tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30191526327684571492024-03-13T03:35:00.977-07:00The Michaels FamilyKristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.comBlogger398125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-35619652687730695722015-08-12T19:51:00.001-07:002015-08-12T19:51:54.132-07:00Summer 2015<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This summer has literally FLOWN by. Once again, I had great intentions of trying to keep up and to document life this summer but it just went by too fast, we were too busy, and I was just too tired. And now here we are less than a week from school starting (which I just can't believe)! Here's a little look back at our summer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>May</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate and I traveled to Savannah, GA, to visit my best friend Laura over Memorial weekend. Sometime back in the spring she saw an airplane and told me she wanted to go on one. I told her we would have to do that sometime. The morning of the trip I surprised her with the news and she was SO excited. It was just she and I that went because Chris was on a school trip to Washington, D.C. I had so much anxiety about taking this trip alone, but at the same time I was excited to experience it with her. We flew out of Tulsa, made a stop in Atlanta to change planes, then flew the rest of the way to Savannah. I've seen Laura briefly for short little meet ups in Tulsa over the past year when she was there for work, but I hadn't seen their son Liam since he was almost 1 and he just turned 4. I was thrilled to have almost a week with them, and we had the best time. We went to the beach, took the kids to the children's museum, went and had a picnic and played at Forsyth Park in downtown Savannah, drove around a refuge and saw alligators, Laura and Leslie had a great Memorial weekend party which included a huge blow up slip n slide and I got to meet a lot of their friends, and the kids played and played and played. Thankfully they got along great! In fact, they're so much alike it's like they should be related. I'm so glad Sara Kate and Liam got to spend time together and I'm glad I got some much needed time with my best friend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First time on an airplane! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KfTOYp3UYCg/VcqDPLieQII/AAAAAAAAMNU/g68ifCG-hqA/s1600/IMG_4238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KfTOYp3UYCg/VcqDPLieQII/AAAAAAAAMNU/g68ifCG-hqA/s320/IMG_4238.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o4imirbk8w4/VcqDWW442tI/AAAAAAAAMNc/iO-TQYWEEuk/s1600/IMG_4237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o4imirbk8w4/VcqDWW442tI/AAAAAAAAMNc/iO-TQYWEEuk/s320/IMG_4237.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Savannah Children's Museum</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iNQMZrRLQZk/VcqD-O990JI/AAAAAAAAMNs/bTgKyoEFslc/s1600/IMG_4263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iNQMZrRLQZk/VcqD-O990JI/AAAAAAAAMNs/bTgKyoEFslc/s320/IMG_4263.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lgGt_Lc1pRc/VcqEOZncWnI/AAAAAAAAMN0/uVJi9sixXy8/s1600/IMG_4267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lgGt_Lc1pRc/VcqEOZncWnI/AAAAAAAAMN0/uVJi9sixXy8/s320/IMG_4267.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Forsyth Park</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1Axs_vhs8Uc/VcqEdSKLpfI/AAAAAAAAMN8/cQ-f8yFcXso/s1600/IMG_4320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1Axs_vhs8Uc/VcqEdSKLpfI/AAAAAAAAMN8/cQ-f8yFcXso/s320/IMG_4320.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QaDuexdSGzE/VcqEg9wHTSI/AAAAAAAAMOE/7xN_2oVd0_g/s1600/IMG_4321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QaDuexdSGzE/VcqEg9wHTSI/AAAAAAAAMOE/7xN_2oVd0_g/s320/IMG_4321.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MffS7hUnkVg/VcqEldWKCyI/AAAAAAAAMOM/SulLhtDJp0Y/s1600/IMG_4375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MffS7hUnkVg/VcqEldWKCyI/AAAAAAAAMOM/SulLhtDJp0Y/s320/IMG_4375.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> See that gator there in the middle by the waters edge??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QMoMR5Xnvx0/VcqFuR67YiI/AAAAAAAAMO8/G1sswl9Ljp0/s1600/IMG_4312.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QMoMR5Xnvx0/VcqFuR67YiI/AAAAAAAAMO8/G1sswl9Ljp0/s320/IMG_4312.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Memorial Day fun on the slip n slide!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy8ksSaM_3s68n7dzCYlnqqk4CDpUGoLCHkgdqln5CU4T6KEGPlUUnBvBiiy5berlTcuQCC_FUkoajboYVGSw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Lots of fun play time</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oK_w0BLLCCI/VcqFgwVTrhI/AAAAAAAAMO0/0tXGrzlwFL8/s1600/IMG_4273.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oK_w0BLLCCI/VcqFgwVTrhI/AAAAAAAAMO0/0tXGrzlwFL8/s320/IMG_4273.JPG" width="320" /></a><br /> Memories made with my best friend</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rOUTvLpANkA/VcqFVuQX_aI/AAAAAAAAMOs/BhInrzL96vY/s1600/IMG_4373.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rOUTvLpANkA/VcqFVuQX_aI/AAAAAAAAMOs/BhInrzL96vY/s320/IMG_4373.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DFWOK16ZI0g/VcqFRsHEodI/AAAAAAAAMOk/JaC8teFM37c/s1600/IMG_4374.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DFWOK16ZI0g/VcqFRsHEodI/AAAAAAAAMOk/JaC8teFM37c/s320/IMG_4374.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>June</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate had pre-k graduation the beginning of June, even though she continued to go to school through the beginning of July. It was adorable and I cried. I have just loved her school and they have prepared her so well for kindergarten.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was her graduation picture from school. Love it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2bngMmPiHDE/VcqR6LIa_kI/AAAAAAAAMQM/0j4ZaiZAoJA/s1600/SK%2Bgrad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2bngMmPiHDE/VcqR6LIa_kI/AAAAAAAAMQM/0j4ZaiZAoJA/s320/SK%2Bgrad.jpg" width="203" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Their ceremony was on a Sunday afternoon at the Jones Center chapel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NpSeWL7b1Tk/VcqRyay0xJI/AAAAAAAAMPU/kiBlbuAX6XE/s1600/grad%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NpSeWL7b1Tk/VcqRyay0xJI/AAAAAAAAMPU/kiBlbuAX6XE/s320/grad%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LlovrS1fSj8/VcqRzdQGJXI/AAAAAAAAMPY/8AHfGidZ-OY/s1600/grad%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LlovrS1fSj8/VcqRzdQGJXI/AAAAAAAAMPY/8AHfGidZ-OY/s320/grad%2B4.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6wbQQlETcY/VcqRzjMTtDI/AAAAAAAAMPw/8IL9LIqHjLc/s1600/grad%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6wbQQlETcY/VcqRzjMTtDI/AAAAAAAAMPw/8IL9LIqHjLc/s320/grad%2B5.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Sara Kate's class</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-idggANUIdtY/VcqR0DgVvCI/AAAAAAAAMPs/kNljn9HzFvo/s1600/grad%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-idggANUIdtY/VcqR0DgVvCI/AAAAAAAAMPs/kNljn9HzFvo/s320/grad%2B6.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CqPzcQUCeuM/VcqRyivvWQI/AAAAAAAAMPQ/R6k8q-SxCl8/s1600/grad%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CqPzcQUCeuM/VcqRyivvWQI/AAAAAAAAMPQ/R6k8q-SxCl8/s320/grad%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her wonderful teacher, Ms. Laura</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cv6n0z601zo/VcqR0TCn1zI/AAAAAAAAMPo/KTxjRy88jM8/s1600/grad%2B7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cv6n0z601zo/VcqR0TCn1zI/AAAAAAAAMPo/KTxjRy88jM8/s320/grad%2B7.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her best friend Ramona even came since she was in their class from the time she was a baby until a year ago. It was sweet she came to see all her friends graduate!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2HqZ3W-M9w/VcqR1oumOuI/AAAAAAAAMP4/55ECaOdFIKw/s1600/grad%2B8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2HqZ3W-M9w/VcqR1oumOuI/AAAAAAAAMP4/55ECaOdFIKw/s320/grad%2B8.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The other big thing that happened in June was Chris and I celebrated our 10th anniversary (June 25)! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yOi3eacF388/VcqTCTMPtRI/AAAAAAAAMQY/XuN-7dFEQ-g/s1600/C%2526K.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yOi3eacF388/VcqTCTMPtRI/AAAAAAAAMQY/XuN-7dFEQ-g/s320/C%2526K.jpg" width="259" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back in 2007 we took a vacation out to Lake Tahoe, California, and during that trip we drove up to Napa Valley for a day. We always knew we wanted to go back and we decided for our 10th anniversary we would take a vacation out to wine country. So that's what we did! We hopped on a plane and flew to California! We stayed in a town called Fairfield, about 20 minutes from Napa Valley. It was located in the Suisun Valley, and we found so many small little vineyards in that area and we tasted (and drank) some amazing wine. We did go to Napa Valley for a day and we went to Sonoma, but we loved what we found in the valley. We also went to several breweries and even went olive oil tasting (and came home with an AMAZING bottle of rosemary garlic olive oil...yum!)! Chris has a very good friend who lives in Oakland and since we weren't far from there we were able to spend some time with her. The Saturday we were out west we drove to Oakland and met up with Tamera and we took the train into San Francisco. We walked up and down the pier and saw 2 things I really wanted to see, the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Even though the Golden Gate Bridge was seen from a distance it was still an awesome sight and I'm glad we saw it! We even did the San Francisco thing and rode a trolley. Tamera took us to some really cool wine tasting rooms and breweries in Oakland, too. I'm glad we were able to connect with her and spend time with her. We had a great time in California and I would recommend to anyone who likes wine to take a trip out there to experience wine country!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fde8lBztXU8/VcqTRV6GCqI/AAAAAAAAMQg/6Aq-gNjhPEU/s1600/IMG_4662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fde8lBztXU8/VcqTRV6GCqI/AAAAAAAAMQg/6Aq-gNjhPEU/s320/IMG_4662.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We went and toured the Jelly Belly factory. Afterwards they had a tasting room of wine paired with different chocolates made at Jelly Belly. It was pretty neat. And be jealous of our awesome hats! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XPxKr6oaOgs/VcqTdLUOdDI/AAAAAAAAMQo/uxtcnjhakrY/s1600/IMG_4699.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XPxKr6oaOgs/VcqTdLUOdDI/AAAAAAAAMQo/uxtcnjhakrY/s320/IMG_4699.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R51IaNdmkC8/VcqTif7-zvI/AAAAAAAAMQw/5YAtMZSCcSA/s1600/IMG_4698.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R51IaNdmkC8/VcqTif7-zvI/AAAAAAAAMQw/5YAtMZSCcSA/s320/IMG_4698.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ezGoAp4qQCI/VcqTt8w1LYI/AAAAAAAAMQ4/0ILnONcTOCE/s1600/IMG_4725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ezGoAp4qQCI/VcqTt8w1LYI/AAAAAAAAMQ4/0ILnONcTOCE/s320/IMG_4725.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HtttI5mvEVg/VcqUBrnLBEI/AAAAAAAAMRI/DgqmBg04TXQ/s1600/IMG_4752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HtttI5mvEVg/VcqUBrnLBEI/AAAAAAAAMRI/DgqmBg04TXQ/s320/IMG_4752.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Beautiful scenery like this was everywhere. Rolling hills of grape vines and perfect sunny days...just gorgeous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvoQ1A0rqS8/VcqUHXBHQTI/AAAAAAAAMRQ/2jvQUXcNdEc/s1600/IMG_4871.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvoQ1A0rqS8/VcqUHXBHQTI/AAAAAAAAMRQ/2jvQUXcNdEc/s320/IMG_4871.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YHlnsp_Ap0g/VcqVdXPVRbI/AAAAAAAAMRk/JQwbq4d11lY/s1600/IMG_4772.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YHlnsp_Ap0g/VcqVdXPVRbI/AAAAAAAAMRk/JQwbq4d11lY/s320/IMG_4772.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Bay Bridge in San Francisco <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvoQ1A0rqS8/VcqUHXBHQTI/AAAAAAAAMRQ/2jvQUXcNdEc/s1600/IMG_4871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TcrB0Chu9ls/VcqVRVqCb1I/AAAAAAAAMRc/e13_YDLBXVc/s1600/IMG_4815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TcrB0Chu9ls/VcqVRVqCb1I/AAAAAAAAMRc/e13_YDLBXVc/s320/IMG_4815.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vaUyiouGR2c/VcqVhxhc1VI/AAAAAAAAMRs/yVQuhWmxOQM/s1600/IMG_4811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vaUyiouGR2c/VcqVhxhc1VI/AAAAAAAAMRs/yVQuhWmxOQM/s320/IMG_4811.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Golden Gate Bridge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DIjquHA3h7Q/VcqVmZNzXSI/AAAAAAAAMR0/g5BdSlUHaKo/s1600/IMG_4817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DIjquHA3h7Q/VcqVmZNzXSI/AAAAAAAAMR0/g5BdSlUHaKo/s320/IMG_4817.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Alcatraz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-79SGcYZ_BPI/VcqVpBRWo1I/AAAAAAAAMR8/8mkyZnDymsY/s1600/IMG_4816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-79SGcYZ_BPI/VcqVpBRWo1I/AAAAAAAAMR8/8mkyZnDymsY/s320/IMG_4816.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>July</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">July brought lots of activity! We had a very small scale 4th of July celebration with Chris' parents, just a nice dinner then we headed home. The week leading up to the 4th had been very busy so Sara Kate was exhausted. We didn't even go to any firework shows and she was asleep before dark each night of the weekend so she missed all the huge fireworks going off in our neighborhood (and it's a miracle she slept through it all!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_0OGRiL6sk/VcqV-h-3muI/AAAAAAAAMSE/Qj6e93fKxAI/s1600/IMG_4919.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_0OGRiL6sk/VcqV-h-3muI/AAAAAAAAMSE/Qj6e93fKxAI/s320/IMG_4919.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The following week brought a day I was dreading, Sara Kate's last day at her school. I had so much emotion leading up to that day. I cried writing thank you notes to her teachers to put in their gifts, I cried dropping her off, and I really cried picking her up for the last time. I mentioned it already but I can't say enough about how great her school has been. She started going there when she was 4 months old. The teachers there nurtured her and helped her grow and prepared her SO well for kindergarten. I was so sad the first day I ever dropped her off because I had to leave my baby with someone else. The day I picked her up for the last time I was so sad because it was time for us to say goodbye to them. I went back and found the picture from her first day and put it in a collage with her last day, just to have a comparison of the 2 side by side. I treasure this picture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UCXtK9SvgsY/VcqWH0vbZEI/AAAAAAAAMSM/Wj8_SVnRpzI/s1600/IMG_4949.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UCXtK9SvgsY/VcqWH0vbZEI/AAAAAAAAMSM/Wj8_SVnRpzI/s320/IMG_4949.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My mom was here the 2nd week of July to stay with Sara Kate while Chris was at choir camp. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FvoIFuNhxU/VcqWeLFC2aI/AAAAAAAAMSU/CPgQT2yduQE/s1600/IMG_4966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FvoIFuNhxU/VcqWeLFC2aI/AAAAAAAAMSU/CPgQT2yduQE/s320/IMG_4966.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They had a great time and I'm so glad Sara Kate was able to spend the time with my mom. She went to swim lessons that week and after just a few days of lessons, she took off. She can now swim all over the pool all by herself, with no floaties. She goes off diving boards, slides, jumps off the sides...she is literally a little fish and I am so proud of her progress this summer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was her 3rd day of lessons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzkgRhIbH62oZ7qKw8vTEfzEhB-QCExoTQyluIE7VUd_Xu4NcO7iVr0F1wSLYPlBJNKPAIav6zHqEkN-xqxOQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The 3rd week of July brought lots of activity and lots of cousin time!! Chris has cousins that live in the Houston area and they were here for a week. Along with Zachary and Brandon being here, Hannah and Hayden were here for most of the week. The kids had the best time together. Even though Zachary and Brandon are older (16 and 13), they all had so much fun together. I took off on Tuesday and we all went to Branson to go to Silver Dollar City. It was Sara Kate's first time to go and she was so excited. It was also her first time to ride a ride...EVER! She was a little nervous at first but she LOVED it and had the best time. My brother-in-law and I took Sara Kate and Hayden around on the smaller kid rides while everyone else went on the bigger rides. It was such a fun day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hannah spent the night with us the night before we went..love these girls!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IvrjrQrZ6kc/VcqXwEfGjwI/AAAAAAAAMSg/U7uq7BU3fno/s1600/IMG_5050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IvrjrQrZ6kc/VcqXwEfGjwI/AAAAAAAAMSg/U7uq7BU3fno/s320/IMG_5050.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> First time at Silver Dollar City!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dNeEHhLLQAU/VcqXzsr8NfI/AAAAAAAAMSo/63LdkwIIBME/s1600/IMG_5060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dNeEHhLLQAU/VcqXzsr8NfI/AAAAAAAAMSo/63LdkwIIBME/s320/IMG_5060.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Very first ride ever!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mtNSLifABfw/VcqX5vpbX2I/AAAAAAAAMSw/FPXxj1EJDMA/s1600/IMG_5077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mtNSLifABfw/VcqX5vpbX2I/AAAAAAAAMSw/FPXxj1EJDMA/s320/IMG_5077.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBw1IFo-jDE/VcqX9zxd4aI/AAAAAAAAMS4/9O2LL946ZGs/s1600/IMG_5078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBw1IFo-jDE/VcqX9zxd4aI/AAAAAAAAMS4/9O2LL946ZGs/s320/IMG_5078.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> So much fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zlNOWUYo77w/VcqYDVyLGrI/AAAAAAAAMTA/xy2rVTBD5RA/s1600/IMG_5079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zlNOWUYo77w/VcqYDVyLGrI/AAAAAAAAMTA/xy2rVTBD5RA/s320/IMG_5079.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Later that week the kids went to the trampoline park, the water park in Rogers, and we even went to a Naturals baseball game to watch Grandpa's choir sing the national anthem. The kids were interested for a little bit but eventually they just wanted to go to the playground area! Needless to say, everyone slept good that week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lxYDZCX1vjE/VcqYWPcIWHI/AAAAAAAAMTI/NXO_iImyWTc/s1600/IMG_5093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lxYDZCX1vjE/VcqYWPcIWHI/AAAAAAAAMTI/NXO_iImyWTc/s320/IMG_5093.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We were sad to see everyone go their separate ways, but it was great for all the kids to have that time together. Sara Kate is still talking about it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">July also brought Chris' 35th birthday! A week or so before his birthday I asked Sara Kate what kind of cake daddy needed for his birthday and she said a Spider-Man cake. A couple days before his birthday I asked her again and she emphatically said a superhero cake! I asked her which one and she said Spider-Man. So Spider-Man it was! I even found a Spider-Man card from Sara Kate and found him a Spider-Man coffee tumbler for school. I thought was adorable, but it turns out Chris was embarrassed. Maybe if we had a family dinner at home he wouldn't of be embarrassed but we had dinner with all the family out at a restaurant and he was a 35 year old man with a Spider-Man cake...that's what embarrassed him. But it's a good memory (for me, ha!) and it's super sweet Sara Kate thinks her daddy needed a superhero birthday. We love him and just wanted him to have a good day! And I have to say, Rick's made quite the awesome Spider-Man cake!! :-) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ns2wJPP8DDU/VcqYiNY_BqI/AAAAAAAAMTQ/ahuTI43n9jw/s1600/IMG_5112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ns2wJPP8DDU/VcqYiNY_BqI/AAAAAAAAMTQ/ahuTI43n9jw/s320/IMG_5112.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_yEyklpAxk/VcqYmk3_lRI/AAAAAAAAMTY/lee5o1ZqlIk/s1600/IMG_5111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_yEyklpAxk/VcqYmk3_lRI/AAAAAAAAMTY/lee5o1ZqlIk/s320/IMG_5111.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So there's a little glimpse back at our summer. One more pretty big thing happened this summer that's kept us super busy but I'll write about that soon. For now I just wanted to do a little recap since summer is drawing to a close. Hope everyone has had a great summer! Enjoy the last few days!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-84058370263738981842015-05-12T20:09:00.000-07:002015-05-12T20:39:58.958-07:00Sara Kate turns 5 - A Frozen party<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My baby turned 5 a month ago and we've been so busy I haven't had time to document the occasion! But better late than never because I don't want to forget these memories! And warning, picture overload! :-) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate's birthday is April 8, but we had her party on April 4, which turned out to be kind of hectic because it was Easter weekend but we're so thankful to friends and family for coming. I had all kinds of ideas for her 5th birthday but in the end when I asked her what kind of party she wanted, she said a 'Frozen' party. Of course. She also told me she wanted to 'meet Elsa.' That gave me a little more to work with. There is a company in our area called 'Once Upon a Party NWA' and I looked into having Elsa and Anna come to her party. I also tried to 'think outside of the box' as far as a party was concerned, and I decided that we would have her 'Frozen' celebration at a frozen yogurt place! I kind of had to pat myself on the back for that one, ha!! There is a place not too far from where we live called 3 Crazy Berries and I contacted them to see if they had parties. They did host parties, the whole place was available to rent out very reasonably, and they said another mom was also having a 'Frozen' party there. Maybe I wasn't so clever after all...HA!! :-) I booked the location and contacted the Princess party girls and I got Elsa booked. In the end I decided on just having Elsa come since that's who Sara Kate is obsessed with, and I decided to have her come for an hour. I bought the invitation from a seller on Etsy. I love Etsy...I found what I wanted, it was very inexpensive, I sent in all the information, I had the file in my email by the end of the day, and I printed them at Sam's Club. Perfect!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ta76bvYjX68/VVKwH_xdOgI/AAAAAAAAMFk/FX_kbdVxwho/s1600/Frozen%2Binvitation%2Bedit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ta76bvYjX68/VVKwH_xdOgI/AAAAAAAAMFk/FX_kbdVxwho/s320/Frozen%2Binvitation%2Bedit.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The morning of her party we got dressed and headed over to 3 Crazy Berries. Sara Kate was so excited!