Post Five…My Siblings

My little sister was born when I was 14 1/2….with no one in between us. So yes, she was a huge surprise! She is about to turn 14 herself! Unbelievable!! I can’t believe she’s that old!!

My oldest sister is 35, married and has two kids. The oldest, her son, is only 17 days older than my little sister!  Her daughter is 11 and sassy! HA

My brother, the only boy, is 33 (the same age as Hubby). He is married with 3 kids. The oldest, the only daughter, is 7. The oldest son, the middle child, just turned 5, and the youngest son, is 2. He is 3 months older than Bubba.

My older sister, who is 2 years older than me, turned 30 this year. She is also married with 2 kids. Her son, who is 2 months older than Sissy, is 4. Her daughter just turned a year old the day before Sissy turned 4!

Over the years, we have all gotten closer, but it’s been along road to get where we are. Sometimes, you can’t even tell we aren’t blood related, except my little sister. I guess if someone’s been part of your family for over 20 years, it is just normal.

Post Four…My Parents

I love my parents!

My mom and I moved to Arkansas when I was about 18 months old. So it was just her and I (my grandparents and uncle moved here right before us though) for a while.

When I was 3, my mom met this guy with 3 kids from a previous marriage. The fell in love and where married…ummm….after that. I can’t remember what year, or how old I was. I do know they have been married for at least 20 years though. I think…

Anyways, my mom, as of right now, is a school teacher. She teaches Home Economics to be exact. My dad runs the farm. They have 257 acres of land with 8 chicken house on it. Yes, you read right…EIGHT laying houses!

They would have an empty nest…except for the chickens, cows, horses, sheep, pigs, and dogs, except for when I was 14, they had a little surprise. Which leads me into my next post.

Post Three…My First Love

Oh my! This is a hard one!

When I was younger, I can remember always “thinking” I was in love. As I got older, though, I realized that it never was love. It was always just lust, or that I loved the thought of feeling like I was in love.

I guess that my first “true” love was Jesus Christ. I met Him when I was 10 or 11, fell in love, and He has been in my heart every since! He is the kind of guy that never leaves me or forsakes me! Love that about Him!

So there you have it, my first love!!!

Post Two…Meaning Behind My Blog Name

Well, there really isn’t a “meaning” per se for my blog name. When I started my blog back in December of 2008, wow…it’s been awhile, I had the blog name “A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Mom”, but I quickly realized that I wasn’t just blogging about being a SAHM. I was blogging more about my life in general.

My thoughts, my feelings, my fears, things that has happened. It was my story. So I thought, “Hmmm…it’s my life. It’s my story. New name!”

I tried to go back and find out exactly how long after starting this blog before I changed the name, but just couldn’t find it. Not that anyone cares though! HA

Post One…Introduce, Picture, 15 Facts

I got this idea from a friend, who posted it on her blog. I loved the idea, and hope I can stick with it. We all know how bad of a blogger I really am! Anyways, it’s a 30 days of posting idea. I think you are supposed to do it 30 days in a row…yeah right. Not happening for me.

Post 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

Post 2-Meaning behind your blog name

Post 3-Your first love

Post 4-Your parents

Post 5-Your siblings

Post 6-A picture of something that makes you happy

Post 7-Favorite movies

Post 8-A place you've traveled to

Post 9-A picture of your friends

Post 10-Something you're afraid of

Post 11-Favorite tv shows

Post 12-What you believe

Post 13-Goals

Post 14-A picture you love

Post 15-Bible verse

Post 16-Dream house

Post 17-Something you're looking forward to

Post 18-Something you regret

Post 19-Something you miss

Post 20-Nicknames
Post 21-Picture of yourself

Post 22-Favorite city

Post 23-Favorite vacation

Post 24-Something you've learned

Post 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Post 26-Picture of your family

Post 27-Pets

Post 28-Something that stresses you out

Post 29-3 Wishes

Post 30-a picture

So,  Post 1, here we go:

My name is Shauna and I from a small town in Arkansas. I am married to the love of live and have been for 8 years. We have two beautiful kids who we call Sissy and Bubba. I am a stay at home who loves to read, shop, and catch up on my shows when I get the chance.

It’s not a very good picture of me…but I’m always the one behind the camera (there’s a reason for that!) And the picture is just a tad blurry…figures..but it’s the most recent.

