, it just wasn't feasible for me to tackle the whole kitchen in one week. So, I decided to start with a few drawers that were looking the worse for wear, if you know what I mean.

We have a small kitchen island with a single drawer. That drawer had become a catch all for everything from batteries to coupons to fabric swatches. Kuh-Ray-Zee!! In addition, we recently lost two 'junk' drawers when we installed a sink in our utility room. A bunch of that stuff had ended up in the kitchen/breakfast room as well.

I decided to make a mini-office drawer in the island to keep a few basic office supplies handy. I also took advantage of an EMPTY storage box for small hardware (screws, nails, etc.), and purged all of that stuff neatly from the house and sent it to live in the garage. I don't have a 'before' photo of the island drawer because I just decided one evening to dive right in. Here's the 'during' of the process...

Here's the after. I even segregated the writing utensils. Toby is often looking for red or green pens (he IS a teacher, after all;)), so I put all of them in a single container. I also culled all the pens that don't work and the extra 37 mechanical pencils with no lead! Here's the after...

Today, I decided to tackle the drawer immediately under our cook top. It houses pot holders, oven mitts, and a variety of other kitchen paraphernalia. It was a hot mess, truthfully...

I pulled everything out, grabbed a few extra sorting trays I happened to have hanging out in the utility room, and within about 30 minutes, the drawer looked like this...

Of course, this also resulted in a clean out and organize job on the adjacent drawer which houses similar items. Again, no before, but here's the after...

I've decided to allow this 'week's' challenge to span several weeks. I will tackle a single cabinet or drawer every week until the entire kitchen is done. Most of the weeks have a challenge which will still leave me plenty of time to clean and declutter a kitchen cabinet as well.

So, there it is. I'm a slacker. But, I'm a slacker with three really organized kitchen drawers!

Sophia at Four.

2012-01-09T19:59:00.003-06:00

Today we had Sophia's four year checkup at the pediatrician. Overall, it was a good, uneventful appointment. The picture above is my sweet girl waiting patiently to see the doctor. You can also see her 'stats' on the photo.

She is a little small for her age, but I think she is JUST FINE. She's actually quite a bit bigger than some of her peers at school. Plus, I think they measured her a little short. Today's appointment was simply a checkup. We deferred her immunization boosters to another appointment because Sophia has had her fair share of rough doctor visits in the past few months. It was refreshing to have a simple, brief, uneventful visit with a healthcare professional today. She is progressing well and had no real issues to discuss today. Of course, we see so many other doctors, the visits with the pediatrician are usually brief by comparison.

In December, Sophia had some pretty thorough neuropsychological testing, as well as a speech language evaluation and a hearing screen at the UAMS Centers for Children. Toby and I will go back Wednesday of this week to find out the results of the cognitive testing and the speech evaluation. I did learn the day of the testing, however, that Sophia failed the hearing screen. We were supposed to get that checked at the pediatrician's office today, but she decided to refer us to the ENT clinic that did Sophia's nasal procedure last year. We will see the audiologist there. I'm not sure yet when that appointment will be, though I'm not too concerned. I think the 'failed' hearing screen was more the result of testing methodology than actual lack of hearing. I'm praying that it's something simple like that. I'm also praying for really good results from the other testing when we go for the results this week.

I am continually amazed at my sweet Sophia. She works so hard in therapy and has made so much progress in the past year. She is a very loving, smart, precious child. She has a spectacular imagination and a great love of learning. Her favorite word these days is 'why?';) I just can't believe my BABY is four!

Project Life 2012 :: Cover Page & Week 1

2012-01-08T17:46:00.006-06:00

This year, I am doing Project Life again. This is the third year I've done this project, and I love it. I still have some work to do to complete last year's albums (yes, plural), but I will get there. In the mean time, I thought I'd share the album for 2012. (Apologies for the poor quality photos...took them late in the day)

I chose the Clementine kit for this year. I love the colors and the graphic design. Here is the cover page...

As usual, I changed it up a bit from the 'suggested' layout provided in the kit. The great thing about Project Life is that it is totally flexible and you can make it whatever you want. I added a couple of photos and some embellishments. I'll probably add a few more things, and maybe even an additional 6" x 12" insert on top of this. I don't have my pages in a binder yet. You can order the Clementine Binder, but I think I'll wait and order the new Black Signature Album when it becomes available...

I am using project life in the traditional photo-a-day way. You can use it for a week-at-a-glance, or even something else entirely. Here's a look at Week 1:

First, the two-page spread you see when you 'open' to this week, with a couple of additional inserts...

The first insert is a 5"x7" page protector with the 'Happy New Year' cards we got during Sophia's 4th birthday photo shoot.

On the back of that photo, I included a photo of Sophia's art wall after the recent additions and the DIY monogram I featured in this blog post.

The next insert is a 6"x12" divided page protector. This insert features before and after photos of the Week 1 challenge from the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge I blogged about, as well as an excerpt of the text from that post.

(front of insert)

(back of insert)

Here is the left side of the spread, which includes the first three days of the week.

Here is the right side which features the remaining four days...

And here's a look at both pages together...

I hope to do a better job of keeping up with this project in 2012. This means staying current with printing photos and doing journaling. In 2011, I had to split this into two albums because of all the extra inserts and bits of life I included. I can easily see that happening again this year. I'm going to try to blog once a week with an update of our Project Life album.

There's an app for that.

2012-01-05T17:49:00.004-06:00

Some people that know me know that I used to write down what I wore every day, so that I wouldn't repeat outfits. Some would be surprised to see me write 'used to', as they assume I still do it. It might seem silly to some, and OCD to others, but I actually had a good reason for tracking my daily wardrobe! If you write down what you wear, you realize which things you wear over and over (keepers!) and which things you have a difficult time coordinating with an outfit, or those that no longer fit well (donate!). Of course, there are numerous fashion bloggers out there who not only write down what they wear, they photograph it from multiple angles and do an entire blog post about it. That is definitely NOT me. I am simply trying to make sure I wear all the clothes in my closet, and trying to mix things up a bit to keep it interesting. It also means I need to buy fewer clothes, because I look like I have new outfits when I pair different articles of clothing together.

In the past, I actually had a little mini-journal that I purchased at Barnes & Noble conveniently titled, "What I Wore". I used it for quite some time. However, after having Sophia was born, and the craziness of life creeped in, I stopped keeping up with it.

Enter technology. I know most folks have seen the Apple commercials with the tag line, "There's an app for that." Well, it's true! There's an app for just about everything, including tracking your daily wardrobe. I did a simple search at the App Store and found this...

It's an app that let's you take a photo of yourself everyday, and even geotag it if you want, to help you remember what you wore. You can simply browse back through your outfits to see if you wore that favorite black skirt a couple of weeks ago or a couple of days ago. The basic app is free and allows you to keep up to 30 days/photos. You can do an in app purchase ($0.99) to upgrade to unlimited photos/days, which I did because I like to keep from repeating an exact outfit for at least five weeks. I know, I know. That probably seems either silly or really arbitrary. However, it really does mean I wear ALL the clothes in my closet! You can also have the app remind you at a certain time each day to take a photo.

My reminder is set for in the morning, and I grab it and snap a photo in the mirror in my closet before heading out the door...

what I wore today

Please excuse the fingerprints on the mirror! There is a certain 4-year-old in my house who likes to look at herself really closely in this mirror;)

There is another app called What I Wore Today, but it's built more as a social networking app where you share your outfits and list articles of clothing and which labels you're wearing. Again, not what I was looking for. I'll just stick with my simple photo a day reminder!

Sophia Style - Penguin Cutie

2012-01-04T20:45:00.006-06:00

**Sometimes when I dress Sophia, I think she's just too cute NOT to take a photo. I present...Sophia Style.

Today, Sophia wore an adorable outfit gifted to her for Christmas from Aunt Niki and Uncle Cliff. It features a coordinating shirt, skirt and leggings, all with a penguin theme. Love these bright colors on her, and the skirt is the extra touch of frilly that this little princess loves. And, of course, no outfit is complete without sparkly shoes (via Target)! The only thing missing is the matching mini-purse that she got. Yes, a matching purse. We didn't take it to school, though. Adorable...

Unfortunately, the outfit didn't last all day. I got a call about 2:00 this afternoon from Sophia's teacher saying that she woke up from her nap with the pukies, and it had gotten on her outfit and in her hair. I call Toby, who is still on Christmas break, and he went to pick her up. When I got home after work, this is how I found her on the couch...

Poor baby...you know she's puny if she's sleeping like this after already taking a nap at school. She woke up a bit later and spent her time alternating between half sleeping, and watching old Mickey Mouse cartoons on the iPad...

I gave her a bath, and she's now resting comfortably in bed. Still running a low grade fever. Hope that little sweetie is much better tomorrow morning! Perhaps a day of 'skipping' school to stay home with Granny tomorrow will help;)

New Year's Challenge

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

I am terrible at keeping New Year's resolutions. I have to admit that I rarely exhibit enough willpower to see them through. So, I haven't made resolutions the past couple of years. This year, however, I did accept a New Year's challenge.