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XV-5dlg4shY/VVKwxQtl2dI/AAAAAAAAMFs/fSDKGT9KJQ0/s1600/birthday%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XV-5dlg4shY/VVKwxQtl2dI/AAAAAAAAMFs/fSDKGT9KJQ0/s320/birthday%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-adw8acpq5BE/VVKwyYr7T1I/AAAAAAAAMF0/03-C2QfA1Uk/s1600/birthday%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-adw8acpq5BE/VVKwyYr7T1I/AAAAAAAAMF0/03-C2QfA1Uk/s320/birthday%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The great thing about this location was I didn't have to do anything. The only thing I brought was little bottles of water (which they ended up providing water) and a 'pin the nose on Olaf' game I found at Party City. I didn't even decorate (which I even surprised myself with!). But because my half marathon was the weekend before, I really didn't have alot of time to think about that sort of thing since my mind was somewhat preoccupied by the run. Also, we had to have the party in the morning because the place was available to rent out when they weren't open for regular business owners. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about the idea of an 11 am ice cream party but it worked out pretty well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-drxuCKWuEMc/VVKxZPEjGwI/AAAAAAAAMF8/xgO52f-Y17c/s1600/birthday%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-drxuCKWuEMc/VVKxZPEjGwI/AAAAAAAAMF8/xgO52f-Y17c/s320/birthday%2B3.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pt_h7izr4l4/VVKxaJVAQ4I/AAAAAAAAMGE/sqHMWWNRRek/s1600/birthday%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pt_h7izr4l4/VVKxaJVAQ4I/AAAAAAAAMGE/sqHMWWNRRek/s320/birthday%2B4.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pY28qBz0JM/VVKxbUbD-LI/AAAAAAAAMGM/aHlp_Arip1U/s1600/birthday%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pY28qBz0JM/VVKxbUbD-LI/AAAAAAAAMGM/aHlp_Arip1U/s320/birthday%2B5.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qcAWcjjZ_u0/VVKxcTX_3II/AAAAAAAAMGU/gxlOMzGLV6Q/s1600/birthday%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qcAWcjjZ_u0/VVKxcTX_3II/AAAAAAAAMGU/gxlOMzGLV6Q/s320/birthday%2B6.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As the kids showed up, they got an ice cream cup and they could fix it however they wanted. Another great thing was all I did was pay for a certain number of cups, I didn't have to pay by ounce, even though they weighed everyone's cup so they could keep track for their records.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-itoddNQksXs/VVKx5nZO9TI/AAAAAAAAMGs/fsvxeOglQNQ/s1600/birthday%2B8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-itoddNQksXs/VVKx5nZO9TI/AAAAAAAAMGs/fsvxeOglQNQ/s320/birthday%2B8.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-opBw0aC-GcQ/VVKx7bQ7PkI/AAAAAAAAMG0/eb-LFehWqBg/s1600/birthday%2B9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-opBw0aC-GcQ/VVKx7bQ7PkI/AAAAAAAAMG0/eb-LFehWqBg/s320/birthday%2B9.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They even gave me enough cups for parents to get ice cream if they wanted. I can't remember if I went over my allotment but I only got charged for the number we talked about. They were really great to work with. I highly recommend them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SAi3nI_AFAc/VVK0STvnuRI/AAAAAAAAMIM/5nrTW_izoDg/s1600/birthday%2B24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SAi3nI_AFAc/VVK0STvnuRI/AAAAAAAAMIM/5nrTW_izoDg/s320/birthday%2B24.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The main event was a visit Elsa, or the 'Ice Queen' (since I'm sure Elsa is copyrighted!). She texted me when she got there and I went out to meet her and bring her in. Ya'll, the look on Sara Kate's face (and all the girls) was something I will NEVER forget. She couldn't believe it. The girls kept asking her, 'Are you the real Elsa?' And her response was
very clever, 'Are you the real Sara Kate? Are you the real Ramona? Are you the real Landry?'
There were a couple boys there and they didn't really care and were somewhat disinterested but the girls, they were in awe!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D0eWw8dLdeU/VVKyxfgxocI/AAAAAAAAMG8/dMpIsUff5VE/s1600/birthday%2B10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D0eWw8dLdeU/VVKyxfgxocI/AAAAAAAAMG8/dMpIsUff5VE/s320/birthday%2B10.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FJL7ljB0AZs/VVKyyj8nfAI/AAAAAAAAMHE/5fybkVwaCAk/s1600/birthday%2B11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FJL7ljB0AZs/VVKyyj8nfAI/AAAAAAAAMHE/5fybkVwaCAk/s320/birthday%2B11.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They barely let her get into the door, but the first thing they did was sing 'Let It Go' together. My dad has a video recording of it, and I'm so glad he does. It was adorable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0rn-eJ9ljqU/VVKyz9a_p8I/AAAAAAAAMHM/tSCfhR7EMjE/s1600/birthday%2B12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0rn-eJ9ljqU/VVKyz9a_p8I/AAAAAAAAMHM/tSCfhR7EMjE/s320/birthday%2B12.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then we went to the back and Elsa directed the 'pin the nose on Olaf' game. She took over and directed pretty much the whole party from there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0O910pXTHPQ/VVKzSDy1vNI/AAAAAAAAMHU/tRxRTdslHGM/s1600/birthday%2B13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0O910pXTHPQ/VVKzSDy1vNI/AAAAAAAAMHU/tRxRTdslHGM/s320/birthday%2B13.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9MAxa8efkFI/VVKzm1AyMfI/AAAAAAAAMHs/dL7Y14V69D8/s1600/birthday%2B23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9MAxa8efkFI/VVKzm1AyMfI/AAAAAAAAMHs/dL7Y14V69D8/s320/birthday%2B23.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VY4Eeb3SzZ8/VVKzUbJhtUI/AAAAAAAAMHk/R4oeZpwT7NE/s1600/birthday%2B14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VY4Eeb3SzZ8/VVKzUbJhtUI/AAAAAAAAMHk/R4oeZpwT7NE/s320/birthday%2B14.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After the game, Elsa had a special birthday surprise for Sara Kate. It was a 'magic snowflake' that she sprinkled with 'magic wishing dust.' </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3myCFRkGSs4/VVKz5Dfx9FI/AAAAAAAAMH0/p-zZCcI50CA/s1600/birthday%2B15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3myCFRkGSs4/VVKz5Dfx9FI/AAAAAAAAMH0/p-zZCcI50CA/s320/birthday%2B15.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> She was still in shock about everything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They counted to 3, Sara Kate made her wish, and they blew off the magic wishing dust...she wished for magic powers like Elsa. So cute! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R_pim4FUxHU/VVK0HEqeTzI/AAAAAAAAMIE/fYhktbtY78M/s1600/birthday%2B17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R_pim4FUxHU/VVK0HEqeTzI/AAAAAAAAMIE/fYhktbtY78M/s320/birthday%2B17.jpg" width="320" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One at at time, Elsa took each girl and gave them magic wishing dust in their hands and they made wishes. It was really cute. One wished for a unicorn, one wished for a magic unicorn, one wished for a hammer...it was cute and pretty funny!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Elsa played some more games with everyone, we took pictures, and then it was time for her to go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46LJ-DHufSE/VVK047fQcSI/AAAAAAAAMIc/iKzHz7a_53Q/s1600/birthday%2B18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46LJ-DHufSE/VVK047fQcSI/AAAAAAAAMIc/iKzHz7a_53Q/s320/birthday%2B18.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Trying to perfect the hand motion. Apparently it's difficult for 4-5 year olds, haha. I especially like the peace sign! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zV3_uK3DGVI/VVK06Ui8GRI/AAAAAAAAMIk/Y0cDevl1x6E/s1600/birthday%2B19.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zV3_uK3DGVI/VVK06Ui8GRI/AAAAAAAAMIk/Y0cDevl1x6E/s320/birthday%2B19.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ePOUHrk77Go/VVK08Gk_IgI/AAAAAAAAMIs/zL6sMriZHJI/s1600/birthday%2B21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ePOUHrk77Go/VVK08Gk_IgI/AAAAAAAAMIs/zL6sMriZHJI/s320/birthday%2B21.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I need to put this in a frame in Sara Kate's room. She had the best time EVER!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D68jvL5NhGU/VVK09SsZE_I/AAAAAAAAMI0/Wp0gfR9WYG4/s1600/birthday%2B20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D68jvL5NhGU/VVK09SsZE_I/AAAAAAAAMI0/Wp0gfR9WYG4/s320/birthday%2B20.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Like I said, I had booked her for 1 hour and it was 1 hour well spent!! They were all so sad to see her go and asked how she got there and where she was going...she got there on her sleigh and she was going back to her ice castle. Not to be corny, but it was magical to see these girls in such awe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nUrKr8jRNxU/VVK1lVXDxlI/AAAAAAAAMI8/x0q2uUEuenI/s1600/birthday%2B22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nUrKr8jRNxU/VVK1lVXDxlI/AAAAAAAAMI8/x0q2uUEuenI/s320/birthday%2B22.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had these Olaf cookies made by an adorable girl in Bentonville. They turned out perfect and I just put them inside a Frozen cup for party favors. I recommend Sugar Pop Wishes in Bentonville if anyone is looking for cookies or cake pops for any occasion! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWBXp16X8Wk/VVK4cgual-I/AAAAAAAAMJk/sYR3T1Bx5G4/s1600/birthday%2B30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWBXp16X8Wk/VVK4cgual-I/AAAAAAAAMJk/sYR3T1Bx5G4/s320/birthday%2B30.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate said goodbye to her friends and everyone went their separate ways. As soon as we left Sara Kate was still talking nonstop and couldn't believe Elsa came to her party. That right there told me it was a success! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since my parents don't live here and are always here for her party, it's become a tradition to have a cook out at the house and have both sets of grandparents, her great Poppa, and her aunt, uncle, and cousins over for lunch. At this time we had a birthday cake because Sara Kate also had been talking for weeks about wanting an Elsa cake. So I had our favorite bakery, Rick's, make a Frozen cake, and of course it turned out great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A certain someone *might* have stuck their finger in it while she was supposed to be waiting patiently, ha! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SvOHtF_HQWE/VVK28qKPFDI/AAAAAAAAMJE/rSVMLuEcibk/s1600/birthday%2B26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SvOHtF_HQWE/VVK28qKPFDI/AAAAAAAAMJE/rSVMLuEcibk/s320/birthday%2B26.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-glAh2nRJyBM/VVK292A6avI/AAAAAAAAMJM/M06MjrNqsfo/s1600/birthday%2B27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-glAh2nRJyBM/VVK292A6avI/AAAAAAAAMJM/M06MjrNqsfo/s320/birthday%2B27.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DOdoNjZNj30/VVK2_ZY-qmI/AAAAAAAAMJU/B0q-D0SLYQk/s1600/birthday%2B28.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DOdoNjZNj30/VVK2_ZY-qmI/AAAAAAAAMJU/B0q-D0SLYQk/s320/birthday%2B28.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lDJPATa30sI/VVK2_tdWKuI/AAAAAAAAMJc/D0OM7R3gkWc/s1600/birthday%2B29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lDJPATa30sI/VVK2_tdWKuI/AAAAAAAAMJc/D0OM7R3gkWc/s320/birthday%2B29.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Funny story about the cake, when we went to pick it up they had the exact same cake in the refrigerated area that said 'Happy Birthday Kate.' Chris started to freak out because I sent him to Rick's a week before to order the cake and he thought he messed up. Turned out just to be a popular cake and popular name that particular day. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After everyone left we let her open her presents from her party. We are blessed with such wonderful friends and family (I'm still working on thank you notes and hope to get them out this week...sorry I'm so late everyone!! But THANK YOU!!). In the end, I would say she had an amazing day. In fact, a month later she still tells people that Elsa came to her birthday party and gave her a magic snowflake. And she still carries it around in her Elsa purse her sweet friend Remy gave her. Melts me every time to see the pride in her eyes and the smile on her face when she talks about it! I know I don't have many years left with big parties so I want her to enjoy and cherish what we're able to give her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just a couple days later on April 8, my baby turned 5!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjGF_pmnqpw/VVK5sOH361I/AAAAAAAAMKU/57miZi2PQ1U/s1600/5-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjGF_pmnqpw/VVK5sOH361I/AAAAAAAAMKU/57miZi2PQ1U/s320/5-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For her birthday, we woke up and took her to special breakfast at the donut shop. I took her to school and on the way we stopped at Sam's Club and picked up cupcakes for her class. Of course she wanted Elsa cupcakes but mommy dropped the ball and didn't order them in time so she had to pick out some pre-made ones with sprinkles. Since I work in Bentonville I wasn't able to go to her birthday celebration at her school that afternoon, but her daddy was able to get free and go see her at school. I'm so glad, especially since he had to work late that day. I did leave work a little early and picked her up and took her to her favorite place, Boingo Bounce, which is a local place filled with bounce houses. That day I thought to text her best friend's mom to see if they were free to meet us and they were! So Sara Kate was able to spend her birthday afternoon at her favorite place with her best friend, Ramona. She was in heaven!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7G0xIRDP5SY/VVK5HYEdOFI/AAAAAAAAMJs/8zgjJRQrkmA/s1600/birthday%2B31.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7G0xIRDP5SY/VVK5HYEdOFI/AAAAAAAAMJs/8zgjJRQrkmA/s320/birthday%2B31.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They played for probably 2 hours (and pretty much had the place to themselves since it was a random Wednesday afternoon) and they played so hard they were soaked with sweat! It was 2 hours well spent! We said goodbye and they didn't want to, but it was dinner time. Sara Kate wanted pizza for dinner (her favorite food) so we picked up a pizza and came home. Chris got home and we spent a few minutes together before it was bath time and bed time. Overall I would say she had a GREAT birthday. And a month later, I still can't believe she's 5!!!! Age 5 seems so old to me! There are times I want to push ahead because I can't wait to see what the future holds for her, but more often than not I want time to slow down because it's going SO fast. Every day she's a day older, and I'll never get that day back. And every day she's a day closer to another milestone. I try very hard to live in each moment and cherish it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One last thing, for the last 3 years she has worn the same dress for her birthday. Words cannot express how much I LOVE having this comparison. I love smocked dresses because they are always big enough to get many years of use out of them!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6MDO-coEyik/VVK5Z-Qqx7I/AAAAAAAAMJ8/oZCsF-LxqSQ/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6MDO-coEyik/VVK5Z-Qqx7I/AAAAAAAAMJ8/oZCsF-LxqSQ/s320/5.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KuJTKKdXNLY/VVK5aXQIWRI/AAAAAAAAMKA/9Fsp-g7utho/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KuJTKKdXNLY/VVK5aXQIWRI/AAAAAAAAMKA/9Fsp-g7utho/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B4OTzzHuSKA/VVK5bSy0XaI/AAAAAAAAMKM/k_X3A76oAFs/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B4OTzzHuSKA/VVK5bSy0XaI/AAAAAAAAMKM/k_X3A76oAFs/s320/3.jpg" width="319" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Happy (belated) 5th birthday to my sweet girl!!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-22629210832629081672015-04-06T19:48:00.001-07:002015-04-06T19:48:18.276-07:00Easter 2015<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We are so blessed to worship a risen Savior!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had a very busy but lovely Easter weekend. A certain someone had some special birthday festivities that took place Saturday (that I'll get to at a later date) so we were happy to have my parents in town for the holiday. Saturday evening we dyed Easter eggs. It's become a tradition that we do this the night before Easter. Last year we accidentally waited until the last minute to buy an egg dying kit and all Chris and my dad could find was some kit called 'Dudley's egg dying kit.' They bought 2 so I had 1 stashed back for this year. I wasn't super impressed with Dudley's kit...only 4 color tablets and literally nothing else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qDtPRL22hOI/VSM7mC7LdrI/AAAAAAAAMCs/HNph8FO3Mvk/s1600/easter%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qDtPRL22hOI/VSM7mC7LdrI/AAAAAAAAMCs/HNph8FO3Mvk/s1600/easter%2B1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VYOv5yG_aIY/VSM7n1Jb9EI/AAAAAAAAMC0/lx6oO0p9clk/s1600/Easter%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VYOv5yG_aIY/VSM7n1Jb9EI/AAAAAAAAMC0/lx6oO0p9clk/s1600/Easter%2B2.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But I got out a white crayon so Sara Kate could write and draw on them and they turned out multicolored and speckled and kind of cool looking. Chris thought they were neat. But I'll remember to buy something earlier and a little better than the cheap ole' Dudley's next year. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sunday morning we woke up to rain but we enjoyed an awesome church service. We really are blessed by a beautiful church, an amazing church family, and an outstanding pastor! If any one is looking for a church in Northwest Arkansas, I highly recommend First Christian Church, Fayetteville!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Our one an only decent family picture from the day. Sara Kate was being goofy and chewing blue peppermint gum but it's the best we got! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_pd3b6hhgI/VSM95J8nPmI/AAAAAAAAMDQ/SAU4LfdY2vE/s1600/Easter%2Bfamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_pd3b6hhgI/VSM95J8nPmI/AAAAAAAAMDQ/SAU4LfdY2vE/s1600/Easter%2Bfamily.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since Chris works at the church and we are so busy and rushed Sunday mornings, our tradition is that the Easter bunny comes while we are at church. He leaves Sara Kate's Easter basket by the front door and he hides the eggs we decorated the night before. Since it was raining when we got home, we had lunch first. Then the rain let up enough for us to head outside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wn1pka6zUEI/VSM-gJo4laI/AAAAAAAAMDg/A2TfW_TODTo/s1600/Easter%2B7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wn1pka6zUEI/VSM-gJo4laI/AAAAAAAAMDg/A2TfW_TODTo/s1600/Easter%2B7.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She was so excited to see new bath toys...she's been asking for some. She's very into spelling words right now so I got a package of letters and numbers (yes I know, I can't believe we haven't bought these for her yet). Last night she spelled 'the' all by herself with her new letters and she was so excited for me to come see!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KtwPteMAt6Q/VSM-s5QTv1I/AAAAAAAAMDw/LpXrVYrFPhA/s1600/Easter%2B14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KtwPteMAt6Q/VSM-s5QTv1I/AAAAAAAAMDw/LpXrVYrFPhA/s1600/Easter%2B14.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Happy girl with her loot!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After checking out her basket, it was time to hunt eggs!! No she didn't wear pink flip flops to church, but after lunch that's what she grabbed for shoes. I was just happy she grabbed shoes to go outside, ha!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aMpVho4ooQY/VSM_YijVEUI/AAAAAAAAMEA/ohMnBPWOiq0/s1600/Easter%2B10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aMpVho4ooQY/VSM_YijVEUI/AAAAAAAAMEA/ohMnBPWOiq0/s1600/Easter%2B10.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlcQy-xZG3Y/VSM_Z9OljfI/AAAAAAAAMEI/ZOrbnHGrXCg/s1600/Easter%2B11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlcQy-xZG3Y/VSM_Z9OljfI/AAAAAAAAMEI/ZOrbnHGrXCg/s1600/Easter%2B11.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wpxo2cp22_c/VSM_bHEIlvI/AAAAAAAAMEQ/p1WaLRH1q8A/s1600/Easter%2B12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wpxo2cp22_c/VSM_bHEIlvI/AAAAAAAAMEQ/p1WaLRH1q8A/s1600/Easter%2B12.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Counting her eggs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My parents left shortly afterwards to head south. We are always sad to say goodbye to them, but we are so happy they were here for the weekend. No family picture this year because of the rain...grrr!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After they left, Sara Kate and I headed over to my friend Elizabeth's house. She and her family hosted a meal and an egg hunt for their friends. The big kids hid the eggs outside for the little kids and as soon as the little kids headed outside to hunt eggs it started raining pretty hard. The kids were just grabbing eggs to get back inside. Sara Kate had so much fun and ended up with a full basket. She kindly shared with some other kids once we were back inside. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l7WcNFHNcOY/VSNBXOXJzrI/AAAAAAAAMEk/6NyiaqDfoI0/s1600/Elizabeth%2Bhunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l7WcNFHNcOY/VSNBXOXJzrI/AAAAAAAAMEk/6NyiaqDfoI0/s1600/Elizabeth%2Bhunt.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After the egg hunt, she decorated some cookies then we headed home. It was so nice of Elizabeth to invite us and I'm glad we went! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We ended the day eating left overs and just playing at home. A nice way to end a busy weekend. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-58045442633404069322015-03-29T19:53:00.000-07:002015-03-29T20:01:07.260-07:00Bentonville Half<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back in January I made the commitment out loud that I was training for a half marathon, the Bentonville Half. At that time I didn't think I could do it. I thought oh yeah, I'll run with this group of friends from church and they'll probably kick me out because I'm slow. Even in February I didn't think I could do it, but then I signed up for the race so I definitely had to do it. I had several friends tell me it was all a mental game, and your body will do anything your mind tells it to do. So I started believing I could do it. And slowly but surely I ran 9 miles, 10 miles, and 11 miles. And then all of a sudden it was race week. Cue the panic. I looked at the race course and my heart started racing. I ran 3 miles and felt every little twinge of random pain in my knees and feet. Saturday morning we met at 5:30 to drive to Bentonville, and I was shaking with nerves. Then all of a sudden we were at the starting line, we were singing the national anthem, the announcer said, 'Runners are you ready? GO!' And we were off. Races are exciting; this isn't my first race but this was my first half marathon. There are lots of excited people, there's music playing, and there's people all along the race course cheering for random strangers. This race was really exciting. Over 2600 runners participated! There were so many people along the race course cheering. Some of my favorite signs were: 'Run Random Stranger!' 