Happy Halloween!

From Hef and Crystal, his "Runaway Bride"

No, I don't normally go out of the house in a leotard and fishnets.  I also don't normally pick a Halloween outfit that make people think I want to be a sex kitten.  This idea of Hef's Runaway Bride came to me one night when I was about to fall asleep and I decided to do it the next day!  I started ordering pieces of our costumes and then it dawned on me...... Do I really have to nerve to wear a leotard?  With no pants?  I just went for it and I think it turned out pretty cute and Jack looks great with that head of grey :) - Although, I had to explain to a lot of people that I wasn't just a Playboy Bunny.  I was a "RUNAWAY BRIDE!"

We went to a Ghoul Gala that some of our friends hosted.  This was their 3rd year for the party but our first year to attend!  It was so much fun!  A couple of friends also came to town for the party!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!  Pics of VelcroDog to come!  Can anyone guess what he will be?  I will give you a hint: He's going to have a Happy Halloweenie!

Ande: The Chiquita Banana Lady, Mary: The Bag Lady (Not quite sure?) and Lindsay, who also happens to be my sister!: The Doctor

Britni: Where's Waldo and Natalie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Lisbeth Salander)

Uncommon Goods

The holiday season is upon us.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas - many people have probably started thinking what they could get that special person for Christmas.  But what do you get for the person who has everything?  I came across this little magazine that was sent to Jack in mail.  It's called Uncommon Goods.  I flipped through it and I was really impressed by some of the truly neat things this place offered.  A few of my favorites were the Corkcicle (keeps white wine chilled), the wine cork candles (you put them in the bottle and let them burn down the bottle), On the Rocks drink chillers (Whiskey stones instead of ice - doesn't dilute your complex flavors), The State Necklaces, the Bad Dog tumbler glasses, I could go on and on.  Check out their website HERE!  You never know, you could find a few cute gift ideas!

Singing in the RAIN!

I've always wanted a pair of rain boots.  But each year, the rain and snow comes and I don't have them.  My socks get soggy and it's just no fun - I tell myself I will run to Target and get a pair of cheap rain boots and when it's already raining out, the rain boots are nowhere to be found on the shelves!

Tory Burch started their Private Sale and it ends Monday October 31st!  They have select items 70% off!  I found a pair of adorable/super cute "wellies" for $39.99!  That's just as cheap as you can find anywhere!  Regular $150!  I opted for black, because color in my wardrobe scares me (kidding.... kind of).  Go check them out and get yourself a pair!  It's raining in Tulsa today and I wish I were wearing these beauties right now!

I just love a good sale :)

Halloween Costume Contest

Please click HERE to vote for my hilarious, creative friends!

If you click on the link and you are voting for 7 girls in Christmas Tree costumes, you are at the right place!

Just A Few Things

This past week I received the most beautiful Christmas ornament in the mail from one of my dear friends.  She wrote the most touching note with it as well.  I will forever keep that note and of course, every Christmas to come, I will look at this ornament and Jack and I will remember our sweet angel baby as we decorate our tree.

This past week I also had my very first ORDER!  An old friend contacted me about making a onesie and burp cloth for a friends baby.  Since I live in Tulsa and she doesn't, I also delivered it up to the hospital.  I think they turned out cute and I even sewed the pink ruffle on myself!  This was the first time I had sewn since 7th grade home-ec.  

Saturday night my Sooners lost to Texas Tech.  It was heartbreaking.  Before the game started, our power went out for about 2 hours due to storms.  Since my wonderful mother sells Scentsy, I hardly had any candles in the house!  Luckily I was able to find four and we also lit our gas fireplace.  If you are interested in Scentsy, you can order from my mom HERE.  There are so many wonderful Fall and Winter scents.  Every time I have people over, they comment on how good our house smells.  Thanks, Mom :)

We also went to the pumpkin patch and carved pumpkins.  I tried to get fancy (naturally) and broke my pumpkin, but Jack's "STUDZ" -Fantasy Football Name- turned out great!!!  Tank had a blast time at the pumpkin patch.  He was so popular!

Tonight we are eating chicken and dumplings!  It's getting chilly here in Tulsa and I don't mind it one bit!  I will let you know how they turn out.  This will be my first time making it!  I am also going to post a couple of recipes I have made recently that turned out yummy and they are SO EASY!

Happy Wednesday!