Here are 15 facts about me. Not sure if they or interesting though…

1. I love decorating for Christmas, but don’t have near the amount of stuff I would like to have!
2. I hate hair…dog hair, stray hairs, hair after it’s been shaven off and left in the sink…
3. I have worn the same one pair of earrings since Hubby gave them to me almost 6 years ago…yes I take them out and clean them!
4. I have a lazy eye, and the other one has a droopy eyelid.
5. I don’t eat anything green…except for cucumbers.
6. I am a little OCD when it comes to certain things. Like the way my dishes are put in the dishwasher in the cabinets.
7. One of my favorite things about my body is my feet, which is why I love flip flop season!
8. My biggest pet peeve is feet! I hate feet, other than my own that is.
9. When I cook, I like to “pretend” I’m on a cooking show.
10. I used to want to be a cheerleader for a pro team. I still sometimes do small cheers when no one is around….yeah, I know!
11. I have to have some light on when I sleep, otherwise, my claustrophobia is enlightened.
12. I am claustrophobic.
13. I love pictures, not just mine, but everyone’s. I have a small (like tiny) photography business on the side and love doing it!
14. I hate confrontation.
15. I can’t stand when people are upset with me. I know not everyone is going to like me, but I would like to think they do.

I hope I don’t sound more lame than I already am! HA

Was That a Tornado??

This past week has been a whirlwind for me.

Sunday, we went to church for the first time in a few months.  It was a church that I haven’t been to before, but that my brother-in-law and his family attend. The kids and I both enjoyed it, and we may return.

Monday, I ran errands and packed for our trip out to deer camp that was coming up. Hubby got off work early and we headed out there. We spent the night, so that Hubby could get up and go hunting early that morning.

Tuesday, Hubby only got to hunt for an hour or so because we had to come back home so he could go out of town for a meeting. We don’t get service out there very well, so when we got home I noticed I had a voicemail. It was my mom telling me that she needed to talk to me and it was very important. My godmother, who was more like a grandmother to me, had lost her fight with cancer that morning. She had ovarian cancer, which then moved in to her brain, where she got a brain tumor and lost the fight. Her son-in-law, who called my mom to tell her the news, had said they were meeting at the funeral home if I could go without the kids. It didn’t occur to me that they wanted me to help make funeral arrangements. After I picked up the kids from my bestie’s house, I had to run some errands before meeting Hubby back out at the road to camp.

Wednesday, the kids and I had to come home from camp to do some things for the funeral and wash some clothes. Then we headed out there, yet again.

Thursday, Hubby got to hunt until about 345. In that time, he had seen AND shot a buck, but they could never find him. Figures! We had to head in so that I could make it to visitation that evening.

Friday, Hubby’s grandma came over to watch the kids while I went and had lunch with the family, the funeral, and then the gravesite. After that, I came home and got the kids and then went back out to the family’s (my gmother’s daughter’s) house to pick out some flowers that I wanted from the funeral. They also made the kids and I eat again…not sure why they were trying to get rid of all the food they had! HA

Today, Saturday, the kids and I have to go down to my parent’s house to clean before they get back from their “family” vacation in Branson. It was supposed to be our “whole” family, but my sister and her family and then me and my family, couldn’t make it. So it was just my parents, my little sister, my oldest sister and her family, and then my brother and his family that got to go. Anyways, I hope it doesn’t take my all day to clean, because this mama is TIRED!!

Tomorrow, is supposed to be church, but Bubba seems to be getting sick. If he doesn’t get any better or gets worse, we won’t be going.

Monday, I have at least one errand to run, and then maybe (crossing fingers) we can have a low key day at home!

Here’s some pictures of my gmother and I. Sadly, I don’t have any recent…like in the past 15 years…for one reason or another. For one, she was the one always behind the camera. For two, once she started getting sicker, I didn’t go see her as much. I know that’s bad of me, but I have come to the realization that it was because I knew this day would come, and I wanted to remember her the way she was before cancer got her, instead of after.

The last picture of my gmother and gfather together before he passed away from a heart attack in 2007.

The three of us together.

Christmas…a LONG time ago! HA

Her birthday at her favorite restaurant before it shut down. It’s rumored to be opening again in Dec and she was SO excited about it!!

This picture has an awesome story behind it. This is of my gmother and my Granny who passed away April 2009. I was down at my parent’s cleaning last weekend when I decided to go through some old photos. I came across this one and realized that I have never seen it before, so I took it. The day I found out my gmother passed away, that next Tuesday, a light bulb went off. I realized that God led me to the photo as a sign that they were once again going to be “catching up”.