'This is the worst parade EVER!' 'Run faster, the guy in front of you farted.' 'Go faster, that's what she said!' My favorite of course, was my sweet friend Sarah from church who made a sign and came to cheer us on. There was so much support, literally from random strangers! There were even 3 bands set up along the last 3 miles of the race. I was running along feeling pretty good until about mile 6 and my hip started hurting (on occasion my right hip will hurt while running, not consistently though). I though oh no, this isn't good. So I started praying. I prayed for strength and endurance and for healing. The pain intensified through mile 7 and 8 and 9 and I thought the last 3 are going to be hell if this keeps up. But then all of a sudden it was gone. It was seriously such a blessing. The last mile was tough. It's all uphill, in a very steep way...whoever plans a race with the hill of death at the very end pretty much wants to torture you! I walked the crest of the hill but that is the only time I walked the entire race. I was very proud of myself for that! And after the hill of death, there was a straight stretch and the finish line. I got emotional. I saw my in-laws, Sara Kate, and Chris, along with some other friends from church. I couldn't believe I actually did it! It was surreal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k1J6EMqi5jg/VRi065gweHI/AAAAAAAAMBU/xuO0PtBaVg4/s1600/Bville%2Bhalf%2BM-3280899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k1J6EMqi5jg/VRi065gweHI/AAAAAAAAMBU/xuO0PtBaVg4/s1600/Bville%2Bhalf%2BM-3280899.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was so happy to see this sweet face at the finish line!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zAXVVWdDfAs/VRi18_toUYI/AAAAAAAAMB0/IC5XWF3DG0g/s1600/photo%2B5%281%29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zAXVVWdDfAs/VRi18_toUYI/AAAAAAAAMB0/IC5XWF3DG0g/s1600/photo%2B5(1).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The whole race I was behind a sweet girl Chris teaches with, LeAnn. It was her first half marathon too. I was so happy to see her at the end!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u19j9tGFX8c/VRi1SEU-3UI/AAAAAAAAMBk/irItVK0tY34/s1600/Bville%2Bhalf%2BM-3280914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u19j9tGFX8c/VRi1SEU-3UI/AAAAAAAAMBk/irItVK0tY34/s1600/Bville%2Bhalf%2BM-3280914.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I couldn't have done it without my awesome group. They are amazing. For 5 of us, this was our first half. We ran fast and rocked it! Thanks again Sarah for the sign!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nays6QUN1Oo/VRi1xym_zwI/AAAAAAAAMBs/Rt-CQ1ZwN6E/s1600/Bville%2Bhalf%2BM-3280959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nays6QUN1Oo/VRi1xym_zwI/AAAAAAAAMBs/Rt-CQ1ZwN6E/s1600/Bville%2Bhalf%2BM-3280959.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I finished in 2 hours and 34 minutes, averaging 11:36 min/mile. I'm not a speed running, never have been, never will be...my goal is always to finish. I'm pleased with my overall time (although I was hoping to finish by 2 hours and 30 minutes) and I was pleased in my averaging time. I was very consistent in my pacing, which I was also very happy with, and I think it probably helped in the end. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AduLTsH5pPM/VRi4kCL0CMI/AAAAAAAAMCQ/q8dsq5lUa_w/s1600/photo(1)%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AduLTsH5pPM/VRi4kCL0CMI/AAAAAAAAMCQ/q8dsq5lUa_w/s1600/photo(1)%2B2.png" height="320" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7 months ago I had surgery to remove 18 inches of my colon and Saturday I ran a half marathon!! This just goes to show you can do anything you put your mind to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Qc28CpgppU/VRi3xtBpAbI/AAAAAAAAMCI/DbGyez7U3Lk/s1600/photo%2B2(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Qc28CpgppU/VRi3xtBpAbI/AAAAAAAAMCI/DbGyez7U3Lk/s1600/photo%2B2(1).jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>-Phillippians 4:13 </i></span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-39115968905864912262015-03-01T14:04:00.001-08:002015-03-01T14:04:49.217-08:00Snow Days<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We've had a relatively slow and uneventful winter. Until the last 2 weeks. It's been really cold and all of a sudden we've gotten snow and then a little more unexpected snow, and then some more unexpected snow. 2 weeks ago we had a winter storm that passed through over night and left everything blanketed in a layer of white. It wasn't much, maybe 2 inches, but it was enough for us to stay home and play in. It was FREEZING cold but Sara Kate and I sledded for a couple of hours...she had a great time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lZMVd0Ha_JI/VPN7yCzK-BI/AAAAAAAAL9k/FbiBEW4MtSw/s1600/snow%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lZMVd0Ha_JI/VPN7yCzK-BI/AAAAAAAAL9k/FbiBEW4MtSw/s1600/snow%2B2.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then a week later an unexpected band of snow pushed through during rush hour and caused all kinds of headaches trying to get home!! I picked up Sara Kate from school and she said, 'Why is it snowing again, mommy?' Haha. I said, 'Because it's winter and snow happens in the winter!' It took us over an hour to get from her school to our house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEn211mcT9A/VPN7_KdmK8I/AAAAAAAAL9s/7XiOVaB0Chg/s1600/snow%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEn211mcT9A/VPN7_KdmK8I/AAAAAAAAL9s/7XiOVaB0Chg/s1600/snow%2B3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then this past Friday another storm came through. I was out soil sampling Friday and when I got back to Bentonville everything was covered in snow. Once again I had a heck of a time getting home from work!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBZwpyML89Q/VPN8_ZbzQcI/AAAAAAAAL94/_wi-AI9KOFc/s1600/snow%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBZwpyML89Q/VPN8_ZbzQcI/AAAAAAAAL94/_wi-AI9KOFc/s1600/snow%2B5.jpg" height="314" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I finally made it home Friday and I haven't left the house since! It snowed all night and most of the day yesterday, and then the snow transitioned to sleet and freezing rain in the afternoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5ILVVMmeedw/VPN9n5y37oI/AAAAAAAAL-A/V0ejEvBdYrE/s1600/snow%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5ILVVMmeedw/VPN9n5y37oI/AAAAAAAAL-A/V0ejEvBdYrE/s1600/snow%2B4.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We finally managed to make it outside to play yesterday afternoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7JmX_3zVTOQ/VPN-K-QKw2I/AAAAAAAAL-I/SzdbAcS_qOw/s1600/snowday-2280289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7JmX_3zVTOQ/VPN-K-QKw2I/AAAAAAAAL-I/SzdbAcS_qOw/s1600/snowday-2280289.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-206t_vArSTI/VPN-OwKuKFI/AAAAAAAAL-Q/jcD88IlpRCo/s1600/snowday-2280293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-206t_vArSTI/VPN-OwKuKFI/AAAAAAAAL-Q/jcD88IlpRCo/s1600/snowday-2280293.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The one thing Sara Kate has been asking to do all winter it build a snowman. When it snowed 2 weeks ago and we were home the snow was way too powdery and it wouldn't ball up at all. Yesterday's snow started out too powdery but it turned into good packing snow once a little sleet fell on top of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAa7KohpVe0/VPN-Y4ELf1I/AAAAAAAAL-g/VhxZXLM8Dys/s1600/snowday-2280301.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAa7KohpVe0/VPN-Y4ELf1I/AAAAAAAAL-g/VhxZXLM8Dys/s1600/snowday-2280301.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now ya'll have to remember, I'm a southern girl from WAY deep south Arkansas, where we do not get snow. Except this past week when they did get snow. But growing up we didn't get snow. If we got anything it was ice. So my snowman building skills are pretty pathetic. But I tried, haha. Our snowman kinda ended up looking like a pirate. We used caramel popcorn clumps for eyes, a pickle for nose, and a mouth made out of aluminum foil. So ghetto. HA!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P8w-Nnda9nE/VPN-VbZU35I/AAAAAAAAL-Y/ODHQj_E-2DM/s1600/snowday-2280363.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yBw8z5QY8lk/VPOA_Y3OJoI/AAAAAAAAL-0/W13mwtb_Z9Q/s1600/snowday-2280360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yBw8z5QY8lk/VPOA_Y3OJoI/AAAAAAAAL-0/W13mwtb_Z9Q/s1600/snowday-2280360.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hc7w8qaPdCs/VPOAz-QoKbI/AAAAAAAAL-s/JFtuYIwZi2I/s1600/snowday-2280356.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hc7w8qaPdCs/VPOAz-QoKbI/AAAAAAAAL-s/JFtuYIwZi2I/s1600/snowday-2280356.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate didn't want to go sledding yesterday but she wanted to go today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OhyUUyekXBY/VPOL2KjW4TI/AAAAAAAAL_U/5qKvXGSHZYo/s1600/sk%26daddy.JPG" height="320" width="320" /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We walked down to what she calls 'the sledding hill' down by the park and everything just a sheet of ice. It was so slippery today! It was obvious the hill had been used quite a bit yesterday for sledding but thankfully it was still plenty slick for today! I love hearing her laughing with so much joy!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwiOEWwlrsCE7nbIJP7xgZO4vfhKQeFJHrBopRGfGNGHvkZUo_8yVpMxSCPqVFo8uOQMTpFyIu1tMw820wCYQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy1afbFOBVm0hmBvzl5rUA6XWIabI9o4p9jdEg5xyMstv7YfodMbhpABbR2nHIky9oDZHeX5339fImhefYEiA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In other we're-stuck-inside-and-can't-do-anything-else news, Sara Kate has been doing gymnastics all over the living room since she didn't have class yesterday, there's currently a blanket tent set up in the living room, and she's been crawling around all afternoon on the floor with a flip flop in her pants with the dogs acting like one of the dogs (the flip flop is her tail). In other words, we're going stir crazy in this house!! Ha!! But I'm glad we finally got some snow days to do fun 'winter' things!!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-40678457370272276982015-02-19T19:46:00.002-08:002015-02-19T19:46:35.088-08:00Kindergarten Registration<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I cannot believe it's here. The first step in the process has come. That means it's real. She's old enough. It's time. Kindergarten registration was today. It's early this year. I wasn't expecting it until April but Chris' mom said everything is earlier this year because the district is 'reorganizing.' Chris is out of town so I had to go this one alone, which was ok. This one was simple. Easy. I told Sara Kate about it last night. She's been looking forward to kindergarten since she saw her cousin Hannah graduate from kindergarten last May. So last night I made a big deal about what was going to happen and she was so excited this morning. She kept saying, 'we're going to kindergarten maration.' Haha. She didn't have to come, but by taking her with me it saved me a trip across town and back to take her to daycare. Plus I wanted to make it special for her. We had to go to the bank to the safety deposit box to get her birth certificate and social security card first and then we headed to registration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erUHOiwVUFk/VOanVFY__kI/AAAAAAAAL8Y/NirY-AvIjJ0/s1600/k%2Breg%2B1.jpg" height="320" width="263" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was anti-climatic, in that the office staff made copies and I filled out the enrollment form on the computer, they printed it, and I signed it. But the office ladies were so nice and were making a big deal to Sara Kate about starting kindergarten. She kept wanting to write her name on the sign in form with their cute little flower pen. They said, 'oh she looks ready!' Yes, she is! And just like that, my baby is registered for kindergarten.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e5ulgba45yY/VOapk6YnSRI/AAAAAAAAL8s/a6jkkiwbdrg/s1600/k%2Breg%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e5ulgba45yY/VOapk6YnSRI/AAAAAAAAL8s/a6jkkiwbdrg/s1600/k%2Breg%2B3.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After we left the school, we went back by the safety deposit box then to the grocery store to pick out a special treat. She picked 'little white donut,' which she loves. It's fine with me because it gives her some breakfast the next few days!</span><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7YO6lKrUao4/VOaqYdkx25I/AAAAAAAAL80/1nNkkwZVL2A/s1600/k%2Breg%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7YO6lKrUao4/VOaqYdkx25I/AAAAAAAAL80/1nNkkwZVL2A/s1600/k%2Breg%2B4.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I got to work I took a look at the packet of information they gave us. It included a calendar, what's expected as far as vaccinations, and things she should know. Shapes...done. Numbers...done. Alphabet...done. Lower case and upper case letters...done. Comfortable using a pencil, markers, scissors, glue, paint...done. Comfortable writing their name...done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ly548UEuzKw/VOarb38jAsI/AAAAAAAAL88/3zHjlc1zmOM/s1600/name.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ly548UEuzKw/VOarb38jAsI/AAAAAAAAL88/3zHjlc1zmOM/s1600/name.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that was our big day. S</span>he's ready. And she's excited. And I'll be excited for her, once I get my emotions in check after each step in the process, ha!! My baby's growing up!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-30208451442454324042015-02-01T13:53:00.000-08:002015-02-01T13:58:37.752-08:00A Look Back at December & January<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Happy February! Cannot believe we're already into the 2nd month of 2015! Another 2 months have passed with no blogging. Life is so dang busy, ya'll! One thing I've been wondering is is blogging dying out? I find that alot of the blogs I've followed over the past 5-6 years, no one is writing much anymore. I don't want my blog to die, but finding time to upload pictures, do any editing, etc. is time consuming (even though I put alot of iPhone pictures on here). And it never fails, as soon as I sit down to start writing, Sara Kate wants me to play with her or do something with her. But I started this to document our lives and I want to continue to do it as time allows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So in the past 2 months, the main thing that happened was Christmas. And we had a great Christmas! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Our tree on Christmas morning, when all was still quiet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9TEk17PEviM/VM6I_wikfmI/AAAAAAAAL34/7ZiUcynNDYY/s1600/Dec2014-8299.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9TEk17PEviM/VM6I_wikfmI/AAAAAAAAL34/7ZiUcynNDYY/s1600/Dec2014-8299.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But then a certain someone woke up and had to check things out! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jEzrnym7cv0/VM6JGXJMd6I/AAAAAAAAL4A/I8nG-pxzC6Y/s1600/Dec2014-8320.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> She looks so tall here!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5oZEk0-TJIk/VM6JcmonSHI/AAAAAAAAL4Q/SCf6FiEweBE/s1600/Dec2014-8336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5oZEk0-TJIk/VM6JcmonSHI/AAAAAAAAL4Q/SCf6FiEweBE/s1600/Dec2014-8336.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> She said, 'Oh my goodness, Frozen panties! I asked for these and wanted these!' </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-AfiOpmCEc/VM6JrOS2oCI/AAAAAAAAL4Y/gdhnljsNmbM/s1600/Dec2014-8350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-AfiOpmCEc/VM6JrOS2oCI/AAAAAAAAL4Y/gdhnljsNmbM/s1600/Dec2014-8350.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After her stocking, she had a few presents to open. We don't stress 'Santa' but we don't discount him when she talks about him either. We don't want her to be good only for Santa, she needs to be good all the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tbK3FYftCcI/VM6Jw40mxwI/AAAAAAAAL4g/9-_aG64N3-0/s1600/Dec2014-8359.jpg" height="213" width="320" /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She asked for 2 main things, a Frozen castle (which every place was sold out except Amazon and they were majorly price gouging) and princess magic clip dolls. Those we were able to find. We found a 7 pack of the princesses and got Elsa and Anna clip dolls separately. She was SO happy! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J9CMjh0A_pk/VM6MRZowAOI/AAAAAAAAL48/7MnuLZLhefU/s1600/Dec2014-8382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J9CMjh0A_pk/VM6MRZowAOI/AAAAAAAAL48/7MnuLZLhefU/s1600/Dec2014-8382.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cDokd8FBh8E/VM6J5UHioNI/AAAAAAAAL4w/P4q029z36VM/s1600/Dec2014-8401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cDokd8FBh8E/VM6J5UHioNI/AAAAAAAAL4w/P4q029z36VM/s1600/Dec2014-8401.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She got a few other things too, like Ariel dress up stuff, Frozen lip gloss, and a new coat, hat and gloves! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jDghJqMqGI8/VM6hNQDwkcI/AAAAAAAAL7w/-vali4oVbNc/s1600/Dec2014-8393.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After Christmas I made breakfast. I made Cinnamon Roll Bites. So good and super easy. <a href="http://lilluna.com/cinnamon-roll-bites/">Here's</a> the recipe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c9dNxmCcAWs/VM6NKUl3GhI/AAAAAAAAL5E/upSE9O2mP6c/s1600/Dec2014-8440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c9dNxmCcAWs/VM6NKUl3GhI/AAAAAAAAL5E/upSE9O2mP6c/s1600/Dec2014-8440.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After breakfast we headed to Bentonville to have Christmas with Chris' family. A good time was had by all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The whole crew, including some new faces from Texas. Think the kids love having lots of cousins around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Merry Christmas from the Michaels family!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EkL7g1SQcjE/VM6OG8QXoUI/AAAAAAAAL5U/UpPwfmoTrsU/s1600/Dec2014-8522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EkL7g1SQcjE/VM6OG8QXoUI/AAAAAAAAL5U/UpPwfmoTrsU/s1600/Dec2014-8522.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Present time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It was a Frozen/Princess Christmas for this little girl!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A couple days after Christmas my parents came up for Christmas. We waited until they were here to go to the Lights of the Ozarks on the Fayetteville square. I love this about our town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Love this picture of me, Sara Kate, and my mom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> She was so excited for a pony ride and did so great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course we had to climb on top of the rocks and get a picture with the Razorback!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And last but not least, our little family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2014 ended with something that reflected the last 6 months of my life. I had a colonoscopy on New Years Eve, it was my 3rd in 6 months, and this one was awful. It was supposed to be at 7 am but it got moved to 1 pm, so I had no food from the night of December 29 until the evening of December 31. I also threw up half my prep, which might just be the most disgusting thing any person will ever have to drink. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But I got good news in the end. The pathology definitely shows Crohn's (which we knew) but there was no inflammation which means there is no active disease right now. So that's a blessing. Unfortunately when I had my appointment with my GI doctor in January I found out I was going to have to get on medicine I don't want to get on to keep me in remission. Maybe you've seen commercials for Remicade or Humira on TV, but one is an infusion and the other is a shot I would give myself. It's a decision I'll have to make in the next few months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In other January news, Chris and I went to Tulsa the second weekend of January to see Garth Brooks in concert. We couldn't get tickets the day they went on sale because they sold out so fast but thankfully we were able to find them on StubHub. It was beyond amazing!! It was a total bucket list concert for me and totally worth getting home at 1:30 am on a Monday morning!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A week after Garth, Chris and I went to George's Magestic Lounge on Dickson Street to see Pat Green, who is one of my all time favorites. My buddy Matt took me to my first Pat Green concert probably 12 years ago and I got hooked. He puts on a great show and I was glad we were able to go!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The week after Pat Green I had my annual girls weekend in Memphis with my girlfriends from college. We had so much fun in college and it's so great to still get together and have just as much fun...maybe just a different kind of fun, ha!! But these girls are a blessing and I'm so glad we're still super close!</span></div>
