A piece of us.

I always feel like a refrigerator is a good reflection of the family in whose house it resides. I usually spend a good 5 minutes just standing and looking at the notes and pictures covering its front and sides. I decided to give you a peek at our refrigerator and its decorations. Feel free to take 5 and analyze.

Shall we delve in?

Here we have a magnet that I bought for Jason on our second anniversary. He was finishing school and the future was somewhat of a question mark. We also see a note on a napkin. A few months ago, Marketplace was running a special where kids ate for free during a certain time of the day. Jason met us in Fort Smith and we had a yummy meal. When the waiter brought us the payment booklet, this napkin was inside instead of a receipt. If you want to read it just click on the picture. It was a pretty cool night.

This little section of the fridge is fun. There is the first picture Jason and I ever took together. Jason had it in a little frame for years but it finally broke and the picture earned a spot front and center. There is also a fortune that came out of a fortune cookie that reads, "Your financial outlook is great at this time." It always makes me laugh because at the time our financial outlook was the exact opposite. There is also a comic strip that my cousin, Kathryn, mailed to me a long, long time ago. It's pretty funny and a good example of our mentality during the time we opened that fortune cookie. There is a Lucy magnet from my friend, Kayla. It represents my college life when, more than once, I performed the Vitameatavegamin routine in their kitchen. And there is a sweet picture of Claire that my cousin took while she was babysitting so that Jason and I could go to Jason's biological father's funeral. It was originally placed there to get it off the bar and throughout the years it has become a fixed item. And last, there are a few of my George Washington magnets I bought last year when Kathryn and I visited Mt. Vernon. 

There's not a lot to say about this section. A few magnets that I loved and a picture of me from college. That's to remind Jason that inside this worn-out, fatigued body is a skinny, well-rested, kept up lady that has a personality. In other words, don't despair. :)

These are just my super cool grocery/menu pads.

Now in this section of the refrigerator we have a picture of the girls from a few years back. I love how fat Eily looks in this picture. There is also the List of Attainments to remind me what to work on with Elaina.

I love this. It's a strip from a photo booth in the mall. The girls did this for Jason's father's day card last year.

This picture is pretty obvious. I have small children.

What might be a bit of a puzzlement is the white scarf placed over a majority of the magnets.

I have no explanation.

Rosemary Casseroles

I just took a pan of yeast dinner rolls out of the oven and Eily came running over.

E- "Mmm, I just love casseroles!"
Me- "You do? Well these are dinner rolls, not casseroles."
E- "Oh. (little laugh) well, I just love dinner rolls."

Then she watched as I sprinkled a little rosemary on the top of the rolls.

E- "Blech. I don't like sticks. Do you like those sticks?"
Me- "These aren't sticks, these are little pieces of rosemary and I love them."
E- "Hey! You're married and you like casserole rosemary! That's hilarious!"

And then she ran away.

Oh Happy Day

Jordan Ferney at Oh Happy Day is doing a giveaway for a trip to Paris, France for two. Wouldn't that be lovely to win?

This was one of those things that was really funny but now that I'm trying to type it out as a story it's sounding a little boring and not at all funny. But it really was. Really!

Elaina hates to get in trouble and there are times when she says something a little rude to one of the other girls, we get on to her for it and she says, "Well, I was just joking." Yesterday, while driving home from Fort Smtih, Jason was trying to explain the difference between a joke and a lie to Elaina.  First, he gave her an example of a lie and then he started to give an example of a joke.

J- "Elaina, why did the chicken cross the road?"
E- "Where? What chicken? I didn't see the chicken! Girls, did you see the chicken? Daddy just saw a chicken going across the road!!"

Woosh! Right over her head.

We have a winner!

Congratulations CELEBRATED. You are the only person to get the answer exactly right.

Daddy, Elaina loves you. Elaina is proud of all paintings.

Email your address to jaybeksacran@gmail.com and I will get the card in the mail. By the way, I enjoy keeping up with your blog. Who would have thought that years down the road I would be mailing you a Starbucks gift card? :) Life is fun.

First pool day of the summer

Nora's first stroller ride

No one has gotten the answer to the contest exactly right. I'm keeping it open until we have a winner.

http://bekahsacran.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-know-what-this-picture-means.html

Nora Quotes

Eily, holding Nora this morning,
"I love you baby. You're just so....babyish."


Elaina, watching Nora eat at 3am,
"Once I put my eyes on her I just can't get them to turn away. She's so cute and little and, well, (laughing a little) fat."

