Please Continue to Pray

Blake and Danielle lost their baby today. Please continue to be in prayer for them and their families. I can't imagine what they are going through.

Pray for Blake and Danielle

One of Adam and Jaclyn's good friends from Auburn lost a baby last year at 23 weeks. I won't go into all the details, but she is now 23 weeks (make that 24 as of today I think) pregnant again and was hospitalized with pre-term labor on Monday. They were sure that she was having the baby upon arrival at the hospital, and we all know that would have been too early. However, through the knowledge of doctors, and I'm sure a lot of prayer, they were able to slow down her contractions. She will be hospitalized for the remainder of her pregnancy, but each day she's there gives the baby a better chance of making it!

I was hospitalized at 23-24 weeks for pre-term labor with Mc. My contractions were 5 minutes apart by the time we got to the hospital and it took about 12 hours to get them stopped. It was the scariest thing I've ever been through. I can't imagine going through it after having already lost a child.

So, I asked that you remember them in your prayers. You can follow their story here.
I'm sure they would appreciate any encouraging words you can offer!

Fun Find!

I went to a consignment sale this morning, which if you are in the area, I highly recommend. (It is at Oak Hill Assembly on Franklin Rd. The consignment stuff is okay, but there is also a lady there with all brand new boutique stuff and I don't think anything is over 30.00!)

Anyway, I saw this and had to get it. It is a 2T, so hopefully it will still fit at Halloween, but if not, it was worth buying just for the pics and her excitement. She put it on to "show" Daddy about an hour ago, and won't take it off!!!

PS- Sorry for the poor pic quality. Our good camera is broken and I'm using our digital camera we got in 02'. Wow! what a quality difference five years made!

Totally Precious or Completely Cheesy?

I'm NOT into reality TV. I just don't do it. However, I've been watching American Idol off and on this season because of the complete lack of programming that seems to exist on television. Anyway, that's another blog. Really, I'm writing to get you all to help me make a decision here.

David Archuleta, is he just a totally precious little kid with a great voice, or is he just too cheesy for words? I can't decide. Until last night I thought, "hmm, pretty cheesy." But then, last night he just seemed so humbled and real after his performance... which by the way was really really good.

What do you guys think?

Snow!

This morning we woke up to a light dusting on the ground. This was the first time Mc has actually been able to go out to feel and touch it. (Of course I put her out in the snow last year, but she doesn't remember that!) :)

She was so cute. The pics just show her pure joy at experiencing something new!

Monkey's Treehouse

If you haven't been to Monkey's Treehouse yet... and you have a child under the age of 5... go! After being open only two weeks, Mc is a seasoned pro. She had been with her Gaga and her Daddy, on separate occasions, before I ever had the chance to take her.

Well, last Wednesday, we met Danielle and Ava over there to spend the morning. You pay 7.00 to get in (or, you can buy a pkg.- 10 visits for 56.00; quite a deal!) Once you are in, it is like baby heaven. There is everything you can think of for them to play with. There is of course a huge treehouse that spans the length of the building. It has slides, ropes, swinging bridges, etc etc. But, then there is also a kitchen area, a grocery store, a theatre with dress up clothes, a craft area, an area for 2 and under with balls, rollers, foam pieces, etc, an enormous doll house, tables, puzzles, chalkboards, go fish, maps, on and on; anything their little heart desires. Nice for us? There are sofas and chairs and if it isn't packed, you can actually sit down and see them from pretty much anywhere in the room.

The Downside? It is probably going to be packed. When we were there on a Wednesday morning, there were atleast 50 kids and just as many moms. I would suggest maybe trying an afternoon... my guess is it woudn't be so packed later in the day. Also, one other bad thing. There is a sand box... inside. They have to wear their shoes in the place, but if they get in the sandbox they have to take them off. Mc doesn't really care about it, but Ava really liked it, so she'd get in, take off her shoes, get out, put them on, over and over. It was really messy. Also, I just think it is gross... maybe ya'll are okay with it, I don't know.