I accepted the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge. I am generally a pretty neat person, but with a hectic family life and schedule, some things just get out of control. The goal for this challenge is not to redo your whole house and every system in it in a few days. Rather, a new challenge is introduced weekly to give you time to work on it and to change old habits. This week's challenge involves kitchen organization...the counter tops and sink.

My kitchen counters are generally pretty neat, with the exception of two areas: the phone area and the sink. For example, this is what they looked like yesterday morning...

I have taken the suggestions in the challenge and have completely cleaned my counters and spent about 20 minutes cleaning/purging the phone area. It really shouldn't be that difficult to maintain. I just have to prevent stuff from collecting here. Here's the after from later in the day...

The other area that has been a BIG challenge for me is keeping the sink empty of dirty dishes. The article from this week's challenge is right; if you allow dirty dishes to remain in the sink, the whole kitchen suddenly becomes a dumping ground and ends up messy in minutes. I'm going to try to adopt the 'twice a day' rule of making sure the sink is emptied two times - once in the morning before leaving for work, and once in the evening after dinner/before bed. I'm hoping this system will work and will also help make sure the dishwasher is loaded and the dishes are washed when needed. Here's what the sink looked like right before bed last night. Success!

Anyone can sign up for the challenge. I simply 'liked' them on Facebook and subscribed to the weekly e-mail. I'll keep you posted...(accountability helps;))

Here we go again...

2012-01-02T19:57:00.004-06:00

Two years ago (January 2010), my sister and I decided that our New Year's resolution would be to learn how to knit. So, on New Year's Day 2010, she came over and we planted ourselves in front of YouTube with a skein of yarn and a couple of knitting needles each, and proceeded to try to knit...

Of course, I stuck with it for the two or three hours we worked on it that day, then pretty much let it go. In fact, late last year, I gave all my yarn and needles, along with a couple of crochet hooks, to LeAnn because I wasn't using them!

Fast forward to today. LeAnn was back over at my house for more needle art...this time crochet. She was teaching me stitches and how to increase/decrease. It was a challenge, but definitely easier than knitting because I 'learned' to crochet years ago from my mom. LeAnn is a good teacher. She was patient and very helpful. Here she is giving me some serious instruction...

Wanna know something funny? That's the SAME skein of yarn...two years later!!! (snort) Anyway, I asked LeAnn to teach me (again) how to crochet correctly, and how to read a pattern. My goals are simple: to make a ripple blanket and/or a granny square blanket. I'd be really happy if they turned out anything remotely similar to the ones below.

First, more practice. I've got my single skein of yarn and a couple sizes of crochet hooks. I also need to figure out what kind of yarn I want to use for my projects and in what colors. Choices, choices...

Wish me luck!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:22:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year!! I can't believe it's already 2012.

Last year seemed to fly by. Does that mean we were having fun? Actually, 2011 was a good year for us, overall. We are truly blessed and are looking forward to what the new year holds.

Today, we went to Grandma Jean's house for the traditional 'good luck' meal including black-eyed peas...

Sophia ate a little bit, though I think she wasn't completely sold on the 'good luck' thing as a reason to eat black-eyed peas...

I hope all my friends and family are enjoying this day and have a blessed and happy new year.

More Pinterest Inspiration...and a DIY!

2011-12-31T21:00:00.006-06:00

I've posted previously about how much I ~~am addicted to~~ enjoy Pinterest. I love looking at home decor, fashion and crafty inspiration. A few days ago, I came across this...

...and fell in love. I clicked through to the tutorial, and decided it was something I could do for Sophia's room. Given that I am a scrapbooker/crafter, I had pretty much all the supplies on had. Here's what I did.

First, I gathered supplies. These included brads of different sizes and colors and lots and lots of buttons...

Next, I printed out a large 'S' using Photoshop. You can use a simple word processing software like Microsoft Word to get the same effect. I chose a simple font and simply enlarged it until it was the size I wanted. After printing, cut out the letter and 'center' it on a piece of white card stock (you'll want a very heavy weight paper or card stock because it actually gets pretty heavy)...

Then, trace around the letter lightly using a pencil. This line will pretty much be covered, but you want it to be light as there may be a few small sections that don't get covered (I had this happen; no big deal)...

(apologies for the poor photo quality)

The next step is to use larger buttons and brads to fill in the majority of the space. Try to get your items to line up with the edge of your letter as much as possible. I used a roll-on scrapbook adhesive to attach the buttons and punched through the paper for the brads. Don't worry if you still see lots of white space. That will get filled up in a bit.

Then, begin adding smaller buttons and brads between and on top of the first layer of items. This is what my letter looked like when I finished...

After looking back at the letter in the tutorial, I realize that she used MANY more brads and buttons than I did. That's okay. I'm happy with mine. You can add to your heart's content! Also, I went with a multi-color theme. You could choose to use different hues of the same color to match the decor of the room, or you could choose buttons and brads that are more gender specific. Again, I'm happy with my choice.

As in the tutorial, I purchased a regular frame (with mat included), and simply left out the glass. You could purchase a shadow box if you prefer to have it behind glass. Here's the finished product framed...

And here it is hanging on Sophia's 'art' wall...

All in all, a fun project. The only cost of this project for me was the frame. I already had the card stock and all the decorative items. Be prepared for this to take some time, especially if you add more layers than I did. From start to finish, it took about two hours to complete.

This stuff is addictive. I'm actually working on two other projects right now that are Pinterest inspired as well!!

My BABY is 4!!!

2011-12-30T19:51:00.015-06:00

On Tuesday, December 27, we celebrated Sophia's 4th birthday. It's difficult to believe she's already this big! It seems like yesterday that we were in the hospital excited to meet our baby, but nervous because she decided to come eight weeks early.

We had a 'family' birthday party the Friday before Christmas. Toby and I decided to spend all of Sophia's birthday with just our little family and doing things that Sophia wanted to do. The day started with opening presents...

For her birthday, Sophia got a vintage-style Mickey Mouse calendar, Learn-to-Sew lace up cards, a Pippi Longstocking book, a shirt/skirt outfit with matching tights, a Chutes and Ladders game and a pretend doctor play set.

Her 'big' birthday gift was a new princess rolling carry-on bag.

She loves it and it basically goes everywhere with us now, even though we're not really traveling;)

After gifts, we had breakfast, then went to Portrait Innovations for birthday portraits. Here are a few of my favorites...

After the photo shoot, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games. Sophia had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before, so we weren't sure what she'd think about it. She LOVED it! the Chuck E. Cheese in our area is in a new location, and is very bright and clean. The bonus was that is was NOT crowed at all. Daddy and Sophia played lots of games together...

Sophia also rode several of the 'rides'.

I love skee ball, so I played several games of that and won quite a few tickets. In the end, Sophia got a big lollipop and a new (tiny) Ariel doll. She had a blast and the pizza was decent, too.

After Chuck E. Cheese we decided to take it easy for a bit and go see a movie. This is what Sophia chose...

After the movie, we headed home. We ended up going to Granddad and Grandma Jean's house to eat dinner with them, which was the perfect way to end the day. All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day.

I am so proud of Sophia. Most activities are ten times harder for her than the average child her age. Yet, she does most things without complaining. She falls often, and then gets herself right back up and keeps going. She wants to do things on her own and is very independent. She works hard, especially in therapy, which she has four times a week. She is a bright, loving, adorable kiddo and I am so blessed to be her mom.

While we were at Portrait Innovations, we also had a couple of family shots taken. This is one of my faves...

Christmas...ver. 2011

2011-12-26T20:03:00.017-06:00

Christmas was a multi-day event again this year. We kicked off the celebrations with dinner and gifts with my family on Thursday night, the 22nd. This is the time that worked out for everyone to be there. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner prepared by my mom, then retired to the living room to let the paper tearing begin.

I think the photo of the evening is this one..

The look on Sophia's face when she opened the Jasmine princess doll Granny got her is priceless! She asked Santa for two new princess dollies, and this is one of them. She opened several gifts, and received lots of nice clothes and other goodies.

This was my great nephew Wyndon's first Christmas. Most of the time he seemed interested in the paper and bows, sometimes it appeared he wasn't that into it;)...

My sister LeAnn made this adorable Razorback hat for Sophia...

In fact, she made matching hats for the three littles...

The littles also received matching outfits that my other sister, Betty, made. I somehow didn't get a great picture of those (unfortunately). Yes, I have a crafty family. Why didn't I get any of those genes?

Christmas Eve morning, Sophia and I (well, mostly I...) made chocolate chip cookies for Santa. This is first year we've done the whole 'cookies and milk' thing. Up until now, Sophia didn't really 'get' the Santa thing. This year, she was all over it!

Christmas Eve night, we celebrated Christmas with Toby's family. After another wonderful dinner, Sophia and Savannah did the honors of handing out all the presents.