5 Days Until Halloween!

Zulily

I signed up for Zulily.com emails when I was pregnant with Jonathan.  They always have the most adorable children/baby things at great deals.  Today, they have the cutest animal rockers for $39.99 regular price $90.00!  Would be the best Christmas gift for your little one :)

But that's not why I am posting today.  I am posting because they also have a fabulous deal for Tiny Prints!  For $20, you can get $40 worth of Holiday Cards, Holiday Thank You Notes or Holiday Gift Tags!  What a deal!!!  We send out Christmas cards every year, so this will come in handy.  I purchased mine this morning!

Machine Update!

Okay, so I played around with my machine a lot this weekend.  It is so much fun and I am really getting the hang of it.  Yesterday I went and bought some cheap fabric to practice sewing!  Here are a couple of items I made with the fonts that come with my machine.  I have had a few people contact me about what kind of machine I bought.  It's a Baby Lock Ellure.  I love it and I think it will do just about everything I will want it to do.  I'm open for business!  Let me know if anyone needs anything monogrammed!

Christmas Baby!

Pink and Grey - So cute.

This one shows up much better in person.  Gone Huntin' (for my little niece arriving in January!  Her Daddy's a hunter !)

I'm not too happy with these terry-cloth bibs.  They were just cheap to practice on.  The white is really showing up through the stitching.  I will probably want to find a nice cotton bib for future bibs I make for people.

I love how the burp cloths turned out!  

More Tank!

This weekend we spent a lot of our time outside on our deck.  Tank was VERY excited that we put one of his old pillows out on the deck.  He was able to stay very comfy and snuggled while mom and dad watched the Sooners on Saturday night!

Also, I don't know if any of you pup lovers out there have problems with this, but sometimes Tank will NOT stop licking his paws.  A lot of time we know they are just irritated (bullies have very sensitive skin), but the licking is so annoying.  I got smart and put a sock over his foot the other day.  Problem solved - no more licking.  It was real nice until he started walking around the house with a limp, acting as if I shoved needles up his paw.  Such a little drama king.  He knew I would take the sock off if I saw him limping.  I was right - after I took if off, he was running around the house per usual.  Poor guy has such a mean mom....

Little Halloween Bullie

Tank's Grammy in Norman sent him a little spooky surprise this past weekend.  The black skull and Halloween monkey were all wrapped up cute in a pumpkin!  Thanks, Grammy!  

October 17th

Today was my official due date with Jonathan.  Who knows if he would have actually arrived today, earlier or later - all I can think about today is that he is not here.  It makes me sad and brings me to tears as I type out the words.  I miss him so much.  I miss being pregnant.  I pray every night that Jack and I will continue to grow our little family and that God will bless us with another baby soon.  But we will never forget our first baby, our little angel baby Jonathan.

This month is also Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.  On October 15th, people take a moment to remember those babies who were lost to a miscarriage, still-birth, SIDS or death of a newborn.  I know the day has come and gone, but please take a moment today to pray for all of the mom's and dad's out there who have lost children way too soon.  Pray that they continue to be comforted by God's grace and His plan.

1 Samuel 1:27
 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.


Thank you God, for giving us Jonathan.  Even though it was for a short time, you had bigger plans for him.  He was so special, he had to become an angel right away.  Jonathan is not here with us, but he made us parents from the start and we are grateful.

I Heart Choctaw

I was born and raised in Choctaw, Oklahoma.  Not a big town, but not a small town either.  I love it in Choctaw.  If Jack and I were to ever move back toward OKC - Choctaw is where I'd want to be.  It's slow paced, friendly and familiar.  I was a cheerleader from about the 2nd grade until I was a senior in high school.  I cheered on different All-Star squads along with always cheering for Choctaw.  Girls where I come from are really good at cheerleading.  They still are - In fact, Choctaw High School just won their 4th State title in a row!  Yes, I am bragging, but it's more than I can say for our football team :)  We're no Jenks in that department....

Anyway, Choctaw is having their first annual cheer alumni game next week!  I am so sad I will not be able to attend, but I ordered a shirt none the less.  I guess I just wanted to be there in spirit.  I really hope this catches on and they do it every year from now on.  So many people will be participating!  Even cheerleaders from the 80's!  I can't wait to hear how it goes.  They will be preforming the fight song at halftime of the Thursday night football game.

Here's the shirt design.  I love it.  Simply put:

Monogramming!