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<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cVEJ__bjL68/VM6de3fOaLI/AAAAAAAAL7k/oW-S4sggCcM/s1600/memphis.jpg" height="320" width="320" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The other thing I want to say about January is I'm training for a half marathon!! A group from church started running together back in the fall, thinking about a half marathon in March. In January we officially started training, and I registered today so it's definitely official. AHHHH!!! Scary! We run 3 times during the week on our own and get together on Saturday's for the long runs as a group. Having a group really helps with the long runs. Yesterday we ran 7 miles...and yes, we RAN 7 MILES!! Before this started, I was running 3 miles 2 or 3 or times a week. This has become a huge goal and I'm determined to make it happen! Thankfully we have a great trail system in Fayetteville that makes it easy to get many miles in! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This little guy is sitting on a bench along one of the trails...any day is a good day for a Razorback sighting! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's whats been going on the last 2 months. Once again, I'm going to try really hard to get back into blogging to document our lives. 2015 has big things in store and I want to remember everything! </span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-29173020687124304252014-12-01T19:31:00.001-08:002014-12-01T19:31:40.107-08:00Fall Recap<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hello December! It's now December 1 and I've done a terrible job of blogging the last 2 months. Life has been very busy, there's no other way around it! And I'm exhausted at the end of the day! But I really want to try to get back into the blogging groove...it's so important to me to keep documenting our lives. Since I've been absent the last 2 months, I thought I'd do a little fall recap before we get into the Christmas season!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've spent lots of time with my favorite girl and I love it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This fall was beautiful with lots of warm days so we played outside alot!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chris and I went to watch our Razorbacks play all season. After some really close heartbreaking loses, we finally got to see some great wins over LSU and Ole Miss (even shut out wins!!) and it was so fun to see!! We are excited to see where our team is headed! And of course, it's always fun to hang out with some awesome friends during this time of year!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Speaking of football, we took Sara Kate to the University of Arkansas homecoming parade in October. The parade started later than we thought so we had some fun time running around and playing on the lawn of Old Main. And of course she loved the parade. She got some candy and a sweet sorority girl gave her a big 'WPS' bead necklace. She was in heaven!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This might be one of my favorite pictures ever! Love it so much!! The girl, that joyful smile, the throwing of leaves, the lighting, Old Main in the background...Chris captured this moment perfectly!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vTiUiFr_yO8/VH0YZgy0ZJI/AAAAAAAALzw/0GhoLwnxPt8/s1600/SKUA-7090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vTiUiFr_yO8/VH0YZgy0ZJI/AAAAAAAALzw/0GhoLwnxPt8/s1600/SKUA-7090.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course the end of October brought Halloween! Sara Kate is still princess obsessed and like every other little girl, she's obsessed with Frozen. For several weeks she told me she wanted to be Ariel for Halloween and I though, no way! And like I expected, a couple of weeks before Halloween she decided she wanted to be 'Elsa with the blue dress.' We bought both costumes just in case she changed her mind, but in the end Elsa won, just like I figured it would! We even went to a Halloween carnival at our church where she and 2 of her sweet friends were all Elsa! And they all won the costume contest...so cute!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Halloween night was great. Sara Kate did GREAT trick of treating. She loved going door to door,
saying 'Trick or Treat' and saying 'Thank you, Happy Halloween!' We
couldn't stay out all night because we had a major cold front come
through and it turned brutally cold Halloween night. Sara Kate kept
insisting 'Elsa's don't wear jackets' (haha!) but eventually the cold
got to her and she was done for the night. We had a great night
overall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November brought a visit to our favorite local corn maze, Farmland Adventures in Springdale. We ended up going on a Monday night when the school Chris' mom teaches at had a family night. It was so much fun. Sara Kate loved running through the corn maze, riding the ponies (which she got to do over and over again since there weren't many people there), feeding the goats, and there was even a hot dog and marshmellow roast. It was a alot of fun and we're so glad we got to go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She was so proud of this corn she found. In fact, she still has it in her play kitchen in her room. She 'cooks with it.' Haha.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It seems like the month of November flew by and all of a sudden it was Thanksgiving. This year we traveled to Memphis to have Thanksgiving at my brother's house. My parents came and also my aunt and uncle from Alabama came. It was a lovely Thanksgiving...good food, good company, and so much to be thankful for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The triple chocolate cheesecake my mom made was Sara Kate's favorite!! She loved it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The other big thing we did while we were in Memphis was take Sara Kate to the Memphis zoo, which I have been wanting to do for a while now. We went on Friday while all the crazies were out shopping, ha!!! I had hoped to go in the morning but it was too cold so we had to wait until the afternoon. Unfortunately, a certain little girl had gotten very tired by that point and her behavior was less than desirable. But we made the most out of it and still had a good time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First time I had ever seen a panda bear...so cool!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fun with Uncle Phil and Aunt Holly at the zoo!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had a great visit to Memphis and a great visit with my family. A big thanks to my brother for hosting! Sara Kate loved spending three nights at Uncle Phil's house!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's a little look back at our fall. It was busy! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One last thing I wanted to add is I am now 3 months post surgery. So far everything seems fine. My energy level has been the last thing to come back but that could also be keeping up with a VERY busy 4 year old. I'm back to working in the field at work and I'm back to running. I've even managed to run my longest distances (little over 5 miles) with my best times, with hopes of working up to the half marathon distance by spring...can't completely wrap my mind around that! I'm on an anti-inflammatory medicine to keep the Crohn's at bay, and I have another colonoscopy scheduled for the end of December...and by the end of December, I mean New Years Eve! I was less than thrilled to find out that's the way I will be closing out 2014, but I supposed it's appropriate considering the last 6 months have been all about my colon! Dr. Rogers wants to make sure everything beyond where the stricture was is 'good' since he's never seen beyond that spot in any of my previous colonoscopies (this will make the 3rd in 6 months...ughh!!). He also wants to make sure the spot where he sewed my colon together is healing up. As for my stomach, things look like this. I still have tender spots down, especially low near the big incision, but everything is healed up for the most part. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's the latest on me and the family. We've had a great fall and I'm very much looking forward to the Christmas season with Sara Kate (she is so aware of EVERYTHING). I think it will be so much fun! I hope to have lots to write about this holiday season!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-65267268804598507232014-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:002014-09-14T19:40:19.727-07:00Recovery and Happy Birthday to Me!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Disclaimer: Post surgery belly pictures are below! And they're not at the bottom of the post like last time! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Friday I hit the 3 weeks post surgery mark. Friday also happened to be my birthday! So yay for both of those things! I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, which was my first time to see the doctor since surgery. He looked at my stomach, felt around, and said everything looks good. He checked my pathology again and said pathology definitely shows I have Crohn's, and he said the pathologist was concerned about something else but Dr. Rogers said he wasn't concerned it. So I've tried to push away the thought of maybe he didn't get all the bad out. He's a great surgeon and knows what he's doing! He cleared me to drive (yay!) and cleared me to go back to work, he said just to take things very easy and slow. I still can't exercise or pick up Sara Kate for 2 more weeks but I know those weeks will fly by. Sweet little angel face asked me if my boo boo's on my tummy were better so I can pick her up. She'll be so excited when I finally can pick her up! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Like I said, he said everything looks good. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He assured me that 'the bulge' that is at my big incision site will go down, it'll just take about 6 months (wow!). </span>My skin around my incisions has been very dry and he said to get some cocoa butter or Mederma, which would help with the scarring. I still have stitches in and he said they'll dissolve. And now for my belly pictures...4 days, 1 week, and 1.5 weeks post surgery are on my last blog. I would say things are looking much better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>September 5 - 2 weeks post surgery</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>September 9 - 2.5 weeks post surgery</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <b>September 12 - 3 weeks post surgery</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In other news from my doctors appointment, Dr. Rogers started me on a medicine called Asacol, which is an anti-inflammatory drug used to keep Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis under control. To be honest, I've been really concerned about getting on medicine for Crohn's. They big ones seem super scary with crazy possible side effects (like some very rare cancer, umm, no thank you!!) but in my research of Asacol it seems pretty mild. I can handle that. I'll have an appointment to see my GI doctor in a month so hopefully we can just rock on roll with something like this and avoid the scary stuff. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for my insurance to pick it up because it's not a preferred drug. The doctor has to contact the insurance company and tell them why I need it. It's super expensive so I really hope that gets worked out in the next couple of days, before I run out of these samples!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As for my recovery, I'm feeling quite a bit better. I can move around better, can sleep better, can lay on my right side normally, and can gently lay towards my left side. I can do more things around the house, play with Sara Kate a little more, etc., but I know not to push it. I'm still sore, it feels like really sore muscles all through my torso now, but it's so much better than it was. Since I got the ok from the doctor, I am going back to work tomorrow. I don't know if I'll make it a full day, as I know it'll be exhausting, but I feel like that's one more thing I need to do to 'get back to normal.' So I'll give it a shot!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Speaking of 'normal,' Sara Kate wanted to go to the playground last week so we slowly walked to the playground, event though she knew I couldn't play with her or carry her or slide with her. I'm looking forward to getting back to doing stuff like that with her!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since the doctor cleared me to drive on Thursday, I was able to get out of the house for my birthday on my own! How thrilling, haha! I needed to get an oil change in my car and I went and wasted a good bit of time walking around Target. It was glorious, ha!! I got home and was folding laundry when Chris and Sara Kate got home. They surprised me some BEAUTIFUL flowers for my birthday. 12 roses and 5 calla lilies, which are my favorite flower. So lovely on my kitchen table.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chris' mom and dad kept Sara Kate so we could go to dinner Friday night. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We went to my favorite local restaurant, Noodles, and I had my favorite local dish, Jalapeno Lime Chicken, which is amazing. Unfortunately my new 18-inch less colon didn't think so! It was delicious, but I know now jalapeno spice is something my stomach can't handle. We got home, got Sara Kate in bed, and waited up for my parents to get here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was a fun weekend with my mom and dad here. Mom and I went shopping yesterday and I got some new pretties to wear to work since I still can't wear jeans, which makes it very difficult to dress! I tried to put on a pair of jeans Friday night and nope, NOT ready for that! And I'm pretty sure gym shorts, pajama pants, and sweat pants probably would be frowned upon at the office, ha! So I got some fun things to wear with leggings and I used some other birthday money to buy a super fun pair of shoes! I'm so excited about these! I love leopard print! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We went to dinner Saturday night, drank some wine and watched some football last night after Sara Kate went to bed, and went to church this morning before mom and dad had to head south. I always love having my parents in town and Sara Kate loves her Ghee and Poppa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This girl. LOVE her!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall, I think I'm doing pretty well in my recovery and I had a great birthday weekend. Once again, I'm very thankful to my family for their love and support, my friends who continue to check on me and bring us yummy dinners, and anyone else who has prayed for me and our family during this time. Bring on year 34!!</span></div>
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Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-27722174322574277432014-09-02T18:36:00.003-07:002014-09-02T19:26:45.845-07:00Left Colectomy - My Surgery<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Disclaimer: Post surgery belly pictures are below! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've been wanting to sit down for a week and write this but the words are escaping me. August 22 I had surgery to remove a foot and a half of my colon...left colectomy is what it's called. I had my pre-op appointment at the hospital on Wednesday, August 20, and I had an appointment with Dr. Rogers (my surgeon) right after that. Since I hadn't really gotten to talk to him since June, we had a list of questions and my anxiety was sky high because I just didn't know anything. The doctor sat with us for about an hour and answered everything we asked him. That's when we found out he would be removing about a foot and a half, he wasn't going to explore anything more, the surgery would last about 3 hours, and my recovery time would be about 3 weeks. Looking at the diagram below, basically the plan was to remove the straight stretch on my left side (right side of the image), and he was to connect the parts together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I felt much relief after my appointment but still had quite a bit of anxiety. Thursday I had to leave work early in order to 'prep' for surgery. Thankfully I didn't have to do a full cleanse, just a partial cleanse. The drink was some nasty over the counter crap we bought at Target for a whopping 97 cents! Seriously, I don't know why they can't make these beverages taste better...or make them taste like nothing at all!! They're all just plain awful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thursday night was short, as we had to be at the hospital at 5:00 am to check in. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am, first on the docket. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was back in a bed, in a gown, and I was hooked up to an IV in no time. And all of a sudden it was time for me to go. Peace out colon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They wheeled me to another area where I had to wait for the anesthesiologist and wait for the doctor to come by. The anesthesiologist gave me something to relax me as they wheeled me to the operating room. That stuff knocked me out and it wasn't even supposed to! I remember being wheeled to the operating room, I remember getting situated on the table, and that's it! After that, I remember being wheeled around to recovery then to a room where I had to get myself into the bed in my room. Yes, I had to get myself into my bed! OH MY GOSH, I remember it hurting!! Then I was out again. I woke up at some point with dry heaves, due to coming out of anesthesia...once again, OH MY GOSH it hurt!!! I remember telling my mom and Chris that I didn't want Sara Kate to come to the hospital that day because I didn't want her to see me like that. And I don't remember much else. I can't remember what time I finally woke completely up . But my dear husband took some lovely pictures of me though during the day<span style="color: #0000ee;">...</span>so glad we have these LOVELY memories. Haha! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As for the surgery from the doctor's stand point, he told Chris and my parents that everything went as he expected it too. He removed 18 inches of my colon and the surgery lasted a little over 3 hours. The only thing that was different than his original plan was he added an extra port for the robot up near my ribcage</span>, and he said that would be a very sore spot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The night was uncomfortable and Chris stayed at the hospital with me. My mom brought Sara Kate up after gymnastics Saturday morning and she wanted nothing to do with me. My dad had to pick her up and make her come give me a hug. It made me sad but I knew I expected her to be stand-offish. Once my catheter was removed that morning I moved from the bed to sitting up in the chair. It was uncomfortable but I propped up on a pillow and it was manageable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had a room full of guests by the afternoon; my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, niece and nephew came to town, as well as my in-laws came by. I think it was good for Sara Kate for her to have her cousins there. There was a plethora of iPads there between us all for the kids to play on and I had a double room so there was plenty of room for them to 'run' around. My mom stayed with me Saturday night and Chris and my dad went home with Sara Kate. Sunday morning I moved from the bed to the chair and we waited for a visit from the doctor on call. He came by around lunch time and we got great news that he was discharging me! I was out of there shortly after that and was home by 1:00 that day. Yes, they brought me the biggest wheel chair EVER! We laughed, except I couldn't laugh because it hurt. But it was amusing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sunday afternoon and evening I sat propped in a chair and I slept propped up in bed, although I couldn't get into or out of bed by myself. My mom left Monday afternoon and Chris came home from school early. My mother-in-law stayed all day on Tuesday, and we had some sweet church friends that stayed with me the rest of the week during the days. By Wednesday morning I was carefully able to get out of bed by myself. I spent the week propped in a chair and carefully walking around. I have felt the best in the morning and I kind of go down hill from there pain and general discomfort wise. Friday, one week after my surgery, I got out of the house for the first time. I went with Chris to pick up Sara Kate from school and we took her for ice cream for having a great day at school (after an awful day on Thursday).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Being 'down' on a holiday weekend was kind of a bummer. Saturday I spent the day watching football but I kind of broke down Saturday night because I was so uncomfortable and sore and honestly, my spirits were just down. That's the first time I've broken down during this entire experience. Sunday morning I managed to make it to church and that helped, and yesterday we went out and got some lunch which was nice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate has been doing ok. She's been acting out some and she's kept her distance from me, but she's getting a little closer and a little better every day. She sat beside me this weekend to watch the iPad and play with a sticker book and color, which was great, until she elbowed me in the stomach trying to reposition herself. I just have to remind her to watch her elbows when she's sitting near me. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chris has been great, taking care of me, taking care of Sara Kate, taking care of things around the house. I'm very thankful for him. I'm also very thankful for our sweet friends who are keeping us fed, bringing us yummy meals. Everything has been amazing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As far as my recovery, I'm a week and a half post surgery and I'm making it, feeling a little better everyday and moving around better everyday. My back is killing me and my main incision site is really sore and I have what I'm calling 'the bulge' at that spot. I don't know if it's from the stitches or what, but it is so sore to the touch and is an actual bulge just above my incision site. Total, I have 6 holes, where they had cameras and ports, and the big incision where he removed everything. I have taken pictures every few days and I've debating putting them on here, but I decided that I will because this is my blog journaling my experience. And maybe someone on the internet will see this and it'll help them. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tuesday, August 26...4 days post surgery...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I ended up blistering where the bandages were, that's what those red spots down near the low incisions are.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Friday, August 29...7 days post surgery...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The blistered spots look really red and were very sore, and I was starting to bruise.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tuesday, September 2...11 days post surgery...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Blister spots look much better and are very itchy and I'm still bruising.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5_yafxtQIpw/VAY6E5DnfvI/AAAAAAAALuE/R8AkFUBWJjc/s1600/sept%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5_yafxtQIpw/VAY6E5DnfvI/AAAAAAAALuE/R8AkFUBWJjc/s1600/sept%2B2.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's where we stand. My post-op appointment is September 11, almost 3 weeks after surgery. Hopefully everything continues to progress the way it should and I'll be back to normal in no time. After this recovery is done with, I'll still see Dr. Rogers every so often and in a month or so I'll be referred Dr. Paschall (who did my first colonoscopy back in June when I ended up in the hospital), and he will be my GI doctor and I'll work with him to manage my Crohn's. Thank you for your prayers during this process and I ask for your continued prayers as my healing continues!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-3284992085873627502014-08-18T19:45:00.001-07:002014-08-18T19:45:15.777-07:00First Day of Pre-K!!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today was Sara Kate's first day of Pre-K.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I can't believe my baby's in Pre-K! This is the last step before kindergarten!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BhX74Hin_VA/U_K1MD_dkTI/AAAAAAAALq0/ah6gkHKbmik/s1600/sk-4145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BhX74Hin_VA/U_K1MD_dkTI/AAAAAAAALq0/ah6gkHKbmik/s1600/sk-4145.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It seems like just yesterday she was going to her first day of school ever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And now she's on her last 'first day' at her school at this stage of her little life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G08_dKDJfTc/U_K2PAycK-I/AAAAAAAALrU/NPL4goYrSXA/s1600/sk-4144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G08_dKDJfTc/U_K2PAycK-I/AAAAAAAALrU/NPL4goYrSXA/s1600/sk-4144.jpg" height="320" width="203" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was looking at her take home packet today and was super impressed by their goals for the year...recognition of numbers 1-100, counting by 1s, 5s, 10s, and 25s, planet recognition, state recognition, telling time, basic reading, addition and subtraction...just to name a few. Also, ironically her teacher is from El Dorado, my hometown! But I don't know her. Small world!