It was nice to see everyone, including Toby's 82 year old dad, enjoying opening each and every gift...

Sophia, of course, made out like a bandit. She got an adorable outfit from Aunt Niki and Uncle Cliff, some sweet Tinkerbell friends toys, an awesome Tinkerbell tea set, and this beautiful butterfly book...

After the Christmas party, Sophia was wound up. It was difficult to get her to go to sleep, even with all the "Santa can't come until you go to sleep.", and "Wow! Santa will be here any minute! Better shut your eyes." talk. She finally fell asleep around ten, and Toby and I got to work setting up her 'Santa' surprise.

Sophia woke up to this and this Christmas morning...

A new jeep with three new dolls and...

an empty cookie plate and milk glass with a personal note from Santa!

Sophia got several fun things in her stocking...

She also got the standard issue clothes and books. She really love books, which I really love. I got a camera (which I got early, thanks Honey!), some wonderful perfume and new jeans. Toby got some clothes and a particular item that you can see below.

After cleaning up all the paper and bows, and eating breakfast, we headed outside to take advantage of the sunshine. Thankfully, it was warm enough for Sophia to take the Jeep out for a spin...

She did a pretty good job of keeping it between the ditches, though she did go off-roading a couple of times. This Jeep is so fancy, it even has a radio. Sometimes, she got too distracted pushing buttons and forgot to watch the road!

After driving up and down the street about three or four times, we headed back inside for Toby to set up his other Christmas gift...a model train set!

We were blessed once again this year with a fabulous Christmas. We wish everyone could enjoy the same generosity and plenty that have.

This morning, we decided to get with it and take down all the Christmas decorations. We had everything down, boxed and back in the attic by noon! It was very hard work, but I'm so happy to have that done, especially since we have another MAJOR party tomorrow - Sophia's 4th Birthday!!!! (Can't believe my BABY is four!!)

Four in a row...

2011-12-11T19:42:00.006-06:00

It's hard to believe that Sophia is going to be four years old this month. This also means that we've had four years of photos with Santa...

2008

2009

2010

2011

It's amazing to see how much she's grown!

p.s. I'm so happy the mall has had the same Santa every year...

Score!!

2011-10-15T18:47:00.004-05:00

This year, I decided that in addition to shopping at the local Rhea Lana sale, I'd also be a consignor. I thought it might be a great way to, how shall I say it, reduce the volume of little girl's clothes hoarded in our closets. So, I hauled my 98 items (which was really more like 130) up to the sale last week. Part of the benefit of being a consignor, aside from getting more money for this stuff than I could ever get at a garage sale, is the chance to shop the pre-sale, before it's open to the public. I went this afternoon and actually got quite a few things. Because Sophia really wants to wear ONLY dresses right now, that's what I shopped for mostly. My haul included 12 dresses/jumpers, one gown, one skirt/shirt combo, and three jackets/coats. All for less than $100!!

Now I just need all the items I took up there to sell!!

Pinterest Inspiration

2011-09-25T09:31:00.003-05:00

I recently (yesterday) joined Pinterest. Not that I need another place to ~~waste~~ spend time on the Internet. I do like that I can keep track of things I find on the Internet that I like or want to do someday. Home decor, DIY projects, places to go, etc.

One of the first things I came across was this...

source

What a neat idea for dressing up an otherwise totally boring and utilitarian item in the house. Sort of like the frame over the peephole on Rachel and Monica's door in the sitcom 'Friends'. I decided to do something similar in our house. I picked up a frame at Hobby Lobby (50% off, of course), which was glossy black. No big deal...nothing a can of green spray paint couldn't cure...

I used Command Picture Hanging Strips to mount it to the wall. I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out! One DIY project found on Pinterest down...a bunch to go. By the way, you can follow me on Pinterest here.

A really, big, gigantic deal!!

2011-09-22T17:49:00.003-05:00

You wouldn't think that three cute little pairs of girls' shoes from Target would be a big deal...

Well, in our house, they are a very big deal. Here's why... Because Sophia wears AFOs (braces), we are generally VERY limited in the shoes she can wear. In fact, most recently we've had one pair of black Mary Jane style Hatchbacks, one pair of tennis shoes, and a pair of summer sandals (Teva). It's almost impossible for us to find 'average' shoes for Sophia, especially summer sandals and winter boots.

Today, Sophia got her new braces (she had outgrown the old ones). We headed to Target after getting them fit in order to purchase new socks (also, surprisingly, a big deal when dealing with AFOs). I decided to hit up the kids' shoe department on the off chance they would have a pair of boots that fit. Alas...no boots. However, Sophia spied a pair of red sparkly shoes and got SO excited! She wanted to try them on. They actually went on over her braces, but were too big. It broke my heart to tell her that we couldn't get those shoes. However, when I turned around, I saw a similar shoe, in a smaller size, with a velcro strap over the top. My heart started racing. I held my breath a little bit. I wanted her to try them on, but was scared we'd be disappointed yet again. Well, friends...

they FIT!!!!!!!!!! She was so excited! I was crying! This is a really big, gigantic deal folks! She was nearly jumping up and down for joy! She said, "Mommy, now I can wear shoes like you." Again, nearly broke my heart. And guess what...the good times didn't stop there. We found the brown slippers and the Converse sneakers as well. I absolutely could NOT believe they fit! Sophia was so excited she kept asking if we could 'cut them' (cut the tags off) so she could start wearing them right away.

I am so happy and know that we were truly blessed today to find these shoes. We'll be set for a while! At least until she outgrows these braces...

Sophia likes...

2011-08-25T18:39:00.000-05:00

Our weekend in Instagrams.

2011-08-21T17:25:00.009-05:00

Recently, I have ~~become addicted to~~ discovered the Instagram app for my iPhone. I love taking photos, adding filters, etc., and uploading immediately and easily! Here's a look at our weekend in Instagram photos!

Hope you've had a great weekend!

Tough week...even for a tough kid.

2011-08-14T14:18:00.005-05:00

This past week was a really tough one for Sophia. On Monday evening, we decided to have 'breakfast for dinner', and Sophia wanted scrambled eggs. She asked if she could help make them, and I agreed. We brought one of her step stools in the kitchen, cracked a couple of eggs in the skillet, then I let her hold the spatula to start scrambling. Unfortunately, it wasn't too long until her little arm got tired, and she dropped it just enough that it touched the edge of the pan, and burned her arm. She took it in stride...just pulled her arm away and said, "Ouch!" It wasn't until we were getting ready for her bath later that I noticed it really did leave a mark on her. I felt soooo bad!

Thankfully, Tuesday was uneventful. Wednesday, Sophia had a regularly scheduled appointment with the neurologist for her Botox injections. Right now, she receives them every three months. I felt terrible that I wasn't able to attend the appointment; Toby had doctor duty that day. It's getting harder and harder to go to these appointments, because Sophia is old enough and aware enough now to know what's about to happen. She cried during the shots, but I think she rebounded pretty quickly, especially when they whipped out the Simba stuffed animal!

Now, fast forward to Friday. I received a call from Sophia's teacher that she had fallen off one of the climbing towers during water day, and wasn't wanting to walk on her foot. She kept saying, "My heel hurts!" The teacher said it wasn't really swelling, and they were able to put her brace back on. Well, as the morning went on, Sophia was refusing to put any weight on her leg. About the time all this was happening, I had gotten notice that I needed to attend an unexpected, mandatory meeting in Ft. Smith that afternoon. I scrambled to get Toby out of teacher in-service, and track down my mom to help, and they took her to the walk-in clinic to find out what was going on. Bless their hearts, they had to wait for over an hour-and-a-half, only to be told that the x-ray machine at the clinic wouldn't suffice. So...off to the diagnostic clinic for multiple x-rays. Thankfully, that process went pretty quickly. I actually got home from my meeting about the same time they got home from the x-ray appointment. About an hour later, we found out that nothing was broken, and that we needed to try to get her to use the leg/ankle/foot. Well, that's easier said than done when Sophia was screaming, "Oww! Oww!", every time we tried to get her to walk on it.

Saturday morning, she still wasn't willing to put any weight on it, so I called our physical therapist, Ms. K. I hated to bother her so early on a Saturday morning, but knew I needed someone familiar with Sophia to help us figure out what was really going on. Bless her heart, she drove all the way out to our house and spent quite a bit of time evaluating Sophia and helping us understand what was going on...

She thinks Sophia 'tweaked' her Achilles somehow. She showed us some stretches to do and how to ice it down to help with the minor swelling. Later in the day, we actually got Sophia to limp along a little. Progress! Of course, just when we thought she was doing really well, we let go of her and she lost her balance and busted her lip. Poor kid just couldn't catch a break! I was really feeling like a lousy parent...

This morning, we were back to crawling, as she didn't want to walk on it again. We've worked during the day to get it limbered back up and she can limp along again. We will be going to our regular pediatrician tomorrow (hopefully) to see if we need to do anything further. I guess it's a good thing my mom was already planning to keep Sophia at home Monday and Tuesday (school's closed for teacher work days). We probably wouldn't be going if Sophia was still hobbling along!