My friend Kylie has a monogram machine.  I went to her house a couple of weeks ago to test it out, see how it worked and if I liked it.  She told me how simple it was and you basically just program in what you want, etc.  Well, I loved it so much, I decided to go ahead and buy one of my own!  It came in today and I can't wait to play with it all weekend and learn new things.  I think Kylie and I are going to take a few monogram / sewing classes together, which will be so fun!  Here are a few bibs I made at her house.  I was trying out the different fonts that came with the machine.  I am already obsessed.  Everything in my house is going to have a monogram on it at the end of the weekend!  These bibs are for my sweet little niece, Betsy, who is due to arrive mid-January

Do any of you own a monogram machine?  Any sites in particular that are your favorites to download new fonts?

Special Stuff

There are so many times at work that I wish Tank were here with me.  I don't think it's fair he gets to go to work with Jack everyday.  They spend more time together than I get to spend with either of them!  Super jealous.  Jack sent me this picture yesterday.  Tank got up and was hugging on his dad.  If you were having a bad day at work, I'm pretty sure this would fix anything...

The most handsome husband and VelcroDog in the world ;)

Also, my friends that I mentioned a couple of posts ago - The Cunningham's - they get to take their little boy HOME SWEET HOME this afternoon!  God is so good!  Please continue to keep them in your prayers as he will still have to have a few surgeries in the future but boy is this great news!  Here is a recent picture of sweet Oliver.  Cutest face ever, right?

Hang Half A Hundred On 'Em

This weekend is the best college football rivalry ever!  I'll be heading south by noon. 

BOOMER SOONER!  BEAT TEXAS!

What I see -

Looking up at me most nights while eating dinner.  Look at the poor guy, acting as if he hasn't eaten in days.  Desperately wanting a bite of whatever is on my plate.  I love this face and sometimes cave and give him a little surprise :).  I'm easy.  He knows it.

Too Much.

We went out to dinner last Friday night.  We went to Duke's, it was wonderful.  I will post about it later.  This was by no means a fancy fancy restaurant, but it serves nice, upscale Southern Cuisine.  A band was starting to play just as we were finishing up our meal.  There was a table next to us and I couldn't keep my eyes off of them.  The. Entire. Dinner.  The dad had out his iPad, the little boy (no older than 8 or 9) had out his cell phone with these huge head phones on and the little girl (no older than 9 or 11) had out her phone with these huge head phones on.  The poor mom, just sitting there.  Miserable.  I could not get over the electronics at this table.  There was one point the little boy even starting getting upset because his phone died - the nerve - and his dad handed him this battery pack to charge it back up.  Was that necessary?  Could the boy not go the rest of the dinner and just eat without a game on in front of him?  It really frightened me.  I know electronics have really taken us so far and through this technology, doctor's, scientists, engineers, etc. have learned and discovered so many new things.  I am thankful for technology.  But how far is too far?  That poor mother was miserable, but I was glad that Jack was able to see this from the outside looking in.  He has been known to be attached to his phone and iPad a little too much.  He agreed it was ridiculous and the whole situation was out of control.  And to make matters worse, the little boy was already overweight for his age.  Makes me wonder if he ever plays outside?

Prayers

Please keep my friends, the Cunningham's, in your prayers.  They just had a little boy Oliver who was born with some complications.  He is going to have surgeries to get him all fixed up, but please pray for speedy recoveries and for the doctor's hands each time they operate on him.  Hopefully Lacy and Stephen will get to take home their little miracle soon!  Isn't he the sweetest little thing you have ever laid your eyes on?

She's a natural.

Fall Front Porch

This weekend I went to buy our pumpkins and mums for the front porch.  I am not a green thumb but maybe if I water them just enough, they won't die before they bloom.  Last year I bought a bail of hay.  I put it in my car and had hay in my car until this summer when I finally took the time to clean it really well.  I mean do you know how hard it is to get every bit of hay out of your car carpet?  Hard.  So this year, it's just pumpkins and mums.  I like the look.  It's my first year to buy the Cinderella pumpkins!

Don't worry, we will still go to the pumpkin patch so Mr. Tank can pose by pumpkins and I can pretend like I'm a professional photographer in a pet photo shoot.

Mi Cocina Comes To TULSA!

Last night we went with some friends to try out the new Mi Cocina in Tulsa.  It was wonderful, just like it is in Dallas.  Everything tasted the exact same and the Mambo's were just as strong :)