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Mommy, does this say 1st Day of Pre-K?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> She's getting SO big, and I love her so much!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh, and when she grows up she says she wants to be Queen Elsa. And when I asked her what she wants to do for a job when she grows up she said she wants to cook in the kitchen. Ha!! :-)</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-26578967191729921212014-08-17T18:38:00.000-07:002014-08-17T18:38:07.826-07:00My Little Swimmer<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you recall in a blog I wrote earlier in the summer, Sara Kate was scared of the pool (around the middle of June). She didn't want to get off the steps. Then a couple weeks after that she got brave and was swimming all over the pool with floaties. By July 4th weekend she was going off the diving board like a champ (with floaties) and wasn't scared at all. I was thrilled with her progress. I knew she needed swim lessons, and she started them second week of July. Last year she did them at the Fayetteville city pool, but this year we decided to go with semi-private lessons at the Fayetteville Athletic Club. It was Monday-Thursday for 30 minutes each day and it was $80. And I can honestly say it was the best $80 I spent all summer! In fact week 1 went so well, I signed her up for a second week of lessons and my mom was kind enough to foot the bill for week 2. And again, I think it was the best $80 spent!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first week was spent mostly with the instructor working on getting Sara Kate to use her arms. The little boy with her in class had taken a couple of weeks of lessons and he was more advanced than her. I think it was great for Sara Kate to be able to see what he could do. They would swim from the lane rope to the side, back and forth, back and forth, with their teacher working hard on getting Sara Kate to use her arms. My mom made me realize why she wasn't using her arm...she said it was because Sara Kate never had to use her arms when she would wear floaties. Made perfect sense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One big thing she learned in week 1 was how to tread water. I am SO glad she learned this skill, and she picked it up very quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another thing they worked on was back floating, but Sara Kate was having NONE of that. She was afraid and didn't want for her teacher to let go of her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TF70S96vY2A/U_Ex3S3qzLI/AAAAAAAALqE/rVb69AhRUWI/s1600/IMG_0086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TF70S96vY2A/U_Ex3S3qzLI/AAAAAAAALqE/rVb69AhRUWI/s1600/IMG_0086.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That weekend we went to a friends pool to work on her new skills. She still wasn't doing very well at using her arms, but she was able to swim her way across the pool, which I was very impressed by.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Week 2 started out with a BANG!! All of a sudden Sara Kate learned she can swim with her face in the water!! And she started using her arms! I was SO proud of her! Once again, she was paired with a little boy who was slightly more advanced than her. I don't know if that was part of her deciding to swim with her face in the water or what, but semi-private lessons were amazing for that reason!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After that, everything seemed to click. She also decided that she was just fine floating on her back by herself!! In fact, she loved floating on her back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After day 1 of week 2, they moved out of the lap pool and into the big open pool. This gave the kids more of an opportunity to really swim, and I think it made a huge difference for Sara Kate. She was using her arms, putting her face in the water to swim, and she even figured out how to come up for a breath and put her face back in the water to continue swimming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> By the end of the second week, she had made SO much progress. A couple weeks later we went swimming again at a friends pool and she swam the length of the pool by herself. I can't say it enough, I am just SO proud of her progress this summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since my surgery is Friday, we went swimming for the last time yesterday. I love watching her splash around having so much fun. I'm such a water person, I love swimming with her. There's no rest and relaxation time at the pool when you have a little one with no flotation device, but it's ok. I do not want her to be afraid of the water, and I want her to love it as much as I do. I think we're on the right track! I'm also SO thankful to our friends who let us crash their pools all summer. THANK YOU Morton's and Brawners!! :-)</span></div>
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Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-71309866464942820222014-08-13T19:33:00.002-07:002014-08-13T19:46:55.129-07:00Kitchen Makeover <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There's been a lack of blogging (alot lately) but more so recently because Chris and I have been engrossed in quite the project here at home! Let me start this by saying our house was built in 1998 and we bought it at the height of the housing boom in 2006, about 9 months after we got married. It was supposed to be our '5-year-starter-home' that has turned into our '8.5-years-later-and-we're-still-here-home,' thanks to the housing bubble busting! Our house was fine when it was just us but it's a little tighter with a kid and all her stuff! We've done lots of updates to our house over the years, but one project we've never tackled or even discussed is the kitchen. It's open, which is great, but it's small with not much counter space, not to mention I hate the counter tops. Back in July I got a wild hare, started looking online, and then I mentioned to Chris a couple of 'easy' ways we could update...including painting the kitchen cabinets, painting the walls, and possibly getting new counter tops. Well, we looked into new counter tops and decided it's out of the budget, but surprisingly enough, he was completely on board with painting the cabinets!! Here's the before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O3sGtECvDHo/U-rQOYiDgdI/AAAAAAAALmQ/lpFQhJFuXao/s1600/IMG_0435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O3sGtECvDHo/U-rQOYiDgdI/AAAAAAAALmQ/lpFQhJFuXao/s1600/IMG_0435.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VdcaOFzJI4/U-rQPqnFOUI/AAAAAAAALmY/_xcngGPwZNk/s1600/IMG_0436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VdcaOFzJI4/U-rQPqnFOUI/AAAAAAAALmY/_xcngGPwZNk/s1600/IMG_0436.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once we decided to do the project we did it right away because there wasn't much time left in Chris' summer break. We did read lots of blogs about painting cabinets and Chris watched lots of videos on YouTube before we got started (we started on July 28, which was a Monday). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_C5wN7EPbIY/U-v9pSq4ZFI/AAAAAAAALm4/YKVm5UZr8sw/s1600/IMG_0437.jpg" height="69" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We started taking things out of the cabinets and drawers on Monday and Tuesday night. We carefully piled things in the guest room, and yep, it ended up looking like the kitchen threw up in the spare bedroom!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VUynK-Uoet4/U-v9EJHYO8I/AAAAAAAALmo/t8hB7xWM-q4/s1600/IMG_0440.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tuesday night after we finished cleaning out, we taped. Chris took the cabinet doors off on Wednesday afternoon and cleaned everything really good with a de-greaser, and he primed the cabinets in the kitchen Wednesday night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xSOFkq9pfu8/U-v9gbsz2xI/AAAAAAAALmw/6y6oxOTYiA4/s1600/IMG_0446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xSOFkq9pfu8/U-v9gbsz2xI/AAAAAAAALmw/6y6oxOTYiA4/s1600/IMG_0446.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thursday afternoon he primed the cabinet doors, which were set up in the garage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jMi0rGXjbnY/U-v-G86xqqI/AAAAAAAALnA/n4Sxa0BpziE/s1600/IMG_0465.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jMi0rGXjbnY/U-v-G86xqqI/AAAAAAAALnA/n4Sxa0BpziE/s1600/IMG_0465.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thursday night we started painting, applying the first coat on the cabinets. The color we chose was 'Antique White,' and we used Valspar Signature latex paint. We did not do any sanding, as we felt it wasn't necessary based on what our cabinets were like. So we did save ourselves a step there and it worked out fine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cZugs4bfMik/U-v-IALt62I/AAAAAAAALnI/TbfXjPmkOZU/s1600/IMG_0455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cZugs4bfMik/U-v-IALt62I/AAAAAAAALnI/TbfXjPmkOZU/s1600/IMG_0455.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Each night we couldn't really start working until after Sara Kate went to bed, which was around 8:30. We knew we had the hard stuff left to do on Friday night and Saturday, and Chris' mom was kind enough to take Sara Kate as soon as we got home Friday. She kept her Friday night and all day Saturday, which was amazing. Friday night we put a second coat of paint on the cabinets in the kitchen and headed into the garage to paint the doors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QrzcoEuXfuc/U-v_dn0vo0I/AAAAAAAALnQ/t5jK7UhHaFY/s1600/IMG_0468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QrzcoEuXfuc/U-v_dn0vo0I/AAAAAAAALnQ/t5jK7UhHaFY/s1600/IMG_0468.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We painted the back side of the doors Friday night and luckily they were dry enough Saturday morning for us to flip them over. The front of the doors was a tedious process because of the beveling. I used a fancy brush we bought (a Purdy brand brush...I actually used this brush to get
around the moulding on the cabinets too) around all the edges and the
beveling and Chris came behind me and rolled. Once the first coat was on the doors we had to wait a while...we wanted to make sure it was good and dry before doing the second coat. We applied the first coat about 9:00 Saturday morning, went and ran some errands, and applied the second coat around 3:30 that afternoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-82gcnWS5eH4/U-wEKOWbqnI/AAAAAAAALnc/pboz9p3ZL-A/s1600/IMG_0484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-82gcnWS5eH4/U-wEKOWbqnI/AAAAAAAALnc/pboz9p3ZL-A/s1600/IMG_0484.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once we finished the doors we came back inside and touched up anything we felt needed touching up. Sunday afternoon we carefully peeled off the tape and put the appliances back. What a difference already!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oL_ByAAHJF4/U-wFliKpfwI/AAAAAAAALnk/zxFQ62wo4gg/s1600/IMG_0491.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oL_ByAAHJF4/U-wFliKpfwI/AAAAAAAALnk/zxFQ62wo4gg/s1600/IMG_0491.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I don't know if you can tell in the picture above, but we had a lovely fluorescent light that absolutely HAD to be changed while we were updating!! Chris' dad came over Sunday afternoon and they made a trip to Home Depot while I stayed home with Sara Kate. The fluorescent light left small holes in the ceiling and they had to so some screwing into the ceiling to set the mount for a new light.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ddN5wob23XE/U-wF9gwwPtI/AAAAAAAALns/IDQL5plQiJs/s1600/IMG_0510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ddN5wob23XE/U-wF9gwwPtI/AAAAAAAALns/IDQL5plQiJs/s1600/IMG_0510.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Unfortunately the light fixture Chris bought busted in his hands while he was installing it. So back to Home Depot we all went. Sara Kate loved 'driving the car.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5yA3LyS5f78/U-wGcEdDfHI/AAAAAAAALn0/_Fryz0A32ns/s1600/IMG_0520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5yA3LyS5f78/U-wGcEdDfHI/AAAAAAAALn0/_Fryz0A32ns/s1600/IMG_0520.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We got a different kind of light fixture, nothing fancy, and it was installed with no problems. So much better!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlOkV5rsqSg/U-wGmheBgGI/AAAAAAAALn8/NL7PnWAtFT4/s1600/IMG_0522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlOkV5rsqSg/U-wGmheBgGI/AAAAAAAALn8/NL7PnWAtFT4/s1600/IMG_0522.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The last thing we had to do was decide on hardware. Originally we had no knobs or pulls in the kitchen and we definitely wanted to add some. We looked at Lowe's and Home Depot and couldn't really agree on anything. Chris went by Target after school Tuesday afternoon and looked at what they had...who knew Target had that kind of stuff!! He sent me some pictures and we actually agreed a set! I went to Target that night to look at them, verify that's what I wanted, and buy them. I had a $100 gift card to Target and they were cheaper than what we saw at Lowe's or Home Depot, a win-win!! Wednesday morning Chris started installing and by Wednesday night it was all done and put back together. What a difference painting the cabinets and installing hardware made! We love how it turned out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ewqe-QBceL8/U-wUEZynC8I/AAAAAAAALoM/g9dpOSpV3Kw/s1600/IMG_0546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ewqe-QBceL8/U-wUEZynC8I/AAAAAAAALoM/g9dpOSpV3Kw/s1600/IMG_0546.jpg" height="181" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u4mKz95BCT4/U-wUIb_lzqI/AAAAAAAALoU/wf0CmoUZoC4/s1600/IMG_0564.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u4mKz95BCT4/U-wUIb_lzqI/AAAAAAAALoU/wf0CmoUZoC4/s1600/IMG_0564.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The final thing we were going to do was paint the walls. When we moved into our house almost every room was yellow. Over the years, we've painted almost every room and the kitchen was one of the last remaining yellow rooms. Based on the picture I was using as a guide during this whole process, I had my mind set on some variation of a light green (as you can see in the picture above, I had green paint samples leaned up against the wall). I thought painting the walls green would blend with the green counter tops and make them less noticeable. Chris was not really on board with this idea and was kind of pushing aside the idea of painting the walls. I talked to an interior designer friend at church on Sunday, told her what we had done, and told her what I wanted to do for paint. She's been to our house before, but I showed her some pictures of what the kitchen looked like after painting the cabinets and she immediately said do NOT paint green! She said paint grey and she even gave me a paint color, Ozark Shadows by Benjamin Moore. She said grey would do a better job of blending in with the green counter tops and would even mask some of the green. She showed me a fabric that had grey, green, blue, white, and chocolate brown, and she pointed out how well the colors blended together. This is the same friend who told us to paint our living room chocolate brown several years ago and we did it without hesitation, and to this day we still love it. So once again, without hesitation I said ok to the grey! I didn't think we would do it right away but Sunday afternoon Chris told me to go buy a sample, then changed his mind and said just buy a gallon. We bought Valspar Signature, latex paint, egg shell finish, in Ozark Shadows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Originally we were going to tape Sunday night and paint Monday but somehow we ended up doing the whole thing Sunday afternoon and evening. We did touch ups Monday evening.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sPgsMcmYn6c/U-wXjI7KQqI/AAAAAAAALok/5cxvEijpaPg/s1600/IMG_0645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sPgsMcmYn6c/U-wXjI7KQqI/AAAAAAAALok/5cxvEijpaPg/s1600/IMG_0645.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wnuGlq9KwFg/U-wXkiIi9OI/AAAAAAAALos/A1fp_JYOZf4/s1600/IMG_0647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wnuGlq9KwFg/U-wXkiIi9OI/AAAAAAAALos/A1fp_JYOZf4/s1600/IMG_0647.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c3OB3KosrM4/U-wXm_JXdtI/AAAAAAAALo0/cgPn6jRZCYw/s1600/IMG_0646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c3OB3KosrM4/U-wXm_JXdtI/AAAAAAAALo0/cgPn6jRZCYw/s1600/IMG_0646.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Below is the finished product once the tape was removed. It's a complete 180 from where the kitchen was 2 weeks ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Once again, here are the <b>BEFORE</b> pictures.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qedlYxoHBto/U-wifHclyaI/AAAAAAAALpo/SK1_VyL7XJ4/s1600/IMG_0436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qedlYxoHBto/U-wifHclyaI/AAAAAAAALpo/SK1_VyL7XJ4/s1600/IMG_0436.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And <b>AFTER</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79QGvl3FqCE/U-wYBpnA4HI/AAAAAAAALpA/0IlDr4m4ZSc/s1600/IMG_0652.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We still have to put the blinds back up, window treatments, rugs, and some decorating, but I'm really pleased with the way things turned out. Sitting in the living room and looking into the kitchen you can't even tell the counter tops are green, they look grey, and in daylight it's less obvious too. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New counter tops aren't completely out of the question and is something we'll address at a later date.</span> And I am planning to incorporate the fabric Cecily showed me to help pull things together, also. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's what we've been up to lately! It's been quite a project and we have stayed busy over the last couple of weeks, but in the end, we are very glad we made these changes!</span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-72667476008135144472014-07-24T20:45:00.003-07:002014-07-24T20:47:53.688-07:00The Plan<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I've been waiting to post this for a week now and today I finally got the final piece of the puzzle. Let me back up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Remember when I was in the hospital last month? See <b><a href="http://ckmichaels.blogspot.com/2014/06/so-im-in-hospitalpart-1.html">here</a></b> and <a href="http://ckmichaels.blogspot.com/2014/06/so-im-in-hospitalpart-2.html"><b>here</b></a> if needed. Well since then, I've been home and on steroids. I had a doctor's appointment on June 24, and at that time he started to taper my steroid dosage and scheduled a CT scan on July 15 and a colonoscopy on July 16. The CT was no problem. I had to be at the outpatient imagining center at 8 am, I drank the drink (which was just 32 oz of metallic tasting water), got the scan, and I was at work by 10:30. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yep, selfie in the waiting room. I'm so cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5CBgmzuu8EQ/U9HHisbgf5I/AAAAAAAALkU/BNEn2gU0de0/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5CBgmzuu8EQ/U9HHisbgf5I/AAAAAAAALkU/BNEn2gU0de0/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That night my mother in law took Sara Kate because I knew I would be in no business to parent, as I had to do the dreaded colon cleanse. Remember the gallon of prep I had to drink in the hospital before the first scope? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-spfOhQltERk/U9HJqux1u2I/AAAAAAAALks/buPAeztjBhE/s1600/photo%289%29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-spfOhQltERk/U9HJqux1u2I/AAAAAAAALks/buPAeztjBhE/s1600/photo(9).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yeah. Not cool. Well this time it wasn't a gallon, thankfully. It was 2-16 oz drinks of pure horribleness, which were consumed 5 hours apart, and each was followed by 32 oz of water within the hour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2 of these mixed with water, followed by 32 oz of water </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xutcY1indsw/U9HHFkg-y9I/AAAAAAAALkE/dzAH5c1luHo/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xutcY1indsw/U9HHFkg-y9I/AAAAAAAALkE/dzAH5c1luHo/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was using Diet Coke as a chaser (the lemonade in the background did NOT work and I didn't have anything else here) and I tried envision myself as a colon cleansing 'STAR' (thank you Diet Coke for your inspiration) whilst chasing...alas, it didn't work, HA!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I can't describe how awful this stuff is. Like bad, salty cough syrup with the worst after taste you can imagine. Actually, that description doesn't even begin to describe how bad it was. I finally went to bed about 1:30 am and was up at 4:30 am because we had to be at the hospital at 6 am.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wZTaD-Fo9c8/U9HJ_IJQJeI/AAAAAAAALk0/hfUyuldTCkg/s1600/photo+2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wZTaD-Fo9c8/U9HJ_IJQJeI/AAAAAAAALk0/hfUyuldTCkg/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I got checked in and was in the room by 7:00. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More selfie fun. This is my 'ET Phone Home' finger. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r-kumJbNGXw/U9HIL6vPHNI/AAAAAAAALkg/yY4JS2OrUJ0/s1600/photo+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r-kumJbNGXw/U9HIL6vPHNI/AAAAAAAALkg/yY4JS2OrUJ0/s1600/photo+6.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While we waited, I had no cell reception but I learned how to do a panorama with my phone. Again, I'm so cool. HA!! So here's the colonoscopy room (minus what was behind my bed) if anyone is interested!</span></div>