This week really proved what I've known all along. Sophia is one tough kid! I just hope life takes it easy on her for a while now!

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

2011-08-06T19:41:00.002-05:00

I am so far 'behind' on blogging, it was a little overwhelming to sit back down in this space that seems now unfamiliar, and figure out how to keep it moving forward. I tend to blog chronologically, which sometimes keeps me from just writing about what's happening in the present. I knew I couldn't write one long (as in really long) post, nor did I want to manufacture a whole bunch of smaller ones.

I continue to faithfully take at least one photo every day...part of Project Life/Project 365. As I look back through those photos, I see that they tell the story of our lives. The everyday stuff. The big stuff. The silly stuff. REAL life. So, I decided to compile a movie made of photos from January 1 of this year to the present. They are not necessarily all my 'photos of the day', but each represents something from our lives this year.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I wonder how much these 187 photos will say? (Don't worry, the video is only about six minutes...) For a better viewing experience, scroll to the bottom of the blog and turn off the music!

THIS is the dentist office??

2011-05-05T19:47:00.004-05:00

Today Sophia had a follow-up dental appointment. We were referred to Pediatric Dental Associates by my dentist, who saw her a couple of months ago. Apparently, her enamel is weak on her back teeth, probably due to all the medications, etc., she's had since birth. Sophia did pretty well at that initial visit, so I wasn't too concerned about this one.

As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried one iota! This place is like no other dentist office I've ever seen. It looks like the dental version of a Rainforest Cafe. There are jungle 'animals' and 'trees' everywhere. And the colors are bright and neon! They use technology extensively, from the check in process, to x-rays, to patient records.

The best technology, though, has to be the televisions mounted in the ceiling! Each patient is asked what movie or show they'd like to watch, and chances are they have it. Sophia chose The Little Mermaid, of course. They even have really cute headphones so the kids can hear the audio without disturbing the neighbors! Does this kid look nervous to you...?

Nope! The appointment went pretty well. The bad news is that, as Dr. G. expected, she needs to have sealant put on her molars, and she needs one stainless steel crown. I hate that she will have to have so much dental work at such a young age, but I want to take care of those precious little teeth, even if she will just pull them out in a few years! The good news is that the dentist thinks she can do the work in clinic, rather than having to go to the hospital for full sedation. My guess is, if they keep the Disney princess movies going, they can pretty much do whatever they want!!

Well, that was embarrassing.

2011-05-01T18:40:00.005-05:00

Our pantry has lately been visited by some unwanted creatures...moths. I'm most embarrassed to admit that! I decided today that I'd had enough. Thus began the quest to rid the pantry of any unwanted inhabitants, outdated food and sticky syrup rings on the shelves. We literally removed Every. Single. Item. from the pantry! We wiped down Every. Single. Surface.

I wish I had a before shot of the pantry. Well...actually, I don't. That would be too embarrassing to post! So, here is an "in progress" shot.

After much cleaning, purging, reorganizing and a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond, our pantry is now clean and sparkly! And pretty bare...

We threw out bags (yes, plural) of stuff. I won't say how many. We also collected quite a few items to be donated to the food pantry where my mom volunteers. It feels wonderful to have at least this little corner of our house so clean and organized.

After having admitted to such a 'dirty' little secret, I'm hoping others out there will fess up to having some icky corner(s) in their house as well!

Now, what to tackle next...

Disney World 2011 :: Day 1

2011-04-16T17:23:00.009-05:00

For Spring Break this year, we were fortunate to be able to take Sophia back to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The first time she went, she was only 18 months old, and of course doesn't remember anything about it! This time, we knew it would be magical. She knows nearly all the Disney characters by name, even if she hasn't seen the Disney movie or show. We talked about the trip for quite a while before we left, so it wasn't a surprise. However, I think she was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to actually go!

We left on the Saturday morning of Spring Break. We flew, which was also a blessing. Sophia has always done well on plane rides, and this trip was no exception. Do you think she was excited...?

We stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which was wonderful, and all under one roof! The last couple of times we've been to WDW, we've stayed in a resort that was spread out among several buildings. This was so much better for us!

We decided to have a surprise for Sophia upon arrival. We ordered 'Minnie' Mouse ears with her name embroidered on them, as well as an autograph book and pen. So cute!

We arrived late in the afternoon on that Saturday evening, but we immediately jumped right in to all things Disney. We hopped on the boat at our resort for a short ride across the lake to the Wilderness Campground for Mickey's Backyard B-B-Q. We didn't really know what to expect, but had a blast. There was a buffet of BBQ style fixins' as well as country/western music and other entertainment.

We were tired from the travel, but still having a great time.

Then, the fun really started! Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Chip and Dale showed up!

Sophia could not eat her dinner in all her excitement about finally seeing Mickey and Minnie in real life! All the kids were invited onto the dance floor, and Sophia surprised me by practically pulling us to the floor to participate. She actually got to dance with both Mickey and Minnie!

When the characters took a break, so did we...

A little later, Mickey and Minnie stepped outside to sign autographs and take photos. I think it was really appropriate that they were the first ones to sign her book!

Then it was back inside for more dancing with Chip and Dale.

I love this photo... Look really close. You can see Toby holding Sophia on the dance floor. I think she was so excited, she really wanted him to listen to her! So cute!

We were definitely pooped by the end of the evening. A nearly full day of travel plus an exciting BBQ and dance with Mickey and Minnie made for tired Slinkards. We headed back to the resort to rest...lots of activities planned for Sunday!

More to come...

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T20:13:00.006-05:00

Dress love.

2011-04-02T16:42:00.006-05:00

Lately, I've been drawn to dresses. It's probably because I'm tired of most of my wardrobe, which largely consists of separates. Most of the dresses today tend to be very short or sleeveless, neither of which I wear much, and neither of which I can wear to work. A while back, I learned about Shabby Apple from a blog I follow. They make beautiful dresses, almost all of which I could wear to work or church. Here are some of my current favorites...

And, yay for me, I own this one...

Here's to warmer weather suitable for lots of dress wearing!

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 7

2011-04-01T20:30:00.009-05:00

February 12, 2011

February 13, 2011

February 14, 2011

February 15, 2011

February 16, 2011

February 17, 2011

February 18, 2011

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 6

2011-04-01T20:22:00.009-05:00

February 5, 2011

February 6, 2011

February 7, 2011

February 8, 2011

February 9, 2011

February 10, 2011

February 11, 2011

Big girl bed.

2011-03-27T09:05:00.005-05:00

I suppose I've known for a while that it was time to move Sophia into a 'big girl bed'. Since she moved into her room, she's been sleeping in her crib...either as a crib, or as a daybed...

Our trip to Disney World last week (in which I slept with the wiggle worm most nights) convinced me more than ever that she is beyond ready to have a larger sleeping space. So yesterday morning, in the midst of post-vacation laundry, we moved the crib/daybed out, and moved a full size mattress and springs in. We've placed them on the floor for now so that she can get used to the different bed and not have as far to fall if she rolls off!

I decided to use an existing coverlet that I have. It's white (neutral), and very comfortable. Also, I figure Sophia will be telling me how she wants her room decorated soon enough, so why spend more money now? We got some cute sheets and some new throw pillows to add color...

Last night was Sophia's first night in her bed, and she did great! I look forward to shopping for a headboard and some more decorative touches for her 'big girl' room. I can't believe my little baby is growing so fast!

Fun and therapeutic!

2011-02-21T08:04:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago, we joined the HPER building at our alma mater. Thank you alumni association benefits!! It's much less expensive than a traditional health club, and closer to home.

We joined for one primary reason....they have an indoor pool! We've been told by several folks, and especially Sophia's rehab specialist, that swimming is one of the best forms of exercise for people with CP. Sophia's Aunt Susie volunteered to pick her up from school a couple of times per week to take her to the pool to swim! Plus, with Susie's background (swimming coach, aerobics instructor, massage therapist!), it's not only fun for Sophia, it's very therapeutic!

We want Sophia to gain more independence around water, as well, so this is a real bonus! Sophia loves to play with Aunt Susie!

The water in the pool is a little cool, so we even got Sophia some new gear for her 'therapy'...

I love that Sophia gets to spend this time with her aunt and is getting so much out of it! Toby and I plan to take her on the weekends as well. Now, we just need the weather to continue to cooperate...

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 5

2011-02-09T17:24:00.008-06:00

January 29, 2011

January 30, 2011

February 1, 2011

February 2, 2011

February 3, 2011

February 4, 2011

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 4

2011-02-05T09:52:00.009-06:00

January 22, 2011

January 23, 2011

January 24, 2011

January 25, 2011

January 26, 2011

January 27, 2011

January 28, 2011

Seasons change. Overnight, apparently.

2011-02-01T17:36:00.011-06:00

There's an old saying about the weather in Arkansas: If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change.

