sweet grandma louise

sweet grandma louise has been in heaven now 27 plus hours. i can't help but think of what her homecoming has been like. seeing Jesus's face for the first time. reuniting with her one true love. oh, what pure and simple joy she is experiencing. for eternity.



i know life on this earth is short. very short. i'm so thankful for God's promise of eternal life after death. with HIM. with loved ones that have passed before me.

grandma is perfect in heaven. as if she wasn't perfect here on earth. . .



grandma turned 92 last month. and, i know, many people think well she was 92 and she was old and it was her time. and, it was. but, it doesn't make it any easier on any of us that love her so much. she was the sweetest, most gentle person i have ever known. she loved people. she loved her church. she loved her family. and, above all else she loved her Jesus. she spoke of her relationship with Christ very often. she was not ashamed of the love she had for Him and she has always wanted to share that love with everyone around her.



i will miss her so much. she was so funny. the last 3 1/2 (or so) years she has lived at an assisted living facility. she had so many funny stories from living there. she knew her purpose for moving there, after papa died, was to take care of all the old and helpless.



she was so sweet. spunky. a little ornery. but, so so sweet.



i'm so glad that she was able to know my sweet baby elle louise for a whole year!



grandma, with my cousin, at elle's birthday party last saturday (a week ago yesterday). wow! she even sat at my parents' house friday night before the party and put together all the beautiful flower arrangements for the party.

she really is a true example of God's perfect grace and mercy...

i'm so thankful to God for allowing me to love on my sweet sweet grandma one last time. have a conversation with her. to hold her. kiss her. share a laugh with her. and, tell her how much i loved her.

a sweet friend sent me an excerpt from beautiful by phil wickhman:

"When we arrive on eternity's shore where death is just a memory and tears are no more. We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your Bride will come together and we'll sing "You're Beautiful"

it really was a fabulous first birthday party

i don't have a lot of words. i'll just let the pictures do all the talking...

































it really was a fabulous first birthday party. we had fun. we were so blessed by all our family and friends that came to celebrate our sweet ellie bean's first birthday!



p.s. birthday party decoration pics to follow...

a birthday party sneak peak

my friend, jessica, sent me this picture from the party in an e-mail last night...



...with these sweet words (that made me cry):

Ok, last pic. I think this one is beautiful. In the middle of all the chaos is this beautiful momma holding her sweet girl who wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world but on her Momma's lap because it's safe and familiar and wonderful. And it's just you two, even with all the hecticness around you. It's so sweet.

the party was wonderful. elle louise is one blessed little girl. she has so many that love her so dearly that came to celebrate her first birthday with us. it was crazy and chaotic, but i wouldn't of had it any other way.

of course, we took lots of pictures. hopefully i will get a post up soon...

what do you think?

an email from jessica prompted this blog post....

she sent me a picture of her husband, kevin, at around age one. and their daughter, ruby, looks so much like he did. but i've also see so much of ruby in jessica now. and in jessica then. a perfect mixture of them both. jessica wanted me to send her some pics of aaron and myself at elle louise's age. so as i uploaded my pictures to flickr i decided it would make for a fun post...



what do you think?

and mom, what is the deal with the sandals and the socks? bad move! guess that was just the 80's... i wonder what elle with think about the outfits i put her in. she will probably hate that skirt! ha!

i have that oh-so-80's outfit i'm sporting hanging in elle's closet. size 18 months. she will be wearing it this summer!

snowy day random thoughts {and pics}

my friend, sarah, is currently in houston meeting with doctors at MD Anderson. please keep her, her family, and the doctors in your prayers. today is a big day for her!

we have SNOW and LOTS OF IT. 19" in our backyard. that is insane! yesterday aaron played outside, while elle louise and i stayed warm inside.



i just opened my daily lookbook e-mail and was greeted by a beautiful picture titled "2 days after the snow". seriously, that is what the weather is like here in arkansas. something around 20-inches of snow yesterday. and, warm and sunny skies in the forecast for all of next week.





elle louise was supposed to start at KDO today. secretly kind of glad that it is cancelled due to snow. i was/am so nervous about taking her. she will do fine and love it, this i know. but, still, that doesn't calm my nerves at all.



i made the pioneer woman's tomato-basil pizza last night. oh my, heavenly goodness, it was yummy. aaron really liked it. and, the best part is the dough makes two pizzas. so, you can have pizza 2 nights in a row OR you can freeze the dough up to 6 months!