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<img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NtwNzWxW-10/U9HNkm3ztFI/AAAAAAAALls/tdpQIWYyZqU/s1600/photo(10).jpg" height="69" width="320" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The scope was scheduled for 7:30 and Dr. Rogers finally came in around 8 (which was good because I wasn't expecting to see him before the procedure). He told us (me and mom) the CT showed the right side of my colon looks much better and the left side is the bad side, the diseased side, and that's the side with the stricture. His thought was he would be removing the left side, but he said, "lets see what the scope shows." Well, turns out colonoscopy #2 was just like colonoscopy #1...he couldn't get through the stricture, therefore it couldn't be completed. He told me at my appointment in June that hopefully the steroids would 'soften it' and he could try to use a balloon to push through, but the stricture wasn't softened by the steroids and it was so hard and fibrous he was afraid of tearing something so the balloon wasn't an option. So I suppose the status rest of my colon remains a mystery (apart from what they can see on the CT). I was told his office would call me the next day to schedule surgery, and if they didn't call I was to call them. So Thursday I waited and waited and finally called them about 3:30. Turns out their 'scheduler' was out until Monday so she would call me then. Great, waiting through the weekend. Awesome. Not. Oh well. Weekend fun still ensued, despite my wait, thanks to this cutie...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jjs-k6XOzfg/U9HKPVd0zsI/AAAAAAAALk8/qFubjcDDbyM/s1600/photo+7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jjs-k6XOzfg/U9HKPVd0zsI/AAAAAAAALk8/qFubjcDDbyM/s1600/photo+7.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T-gJHJkaedw/U9HKQfU6d3I/AAAAAAAALlE/q_QXLAXl4vM/s1600/photo+9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T-gJHJkaedw/U9HKQfU6d3I/AAAAAAAALlE/q_QXLAXl4vM/s1600/photo+9.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And thanks to my awesome mama who stayed through the weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l_4UoognLhU/U9HKRWFh27I/AAAAAAAALlM/ooIPMLfhavY/s1600/photo+8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l_4UoognLhU/U9HKRWFh27I/AAAAAAAALlM/ooIPMLfhavY/s1600/photo+8.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Monday came and went, Tuesday came and went, and I finally called them back Wednesday afternoon. Well their scheduler was still out, due to sickness. Frustration!! That is a circumstance beyond anyone's control but it still upset me. Never thought this "little" colon problem would drag out all summer. They finally called this afternoon, with their first available surgery on August 18. Nope, not gonna work...that's the first day of school. She gave me a couple of other options, I called Chris, and we decided on August 22 as D-Day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I have surgery scheduled on August 22, with a pre-op appointment on August 20 at the hospital and a pre-op appointment with Dr. Rogers on the same day. So that's the plan. In the meantime, I've tapered completely off my steroids, which is good, but it makes me nervous at the same time. I'm definitely ready for the wacky steroid side effects to be gone (night sweats, being wired, hungry all the time, and the 2 worst side effects at the moment in my mind are fat face and swollen, puffy stomach thanks to the 'fat deposits' steroids cause...and no amount of running or sit ups are helping that!), but I hope nothing flares up in the next month while I'm on no medicine and waiting for surgery. So that's that! I'm relieved it's scheduled, but all of a sudden I'm quite nervous and scared. The only surgery I've ever had was tubes in my ears and adenoids out when I was 4. My mind set all along has been there's no need to dwell on the negatives because what's going to be will be. So I'll continue to try to stay in a positive place throughout the next month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An office selfie post phone call from the doctor's office because...well, why not...this blog is full of goofy selfie's! :-) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-phMUQgqCC8A/U9HLyrsCr1I/AAAAAAAALlg/MRQ5_cERg8o/s1600/photo+11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-phMUQgqCC8A/U9HLyrsCr1I/AAAAAAAALlg/MRQ5_cERg8o/s1600/photo+11.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Your prayers are still very much appreciated, and I'll keep the blog updated!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>-Philippians 4:6-7 </i></span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-22772494567949364252014-07-09T20:19:00.002-07:002014-07-09T20:21:47.183-07:004th of July Weekend<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know I'm a couple days behind, but a super fun weekend has come and gone. In fact, it was so much fun! Chris found it to be exhausting, but I found it to be quiet relaxing. Maybe that's because I'm still hyped up on steroids, ha!! I got off work early Thursday and picked Sara Kate up from school. We came home, had dinner and went to dance, before heading to the Northwest Arkansas mall to see the firework show! We met up with our sweet friends, the Vann's, and we sat in a field beside the movie theatre. It was a great location! Sara Kate was so excited to see Landry and watch the fireworks with her. I love these sweet girls so much. They are so precious together. Sara Kate brought her princesses so they could play while they waited. And once the fireworks started they sat together and ate popcorn. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pxI6olgND0o/U7md9Fnm66I/AAAAAAAALho/OWl58r3i0fA/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pxI6olgND0o/U7md9Fnm66I/AAAAAAAALho/OWl58r3i0fA/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love this picture!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZHgOyzMVRo/U7mdyhW5MoI/AAAAAAAALhg/2RwaM3iMvu8/s1600/photo+11.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZHgOyzMVRo/U7mdyhW5MoI/AAAAAAAALhg/2RwaM3iMvu8/s1600/photo+11.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was our second year to go watch the firework show at the mall, and I'd say it's a great tradition we'll continue in future years!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday morning we were up, playing early, and waiting for some very special visitors. My brother and sister-in-law were coming for a visit from Memphis! We haven't seen them since Christmas so we were all very excited. I didn't tell Sara Kate they were coming, but once they got here she started being so goofy and showing off because she was so excited. We cooked some burgers for lunch before heading out for a fun pool day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Independence Day from the Michaels family!</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dg7Ribc5qQ0/U7mgPNCFxzI/AAAAAAAALh0/RBrJNpoVhOg/s1600/photo+13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dg7Ribc5qQ0/U7mgPNCFxzI/AAAAAAAALh0/RBrJNpoVhOg/s1600/photo+13.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember my blog from a couple of weeks ago about the little girl who was terrified to get off the steps and clung to me like a monkey?? Well that girl is GONE!! In the last 2 weeks we have made MAJOR progress on the swimming front. She's swimming by herself, jumping off the side, and even jumping off the diving board all by herself!! I am SO proud of her! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhAzqYAtAC4/U74AE1dyPbI/AAAAAAAALiQ/CnGNkkiY1cc/s1600/photo+14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhAzqYAtAC4/U74AE1dyPbI/AAAAAAAALiQ/CnGNkkiY1cc/s1600/photo+14.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We spent a couple hours at the pool swimming before it started clouding over pretty good. We stopped for ice cream on the way home before spending the evening at home cooking out, eating yummy food, and listening to the war zone that was our neighborhood thanks to everyone shooting off fireworks! Sara Kate was exhausted so I had her in bed by 8:30, before the fireworks started going off around us, and thankfully she slept right through it all!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday morning we had a little bit of lazy time before Uncle Phil and Aunt Holly got to see Sara Kate in action in her gymnastics class. No pictures but she did get a ribbon for being a great listener that said 'I did my best for the Williams Center.' She was proud of her 'rivvon,' as she called it. We had a nice lunch downtown at Loafin' Joe's (if you haven't been there, go! They make their own potato chips and bread...yum!), before doing a little shopping.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And after naps, it was time for more swimming!! Once again, we had another great afternoon at the pool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n74V9TVm67I/U74BqLBu-jI/AAAAAAAALis/nBjDKT8vHuk/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n74V9TVm67I/U74BqLBu-jI/AAAAAAAALis/nBjDKT8vHuk/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And once again, Sara Kate did amazing, swimming all over and going off the diving board over and over and over and over and over and over again. These still shots crack me up, especially the tongue out, ha!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XBAJeXHMlkI/U74BuHOXUqI/AAAAAAAALi8/jidIR7PcOLg/s1600/photo+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XBAJeXHMlkI/U74BuHOXUqI/AAAAAAAALi8/jidIR7PcOLg/s1600/photo+6.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And because I'm a proud mama, we have more video too. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyuHvrX0F98Ywrgr2M-s6yu8ZUGkjqpabBSBqwH86jV3_LQpfzg9sPK7Tl46BIOYrMtJ5k7EZc4SvJ33-smxw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And because Chris is a proud daddy, he took video in slow motion that he's pretty proud of!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw9PX_K_sBPK1EZKG9dVDoZuaoSjnCBngaI11if7SekH2nluPlnKToXqw_IcB7yeJ5dWb-QQQ21bwvdc-O2Xw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We took our left over BBQ from Friday night with us to the pool and shared it with our friends, the Morton's, whose pool we had been crashing all weekend. We had a lovely visit and Sara Kate had fun in 'Mrs. Jane's house!' We were in the back yard and she sat on this green bench and said, 'Mommy, look at this pretty green bench. I'm going to sit on it and I want you to take my picture. It's so pretty and it'll be such a cute picture.' HAHA!!! Ok baby girl, whatever you say! :-)</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Mrz3h5s9A8/U74Cv_oi8NI/AAAAAAAALjI/IINBUlqKsyU/s1600/photo+9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Mrz3h5s9A8/U74Cv_oi8NI/AAAAAAAALjI/IINBUlqKsyU/s1600/photo+9.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got home in time for bath and another early bed time, before the fireworks started up again in our neighborhood. I'm such a old lady when it comes to fireworks, ha!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday morning brought a lovely church service, brunch, and having to say goodbye to Uncle Phil and Aunt Holly. We were sad to see them go, but we had an amazing weekend with them, and we're so thankful they came to visit. I know Sara Kate had a blast with them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that was our super fun weekend. I'm already looking forward to the next holiday weekend and a trip to Memphis soon to visit Phillip and Holly!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-29807638573179613062014-06-21T19:19:00.002-07:002014-06-21T19:19:44.557-07:00First Day of Summer!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HELLO SUMMER!! Today is the first official day of summer and we had a full day planned to kick things off! The other day I realized it's blueberry picking season and I started thinking about how much Sara Kate would love doing that. She's always asking me to buy blueberries so I thought that's how we should start our day. We headed out bright and early!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kj3a1MrtYcg/U6Yyh6Z0u0I/AAAAAAAALfI/UCiNksRsX1Q/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kj3a1MrtYcg/U6Yyh6Z0u0I/AAAAAAAALfI/UCiNksRsX1Q/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I looked up a couple of local blueberry patches and decided on one that's not too far from where we live, between Elkins and Goshen. It's called Blue Heaven Blueberry Farm, and it's a cute little place with maybe 5 acres of bushes. I asked my mother-in-law about going with us and I'm glad she came. Sara Kate loved having her there with us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p2rJWpAeyeU/U6Yy4s1jY3I/AAAAAAAALfQ/3Wq_obJmACI/s1600/photo+12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p2rJWpAeyeU/U6Yy4s1jY3I/AAAAAAAALfQ/3Wq_obJmACI/s1600/photo+12.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We got there about 8:30 and had a little over an hour to pick before we had to leave to get to Sara Kate's gymnastics class at 10. We heard a man say the ripest berries were towards the back so we just walked the rows, heading towards the back, and the berries were huge!! And soooo good! Sara Kate would put some in her bucket then eat some, ha! She kept saying 'Ok, ok, this is the last one!' We learned that the smaller bushes had the biggest berries!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z8gmHzyjYgI/U6YzTg0NiaI/AAAAAAAALfY/APGwwTue-yE/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z8gmHzyjYgI/U6YzTg0NiaI/AAAAAAAALfY/APGwwTue-yE/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fPIU4SHx2yg/U6YzlFSYYnI/AAAAAAAALfg/LDkL4zDXrG8/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fPIU4SHx2yg/U6YzlFSYYnI/AAAAAAAALfg/LDkL4zDXrG8/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Between the 3 of us, we picked 3 buckets full before Sara Kate and I had to rush to gymnastics. I think Sara Kate ate berries the whole way back to town. And after gymnastics, she had to have 'her bag' again. She loves them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqykWZiKetw/U6Y0C2q0bDI/AAAAAAAALfo/uUy_eBuN8as/s1600/photo+11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqykWZiKetw/U6Y0C2q0bDI/AAAAAAAALfo/uUy_eBuN8as/s1600/photo+11.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chris had a photo shoot in Rogers today so after gymnastics I had planned for us to pick up some lunch and head to a friends house to swim. It was a perfect pool day! And what better activity to do on the first day of summer! :-) Sara Kate told me she wanted a turkey sandwich, chips, and milk for lunch so that's what we had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zPcq5wv2Vvc/U6Y0ZWCN7sI/AAAAAAAALfw/qCCJziuzgDc/s1600/photo+10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zPcq5wv2Vvc/U6Y0ZWCN7sI/AAAAAAAALfw/qCCJziuzgDc/s1600/photo+10.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> What a goofball!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTICiIEze7A/U6Y0Z5FZhHI/AAAAAAAALf0/8whGE_MCUHo/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTICiIEze7A/U6Y0Z5FZhHI/AAAAAAAALf0/8whGE_MCUHo/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And after lunch a certain little girl was SUPER excited about swimming!! I love that smile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kSdKwGBwKtY/U6Y0tPGzbSI/AAAAAAAALgA/NAJiFd-gGpE/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kSdKwGBwKtY/U6Y0tPGzbSI/AAAAAAAALgA/NAJiFd-gGpE/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ7c2BdYHS4/U6Y0xDhtbII/AAAAAAAALgI/M723eynmGMI/s1600/photo+13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ7c2BdYHS4/U6Y0xDhtbII/AAAAAAAALgI/M723eynmGMI/s1600/photo+13.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But after all her BIG talk over the winter about putting her face in the water and jumping in the water by herself and swimming like a big girl, she was scared and I had to REALLY coax her away from the steps. She held onto me so tight and I couldn't get her understand that she could float with her floaties on. She did practice her kicking, blowing bubbles, and floating on her back while holding onto the side. So that's small progress. But it was our first time in a big pool this year so I'm sure after a few more times, it'll be no big deal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b-2t3p4gvbc/U6Y1Ws6_K8I/AAAAAAAALgQ/JCJb-SitUeI/s1600/photo+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b-2t3p4gvbc/U6Y1Ws6_K8I/AAAAAAAALgQ/JCJb-SitUeI/s1600/photo+9.jpg" height="318" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I love that we have sweet friends who let us come over whenever and I love going to the pool with my girl. Being in/near water is one of my all time favorite things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPwdkY1GiZY/U6Y1avkWfFI/AAAAAAAALgY/fAsVwt4EJvg/s1600/photo+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPwdkY1GiZY/U6Y1avkWfFI/AAAAAAAALgY/fAsVwt4EJvg/s1600/photo+6.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We headed home about 2:00 and I had plans to use some of those freshly picked blueberries!! I found a recipe for a blueberry cake and decided I HAD to make it. Sara Kate helped me buy the ingredients on the way home and she was so excited to make a cake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ztfGJK6tl34/U6Y3t3C_PzI/AAAAAAAALgk/xZ7m-plrk4s/s1600/photo+14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ztfGJK6tl34/U6Y3t3C_PzI/AAAAAAAALgk/xZ7m-plrk4s/s1600/photo+14.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.aspicyperspective.com/2014/05/blueberry-cake.html"><b>Here's</b></a> the recipe...it's soooo good!! I followed the recipe exactly, except I didn't make the crumbly oat topping that goes over the glaze. And here's my finished product...I don't think I've ever made anything so fancy looking before, ha!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUXe1sUHlYY/U6Y4QAdh5VI/AAAAAAAALgs/xWmpotJbxqk/s1600/photo+7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUXe1sUHlYY/U6Y4QAdh5VI/AAAAAAAALgs/xWmpotJbxqk/s1600/photo+7.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And here's my adorable little helper with our finished product. Can I just say, baking with a 4 year old gives me MAJOR anxiety!! She may have stuck her finger in the batter wanting 'a lick'...she may have turned on my mixer when it was in the off position...she may have licked flour off the counter...or maybe I'm just too high strung, HA!! That's probably it. But she loves to help and I really try my best to not be high strung and enjoy these experiences with her. I know she won't always want to be with mama all the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zO5OvrKDOcE/U6Y4cYUY8VI/AAAAAAAALg0/1NEfFrOZeFg/s1600/photo+8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zO5OvrKDOcE/U6Y4cYUY8VI/AAAAAAAALg0/1NEfFrOZeFg/s1600/photo+8.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After a busy, busy day, it was an early lights out for a certain little girl! She didn't fight taking a bath, she didn't fight getting out (even told me she was ready to get out), and she went straight to sleep with no fuss. Here's hoping that an 8 pm bedtime doesn't bite me in the butt in the morning with a 5 am wake up!! Fingers crossed! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hope everyone had a great day, and despite what's going on with me medically right now, we're looking forward to a great summer!!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-81642933256026638332014-06-09T19:03:00.003-07:002014-06-09T19:29:34.786-07:00So I'm in the Hospital...Part 2<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My last post was kind of a downer, and I apologize, but that's where we were at the time. So I think I can start this update with a little bit of good news. The other day the surgeon seemed quite sure about the plan...steroids, another CT scan, another colonoscopy, and surgery. Quick, fast, boom, done. We unexpectedly saw him on both Saturday and Sunday, and he seemed more impressed with my progress each day. He decided to move forward with the CT scan today and make a plan from there. The GI doctor came in about an hour after the scan and said the inflammation is improving, which is the point of the steroids. After consulting with the surgeon, the GI doctor said they want to continue the use of the steroids for a little longer because they are doing their job. The idea is to switch me from IV steroids to an oral steroid taper and possibly send me home tomorrow! Eeek!! So I got kind of excited. Then the surgeon came by this evening and said the same thing...the CT looks better and he wants to continue the steroids to bring down the inflammation as much as possible so he can get the best look during the next colonoscopy. BUT he said it maybe Wednesday before I go home. Not definitive, but he's the one in charge. So that kind of brought me back down, upsetting. Miss my peeps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This situation isn't resolved, not even close, but the next colonoscopy, surgery, etc. will not be quite so immediate. He said once I'm released he will see me as an outpatient within the next 2 weeks for the next colonoscopy and determine how much surgery is necessary. If the 'proximal colon' (the rest of it, aside from the stricture) is much improved he can maybe just go in and just remove the stricture and not the entire colon (which is what he originally thought). So that's good news. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There have been changes on the diet front. I have been moved from a clear liquid diet to a soft/bland or full liquid diet. Actually, we're wondering if maybe they messed up the order because yesterday they brought me chicken and mashed potatoes and today they brought me blended vegetable soup (hello baby food consistency...and so gross!!) and pudding for lunch and blended chicken noodle soup (not AS bad...kind of like bland cream of chicken soup) and cream of wheat (no thank you!!) for dinner. I'm experiencing a good bit more pain again today with cramping, and I assume that's because of the diet change. So that's a fear I have about going home and trying to eat what I'm supposed to to minimize pain. But I'm sure there will be plenty of discussions about all kinds of stuff before I'm discharged. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For your viewing pleasure...please don't be jealous, HA! And for the record, I'm still starving and got upset when I saw blended soup tonight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When it comes to my sanity at the moment, I am so thankful for the support we've received this week. Family who have shuttled Sara Kate around...my mom took her to gymnastics, her Meme took her a birthday party, and her daddy took her to a birthday party over the weekend. All things I usually do, which I missed doing. Also, my dad came up for just 24 hours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before one party...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> After another party, showing me her balloon...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pictures daddy took during a party so I could see...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And speaking of being thankful, I am beyond thankful for my sweet friends who have come by. I'm so thankful for friends who have just stopped by to chat. I'm so thankful for friends that have brought me entertainment, like puzzle books, magazines, things to read, and I have some beautiful flowers to look at. I'm so thankful for friends who have not only thought about me, but have thought about Sara Kate, and have been bringing things for her. That melts my heart more than anything, that these sweet friends would think of HER also.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was dreading sitting in the hospital all weekend and the visits, calls, texts, and messages really helped passed the time and made it not so bad. So THANK YOU!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll end with one last picture. Chris brought Sara Kate up this afternoon and she brought her magic wand in with her. She said 'Bippity boppity boo mommy! I brought my magic want to make you better!' Melt my heart sweet girl and cue the tears!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's the latest update. You're prayers are still very much appreciated. Hopefully my next update will be about my ability to bust out of this joint! HA!! :-)</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-70485457876546770582014-06-06T21:06:00.001-07:002014-06-06T21:06:26.364-07:00So I'm in the Hospital...Part 1<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