Well, that's definitely been the case the last few days. The only problem? I didn't want it to change! Saturday we had 70 degree weather and were able to enjoy some outdoor time.

But did it last? No. This morning, Snowmaggedon arrived. It started in the wee hours before dawn bringing with it about .25" to .5" of ice. Then, it proceeded to snow all day, allowing about six or seven inches of the fluffy white stuff to mask the naughty ice underneath! The street below is normally covered up with traffic midday. Today when I was driving home from work (early, thankfully), it was deserted.

When I arrived home, this is what I found:

The snow is supposed to stop tonight, but it is still below freezing and the low for tomorrow night is supposed to be -5 degrees! I see lots of layers and boot-wearing in my future...

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 3

2011-01-22T13:35:00.002-06:00

January 15, 2011

January 16, 2011

January 17, 2011

January 18, 2011

January 19, 2011

January 20, 2011

January 21, 2011

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 2

2011-01-15T08:50:00.001-06:00

January 8, 2011

January 9, 2011

January 10, 2011

January 11, 2011

January 12, 2011

January 13, 2011

January 14, 2011

A new way to follow us!

2011-01-15T08:14:00.000-06:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Sophia Style - All Bundled Up

2011-01-11T20:13:00.006-06:00

**Sometimes when I dress Sophia, I think she's just too cute NOT to take a photo. I present...Sophia Style.

Today Sophia is wearing:

Hat, Hoodie, Owl Shirt, Gray Pants: Baby Gap (gift from Aunt)
Braces: Snell Prosthetic and Orthotic
Shoes: Hatchbacks
Doll: Cabbage Patch Kid (gift from Grandma J)

Today was all about bundling up for near-single-digit temperatures coupled with snowfall!

The 7 - Year Itch.

2011-01-08T16:07:00.013-06:00

Lately, I have been experiencing the seven-year itch. Not that itch. The itch to redecorate! We moved in to our home seven years ago this January 31. With the exception of a very few furniture and decorative items, we have made almost no changes to the interior. I suppose I should be happy about this...I think it means we made good choices during the design and construction of our home!

So, I am on a mission. A mission to redo several rooms in our home. I'm not talking about major structural changes or even a significant design shift. Just some tweaking! Perhaps some new paint colors (gasp!)? The goal is to do this on a very tight budget, as well. It's time to freshen things up in the Slinkard household!

The core rooms (living, dining) of our house tend to be dark due to the overhangs of the front and back porches. I want to lighten up the spaces and make them even more comfortable than they already are. I also want to change the design style - slightly - of our kitchen and breakfast areas...

The master bedroom...well, that's another story. We want to replace the carpet with hardwood floors to match those in the rest of the house. We've already gotten a bid, and it's currently not in the budget. We also want a wholesale change in furnishings and bedding. It could be a while before we tackle this room.

Sophia's room will not have any major changes, for now. The middle of the room is nice and open, allowing for lots of play space. While she's still using her crib, which is converted into a daybed, we have the benefit of the extra room. I'm still content with the colors and furniture in there, and she has not developed opinions about the decor of her room (yet).

There are a few other spaces in our house that I want to tackle, as well. The office needs hardwood floors, new paint, a new curtain and, eventually, a new desk that functions better. However, it works just fine right now, so I'll focus on the other spaces first. I also want to make a few adjustments to our back porch/outdoor living room.

My plan is to focus on one space at a time, and capture the before and after (and during?) of each one. Here's to fresh spaces in the new year!

Project 365 | 2011 :: Week 1

2011-01-07T21:17:00.008-06:00

January 1, 2011

January 2, 2011

January 3, 2011

January 4, 2011

January 5, 2011

January 6, 2011

January 7, 2011

Project 365 | 2011

2011-01-05T20:40:00.006-06:00

This year will mark my second year of doing a Project 365. Project 365 involves taking a photo every day, and documenting it in some way. Also for the second year, I am using a Project Life kit designed by Becky Higgins.

Somehow, some way, I managed to take at least one photo every day in 2010. Those photos can be seen here. For 2011, there are two different Project Life kits available. I chose the Amber edition...

Both this edition, and the Turquoise edition are available at Amazon.com. I've got my binder pretty much set up and ready to go. Here's a closer look at the binder...

I set up the first page mostly as recommended in the instruction sheet that came with the kit. I did have to customize a little though;)

What I love about Project Life is that it comes complete with the binder, the divided photo pocket pages, title cards, journaling cards and even a date stamp that let your Project 365 be captured in a very simple, easy way. I'm still finishing up some journaling for my 2010 binder. It's so much fun to look back through it to see a little snapshot {literally} of every day of our lives last year. I look forward to what 2011 will bring, and I look forward to documenting it with my Project Life kit. I may even do a weekly post here with just the POTDs (Photos of the Day)!

Sometimes I forget.

2011-01-04T18:34:00.009-06:00

Sometimes I forget that Sophia is not a baby any more. Then I see photos like these....

...and I am reminded that my baby isn't a baby any more! She's a sweet, precious, sassy little girl. I love you, Sophia!!

One Little Word | 2011

2011-01-02T14:01:00.007-06:00

I follow the blog of Ali Edwards. Every year for the past several years, she has chosen 'one little word' for the year. Here is her description of the "One Little Work" concept:

"Essentially the idea is to choose a word (or let it choose you) that has the potential to make an impact on your life.

Maybe you want to invite something or maybe you are hoping to subtract something. Maybe your word will be practical or hopeful or creative or fanciful. Maybe you need a big word, something in-your-face that will challenge you everyday. Maybe you need something smaller and quieter that will whisper gentle tidings as you make your way throughout the year.

Whatever word you end up with, make sure it is your word (not your sister’s, mom’s, partner’s, child’s, etc). You can share it publicly or keep it close to your heart."

Last year, I chose the word "Authentic", but didn't share it. Last year's word was really about my personal journey to be more authentic...to be more true to myself. I'm not letting go of that word, just adding a new one for 2011...

I chose this word for a couple of reasons. I have realized that I am very hard on myself. I set high expectations - unrealistic expectations - too often. I am a busy working wife, daughter, friend, and mother to one sweet little child who happens to have some special needs. I also need to realize and acknowledge that I have enough. Here's what "enough" means for me this year:

I have enough.
What I have is plenty great enough.
I am enough.
My work is enough.
My mothering is enough.
My salvation through Jesus Christ is enough.

Also...

Enough of being so hard on myself.
Enough of saying "no" to Sophia when she wants to play/be with me, and much more saying "yes".
Enough of thinking my house has to be *spotless* 100% of the time.
Enough of giving some people/things/situations more importance in my life than they should have.

My goal is to keep my one little word actively present in my life. I'll keep you posted on well I do...

Closet CPR

2010-12-29T20:52:00.006-06:00

Last night I ended up performing a little CPR (clean-purge-reorganize) on Sophia's closet and dresser. She received a lot of new clothes for Christmas and her birthday. As I was putting some of them away, I noticed I was running out of space.

I forced myself to look at every piece of clothing to determine if we would realistically use it. Many of the articles of clothing have simply been outgrown. I think I'd been hanging on to them for sentimental reasons only. I also found a drawer full of clothes that my mom has picked up at garage sales, etc., that Sophia can now wear, adding to the pile of clothes to be hung up, or 'put into rotation', as I say. I literally took every stitch of clothing out of the closet and dresser. I culled probably 40 or 50 pieces of clothing. That looks like a lot when I type it, but considering how many clothes you need with a little one (especially during potty training!), it doesn't seem so bad.

I moved all her dresses to the top rack, and shirts to the bottom. I also moved her unmentionables drawer down so she can choose her own, which is a BIG deal lately. I made a drawer just for dress up clothes that she can easily access. And, of course, everything is organized by type of clothing and color...

Next up: the toy bins!!

The night before the night before Christmas.

2010-12-27T20:16:00.021-06:00

This year, we celebrated Christmas with my family on Thursday evening, December 23. In years past, we have tended to celebrate on Christmas Eve, along with celebrating Dad's birthday. Because Mark and Cari needed to head back to Fort Worth Christmas Eve morning, we got together for dinner and gifts the night before the night before Christmas!

(presents under the tree)

It's so nice that we can all be together as a family during the holidays. Libby and Wyatt came over from Tulsa.

Mark, Cari and Calloway were in from Fort Worth.

Sophia and Calloway have such a great time playing together....

Cari and the girls...

The feast!

After dinner, it was gift time. The family just buys gifts for the 'girls' (Brianna, Lauren, Sophia and Calloway). It's so much fun to watch them open their gifts. Sophia really got in to the gift thing this year. She learned very quickly that there is usually something really neat underneath all the wrapping paper!

Her custom made hat from Aunt Lanny...

The very loud sqeeee inducing gifts from Mark, Cari and Calloway...

We got Calloway some clothes and an old-school 3-D Viewsonic for Christmas.

Well, at least she got to 'play' with the clothes....

Lauren and her crazy socks....

Sophia made out like a bandit!

