Sorry, but we don't have an outdoor picture of Shelby in her dress. Before church, we were running late. Afterwards, we had to come straight home because Channing had a migraine. We will take pictures and post them as soon as we can.
This morning was the egg hunt at Downtown. Shelby had fun finding eggs, for a little while at least. After about five minutes, she was ready to play!
I organized the egg hunt this year. I had the fun task of filling just over 500 plastic eggs! If I do this again next year, I'm going to get some help.
Today is my 30th birthday. I honestly dreaded today the whole time I was 29. My friend Jennifer has asked why it was so hard for me, and I really can't put my finger on it. Thankfully people knew how much I was dreading it and were very kind. My sister assures me that the 30s are wonderful. I'm going to take her word for it and think positive!
Shelby was fever-free today (finally) so we actually got to get out of the house and celebrate! The three of us went to lunch at The Cookie Basket. We had two offers from friends to babysit tonight while Channing and I had dinner together, but we decided to celebrate as a family at home. The main reason we did that was because we were afraid Shelby's fever might come back while we were out. It worked out great, though, and the three of us had a great time together tonight. Channing grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob. He also made a birthday cake for me; yellow cake with chocolate icing...my favorite!
Tonight Channing took care of bath-time (as usual actually) and bedtime for Shelby while I went to the library to get a couple books and then chatted on the phone with some family and good friends. He ended up going to bed at nine while I stayed up to blog, and watch 13 Going On 30, one of my favorite movies.
I am so thankful for all the sweet birthday wishes I received from friends and family. Channing and Shelby got me a Gilmore Girls season on dvd. Nunda got me the curtains you can see in a couple of the pictures below. My parents sent me a check and I think I'm going to wait a little bit until it's short-sleeve weather and buy a few new shirts. I feel so blessed to have friends and family to celebrate this day with.
Shelby chowing down on corn
My yummy birthday cake with those dreadful numbers on top
Blowing out the candles
Shelby LOVED my "delicious" cake!!
Today is our fifth wedding anniversary. What a blessing it has been to be married to my best friend! I thank God for giving me such an incredible husband.
We aren't going to get to celebrate quite like we'd planned. Shelby came down with strep on Thursday and is still running a fever. We are going to go away just the two of us sometime next month.
Since so many of its teachers or assistants are Harding students, Carpenter's Kids was closed this past week while Harding University was on Spring Break. Shelby and I went to Tennessee to visit my parents for a few days, and actually ended up getting stuck because of a winter storm that hit both Arkansas and Tennessee. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and planned to return to Searcy on Friday. We ended up staying an extra day though, and enjoyed playing in the snow. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, and didn't get to take any pictures of all the fun we had.
While we were there, my mom took us to a fun new pizza place. (I can't remember the name of it though.) Not only do they have pizza and fun-themed dining rooms, there were a bunch of games and kiddie rides. We had a great time. Thanks, Nona, for a fun afternoon.
Shelby, Nona, and I played in the snow on Saturday morning. There was about four inches of snow in my parents' front yard! We made two snowmen and several snow angels. Shelby loved all the snow!
We got just enough snow to go play for a little bit. Shelby had a ball, as you can see from the pictures below!
Hooray for snow!
Don't know what gave her the idea to pose like this.
Posing for the camera with her snowball
My sister and her son came for a visit this past weekend. John ended up having to work that weekend, and we missed having him here too. Shelby was so excited about Aunt Nunda and Morgan coming, that she couldn't go to sleep Friday night until they got here.
Saturday morning we relaxed and played a couple games of Scrabble while Morgan and Shelby watched Finding Neemo and played in the playroom. After lunch, we got ready and went to Target and the Old Mill in Little Rock. Nunda spoiled us at Target! I got new curtains for the dining room to match my new valance in the living room, Channing got a cool new belt buckle, and Shelby got fun new rain boots and a Furr Real Pets pig. Thanks, Nunda, for your generosity! Come visit anytime! :) After our shopping excursion, we drove to Georgetown and had yummy catfish at the Georgetown One Stop. We'll have to go again next time so that John can experience the goodness of Georgetown.
We sure did enjoy Nunda and Morgan's visit. We look forward to their next visit...when John can come too!
Morgan and Shelby waiting for breakfast casserole
The three of us at the Old MillShelby loves to play with Play-Dough! I normally put her in the high chair, but the other day, I let her bring her table and a chair into the living room and use some of her dishes. We made green peas and pretended to eat them. We also made several different sizes of balls and snakes out of the purple Play-Dough.
Meet Timothy, the Cabbage Patch Kid. As you can see from the picture, Shelby loves him! Timothy is the oldest of Shelby's three Cabbage Patch Kids. He was actually mine first. I got him when I was 8 or 9 and decided a while ago to pass him on to Shelby. It's fun seeing her enjoy him so much!