Here's a little history. Anyone who knows me from high school may remember that when I was a junior I had severe food poisoning and ended up severely sick for 3 weeks, with 1 week spent in the hospital. Not people know but after that I ended up with an unofficial diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. It was never made official because of my age but throughout college I managed it with medicine and when I moved to Fayetteville I quit having problems. Then when Chris and I got married I quit taking the medicine. For the almost 9 years we've been married I haven't had any problems. So it's been 11 or so years. But things changed over the weekend. </div>
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Sunday afternoon I laid down to nap when Sara Kate did and couldn't really sleep. I started cramping and was just able to lightly doze off. I was able to eat dinner Sunday night, do laundry, bathe Sara Kate, get her to bed, normal Sunday stuff, but during the night I couldn't sleep because the pain had gotten so intense. At 4 am I started throwing up. Cramping, throwing up, cramping, throwing up (dry heaving, actually). That was my cycle. My mother in law brought me some Ginger Ale Monday morning and I couldn't keep anything down, not even a little sip. Chris wanted me to call the doctor so I got an appointment for Monday afternoon. Basically the doctor just said I had severe constipation, and gave me some medicine for that, along with pain relievers for the cramping, along with some anti-nausea pills. I went back home and still couldn't keep anything down, no pain pills or anti-nausea pills, no drink, no crackers. I stayed in bed with intense pain all night and Monday night was awful. The cramping/throwing up cycle continued all night. Chris had me call the doctor's office again Tuesday morning and I talked to the nurse then waited for a call back from the doctor. He ended up calling the nurse an hour later and she said go to the ER. So we came to the hospital and once I got back to a room they started an IV with fluids, administered pain relievers (THANK GOD!!!!), and anti-nausea medicine. </div>
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The doctor also ordered a CT scan. The results of the scan came back and showed my entire colon is inflamed, which indicates...Crohn's Disease. I was shocked. My mom was shocked. They admitted me and had me prep for a colonoscopy. By the way, if you've never had a colonoscopy the prep drink to clean you out is HORRIBLE. Beyond horrible. Like hold my nose, try to chug, chase it with a sip of juice, and I had to drink a gallon of it. That was a rough night/morning. </div>
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I was taken down for the colonoscopy Tuesday afternoon and unfortunately the results weren't good. The doctor was in the waiting room talking to Chris and my mom, who came up during the day, within 15 minutes. The doctor couldn't get far because of a stricture, which is basically a scar tissue blockage. So the course of action going further is to administer steroids to try to reduce the inflammation so they can complete the colonoscopy. The GI doctor passed my case onto the colo-rectal surgeon and he came in Wednesday evening. Again, not the best news. He basically said we're not talking about IF with surgery, but WHEN, and the other unknown is how much colon will be removed. He wants to give the steroids 5 days to decrease the inflammation so he can hopefully complete the colonoscopy and see what the rest looks like. He drew a lovely picture on the dry erase board to demonstrate what he thinks whats going on. It doesn't make alot of sense unless you heard his explanation but it's amusing. </div>
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He's planned another CT scan Monday, the next colonoscopy on Tuesday, and then he'll make a decision on when for the surgery. And after all this the Crohn's will be treated with medicine, regardless of what happens next week. So I'm just playing the waiting game, sitting in the hospital, getting IV steroids and fluids (but they disconnected the fluids this evening as long as I continue to drink). As I sit in the hospital for what seems like hours on end (because it is), I can't eat. I'm on a liquid diet...so some lovely broth (which I don't like), jello (which I only like red jello and I only tolerate it, not like), sprite or coke (which I don't really like either of those either), and juice (which I'm not a big juice person). Yes I'm a picky eater! And at this point this is the hardest part because I am STARVING...I haven't eaten since Sunday. </div>
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Another negative is the steroids keep me wired so I can't sleep. And they cause awful night sweats when I can sleep. </div>
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But I'm going to back track a minute...I said the hardest part is the diet but really the worst part is being away from my baby. I miss her. She's come to visit everyday and I'm so glad. Wednesday afternoon she was stand-offish, didn't know what to think, didn't want to come talk to me, but she also didn't know my mom was going to be here and she was excited to see her. It made me sad but I understood her apprehension. She did manage to have a little fun with a balloon glove Meme made her.</div>
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Thursday afternoon Chris went to the Dollar Tree and picked up a coloring book, some crayons, and a puzzle before he picked her up and brought her by with her goodies. She was much more normal. She climbed into my bed next to me and we colored together. She ate her dinner in my bed (which was torture watching her eat Chick-Fil-A but it was totally worth her being here). She wanted me to keep her papers from school and hang them in my room. She told me she missed me. She gave me hugs and kisses. And it made me so happy. </div>
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Today her Meme picked her up and brought her by and she immediately got her crayons and coloring book (we made her a drawer with her stuff!) and she climbed up to color with me. And she shared my Sonic slush with me while she ate an apple. I loved her sitting there with me. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's what's going on. As for me, I'm holding up ok. I'm in shock by all this. It has all happened so fast, even though the doctors said according to the CT scan this has been building for a couple of months. My emotions are doing ok staying in check. I got emotional this morning just thinking about the upcoming week, this will sound bizarre but I got a little emotional about being so hungry and watching Chris eat dinner (I insisted he eat in here with me, he wasn't being rude), and I teared up watching Sara Kate leave this evening. But we play with the cards we're dealt, deal with it, and move on! You're prayers are much appreciated and I'll update when I know more!</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Or if I get bored...haha. :-)</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-38197634644090349222014-05-26T19:37:00.003-07:002014-05-26T19:46:26.543-07:00Fishin'<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last week I was talking to my friend Julie about taking Sara Kate fishing with her uncle and cousins, mainly because we went Memorial weekend last year and she has been talking about wanting to go again. Except I didn't say 'fishING,' I said 'fishIN,' and she thought it was hysterical how my southern drawl came out. I am a southern girl, born and raised, and some words come out way more southern sounding than others...apparently, FISHIN' is one of them. HA! Today after my parents left, Sara Kate and I loaded up and headed to Berryville. She was beyond excited to one, see her cousins, mainly Hannah, and two, go FISHIN'! We had this conversation in the car on the way there...</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: Yea! We're going fishing!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Me: Do you know what fishing is? (just wondering if she really remembers)</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: Yes! It's when you go to the water and catch fish.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: With our hands.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Me: No silly. With a pole.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: With a pole? Oh yeah! With a pole! Hannah and I are going to put our faces in the water.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Me: You are?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: Oh wait, no. We can't put our faces in the fish water. The fishes might bite our noses and slap us with their tails.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Me: laughing...</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She cracks me up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pretty quickly after we got to Berryville, we headed to the river. These kids were beyond excited. And I can't help but laugh looking at these silly cheeses!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I had one VERY excited little girl!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Most of Jason's family was there, his parents and sister and her husband and kids, and even my sweet friend Julie, who made fun of the way I said FISHIN', joined us with her adorable little pup!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The kids swam, even though the water was freezing!! Kids don't care about that though, ha! And I use the term 'swam' loosely because the water was very shallow and they could all touch just fine, but they enjoyed floating and letting the current take them a little ways before walking back and doing it again (don't worry, there was plenty of supervision).</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Me: Sara Kate, are you cold?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: No mommy. *shaking and teeth chattering*</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then Uncle Jason, his mom, and Aunt Jenny broke out the fishing poles! And a somebody caught their first fish of the year! And she was SO excited!! And it was adorable!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She even wanted to hold it, which of course didn't last long because it squirmed right out of her hands. But she did hold it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All the kids took turns catching fish before we had to head out because rain was coming. But we had a great day. I love doing fun stuff like this with my big girl, and I loved hanging out with friends and family. And I'm glad she got to expend some energy because I had a WILD child on my hands this morning! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_HxR4ITp5is/U4P05oN-R6I/AAAAAAAALUk/62F3LBufT8g/s1600/photo(1).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She had a great day and was exhausted this evening. Early to bed...yea!!</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hope everyone had a great Memorial weekend! We're so thankful for all the men and women who serve our country and allow us to live in this great, free land!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-80874556329045476512014-05-18T19:46:00.000-07:002014-05-18T19:55:49.740-07:00First Recital<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My tiny dancer had her first dance recital today. I'll go ahead and admit that I had TONS of anxiety going into today. I have had several dreams that I would get her there late, that she wouldn't be dressed, that I forgot her hairpiece, and yesterday's dream included me dropping her off naked with wet hair and no make up. Yep, I'm a mess. But the main cause of my anxiety was the timing. It was at 3:00 this afternoon, and they had to be there at 2:30. Those times are right in the middle of nap time. A situation with my child on no nap has the potential to be a disaster, but the stars aligned and today went off without a hitch. I tried to get her to lay down for about 30 minutes before we had to start getting ready but all she wanted to do was read books. So we read books. Then we got ready. Hair (I tried curling her hair yesterday just to see if I could do it and her hair will not hold curl...AT ALL!!), make up, costume...check!! All ready to go and so so beautiful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-faQPzR6ILnM/U3lmiJrmJnI/AAAAAAAALQc/IKIFMQOZHNE/s1600/dancerecital-4747.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-faQPzR6ILnM/U3lmiJrmJnI/AAAAAAAALQc/IKIFMQOZHNE/s1600/dancerecital-4747.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fVMIg5EyjeM/U3lqWxucFkI/AAAAAAAALSQ/8YiBXjJrHHI/s1600/dancerecital-4754.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fVMIg5EyjeM/U3lqWxucFkI/AAAAAAAALSQ/8YiBXjJrHHI/s1600/dancerecital-4754.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate's class was in the Act 1, and let me tell you, they had this down to a science!! Bring kids on stage, kids dance, move kids off stage, next group enters, and repeat. In the dressing room the kids stayed with a 'room mom' until it was their time, then they went back to the dressing room until intermission when we could pick them up. The room mom for Sara Kate's class was the sweetest...she brought them each a little canvas bag with 'dance' stenciled on it, and it had a coloring book, crayons, stickers, and markers in it. And afterwards she had them each a granola bar and chocolate milk. So sweet!! Sara Kate's class danced to 'La Bamba' and as you can see from pictures they had maracas. Another source of anxiety was they had NEVER practiced with the maracas!! After talking with a couple other mom's we all shared that same anxiety, ha! But the girls went on stage, they watched their teacher, they danced, and it was adorable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is with the expression?? I don't even know!! And there is no telling!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XVZt_9MRwHo/U3lokBEUxPI/AAAAAAAALRA/UkfsELswwTg/s1600/dancerecital-3422.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XVZt_9MRwHo/U3lokBEUxPI/AAAAAAAALRA/UkfsELswwTg/s1600/dancerecital-3422.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So proud of her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUHrKPmvWz8/U3lrDkWpNCI/AAAAAAAALSk/O3uFOfSeYWs/s1600/dancerecital-4761.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUHrKPmvWz8/U3lrDkWpNCI/AAAAAAAALSk/O3uFOfSeYWs/s1600/dancerecital-4761.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Meme and Poppa had a surprise for her...some pretty roses. She was so proud and loved her flowers! She said, 'we have to put them in a BASE when we get home!' Haha!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7hiyYpee5d4/U3lrIkA0-XI/AAAAAAAALS0/isKPo_ayqFU/s1600/dancerecital-4775.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7hiyYpee5d4/U3lrIkA0-XI/AAAAAAAALS0/isKPo_ayqFU/s1600/dancerecital-4775.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before we left I had to get a picture of Sara Kate with her teacher, Miss Rebecca. She loved Miss Rebecca this year and keeps saying she wants to be in her class again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o_K8JcWDWA8/U3ltTvojwAI/AAAAAAAALTI/ZLtAUDzovig/s1600/SK&Rebecca.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We finished our afternoon with a trip to get ice cream, which is something my parents and I would do every year after my recitals when I was growing up.</span></div>
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<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w4wSz5JokGA/U3lvM3T5dYI/AAAAAAAALTY/0mEbtJwd6aU/s1600/ice+cream.jpg" height="320" width="320" /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall we had a great first year of dance and Sara Kate said she's ready to dance more and do more recitals. So I will enroll in more classes and see what the future holds for our little dancer!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh, and I do have the performance on video. I might share it later this week. :-)</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-32385837907808197032014-04-28T19:04:00.000-07:002014-04-28T19:04:00.129-07:00Red White Game<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate had a big day on Saturday. She attended her first Razorback football game!! She's been to a basketball game and we've been to the 'meet the team' events, but this was her first time to go watch the football team play. I figure it will be a couple more years before she's ready to go to a REAL game, so for now, this is perfect! The University of Arkansas held it's annual Red White game to end spring practice, along with Razorfest, which is a bunch of bouce houses, games, etc. for kids. We got there late because of gymnastics and having to run a couple of errands, but we walked around Razorfest for a few minutes but the lines for what was left were too long. So we headed into the stadium. We sat on the east side, lower deck (usually we sit on the west side, upper deck), about the 10th row or so. It was pretty cool to be so close!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzbgIYxcypY/U1744ykIatI/AAAAAAAALOQ/rUZYY0v5sAY/s1600/P4260736.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzbgIYxcypY/U1744ykIatI/AAAAAAAALOQ/rUZYY0v5sAY/s1600/P4260736.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate loved watching the cheerleaders and was obsessed with making sure she knew where the mascots were...making sure they did NOT come into the stands! And thankfully while we were there they didn't!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Coach Bielema walking the field before the game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once the game started, it was kind of hard to keep track of which quarterback was which, which kicker was which...since they are no contact players. But it was still fun watching them play, even though it was just a team scrimmage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All pictures were taken by Chris!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Sara Kate did really well watching everything and taking it all in. She noticed little things, like the stadium lights were on. She called the Hogs...even though it was at a time when we were NOT calling the Hogs. She read off the letters as we did the H-O-G-S spell out. She even busted out singing 'Jesus Loves the Little Children' at one point. Haha! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We left at half time...she was ready to go by then, asking for a snack
and ready to go to the car. As a treat we bought some cotton candy, her first time to try it. She loved it and told my mom and dad all about it later that night. I hope she had fun. I'm glad we live in a college town and she gets to experience stuff like this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before we left campus, we stopped by some very special letters and I got a picture of my little legacy! LOVE! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GzI-TH1E820/U179FHQiJKI/AAAAAAAALPg/5uyRnRcDrh4/s1600/P4260706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GzI-TH1E820/U179FHQiJKI/AAAAAAAALPg/5uyRnRcDrh4/s1600/P4260706.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh, and here's my mommy fail of the day...I forgot sunscreen and Sara Kate ended up with pink little shoulders...not as bad as mommy's red shoulders and back...ouch!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One more thing. Please pray for our state! We had devastating tornadoes in central Arkansas last night, wiping out towns that were affected by other strong tornadoes just a couple of years ago. Pray for all those that were affected. Also pray for Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, which are in the path of the storms and the areas of those states that have already been affected.</span></div>
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Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-71597825376546856252014-04-20T19:28:00.000-07:002014-04-20T19:28:31.030-07:00Easter 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Happy Easter friends!! He is Risen!! We've had a great Easter, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. We've had a low key day at home, just the 3 of us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My beautiful girl in her Easter dress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rNlWf6Nno1o/U1Rtl4H_5DI/AAAAAAAALKc/KUQ89DReNXY/s1600/easter-4159.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rNlWf6Nno1o/U1Rtl4H_5DI/AAAAAAAALKc/KUQ89DReNXY/s1600/easter-4159.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We started the day with an excellent church service. Ya'll, our church is AWESOME!! Seriously!! If you're local in NWA, come check out First Christian Church in Fayetteville. You won't be disappointed! Anyway, we had a great turn out in contemporary service, the bell choir played in traditional service, and today was my day to teach children's church during our traditional service. This is what Sara Kate took away from the lesson:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>"Baby Jesus is alive! The good witch, I mean the angel, rolled the rock away from the tomb and Baby Jesus was gone. He's alive!"</i></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VJSKms-EKf4/U1RtlPQT36I/AAAAAAAALKU/mKVsgFnUBW8/s1600/easter-4166.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VJSKms-EKf4/U1RtlPQT36I/AAAAAAAALKU/mKVsgFnUBW8/s1600/easter-4166.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Melt this mama's heart!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After church we had to come home to see if the Easter bunny had visited! In our house, the Easter bunny comes while we're at church. He fills Sara Kate's basket with goodies and hides the eggs we dyed on Saturday. She was so excited to see what he left! She actually said the Easter bunny is a big purple bunny and it's a girl. Haha. And let me preface the following pictures with Sara Kate and her tacky looking Easter basket by saying, her basket is mine from when I was a kid, which I love. But the bow was looking kind of rough from years in the closet. So I had my mom make a new bow for it last year but that bow got mega smashed in the closet (go figure) and I don't make bows! So it just kind of looks blahh this year. But Sara Kate doesn't care so it doesn't really matter. The Easter bunny also leaves her basket outside the front door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kp2e0Fvmhoc/U1RuBHuCtaI/AAAAAAAALLM/OVYPkqMO0UM/s1600/easter-4315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kp2e0Fvmhoc/U1RuBHuCtaI/AAAAAAAALLM/OVYPkqMO0UM/s1600/easter-4315.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Easter bunny obviously shops at Target. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NkLCgxGpwqc/U1RuL1uE0qI/AAAAAAAALLc/1kdedoQLGh8/s1600/easter-4329.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NkLCgxGpwqc/U1RuL1uE0qI/AAAAAAAALLc/1kdedoQLGh8/s1600/easter-4329.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Ready to hunt for eggs!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-It5WytM1Zl0/U1RvU8QbcGI/AAAAAAAALME/-ssLfPct7qE/s1600/easter-4377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-It5WytM1Zl0/U1RvU8QbcGI/AAAAAAAALME/-ssLfPct7qE/s1600/easter-4377.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> There's a story behind this egg. When I post our egg dyeing pictures, I'll explain!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DNYEbP6lrSg/U1RvW07jZVI/AAAAAAAALMM/yQxhrQ1pp-0/s1600/easter-4386.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DNYEbP6lrSg/U1RvW07jZVI/AAAAAAAALMM/yQxhrQ1pp-0/s1600/easter-4386.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-adfWeyeSQs0/U1RvbVe4LvI/AAAAAAAALMU/Uk2YbbnO-Qc/s1600/easter-4390.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-adfWeyeSQs0/U1RvbVe4LvI/AAAAAAAALMU/Uk2YbbnO-Qc/s1600/easter-4390.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NUL9AuQEmDk/U1Rvfs6UPiI/AAAAAAAALMc/TB2Uy94WK0o/s1600/easter-4409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NUL9AuQEmDk/U1Rvfs6UPiI/AAAAAAAALMc/TB2Uy94WK0o/s1600/easter-4409.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U0K3r1Z3ZwU/U1R3oWqV8II/AAAAAAAALMs/uNuEyS1B0Hc/s1600/easter-4419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U0K3r1Z3ZwU/U1R3oWqV8II/AAAAAAAALMs/uNuEyS1B0Hc/s1600/easter-4419.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1WKpYgV7F28/U1R3vDa0vpI/AAAAAAAALM0/VqHdW7pBbcY/s1600/easter-4443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1WKpYgV7F28/U1R3vDa0vpI/AAAAAAAALM0/VqHdW7pBbcY/s1600/easter-4443.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once all the eggs were found, we had one happy girl!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoKSRtqWkI8/U1R8EFNYbrI/AAAAAAAALNA/Z_e9XZrYHb0/s1600/easter-4487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoKSRtqWkI8/U1R8EFNYbrI/AAAAAAAALNA/Z_e9XZrYHb0/s1600/easter-4487.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Love her!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1RNih9sAEVU/U1R8HTtrs2I/AAAAAAAALNI/jQhCD-Xck1U/s1600/easter-4502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1RNih9sAEVU/U1R8HTtrs2I/AAAAAAAALNI/jQhCD-Xck1U/s1600/easter-4502.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We've spent a relaxing afternoon at home, doing a whole lot of nothing except playing outside and playing with new toys. Sara Kate made a "princess" (haha) with the new Play-Doh and painted a lovely picture of Ariel, which then ended up covered in spilt water. Oh well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We even cooked an Easter-ish meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and I made deviled eggs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall we had a great Easter and we are so thankful that we worship a risen Savior! Hope everyone had a blessed Easter! Happy Easter from our family to yours!</span><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ujjnmV3dE0g/U1SCIXDN4ZI/AAAAAAAALNw/8pNfbMUQllo/s1600/easter-4199.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></div>