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly…

One of the most stressful, yet exciting, part of the holiday season, for me? Christmas cards!

Picking out, not only the card, but the picture(s) that go in them make me want to pull my hair out. There are SO many different designs, colors, sayings, poses, folds, to choose from that I sometimes get overwhelmed!

Of course, I can’t go with the plain Jane store bought boxed cards. That’s just not my style. So I opt to use picture cards. A couple of years ago, I made my own. And while they were okay, they were not a “wow” factor.

This year, though, I’m going with Shutterfly for my holiday cards! They are doing a Holiday card promotion for bloggers and I am ecstatic!! Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010! How cool is that?!?!?

They have everything from Christmas cards to New Years cards. Even wall calendars!  I have used them before to make photo books and I love the quality of their prints!

I am liking this one though:

And this one:

And I like the concept of this one:

It’s different and I like that!

I may go with this one:

Or this one:

Oh man! It’s so hard to pick just one! Check it out for yourself and see how hard it is to just chose one!!

Have fun with it, and happy looking!!!

Who’s a Bad Blogger?? Not me?!?!

I have GOT to quit being a bad blogger!

I have gotten to where I go up to a MONTH without blogging and it’s getting crazy. I’ve always got an excuse too. “It’s been too busy for me to blog.” “Nothing exciting has been happening.” “Nobody reads this old thing anyways!”

Whatever my “reasoning”, I know I need to do better. So a “somewhat” quick catch-up.

Halloween..(wow, it’s almost Thanksgiving and I am JUST NOW writing about Halloween! HA)..was the most exciting it has been since I was a kid!  Hubby had all weekend off, so we actually got to enjoy the festivities with the kids together!

Friday, our small town had the annual Daylight Trick or Treat, (or Main Street Trick or Treat, or Downtown Trick or Treat, or Business Trick or Treat, or whatever you want to call it.) From 4-5p, the business along Main St handed candy out to the kids. Some other places handed candy out until 6p. We dressed the kids up and took them downtown.

When we got home, we had a little “photo shoot” with the kids and my ONLY fall decorations.

And no, she is NOT wearing make-up. It’s just the way I edited the picture that makes it look like it!

So the Saturday before Halloween, Hubby had to help his brother move, but I dressed the kids up again, and took them to my grandpa’s house for a hot dog roast. There, they got even more candy as well as they got to decorate/carve pumpkins. Sissy painted hers, but Bubba wanted his carved. So I got the privilege of doing that! HA

Saturday night, I took the kids to my parents house where they were having a Hallelujah party. Where, yes, the kids got even MORE candy!

Sunday, Hubby and I decided the kids didn’t need anymore candy, so we stayed home and turned our porch light on. WOWZA!

Where we lived before we bought our house, we didn’t normally get a lot of trick or treaters. Here, though, they came in floods!!! We gave ALL (except for the suckers and candy bars) of the kids candy away, and Hubby STILL had to run to WM for more candy.

The kids took late naps, but when Sissy woke up…at around 630p, she wanted to help hand out candy.

She had SOOOO much fun! I think I’d rather her give out candy then get it anyways! HA

Maybe it won’t be a month before my next post! We will see….

My “Job” Anniversary!

Four years ago yesterday, God blessed me with the most rewarding job I could/would ever have the privilege of obtaining. Motherhood.

Sissy turned 4 yesterday, and while it was a stressful day, it was a sad day as well. We quickly realized that our baby girl was growing up! She will start preschool next year, and before we know it, she’ll be graduating high school!

I can’t believe how big she has gotten! It seems like it was just yesterday when I laid in the hospital bed worrying about taking her home with just me and her daddy. Now, I lay in the bed and am blessed beyond belief that God has trusted us with her!

I will post some pictures of her party, along with some stories that today I laugh about, but yesterday, at cried about!

4 Heavenly Angels waiting on me

Well, after much waiting, we finally found out that I indeed did miscarry.

I went to the doctor this past Thursday and got a negative test. Which I was expecting seeing as I had bled for a week leading up to it…and 3 days after.

I’ve had a few people tell me how I am handling it much better than they would, but if they only knew! We had month, A MONTH, to prepare for either another baby here on earth or another one in Heaven. We prepared ourselves so much that we knew that either way, we’d be okay and make it through.

We have talked about maybe trying for another one, but not anytime soon. We have a 4 year old and a 2 year old to keep up with right now. Maybe after Sissy starts school, or even after Bubba! We will see….