Sweet memories of May

Apparently we have been busy this month although it didn't really feel like it. We had a get-together at my cousin's house. Btw, all those trees you see lining his driveway were ripped out by the tornado last weekend.

We also watched as Nora James learned to smile at us.

I like these two pictures because they are basically the same but the focus is on a different person in each one.

We also learned how to hold our baby the right way, supporting her neck.

This past weekend we went to Mississippi for my cousin's wedding. Since Jason's brothers live in the same

town where the wedding was held, his parents drove in on Sunday to spend the day with their children, in-laws and granddaughters.

You can't have too many toys.

Lily Karen

 The boys played a little football and Frisbee Golf.

 Elaina looked extra grown-up this particular day.

At one point in the afternoon, I silently pointed the camera at Claire. Even though no directions were given, she instinctively knew to pose. She would pause between poses so that I could snap a picture and as soon as she heard the shutter click she would strike another one. I was laughing so hard inside but just kept a straight face on the outside. I wanted to see how long she would keep posing. It turns out she'll go for a long while before getting bored or distracted.



Uncle Tommy taught Elaina how to throw a Frisbee and they seemed to have a good time playing together.

And, technically, this is a June moment but whatever...

The girls have to help me clean up after supper now and they are getting really good. Elaina sweeps the floor, Claire wipes the table and scrapes out the leftover food and Eily loads the dishwasher. I was proud of what the dining room and kitchen looked like this evening.

Don't forget to enter the contest!!!

http://bekahsacran.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-know-what-this-picture-means.html

(Or instead of clicking on the link you can just scroll down.)

You know what this picture means!!!

We were gone and now we are home. And for that reason, I am having a contest.

I will select a random winner from the correct entries. The winner will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card. I am hiding the entries until the time is up because I don't want any cheating. :) The contest will end on Thursday at 12pm.

Decipher the following paragraph:

DAD
EEL
AINA
LOVS
UOO
ELA
INA
ASP
RAWD
AVALL
PATEGS


Ready, set go!

Storms and Babies

Oh my goodness. What a night. We were up well past midnight watching the storm unfold.  It touched down in Ractliff and Etna and we have a lot of family in those towns.  Thank God for protecting them, for keeping them safe. My cousin, Matt, and his wife heard it go over their house and felt the house shake. Once it passed, he went outside and couldn't see the neighbor's house. He went to look for them and bring them back to his house so they would have a place to stay. It touched down on my Uncle Evan's land and he lost a window on his house, half of the roof of their "school house" and his I think the back half of his shop is gone. A tree fell on my other cousin's house. I haven't heard yet if our church sustained any damage but the main thing is that everyone is alive and no one was hurt. That tornado came so close to our house. It's always sad to see destruction from weather like what happened in Joplin but when it's this close to home, affecting people that you know, it takes on a whole different level of scary.

On to brighter and better news...

My older sister, Rachel, had her third little boy last night right before midnight. Ryan Mark is his name. The Mark is after my dad. He was 8 lbs and something ounces. I haven't heard any other details yet but I am going to the hospital this afternoon and will find out the story. Bet that was fun, having a baby during tornado weather.

I'm here, I'm just very, very busy. We have put our house back on the market and I have been trying to repaint and make pretty.  I'm also super exhausted. (Have I mentioned that before?) I promise at some point I will start posting often again.

Elaina's school books have been coming in and it's so exciting and fun to look at everything. Do you want to know what they are? Tell me if you do and I'll write a post about it.

Hey! Blogger's working again!

We've been adjusting rather well to having another family member. Some days are harder than others but that's to be expected. Nora James is growing like a weed despite the fact that she seems to spit up her entire meal every time she eats.  

The weather has been pleasant so I've had the girls playing outside a lot.

Daddy has been a huge help with the baby. Every morning I wake him up around 7 and he and Nora James go to the couch and cuddle together and I get back in bed.

The other day, Jason needed a break from painting so we all packed up and headed to a little park in our town.

NJ was being a little too rambunctious as you can tell from the picture below.

Making wishes...

"Practicing gymnastics"

Complete happiness

Postpartum belly

This is my 600th post.

I'm so tired. I sat down to check something on the computer and my body weight is so heavy that I can't get up. I want to. I just can't.

Everyone is good.

Everyone is happy.

My brain is too tired to think of anything else to write.

Goodbye. Snore.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Eily!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com