I love my family, and I'm so thankful we got to be together to celebrate the season. I wish we could see those who live far away more often. It does make me appreciate the times we are together! This was definitely one of our best Christmases ever!!

Three.

2010-12-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

Three years ago today, our sweet Sophia was born. Wow. Three years! I almost can't believe that much time has passed since that happy, exciting, anxious day in 2007 when she came into this world eight weeks early. Our lives have been changed forever in so many good ways, I can't possibly list them all. But, just for fun, here are a few...

Three years of:

sweet little girl kisses
sweet little girl hugs
cuddles
happiness
amazement
worry
thankfulness
growth
fun
teaching
discipline
awe
wonder
exploring
adapting
doctor visits
baby lotion
bed time reading
photos ;)

Our live are so blessed by Sophia and being a family. She teaches us more than we teach her, I think! Here are some photos from the photo shoot we did for her third birthday!

These adorable, sassy-pants photos by Portrait Innovations.

Happy Birthday, sweet Sophia!! We couldn't love you any more! We are so proud of you!!!!!

Sophia Style - Visiting the Neurologist

2010-12-14T20:36:00.004-06:00

**Sometimes when I dress Sophia, I think she's just too cute NOT to take a photo. I present...Sophia Style.

Today Sophia is wearing:

Cardi: thrifted by Granny
Jumper: Target
White Tee: thrifted by Granny
Tights: Target
AFOs: Snell Prosthetic and Orthotic
Shoes: Hatchbacks

2,000!

2010-12-12T19:45:00.003-06:00

I have just passed the 2,000 photos mark on my flickr photostream! I almost can't believe it! Oh wait...seeing as I have many more thousands than that on my computer, this should not be a surprise. This is the 2,000th photo I uploaded...

You can see all 2,000 for yourself here, including my set of photos from every day this year!

Sophia Style

2010-12-11T12:49:00.004-06:00

**Sometimes when I dress Sophia, I think she's just too cute NOT to take a photo. I present...Sophia Style.

Today, Sophia is wearing:

Dress & Matching Purse: thrifted by Granny
Tights: Target
AFO's: Snell Prosthetic and Orthotic
Shoes: Hatchbacks
Hair Clips: Gift of the Scholl family in Germany

Our home for the holidays.

2010-12-05T14:58:00.013-06:00

A few photos of our home decorated for the holidays!

The wreath...same as the past few years.

On the dining table. Very simple.

Santas on the sideboard.

In the foyer. Santa photo from this year!

Nutcrackers, etc.

The mantle. Last year, we decided to just decorate the mantle, in lieu of putting up a tree (safer for Sophia). This year, we have a tree, but I also decided to do the mantle as well!

On the breakfast room table. Much simpler than last year's decorations.

Traditional Christmas colors on the kitchen counter.

The hodge podge tree. I call it that because it is literally a hodge podge of decorations. Usually, I decorate our tree (or trees) with a specific color or theme. This year, we have a real tree, rather than an artificial tree, and I decided to just pull out a bunch of random ornaments and cram them on! Voila!

Now to wrap presents to go underneath...

All she wants for Christmas.

2010-12-04T13:23:00.002-06:00

We took Sophia to the mall this morning to have her photo taken with Santa. She wore an outfit made especially for her by her Aunt Boop. I wasn't sure how she would do with sitting on his lap. She's usually pretty easy-going, but you never know...

We talked with her the last couple of days about going to see Santa and what she would ask for. The only thing she has mentioned is a Tinkerbell doll. I told her to ask Santa for it when we saw him.

We arrived early this morning, and there was already a line. We waited our turn, and then Sophia walked right over to him and gave him a high-five. She had no problem telling him what she wants for Christmas. Yep...just the Tinkerbell doll. After she told him, Santa whispered some things in her ear, then it was time for the photo...

I'm really proud of Sophia for being a big girl and not crying. I think it's really sweet that she has only asked for one thing for Christmas. What do you think the odds are that she's going to get it?!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-29T21:14:00.002-06:00

..a mom who drops by every day to let Ami out, often loads the dishwasher, and leaves me little notes like this to help me keep my house in order!

My mom also agreed, without hesitation, to change her plans and stay with Sophia tomorrow. Our little bear is running a fever and generally feeling lousy. Lots of "Mama! Mama! Mama! I wanna hold you!" going on here tonight. My mom is so gracious to keep her so that I can maintain my appointments tomorrow. I love her!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-28T19:43:00.002-06:00

..a little girl that is feeling MUCH better than last night.

It was a rough night in the Slinkard household. We finally got to sleep around 1:00 this morning. We're hoping for a better night tonight!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-27T19:03:00.001-06:00

..feeling much better today than yesterday (hence, no blog post). I'm also very thankful that, after our shopping excursion today, the majority of our Christmas presents are purchased!!

Now to start the gift wrapping...

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-25T22:30:00.013-06:00

..a wonderful day filled with family, food and fun. And, most importantly, thanksgiving. We are truly and deeply blessed and I strive to be thankful every day, not just today.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-24T19:44:00.001-06:00

..quiet evenings at home watching a Disney movie with my sweet girl!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-23T19:46:00.005-06:00

..sweet text messages from Sophia's therapists. TWO from today:

"Sophia did great today. We did lots of coordination in long sitting. She was very talkative...told me they were having pizza for their feast today;), Adorable!" ~Ms. A (one of Sophia's occupational therapists)

"Things I'm thankful for: your sweet daughter." ~Ms. K (Sophia's physical therapist), accompanied by this photo:

These totally made my day and are just a part of why we are so grateful for Sophia's therapists. They truly love her and care about her. And, they take the time to send thoughtful messages like this! We are so blessed!!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-22T20:19:00.002-06:00

..a little girl who is feeling much better than she did this morning.

We started off the day with Sophia having a very upset stomach and unable to keep food down. We think it was caused by drainage, as she seemed to feel fine later in the day. At least she got to skip school and hang out with Daddy all day! I'm also thankful Toby was out of school today to stay home with our little stinker!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-21T16:01:00.010-06:00

..in-laws that have a small 'zoo' at their house! Sophia is so fortunate to get to be around a variety of animals every weekend when she visits Granddad and Grandma Jean. They have...

Sophia loves it! She usually gets to help feed the fish, give apples or pears to the horses, and gather eggs! Most two year olds have no idea where our food comes from. Sophia is learning first hand.

Perhaps one of her favorite things to do, though, is to chase these...

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-20T14:39:00.003-06:00

..fun Saturday morning conversations with Sophia.

(Yellow Doll and Orange Blossom having a conversation)

The sweet conversation this morning:

Sophia: "Where's Daddy?"

Me: "He's making us pancakes."

Sophia: "No he's not. He's making breakfast!"

Me: "You're absolutely right, sweetheart!"

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-19T21:08:00.003-06:00

..sweet photos that I discover on Toby's iPhone! They are treasures to me...

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-18T19:41:00.002-06:00

..good health insurance. And TEFRA!

We are very blessed to have such good coverage. It's one less thing we have have to worry about. We know that we will be able to provide Sophia with the best care, and the quantity of care, that she needs.

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-17T20:38:00.002-06:00

..my current Bible study. I am participating in a women's evening Bible study through my church. It is a Beth Moore study on the book of Revelation.

I am thankful to have such a great small group of women to go through this very intense study with. They are a blessing, and this study is a blessing. It's not easy, but soooo worth it! I'm thankful to be able to carve out this time for myself and a Bible study that holds me accountable to be prepared!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-16T21:12:00.003-06:00

..modern conveniences that help make our busy lives easier!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-15T20:12:00.003-06:00

..warmth. As the days, and especially nights, get colder, I am thankful that I can go to our coat closet and find plenty of options to keep me warm.

I'm thankful for my warm house, my fireplace, my car with a heater (and heated seats!), hot water, a warm office in which to work, and many warm friendships. I am truly blessed.

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-14T16:40:00.002-06:00

..my camera.

I love photography and taking photos of my family, friends and travels. I'm thankful to have a good quality camera that helps me take better photos. I'm by no means a professional, but I have learned a few tricks over the past few years that have improved my photography results. I'm thankful for this creative outlet in my life!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-13T17:27:00.002-06:00

..a full pantry. We are so blessed to live with abundance, especially of food. Whenever we are the least bit hungry, we can go in to the kitchen and have numerous options to satisfy that hunger.

I'm sure there are statistics about how much food Americans throw out every year, and I'm sad to say that our household contributes to that number. I truly am thankful for living without hunger. May we all remember that there are millions of people who do not get to enjoy this luxury.

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-12T21:12:00.003-06:00

..weekends!!

I am always grateful when it's finally Friday, which means the weekend is fast approaching. I enjoy all the extra time I get to spend with my family, and the opportunity to catch up on things that somehow didn't get done during the week. Weekends are for sleeping in, eating big breakfasts, grocery shopping, house work, church, napping and adventure!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-11T17:47:00.012-06:00

..all the men and women of our US military, past and present.