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Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-24071821414567324992014-04-14T18:47:00.000-07:002014-04-14T18:47:24.247-07:00Mommy & Sara Kate Weekend<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate and I had a busy but fun weekend! For the most part it was just the 2 of us, as Chris was in Dallas for a school event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NmCgw2o9MpI/U0yAPDf-omI/AAAAAAAALHs/qn39Yp8gdkQ/s1600/photo+1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NmCgw2o9MpI/U0yAPDf-omI/AAAAAAAALHs/qn39Yp8gdkQ/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was a beautiful spring weekend so we spent ALOT of time outside. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X-qJmRnaPwk/U0yAX7ZXKUI/AAAAAAAALH0/uf6c2PzU50c/s1600/photo+14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X-qJmRnaPwk/U0yAX7ZXKUI/AAAAAAAALH0/uf6c2PzU50c/s1600/photo+14.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was so happy to see this beautiful, smiling face after school on Friday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJE7wTThKME/U0yAirGpyaI/AAAAAAAALH8/UuKZKUBlyGI/s1600/photo+15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJE7wTThKME/U0yAirGpyaI/AAAAAAAALH8/UuKZKUBlyGI/s1600/photo+15.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her teacher fixed her hair in a top knot and it was freaking adorable!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ip20relv2x4/U0yAtgicX5I/AAAAAAAALIE/5Gxm47CAd5s/s1600/photo+16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ip20relv2x4/U0yAtgicX5I/AAAAAAAALIE/5Gxm47CAd5s/s1600/photo+16.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had a fun evening planned for us. It was gorgeous and warm so we headed to the park for a picnic and play time. The park was packed and there were no picnic tables available so we found a rock to sit on. As Sara Kate stood by this rail eating her chicken, she watched kids flying kites, dogs chasing balls, and people running by, and I couldn't help but think how big she looks!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xbhu9GKxIA8/U0yA6TQ8JcI/AAAAAAAALIM/0Z3T9gtgY3k/s1600/photo+13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xbhu9GKxIA8/U0yA6TQ8JcI/AAAAAAAALIM/0Z3T9gtgY3k/s1600/photo+13.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After she ate all her food we took some things back to the car and headed to play. The park/playground might just be her favorite place ever. Her face fills with joy when you mention that park. She loves to run around, slide on all the fun slides, and swing. She had a great time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I kinda love this picture...such a happy smile and crazy static hair!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hBLiKpQDJD0/U0yBpJJNZmI/AAAAAAAALIc/wXEQge5uU9A/s1600/photo+11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hBLiKpQDJD0/U0yBpJJNZmI/AAAAAAAALIc/wXEQge5uU9A/s1600/photo+11.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Me and my Type A personality hate the sandbox but she loves it. I was sitting beside her, as she dug her feet in the sand, and I looked up and she was doing this...yep, pouring sand into her hair. Ughhh!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She was one happy, tired, DIRTY girl when we left!! We came home, had baths, calm time, and bedtime.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Saturday morning came bright at early. 6:00...good morning mommy! Ughh! She watched the iPad, painted, and played Play-Doh before we had to head to gymnastics. Meme was kind enough to take her because I had to be at the church for a rehearsal at the same time. Meme was also kind enough to fix her hair. Sara Kate loves having her hair in braids, which I suck at, and Meme did 2 french braids, which I can't do at all...so adorable! And she was so proud of it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I picked her up from gymnastics and we went back to church for our church's annual Easter egg hunt!! I had one excited little girl! She got to run around with her friends, sing songs with our preacher, have lunch, and head outside to hunt for eggs!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On your mark...get set...GO!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q_1tWHF4fII/U0yED8QbpII/AAAAAAAALJA/pKhfcqnbmnw/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q_1tWHF4fII/U0yED8QbpII/AAAAAAAALJA/pKhfcqnbmnw/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmL62kNFwuM/U0yEGw08DfI/AAAAAAAALJI/CEnbBjtF1_Y/s1600/photo+8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmL62kNFwuM/U0yEGw08DfI/AAAAAAAALJI/CEnbBjtF1_Y/s1600/photo+8.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> All done!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rhHxLlGJpvM/U0yEHxVH2QI/AAAAAAAALJQ/UZwRQNxkRDY/s1600/photo+9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rhHxLlGJpvM/U0yEHxVH2QI/AAAAAAAALJQ/UZwRQNxkRDY/s1600/photo+9.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After the Easter egg hunt, we made a quick run to Old Navy before heading home for nap time. We had to get a quick nap in before going to our sweet friend Landry's 3rd birthday party!! It was at the park, and Sara Kate was so excited to go back. She had a great time at the party and we were so happy to celebrate this sweet girl's birthday! Happy birthday Landry!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We made a quick stop by the grocery store before heading home for bath and bedtime. Another fun, tiring, and dirty night!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sunday morning we headed to church to celebrate Palm Sunday. We were happy to have daddy back home, and we enjoyed a beautiful church service. Since it was Palm Sunday, the kids brought in the palm fronds. This was Sara Kate's first time and she was so excited! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "Mommy! Look at my palm branch!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mt_dwlBdKa4/U0yFYdrT8RI/AAAAAAAALJw/T25Poy4fcKg/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mt_dwlBdKa4/U0yFYdrT8RI/AAAAAAAALJw/T25Poy4fcKg/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After church she showed me a picture that she drew and we had a conversation that went like this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mommy: What did you draw?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: A donkey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mommy: Who rode in on a donkey?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: Baby Jesus (we laughed...everything is 'baby Jesus.').</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mommy: What were the people waving when Jesus rode in on the donkey?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: Leaves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mommy: What did the people say?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate: (throws her hands in the air) Hosanna!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I love that she picked all that up at Sunday school!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had lunch, we ALL had naps, and we played some more...inside and outside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--L4E82a8Pds/U0yGVH__QvI/AAAAAAAALJ8/nuzpVtIkxmg/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--L4E82a8Pds/U0yGVH__QvI/AAAAAAAALJ8/nuzpVtIkxmg/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And right after that happy smile we had major tears, as Sara Kate fell out of her swing for the first time while I was pushing her. She was fine, but it scared her and scared me. As I held her close and while she cried big crocodile tears, she looked at me and says, "Mommy, why didn't you catch me?" Oh, dagger in my heart! I tried to catch her, but as usual, it all happened so fast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had a fun weekend, and I had a great time with Sara Kate. She's my constant shadow, which can be exhausting (Shower? There she is. Bathroom? There she is. Throw something in the recycling? There she is. Etc.), but she's my girl!</span></div>
Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-21956181965041378682014-04-08T19:43:00.003-07:002014-04-08T19:43:39.372-07:00FOUR<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Four years ago at 11:57 am, a little 7 lb., 2 oz. baby girl came into the world, arriving 2 weeks and 1 day early. She was tiny and precious and innocent and pure. And so loved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WE_L-NmPsjc/U0StHe8W_vI/AAAAAAAALGM/aIhs3rU3fSI/s1600/_DSC6614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WE_L-NmPsjc/U0StHe8W_vI/AAAAAAAALGM/aIhs3rU3fSI/s1600/_DSC6614.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VPbCHyLtlMA/U0StIh5VZUI/AAAAAAAALGU/Adf8G_-BVLM/s1600/_DSC6577.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VPbCHyLtlMA/U0StIh5VZUI/AAAAAAAALGU/Adf8G_-BVLM/s1600/_DSC6577.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The past 4 years have flown by...I can't believe my baby is 4!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H__WHj8uM2w/U0SsIVvCZ8I/AAAAAAAALF0/yrvCk8sgCxg/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H__WHj8uM2w/U0SsIVvCZ8I/AAAAAAAALF0/yrvCk8sgCxg/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had a big day today celebrating Sara Kate's birthday. We woke her up this morning and took her to Rick's Bakery for breakfast. We let her pick out what she wanted and to my surprise, she picked out a baked cinnamon roll. She's normally a donut girl but she loves sharing Poppa's cinnamon roll! She was so proud to take it to a table and sit there and eat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UQlXho7WcpE/U0Su7F0205I/AAAAAAAALGg/enMo6zFy0BE/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UQlXho7WcpE/U0Su7F0205I/AAAAAAAALGg/enMo6zFy0BE/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After breakfast I took her to Sam's Club to pick out cupcakes for her class at school. She was really excited and picked out some cute little spring decorated cupcakes, with pastel frosting and flower rings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Also while at Sam's Club, they had 'Frozen' playing on one of the big TV's. And this is what she did. The girl has been watching 'Frozen' non-stop since she got it for her birthday Saturday night and I'm pretty sure she thought this was playing just for her! Took me forever to convince her we had to go...only the threat of leaving without cupcakes got her to move away from the movie. Haha. Mommy's so mean!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bfz5Y4OKz5A/U0SvbzRAVEI/AAAAAAAALGw/diOdtNb43yg/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bfz5Y4OKz5A/U0SvbzRAVEI/AAAAAAAALGw/diOdtNb43yg/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She had a great day at school and her teacher, Ms. Julie, sent me this picture when it was time for cupcakes after nap time. I'm so glad she sent it to me! She looks so big and so happy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KICX7I21kwI/U0Sv4Pbw2nI/AAAAAAAALG4/EKjba-IyWFc/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KICX7I21kwI/U0Sv4Pbw2nI/AAAAAAAALG4/EKjba-IyWFc/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I picked Sara Kate up from school and took her to dance, but after dance she had her presents from us waiting for her. And her main present was a new big girl bicycle!! She was so excited!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_-wY3g6ebY8/U0SwLDyWu9I/AAAAAAAALHA/KcP9P3y2ZxI/s1600/photo+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_-wY3g6ebY8/U0SwLDyWu9I/AAAAAAAALHA/KcP9P3y2ZxI/s1600/photo+6.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had her favorite food for dinner, pizza, and we had left over cupcakes for dessert. She also got to talk to several family members through FaceTime (I love technology!!) before bath and bedtime. I hope Sara Kate had a great birthday...I think she did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zaq2fVC_7NY/U0SyRpbwcuI/AAAAAAAALHM/OcFwTheiPOg/s1600/photo+7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zaq2fVC_7NY/U0SyRpbwcuI/AAAAAAAALHM/OcFwTheiPOg/s1600/photo+7.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There have definitely been hard times but I have loved every second of the last 4 years. She's mommy's girl and I love her more than words can say. I look forward to seeing what year 4 brings!! Happy birthday to my big girl!</span></div>
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Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019152632768457149.post-65598832264756046872014-04-06T16:36:00.000-07:002014-04-06T16:36:20.907-07:00Sara Kate's Princess Party<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yesterday we celebrated Sara Kate's 4th birthday with a precious little princess party. We had lots of sweet friends and our families. How did I arrive at the princess party theme? Back in the fall Sara Kate got the princess obsession that I'd say all little girls get. Then in January she started telling random people, like the eye doctor, that she was having a princess party for her birthday. Well ok then!! We'll have a princess party! But where?? I tossed around several ideas in my head and finally decided to copy my friend Elizabeth, who threw her daughter an adorable princess party last summer at a local bakery...Briar Rose Bakery in Farmington, AR. This place has the best little 'cottage' feel, perfect for little princesses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BGOmKrwJq5k/U0HSP0foTuI/AAAAAAAALAg/ZeYKbUhnZ4I/s1600/photo(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BGOmKrwJq5k/U0HSP0foTuI/AAAAAAAALAg/ZeYKbUhnZ4I/s1600/photo(3).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And how cute is this?! There is even a little door for little girls and boys!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-we1Jo5tsi-w/U0HSQkjjMfI/AAAAAAAALAo/Qv-WIaihBcM/s1600/photo(4).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I searched Etsy for the perfect simple princess invitation, and I found it at <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkSangriaDesigns?ref=pr_shop_more"><b>this</b></a> shop. The owners were amazing to work with. They were very quick getting back with me when I ordered, and they were so accommodating in making edits. I highly recommend them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pardon the smudge at the bottom...I edited out my phone number for the blog. :-) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ulgm2efZSTM/U0HUcKAHuUI/AAAAAAAALA0/zX3BTS0Lw0Q/s1600/invitation_edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ulgm2efZSTM/U0HUcKAHuUI/AAAAAAAALA0/zX3BTS0Lw0Q/s1600/invitation_edit.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The last couple of weeks I've been talking to Sara Kate about her party, asking her what princess she wanted to be. She's given me a different answer each time, but in the last week she said Cinderella every time. It's a good thing because Cinderella is what we have! Chris and I left early to go to Farmington to set up and Chris' mom came over and she and my mom got Sara Kate ready and brought her to the party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">She was BEYOND excited when they got there!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NwlnIxNCXI/U0HVKKNDy4I/AAAAAAAALA8/LRYEYQ4NILM/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NwlnIxNCXI/U0HVKKNDy4I/AAAAAAAALA8/LRYEYQ4NILM/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her friends started showing up and it was so so so adorable seeing them all dressed up!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MdEEAzcV9kA/U0HV8b2VRtI/AAAAAAAALBE/raF4EVZeIVM/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MdEEAzcV9kA/U0HV8b2VRtI/AAAAAAAALBE/raF4EVZeIVM/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had the kids sit at the tables and decorate little crowns. We bought crowns, foam stickers, and stick on jewels from Amazon, along with markers that write on foam from Hobby Lobby. While they decorated crowns, they enjoyed fresh fruit cups and lemonade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QEfktmU2AQQ/U0HXDWnwyEI/AAAAAAAALB0/f3Io9gb1lU0/s1600/sk4th-3633.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QEfktmU2AQQ/U0HXDWnwyEI/AAAAAAAALB0/f3Io9gb1lU0/s1600/sk4th-3633.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the same time, Chris had a photo booth set up with props, but as you can tell from some of the pictures above, it turned into a big game of dress up! Not exactly what we had in mind, but they are 3 and 4 years old so we just had to monitor and adjust! They all shared the wings, boas, necklaces, crowns, etc. very well, and Chris did manage to get some really silly, cute little pictures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_OixaaQL6vs/U0HYybl-F3I/AAAAAAAALCs/5NfGXS4Q0tY/s1600/sk4th-2949.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_OixaaQL6vs/U0HYybl-F3I/AAAAAAAALCs/5NfGXS4Q0tY/s1600/sk4th-2949.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I LOVE the next 2 pictures. School besties and church besties. Silly and sweet. Totally frame worthy!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5AVqD0TndtM/U0HYZZsnRRI/AAAAAAAALCM/Bya87YFmNzQ/s1600/sk4th-2970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5AVqD0TndtM/U0HYZZsnRRI/AAAAAAAALCM/Bya87YFmNzQ/s1600/sk4th-2970.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5AVqD0TndtM/U0HYZZsnRRI/AAAAAAAALCM/Bya87YFmNzQ/s1600/sk4th-2970.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I3y6MEm92mw/U0HYcr8xVhI/AAAAAAAALCU/nHOCcpjius0/s1600/sk4th-2971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I3y6MEm92mw/U0HYcr8xVhI/AAAAAAAALCU/nHOCcpjius0/s1600/sk4th-2971.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And for your viewing pleasure, mommy and daddy got in on the photo booth fun, ha!! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cOYseQ_mxDo/U0HY6REIreI/AAAAAAAALC8/6Ci3X1Z1YhE/s1600/sk4th-2926.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQT94-DoITI/U0HY7uyEIrI/AAAAAAAALDE/LIZ0oVZ0dLc/s1600/sk4th-2932.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQT94-DoITI/U0HY7uyEIrI/AAAAAAAALDE/LIZ0oVZ0dLc/s1600/sk4th-2932.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I found a little game similar to 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey,' except it was 'Pin the Lips on the Frog.' I found it on princess party games link on the internet that linked it to eBay, but then Chris found it on Amazon. It was cute, went with the theme, and passed some time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epNDti9r5r8/U0Haaw33sLI/AAAAAAAALDc/dBE2_Z41OAI/s1600/sk4th-3016.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epNDti9r5r8/U0Haaw33sLI/AAAAAAAALDc/dBE2_Z41OAI/s1600/sk4th-3016.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aJBquDZzjos/U0HaeXx7cDI/AAAAAAAALDk/hsutx3hs1LM/s1600/sk4th-3020.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aJBquDZzjos/U0HaeXx7cDI/AAAAAAAALDk/hsutx3hs1LM/s1600/sk4th-3020.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To finish out the party, we took the kids into the main bakery area and they decorated crown cookies. We didn't do cupcakes since they were decorating cookies and I think that worked out just fine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--46OgMzTT-g/U0HcFrPoyII/AAAAAAAALEY/gmIScezaTYM/s1600/sk4th-3052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--46OgMzTT-g/U0HcFrPoyII/AAAAAAAALEY/gmIScezaTYM/s1600/sk4th-3052.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since we didn't do cupcakes, Chris took an extra cookie, piled it with frosting, and put candles in it so they kids could sing to Sara Kate and she could blow out candles. I love that beaming smile!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9YBMxZEtvSw/U0HdDKEN3JI/AAAAAAAALE4/v7siYndyS0M/s1600/sk4th-3081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9YBMxZEtvSw/U0HdDKEN3JI/AAAAAAAALE4/v7siYndyS0M/s1600/sk4th-3081.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sara Kate was very thankful to everyone who came to her party, and I hope everyone had a good time. We had pink princess goody bags for the girls and red Cars goody bags for the boys. I don't have a pictures but everything came from Wal-Mart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5c9Mg7gInoM/U0HecQCG2nI/AAAAAAAALFE/70Rih9ynMKY/s1600/sk4th-3092.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5c9Mg7gInoM/U0HecQCG2nI/AAAAAAAALFE/70Rih9ynMKY/s1600/sk4th-3092.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was an easy party for me to put together. All I did was reserve the room, bring the crown decorating stuff, the game, and we brought the photo booth/dress up stuff. The wonderful staff at the bakery took care of the rest. And as you can see from pictures, I didn't decorate, as I thought the decor at the bakery spoke for itself. All in all, I think Sara Kate's princess party turned out great and I highly recommend Briar Rose. It was amazing for me see the joy in her eyes and to see her interact with all her precious friends. Can't believe my baby is turning 4!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> We love you, our pretty princess!</span></div>
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Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03480201851645482978noreply@blogger.com0