There is also a lunch room there and you can take your own lunch and eat it there. Or, there is a McDonald's in the parking lot and you can walk to it.

Anyway, all in all, it is AWESOME. I highly suggest you go. It is inexpensive and you could spend several hours there. The best part? My hour and a half napper took a three and a halfer when we got home!

Music Class

I signed McHaney up for a 6 week music class at our church about a month ago.

I don't really like it; it is a little too structured for us. (as you will see in the videos I've posted, she's the wildest one in the class by far, and I'm not sure the others like it very much.)

She loves it though because she is completely oblivious to all of the looks I receive from the other moms. Little do they know she isn't acting up... she's just a wild maniac all the time!

Anyway, we won't be signing up to do it again, so I thought I'd better get some pictures and video while I had the chance!

Pray for Kelli

We found out this weekend that one of Daren's good friends from high school has been diagnosed with cancer. (Actually, they have known each other their whole lives, literally, as they share a birthday and their mothers shared a hospital room!)

She is so young and has two beautiful sons. It was just so shocking to hear!

I ask that you keep her in your prayers during your daily talks with God. You can follow her story and see how to pray for her, more specifically, here.

Playgroup V-Day Party

It was our turn to have playgroup yesterday and we decided to host a V-Day Party for the crew at Chuck E. Cheese. It was super cute.

E and Brooks had never been before, and they just stood around amazed the whole time. Mc and Ava were like crazy monkeys that owned the place. (I thought boys were supposed to be the rough and tumble ones!) We had pizza and petit fors and everyone traded Valentines.

It was so fun!

Drumroll Please!

After many requests to get something up (in some semblance of order) with pricing, info, etc. on my available embroidery items...
I present Bits and Pieces Embroidery.

This is a new blog I have set up that will have pictures, pricing, ideas and more for items I can create for people.

There is now a link to it on my blog below McHaney's Favorite Tricks.

It is a work in progress, but please let me know what you think! I will be adding new items for a while!

New Embroidery Item

Here is my newest item... A monogrammed travel mug. One of my favorite items to date. I gave this to Danielle as a birthday gift and everyone seemed to like it.

A great gift for that friend who has everything!

Hairstyles

Sorry it has been so long between blogs. My computer got infected with a virus and then it let in more viruses. My computer basically hasn't been working since last Wednesday. I think 3 days of the computer guy coming out, no telling how much money, and 67 found viruses later, we're starting to get back to normal. Still, I have a sneaking suspicion we aren't running completely clean. I guess that is yet to be seen.

Anyway, not much exciting has gone on this last week or so, but I wanted to post a few pics of Mc's wild hair. If anyone has any suggestions about how to keep it under control, please let me know. The longer it gets, the wilder. It is always matted and tangly. I try that no more tears detangler, and it does help to get the tangles out, but it does not prevent tangles, which of course would be the goal here. We are working on wearing barrettes, but they slip out really easily and we loose them. After buying a pack of 10 last Sunday we have 3 left.

Anyway, the first one is right after waking up from her nap. This is a pretty typical pic of what her hair looks like 80% of the time. The second is when I tried to put her mop into a ponytail. Cute... too bad it didn't last but about 10 minutes.

Super Bowl Party

Last night we had some friends over for the Super Bowl. (Which, I must say I was thrilled that the Giants won! Go Eli!!!) Most of them have kids and thus Mc had her own little party! It was all girls, and they were so cute. Dancing, playing, squealing... I can't wait to see what is to come as they get older! Anyway, I know this is a lot of pics to post, but I had a hard time choosing; There were so many good ones!

Libby Claire pushing Mc around. This was her favorite thing all night!

Annabelle playing on the leapfrog pad

All the girls ready for bed in their cute pj's!

Reading books at a rare quiet time during the evening.

Ava in her favorite tent. Every time she is here she hangs out in this thing!

Libby Claire and Mc hugging

The 3 "big" girls being silly

Cool Ava