Arrrggghh.

Earlier this week I came home for lunch and encountered a pirate as I walked into the kitchen.

Thankfully, this is a normal occurrence at our house...I did not startle in the least.

Happy Wednesday.

Show Us Your Singles...

Okay - so definitely the most unique post I have ever done. Show us your life...Singles Edition. It's crazy how many people read Kelly's Blog!

Meet my brother, John.

WHERE DO I START? Maybe 28 years ago when he would convince me that I was the lucky one to break the candy bar in half, and then he was the one who got to choose...knowing very well that I was not able to break them into equal portions...so he got to choose the bigger half...uggh. It still gets to me. I'll not even go into the ways he tormented me with gummy bears.

Okay, seriously. Where do I start?

I'm so lucky to have a brother. So lucky. And so excited that I can do this and hopefully lead him into new friendships or maybe something even more. But it's still so weird to be doing this.

John is a widow. What a horrible thing to have to say about your brother...especially when we are so young. John lost his wife of over 11 years to lymphoma...it will be three years this summer. It's something we still can't believe happened. He's probably one of the most genuinely decent guys in Northeast Arkansas. So decent in fact that I don't think there are many women out there who deserve him.

And let me say now (and this is probably why my parents and I are so protective and cautious of his future relationships)...if you are insecure or prone to jealously...move on. Because he didn't divorce his wife. He didn't throw away a marriage. He lost his best friend and the mother of his child. If you're insecure and can't make room for another woman in your life, then step aside, because he needs someone who will love him, adore his daughter, and welcome the memory of the past as a future is built.

Okay, so there's the background. Here are the stats:

Name: John

Age: Late 30's

Occupation: Photographer (I know, I know...everyone is a photographer these days. But he's good. Like "Oh yeah, he's that guy that does my kid's team sports photos" good.

Children: One daughter. First grade. Perhaps the sweetest child you will ever meet, and incredibly sure of herself and aware of what has happened to her.

College: Ouachita Baptist University. Degree: Mass Communications and Music.

Favorite Teams: Razorbacks. Texas Rangers. Dallas Stars.

Hobbies: He's a golfer. A serious golfer. And when I say he's a golfer, I mean he's the one that other golfers stop and stare at on the driving range. For me...the son who didn't get the athletic gene...it's disgusting to watch. He's that good. So good that Tiger Woods doesn't impress him. Think a little more classy...like Payne Stewart and Phil Mickelson.

Faith: Born-again Christian. Attends worship and Life Group a growing, vibrant Baptist church most weeks, and joins our parents at their church other weeks.

Greatest Attributes: Hilarious sense of humor. Loves Christmas more than any child I know. Loves being around his family. Has INCREDIBLE parents. He's giving. Loves giving gifts so much he'll usually tell you what he got you before you open it because he's so excited about it. It's his love language, whether he knows it or not.

Other Info: He loves being a dad, and I hope and pray that he will be able to marry and have more children. But I think he's okay if that doesn't happen, too. He's apt to forget to return a movie to the redbox for a few days, but he'll remember your birthday or anniversary. And probably send flowers. He's also extremely laid back, which is an accomplishment coming from a father who wears chino shorts to work in the yard. Seriously. Our dad doesn't own jeans.

My only brother with my only Niece.

Good luck!

Prayers

Join me in praying for our good friends Scott and Rebecca. They were 25 weeks pregnant with their second child - a daughter - and the baby arrived this morning.

Lila Elizabeth weighs 1 pound 12 ounces, and is fighting for her life in a children's hospital in Texas.

Updates

It seems like we have not stopped moving and going and working for the last two weeks, and we're still not finished.

We finally moved into a house after the first of the year. We were supposed to be in before NYE but it didn't happen like we planned.

Suffice it to say, we have way too much stuff. We have been putting away and putting away and we are out of space. We're about to have a Garage Sale (hopefully in a couple of weeks if the weather cooperates long enough to warm up to around 50 or so). Benjamin's room is almost done.

He went straight from his crib to a full bed and has not missed a beat. He wakes up in the mornings and after naps and calls for us to come get him. He really doesn't think that he can climb out. I'm sure this won't last forever but for now it's really, really nice.

We had the red four poster as our guest bed in our house in LR. His bedding is from PBKids, and Jenny and I painted the train canvas and the sign over the window. His blinds weren't' up when I took this. He has a chest of drawers I am working on, but it's been too cold for me to finish painting it. I hung an antique lantern from a big iron hook as part of the train theme, and he loves it.

Luke's room is another story. His walls have not been painted, and Jenny is in the process of making his bedding. It is now less than 8 weeks until he arrives. INSANE!

It's also just seven weeks from today that Ben will have his 3rd Birthday party, so we have much to do.

There's not much to see of our house - so I'm not posting pics for a while. I need to do some work in the yard and with the lingering snow and freezing temps I'm not able to get on it. We are probably about to paint the Den as well - it was kind of army green when we moved in, and we thought we liked it but we're not sure we can live with it. We're bright people and all...It's funny because it's almost the exact color of our living room in Little Rock, but we had a lot of windows in that room and a lot of white woodwork to balance it. This room has a large brick fireplace and only one window and one french door, so it's not terribly bright. We'll fix that :)

Ben's room and the boys bathroom (that's so weird to say) have been painted a fresh coat of khaki...we're probably staying with yellow for the nursery. The kitchen, dining room, and the boy's hallway are all yellow, and I'm thinking that's what we'll do with the den as well.

The boy's bathroom is really cute - we did a colorful sock monkey theme.

Promise to post pics of it all very, very soon.

Happy weekend, all.

First One of the Year

Something tells me that with the first snow of 2011 falling on the 9th day of the year - we are in for more to come...winter is just cranking up.

Ben was dying to go out in it all night last night. If we had not known the temps were going to stay down we would have let him. As it was, we knew it wouldn't be going anywhere by morning, so he had a yard full of snow awaiting him when he woke up.

He was very interested in making snowballs (we constantly act out the scene in Elf where Buddy lobs one way high and hits the kid trying to get away, complete with sound effects).

Daddy trying to start a snowman...it was too powdery.

Snowballs!

Chasing Daddy with a snowball.

He wasn't so much into making the snow balls as he was having Daddy

make them. He just wanted to throw them.

After a while we headed into the backyard and let the dogs come out and play.

Ben giving Annabelle a kiss.

It always makes me laugh how frisky they get in the snow...they're so much

like kids. They ran and ran, chased each other, chased Ben, and Bailey played

catch and eat with several snow balls.

February, 2008

Four weeks before Ben was born.

January 2011

8 weeks to Go!

Calling the Hogs

WOO PIG SOOOOIIIIIIEEEEE!

LETS GO HOGS!!!!!!!