Our service men and women have fought and continue to fight so that we may continue to enjoy all the freedoms we do on a daily basis. Remember...Freedom isn't free! I appreciate the sacrifice made not only by our military forces, but by their families as well. Sometimes, these folks make the ultimate sacrifice--their lives--to protect our way of life. "Thank you" doesn't really seem adequate.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-10T07:18:00.006-06:00

..our church. We have been attending the same church since we got married, and I love it just as much as when we first started going. It's a large church body, but doesn't feel impersonal. The services are great and I always learn something from our teachers.

I'm also thankful that I live in a country where I can choose when and where to attend church and I how want to worship.

And, our church has its own app!

Yep, there's an app for that...

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-09T06:55:00.003-06:00

..my job. In these unsteady economic times, I'm grateful to have a good job with a good company. I am blessed to have great people to work with. I'm also very thankful for Toby's job. We go to work every day without worry of massive layoffs. We are so fortunate to have good education that has allowed us to find and keep jobs in this economic climate.

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-08T18:28:00.003-06:00

..modern medical technology. There have been so many advances in medical care and treatments, and Sophia is getting the benefit from it. Her new hinged braces make a huge difference in her walking and stability. She continues to make such great progress with physical and occupational therapy. And, we just began Botox injections. Who knew? Botox for Cerebral Palsy! I am hopeful that the injections will work together with the braces and therapy to help Sophia become even more mobile and steady.

I am also beyond thankful for Sophia's medical team. Her neurologist, pediatrician, therapists, neurodevelopmental pediatrician, orthotist and others are so wonderful and take such great care of our little angel!

p.s. I'll also add a great big thanks for insurance and TEFRA right here. These two things take away a lot of the stress of dealing with additional medical needs. Even with all the paperwork!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-07T11:23:00.002-06:00

..the four seasons. As in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Not the hotel chain. Well, the Four Seasons is great, too. But so not the point of this post.

I am grateful that I live in an area where, for the most part, we experience all four seasons. Some years it seems that the seasons change quickly so that we bypass spring and head straight to summer, or bypass fall and go straight to frosty winter days. Nonetheless, we get to experience a variety of weather in this area. I try to be grateful for this as many areas don't get to experience this variety. Sure, it's tough when it's pouring down rain and I have to get Sophia out of the car. Or when it's 100+ degrees outside and yard work needs to be done. You may have heard the saying about Arkansas, "If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes. It'll change." That seems to be true around here. Just when we can't stand the heat another day, it breaks and we welcome the changing season along with the changing color of the leaves. Just when the winter blahs have us down, the first new growth of spring pops up from the cold earth to let us know that warmer temperatures and more sunshine are on the way.

**This is a repost from my "Thankfulness" series in 2008. I simply changed the photo.

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-06T05:00:00.000-05:00

..small moments. Those moments of everyday life that happen in the blink of an eye, but are precious. The little things....that add up to be the big things in life.

Waiting anxiously for the parade to start...

Falling asleep on the couch...

Little toes peeking out from the blanket...

Stopping to smell the flowers...

Silliness on a Monday evening...

I love to remember these small details. Since I've been participating in Project 365 this year, I have at least one photo from every day this year. Most of these photos really are of the small, seemingly unimportant details of our everyday lives. And yet, as I look back at all these photos, I am so grateful to have these memories of the small moments. I am truly blessed in so many ways, big and SMALL!!!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T10:58:00.016-05:00

Our Halloween this year consisted much less of trick-or-treating, and more of dressing up, attending fun events, and visiting the grandparents. The weekend before Halloween, Sophia's school held its annual Fall Carnival. This was about our best attempt to get a photo of Sophia in her Little Bo Peep costume at the official 'photo spot'...

She was really curious about all the people milling around and seeing her friends in costume...

Her favorite part of the carnival was, by far, the pony rides. Do you think she liked it?

We played a few games inside, including the traditional bean bag toss. Sophia, however, got distracted...

We got a photo of Sophia with her teacher, Ms. K. No, Donna is not her real name...it was part of her costume!

Sophia's class was hosting the 'make a spider' activity...

And then, of course, it was time for another round of pony rides!

This is attempt #2 at an 'official' photo of the costume. This was taken on Halloween day, as we were preparing to go trick-or-treat. And by that I mean visit the grandparents. Not the best shot, but cute nonetheless...

This year's goodie bucket...

Pretending to be too shy to knock on Granny and Pa Paw's door...

And then she spies the treat bowl!

After spending some time with Granny and Pa Paw, it was off to Grandma Jean's for stew (and trick-or-treating) and to visit Rudy the peacock!

Not an overly exciting Halloween, but right up our alley. It's not a 'holiday' for us, but rather a chance for Sophia to dress up and be with friends. I'm glad the school had the carnival on a day different from Halloween. I wonder what she'll be next year.........

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

..the Holy Scriptures.

The Bible serves as our written connection to God and provides guidance for how to live our daily lives. I don't read as much as I should. I will say, though, that my excitement for the Word has increased significantly since starting my latest Bible study on the book of Revelation (a Beth Moore study) through my church. I'm also grateful to live in a country where I can proclaim my beliefs and carry my Bible in freedom.

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-04T05:00:00.000-05:00

..my sweet Ami. She is a four year old bundle of sweetness. She is the most loving little animal on the planet. She is a great with Sophia, and often curls up on Sophia's pillows when it's time for bed. Pets really do add so much to your life. It's great to come home to this kind of excitement and unconditional love. We love this little gal...

We are also thankful for the nearly 13 years we had with this girl...

Dharma was our first 'child', and we miss her terribly since she left us in September. We love you, Dharma!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

..my home. The special place I share with my family. The dwelling where I find refuge and comfort, and sometimes, peace and quiet. I know that a house is simply a structure, and that home is where the heart is. But, I love my house. We've lived here for almost seven years now, and I wouldn't change it.

Ours is not the biggest or fanciest house on the block, but it's ours. I am so thankful today (and everyday) to drive up the street, pull in the driveway, and breath a deep sigh. HOME!!

I'm thankful for...

2010-11-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

..the right to vote. On this election day, I want to remember to be thankful for this right to help choose those who govern our nation. I actually voted early yesterday. I arrived at the polling location, presented my ID, and was given a ballot. I was not harassed or pressured, and I had complete privacy--something which is not at all common in some countries.

I'm thankful to live in the United States where this right is valued and people are encouraged to participate in the democratic process. Please exercise your right and vote today!

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” ~John Quincy Adams

On being thankful.

2010-11-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

*In 2008, I dedicated posts in the month of November to thankfulness. I plan to do that again this year.

In recognition that November is the month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving, I have decided to dedicate the entire month of November to posts about things I am thankful for. I plan {hope} to post every day. I think we need to remember all the blessings in our lives more often than just this one day a year. I invite any readers who've stopped by to join me in specifically recognizing and acknowledging all the things you're grateful for. The news these days is filled with mostly bad news. The economy. The state of our nation's health care system. Floods. Murders. It seems the list doesn't end. I want to shift my focus away from so much of the negative, and focus on the positive things in my life. To say "Thank you" for so much that I've been given.

Today begins with Family. I am thankful for my Family. Of course, my immediate family consists of Toby, Sophia and me. Toby and I have been married for over 14 years. We were married over 11 years before we had Sophia. We are so blessed to be a family together. Sophia has brought so much joy and love into our lives, we can't adequately put it into words. I am truly grateful for my little family.

Toby and I are both blessed to have our parents and siblings still with us. They are such a great support network for us. We are grateful that most of our close family members live nearby. We get to see them more often, and Sophia gets to build close knit relationships with all her grandparents. We are blessed that are families are relatively close, and that we talk on a regular basis. I am so thankful for the blessing of family.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." ~Desmond Tutu

Well, that didn't last long.

2010-10-10T16:32:00.007-05:00

Last Friday was Parent-Teacher Conference day at Sophia's school. Overall, we had a very good discussion. Sophia is doing well, and has adjusted nicely to being in a 'Primary' classroom. I asked her teacher what kinds of work (activities) Sophia is choosing during the day. Ms. Kerry indicated that Sophia tends to prefer practical life work, such as pouring, sweeping and setting the table. In fact, she likes it so much, the teacher asked if she had a play kitchen at home. When I said "No," the teacher recommended we get one.

It actually sounded like a great idea to me. I was thinking we could get one for Christmas or birthday. I prefer not to have lots of large plastic toys in my home, so I knew I would look for one made out of wood. We have some other toys by a company called Plan Toys that makes really good quality toys that are well constructed and don't use harmful paints/materials. I have purchased all of these items from a local store call Terra Tots, whose owner I happen to call a friend.

After the conference was over, I looked online and saw that Plan Toys does, indeed, make kitchens. They have several items including the stove, a refrigerator, and a microwave. They also have lots of food and accessories, as well. These items can be a bit pricier than regular Walmart/Target type toys. So, I decided to call down to Terra Tots to see if they could give me some more information. Bernice, the owner, wasn't available, but when I asked the associate if they carry the kitchens, she said, "Yes. We have one on mega sale right now. And it's pink." OMGoodness! I told her I would be down at lunch to look at it.