we got the urban outfitters catalog in the mail last week and just got to flipping through it last night. big. huge. disappointment. urban outfitters is by far my favorite clothing store. but, i am unimpressed by their spring catalog. whoever styled it needs to be fired. the clothes themselves are ok, but the pairings are hideous. maybe i'm just losing my sense of style or getting older. whatever it may be, the catalog is ugly and uninspiring!



i seriously have done nothing productive yesterday and today. its sad and pathetic. and i have nothing to blame it on but pure laziness. i did make some hair bows. but, that's it. tutorials for the bows and/or clips and be found here and here. the white bows i thought up myself (yeay for an original idea!). i made them using pre-made, white-grosgrain ribbon ruffle trim. i'm going to get more in lots of colors and make them for everyone i love. they are SO stinkin' easy to make and turned out so cute. when i get more trim i will write up a tutorial. it will be my first one. can i get a woo hoo?!



our dogs ran away this morning. it is so cold outside. i think we might find them dead. i hope they find their way home SOON! oh wait, aaron just walked in after looking for them. he found them. they're still alive (and still weird!).



white washed comfort contacted me about doing a giveaway on my blog. it will happen next month and it will be my first giveaway! super excited!



and, i guess that is about it!

off to launder (as in do laundry) and make more bows or do something.

here's to happy days filled with snow. we are blessed!

the day elle louise turned ONE

friday, february 4th, elle louise woke up to a sweet suprise!




very excited!


elle louise is one!

we set up the coffee table with all her presents, her elephant and a fun "one" banner. she was excited about it all.

we played all morning. elle had her favorite breakfast of oatmeal and applesauce. oh, and cranberry juice.

after we played and played and played and a morning nap, elle got to take a super long bath. something she loves. she played in the tub until her fingers and tiny toes were pruned and the bath water was cool.





after the bath, we dressed her up in her birthday attire. since it was too cold out and it started snowing again we just stayed in and took elle's monthly milestone pictures. we decided that the mural that adorns the wall behind her crib would make for the perfect back drop. they turned out wonderfully. and, the white snow made for some beautiful and bright lighting in her bedroom. no flash required.



after pictures and a chickfila lunch elle took a long, 3-hour afternoon nap.

when she woke up her grandparents (mine and aaron's parents) showed up. bearing lots of fabulous presents for the birthday girl.


nana wrapped elle's present so pretty!


forward-facing! its about time! elle loves her carseat from her nana and big pops!

after elle louise opened presents from her nana and big pops it was time for dinner and birthday cake!


what a beautiful cake! and so yummy too!



elle thought so too! she loved the cake. and pretty much ate an adult-sized piece all on her own. i think she might just tear into her smash cake at her birthday party!

after dinner and cake it was time to open more presents. elle louise is one blessed child. 2 sets of sweet grandparents who love her dearly! and a nana and gigi who both really like to shop!


pajamas from mommy and daddy! woo hoo! one can never have too many jammies.




a new purse from gigi and papa!


boombox from mommy and daddy!

its only been 1 day and a half that we've had the boombox but it has been wonderful at naptime and bedtime. we also got her some spring/summer clothes and a nightlight. its wonderful when they are young. you can gift them necessities and it is still exciting for them. but, i'm sure when she's thirteen she will not appreciate a night light...






after dinner, cake, and presents the grandparents left and we had a family portrait session and actually remembered to take a picture of elle louise with all her gifts!


love my girl!


oh, you sweet little thing you!


daddy's girl.





one. what a great number. and a great first year it has been with our sweetie. we look forward to the second year!

saturday night we went to eat with the kiehns and then they came back to our house. and we could tell something was wrong with elle. i kept blaming it on her teeth she was cantankerous and just not herself. and she was kind of hasty towards ruby. and she loves ruby. we put the girls in the tub together. funniest thing ever! i have pictures. it was great. i'll share the censored pictures soon. it was fun until elle threw up. in the tub. with ruby in there too. poor ruby. so we got the girls out and put elle down for the night. the kiehns stayed for awhile longer and we had a grand time. a little bit after they left elle woke up. burning up. and shaking. took her temp and almost 102. and has been running fever all day. of course we've been giving her medicine and jessica told me about a ginger-bath remedy that has worked great, but her fever has still been spiking. so, please say a prayer for my girl that she get better soon. she is just not her sweet-loving self. she's been sweet, but in a i'm sick mommy and need alotta love way.

forecasts for this week call for more snow...8 inches on wednesday. noooooooo!

a week trapped inside (not so bad), a sick baby and more trapped inside, and then another week of snow and probably more being trapped inside...

i am so ready for spring. can i get an amen!?