Life!!!!

What a last two weeks! It doesn't seem like I've stopped for 2 minutes! Billie had her 1st dentist appointment, Kyleigh had an ear infection, we ALL had awful colds, I had a health concern followed by a procedure (turned out fine, thank goodness!), we've had a skunk under the house that refuses to be baited into a trap, Billie has a double ear infection which is causing her to act TERRIBLE, I've had MAJOR technical difficulties trying to finish a photo order, Michael and I took our youth group to Branson for Young Christians' Weekend where we drove through rain, sleet, and snow to get there only to find there were no rides running and the music group for the concert was unable to make it due to weather, and there's probably more, but that's all my mind can process right now. Whine, whine, whine, huh? Oh well, that's life. And anybody who knows me well knows that I'm a perfectionist and stress over little things. So, I think God is trying to teach me a lesson by seeing if I'm ever going to learn to just take a deep breath and go on. Ha! Usually I'm a fast learner, but this seems to be an exception. Whew!

So, on to the important things. As I said earlier, Billie had her 1st dentist appointment. I really talked it up to her, and I was so proud of her. As we sat in the waiting room, she talked rather loudly (as she usually does) asking me questions such as "Mama, when am I going to see the dentist?, What's that lady doing?, Uh-Oh, that Lady closed the door!, I like this place, Mama!". I could hear the ladies in the office, along with some hygienists, laughing at our conversation. Then, when our hygienist came to get us, she said, "We may have a hard time keeping her quiet long enough to clean her teeth!" :) She was so good with Billie, letting her touch everything and try everything out herself. Billie loved it! And she got a VERY good report! Yeah! So, on to Wal-mart we went, where she got to ride Bob the Builder as a reward, and she picked out a Dora T-shirt. I also got her a few little summer clothes because she didn't have anything for warm days yet. She was so proud to show them to Michael when we got home. And then my afternoon went downhill. As Billie was showing her daddy her new clothes, Kyleigh looked at me and said, "Where's my clothes, Mama?" Oh my gosh! I didn't think about the possibility of that happening at all. Of course, I could understand it if it had been a toy, but not clothes. It broke my heart! So, of course, the very next day I was in Fort Smith buying Kyleigh a new outfit (not that she doesn't have enough, but that was beside the point at this moment). She had probably already forgotten about it, but I had to make myself feel a little bit better.

As I'm typing this, I'm waiting for photos to upload to Sam's Club website to print at the store. I have made 4 trips to Fort Smith just for this very reason only to come home empty-handed each time. I've taken a CD twice with the pics on it, then tried a flash drive, and for some reason the photo machine is not wanting to print the pictures. After phone calls back and forth with one of the technicians, we finally got it to work with me sending it online, but it's crazy the amount of configuring I'm having to do to get it to print just right. Live and learn, huh?

I hope to post some pics I took of a brother and sister SOON. So check back in a couple of days. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. All of the locations in the pics are new! I've purchased some new backdrops for inside pics too, so as soon as I get my "model" to try them out for me, I'll post them as well.

So here's a finished product example that each drama student will receive. Even though it is causing me so much havoc right now, I know next time will be a whole lot easier now that I know what to do for the machines to recognize such a high-resolution photo.

Drama--Mandy's Photography

I was asked to take pictures of each student in the County Line Middle School Drama Club before their play, "Charlotte's Web". I really have to brag on the kids because they were so polite to me and listened well, and the photo session went extremely smooth. Here's a few of my favorites from the night!

Daddy's going to bring me a pony!

The girls were invited over to their friend Noah's house to ride his pony, Be-Bop (hope I spelled this right), on Tuesday. We picked up food from Sonic for them to have a picnic, but it was short-lived as Noah got sick. The girls still got to ride his pony, and they loved it! Billie told Noah's daddy that she was going to tell her daddy to bring her one home. Ha! Thanks for the pony rides, and we'll have to try the play-date again!

A Taste of Spring!

Sunday was such a nice day, so I took photos of the girls in their Easter dresses. We took pictures in Myno's (my grandma's) yard and at the neighbor's drive.

He has some beautiful Bradford Pear trees.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Michael! We celebrated Michael's birthday (and my brother Derek's) with a family dinner at Mom and Dad's Friday night. I can't believe he is 33! It seems like just yesterday that we started dating (and that was 17 years ago, whoa!).

On Saturday, we went to a "Focus on Marriage" simulcast with other couples from our church. Our pastor has preached the entire month of February on marriage, and it really made me think about how lucky I am. Each couple in the church was asked to watch the movie "Fireproof". What a great movie! I bawled like a baby! The film had such a great message, and it was nice to see Kirk Cameron act again. I loved watching "Growing Pains" long ago, and I used to have a poster of him up in my room. Ha! Anyway, back to the simulcast...it was live from Colorado Springs and put on by "Focus on the Family". It was very interesting and definitely opened your eyes on how your focus needs to be on God to have a healthy marriage. I feel like Michael and I have such a great marriage, and I couldn't imagine my life with anyone other than him. During the simulcast, one speaker talked about "fighting" with your spouse...she was hilarious! But, when we left, I asked Michael, "Do you think there's something wrong with us because we don't fight?" "Are there things that drive you crazy about me that you just don't confront me about?" Ha! And, of course, we both talked about little quirks that each of us has that the other one doesn't understand, but how they are insignificant in the big scheme of things and just not worth fighting about. Anyway, I love you Michael, and I appreciate you so much, and I'm thankful for what we have together!

The girls and I met Michael at Cheddar's on his birthday after he got off work. Kyleigh has bronchitis and an ear infection, but she didn't want her mama to leave her with anyone else, so she went along as well. The sickness didn't stop her orneryness, that's for sure. Right after the girls and I got there, someone pulled in the parking spot to the left of me, went in the restaurant, and left the passenger side door wide open. They were parked too close for me to open my door or to back out and find another parking spot, so I had to climb out the passenger side. I find myself in some funny predicaments sometimes. LOL!

Here's Michael and the girls with his birthday cheesecake...his dessert of choice!