Well, needless to say, this came home with me...

I sent Toby several text messages about the discussion with the teacher and my subsequent score at Terra Tots. I told Toby it would be really hard for me to keep it hidden until Christmas. Toby basically said, "Chalk it up to therapy, and give it to her."

What can I say? I couldn't hold out. My idea that this would make a great Christmas present didn't last long. I guess it's more of a Columbus Day present...;)

Anyway, it's now set up in her room, and she's already enjoying playing with it. We already had a set of fruits and vegetables by Plan Toys, and I picked up another box of 'food and beverage' items while I was there Friday.

Something tells me she'll get more pieces and more food for Christmas...

The report from Granny.

2010-10-05T21:27:00.003-05:00

On most Tuesday evenings lately, my mom (aka Granny) comes over to our house to stay with Sophia while Toby tutors and I attend Bible study. And on most Tuesday evenings, I call my mom on the way home from Bible study to have the 'How did it go tonight?' conversation. Here is the report from Granny for this evening:

Sophia was still eating dinner (sometimes she is so European...she takes forever to eat!), so Granny decided to bring some laundry to the table to fold. Included in this particular batch of laundry were some of Sophia's....unmetionables. Sophia told Granny, "I wanna wear my Tinkerbell panties." (Imagine this being said in a very southern accent;)) She said it a few more times. Finally, Granny said, "You can wear those the next time you need clean panties," and thought no more of it.

Well, after Sophia got done eating, she got out of the chair and walked around the table to where the stack of unmentionables were resting, including the pair with Tinkerbell on them. Granny reports that Sophia reached up, started patting the stack and got a very mischevious look on her face. Granny asked her, "Do you need to go potty?", to which Sophia replied, "No. I pee-pee my panties!" And then proceeded to smile. And insist that now she could wear the Tinkerbell panties.

Does this look like a kid who could do anything so sneaky?

My new love affair.

2010-10-03T20:43:00.005-05:00

I'm having a love affair. With a coffee maker. I admit it.

I'm not normally one to be so smitten with a piece of equipment/gadget, except maybe some new camera gear. So, when I received a new Keurig single-cup coffee maker for my birthday from some great friends, my first thought was, "This is nice. No more wasting a whole (or half) pot of coffee!"

Well, let me tell you what, folks. This machine is awesome!! And I'm not even that much of a coffee drinker! You just choose a little neatly packaged 'cup' of your preferred coffee/tea/cocoa, plop it in the top, fill the canister with water, and out comes your personal cup of freshly brewed liquid within a couple of minutes. No waste, no mess!

The easy clean-up is also one of my favorite things about this machine. Simply remove the 'used' coffee cup and toss in the trash. No messy grinds falling on the floor or getting stuck in the crevices of the machine. I also love that there are many varieties of coffees and teas you can buy to fit your personal taste.

So far, we are loving the French Vanilla, the Donut Shop blend, and the Hot Cocoa.

Thanks so much T & C for this wonderful gift! It's getting lots of use;)

My Wish List

2010-10-02T15:39:00.012-05:00

I think pretty much everyone has a list, whether written or not, of things they'd love to have. Maybe it's a new handbag. Maybe it's a new car. Maybe it's a day off! Well, a while back, I decided to write down my "wish" list. These are things that I would really like to have and am willing to hunt/save/wait for. Some are small and inexpensive...others not quite so inexpensive. I find that by having a written list, I focus on that instead of spending my money on random things that are okay, but aren't the things I'm really hoping to find. On my list is also a mix of old and new. Lately, I've been focused on buying previously owned (loved) things. They are often less expensive and are much better for the environment!

Here are some of the items on my list:

jadeite desk set

wide angle camera lens

set of vintage lockers (source)

vintage scarves to add to my collection (source)

bowtied-beauty boots

Fuji Instax Mini camera in pink

a rolling recycle bin cart similar to this (source)

a vintage Mexican peasant dress similar to one of these (source for both)

a set of red Tolix cafe chairs for outdoors (source)

I may never actually acquire all these things--those Tolix chairs are really expensive in my book--but that's my wish list. Guess I better save lots of pennies!

'Tis the season...

2010-10-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

...that I crave these cavity inducing sweet things:

Every fall, I feel like I must have a bowl of these tri-colored yummies around all the time. I think it's the cooling weather, the approach of Halloween and Thanksgiving, and the fall color palette that make me munch like there's no tomorrow!

Surely I'm not the only one with random seasonal food cravings...

Facebook as journal?

2010-09-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

I love journals. All kinds of journals. I love the elements of documentation, preservation and even the emotional benefits that can come from journaling. I also love journals themselves. There are so many to choose from! All the binding options, the cover options, the paper options! *swoon* I even read a book earlier this year titled The Journal Keeper!

What I don’t love about journaling? Well….the journaling. I have bought many a journal over the years, begun writing with a passion and sincere intentions of doing it regularly, only to lose steam after a few entries. I’m not sure why that is. I love to ‘write’ and share stories. I do it all the time on my scrapbooking pages. There’s just something about journaling that creates a road block for me. Maybe it’s that I think journals are only for very private thoughts, not general record keeping. Maybe I get hung up on the grammar piece…using complete sentences, paragraphs, etc. Maybe I don’t really understand what it’s all about.

So, what does this have to do with Facebook? I know Facebook is primarily a way for people to stay in touch and post random things about their lives for all (their friends) to read. It’s also a great way for companies to build loyalty, offer promotions, and share news.

Well, today at lunch, I decided to scan back through several of my wall posts and noticed something interesting—my Facebook page has become very much like a journal about our family. I use it to quickly ‘post’ snippets of our lives. I had never though of Facebook in this way before today, but I see that it can be so much more than simply a broadcast of current happenings.

Here are a few posts that I’m so glad I (and others) made:

September 11, 2009 (from Sophia’s teacher): Great day! She was so dirty when she came back from across the street I almost need to give her a bath.

June 14, 2010: Sophia had a great check up today at the neurologist’s office. She was very impressed with Sophia’s progress. We have an appointment in August with the new developmental pediatrician to order new braces and get an evaluation for the possibility of Botox and a night splint. So happy and proud and THANKFUL for this report and for our extensive support network.

June 26, 2010: A true southern girl….playing outside in the water from the water hose. Sans her dress.

June 27, 2010: (Susan) is listening to the sound of rain. At least, I think it’s rain. It HAS been a while since I heard it…

June 28, 2010: (Susan) recently ‘inherited’ Toby’s old iPhone. All the photos/videos he made are still on here. What a treasure trove!

July 23, 2010: All 3 of us (well, 5 if you count the dogs) were in bed before 8:30 last night. Guess the jet lag is a little worse than what I was expecting!

August 1, 2010: Toby just picked up Sophia to snuggle with her a little bit. I walked over near where they are sitting and Sophia looked at me, stuck out her hand, and said “Go way, Mommy.” Guess I know where I stand…

August 7, 2010: Stopping to smell the flowers on the Fayetteville Square.

August 21, 2010: Overheard from Sophia this evening after she had been swimming in the pool for a while: "I wanna get out. It's too wet."

August 30, 2010: In Sophia’s world, coconuts=fried okra. Who knew?

August 31, 2010: I love my mom. I just called her at 3:00 in the morning to talk because I am in too much pain/too feverish to sleep. And she was totally fine with being woken up in the middle of the night for a little chat!

September 7, 2010: (Susan) is crying. We said goodbye to our sweet Dharma dog this evening. She was one month shy of 13 years, all of which she spent as part of our family. She is now resting underneath the big Bradford pear tree in the front yard...right where the surprise lilies pop up each year. My dad made her the most beautiful box out of c...edar and my mom made sure she has a comfortable pillow to lay on. We miss you already, sweet girl!!

September 14, 2010: Sophia's first question this morning as we were pulling out of the driveway (in the pouring rain): "Where's da wainbow?"

September 16, 2010: Sophia spent 16 minutes talking on the phone with Granny and Pa Paw this evening. I don't know who enjoyed it more.... Well, we know who enjoyed it more, but I'm not sure they understood everything!

September 20, 2010: This is my life: Listening to Ghostbusters on a random September Monday morning because that's what a 5 year old boy requested on one of the XM kids channels. That song never sounded so good because I'm rockin' it with Sophia!!

September 22, 2010: Bath time conversation tonight:

Sophia: "Washcloff"

Me: "Washcloth"

Sophia: "Washcloff"

Me: "Washcloth"

Sophia: "Washcloth"

Me: "That's right!"

Sophia: "It's all part of da plan."

Me: (after I recover from a hysterical bout of laughter) "That's right, sweetheart!"

Guess she watches too much 'Special Agent OSO"...

I hope Sophia can look back on all these posts one day and see them as a small piece of her history. I hope that my ‘friends’ don’t mind me sharing my life this way!