Shelby really enjoys playing with all of her Little People stuff. She has several play sets and likes to pile all the people and animals into the school bus, driving it all over the house. The newest thing she likes to do is have everyone go to the circus to watch the farm animals and the circus animals perform. Sometimes the Little People do the performing!
Last Friday, Grace Brewer went Home after a battle with cancer. I got to know Grace while at Covenant Fellowship Church. She taught the pre-schoolers' Bible class for years. I remember helping out in there and how all the little ones loved Miss Grace. A couple of years ago, a small group of ladies met together every week to play Skip-bo and visit. I went as often as I could and really enjoyed the time with Grace and the other ladies. Grace was genuinely interested in my life and things I was dealing with as a new mom. She had a lot of encouragement and advice to offer, and I was thankful for it.
Her memorial service was Monday at Downtown. The auditorium was packed with people who came because, as one family member said, Grace touched their lives. What a precious woman she was. I am so thankful to have known her.
We have been without the Internet for the past week. We (finally) got rid of White County Cable for both television and internet. Direct TV was installed last weekend, but our phone and DSL service through AT&T didn't get completed until today. So that's one of the reasons I haven't blogged much in the past few weeks.
Another reason is that we were sick last week. Shelby woke up with a fever on Sunday, the 10th. Her fever got up to 104, which really scared Mommy and Daddy! A flu test on Monday was negative, but because the tests are only eighty-something percent accurate, the doctor prescribed Tamiflu for all three of us, just in case. Channing had a cold the week before, and I came down with a pretty bad cough and cold on Tuesday. Shelby missed three days of Carpenter's Kids, and was so glad to go back today!
We are enjoying having Direct TV. DVR is a wonderful thing. No more commercials...woo-hoo!!
Tuesday night I saw 27 Dresses with some friends. It was really good to get out of the house, since I'd been cooped up for over a week. I also enjoyed going to the movies, even though it was at our not-so-nice movie theater.
I have taken a few pictures the past few days and will post some soon.
Things have been pretty good here these past couple of weeks. Carpenter's Kids resumed week before last and Shelby was so glad to be with her teacher and friends again. They have been studying the Creation story and today was Day Five. Shelby loves coming home and telling Mom and Dad what God made each day. She is so cute when she sings the song too! Mothers of Preschoolers resumed the same day as Carpenter's Kids. I am serving on the steering team again this semester and look forward to the ways God will use this ministry to touch the lives of moms in our area. Channing has been keeping busy with his clients at the agency as well as a couple new private ones.
Last week was crazy here, weather-wise. We had a terrible winds one day, destroying signs downtown, knocking down power lines, and all kinds of other things. The Reynold's Center at Harding University suffered a lot of damage as well. Check out the video here. Then, two days later, we had rain, sleet, and snow. Schools weren't shut down though, go figure.
Shelby and I went to Tennessee for a few days last week. We arrived Wednesday and visited with my parents for a short time before heading down to see my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. We had a great time at Nunda's. (Thanks for the pizza!) Shelby adores Aunt Nunda. We don't always get to see Nunda and her family when we go, and were glad we got to see them this time. Thursday Nona took us to the library and Shelby got to check out a few books and a Curious George video. Papa and Nona both read those books several times while we were there! Mom and I got a couple games of Scrabble in and I think we each won a game. Dad kept Shelby occupied with all the toys, books, and a little VeggieTales as well. Friday Shelby got a couple new dresses at Chocolate Soup. (Thanks, Nona and Papa!) We did not get to see my brother's family. They'd all been sick and it just didn't work out. Hopefully, we can see them next trip. While Shelby and I really enjoyed our time with family, we were glad to come home again. Shelby really missed her daddy, and was very glad to see him on Friday.
Channing surprised me with an evening out over the weekend. He arranged for Shelby to go to the Ransom family's house while we went to dinner. Shelby had as much fun as we did, and didn't want to leave when we went to pick her up. She got to attend her first Harding Academy basketball game and had so much fun. She kept saying, "Go Wildcats!" as we were leaving the gym.
Three other friends and I have started a prayer group that meets once a month. One of us works at the church building, so we meet in her office, allowing us to have privacy and not worry about what to do with husbands and children. I haven't been part of a prayer group in years and am really looking forward to it.
This evening was a horrible one for Arkansas. Several tornadoes ripped through the state, with seven confirmed fatalities at this time. Searcy did receive some wind damage, but it pales in comparison to other parts of the state. Please be in prayer for all the tornado victims.
Channing heads to Fort Smith for the day on Thursday. He's going to do a presentation for a friend's class at John Brown University. God has given Channing many opportunities to minister to people who are hurting, and I'm so thankful that he's willing to be used by the Lord. Please pray for his presentation, that it will go well, and bless the students in the class.
So, that's what we've been up to. Sorry that this long post has no pictures to go with it!
