Christmas has come and gone....

Me and my parents of Christmas morning! Kevin with his Granny and Mom

My parents (aren't they cute) Kevin and Mama A My Mama A and Granddaddy I got a new camera for Christmas so hopefully this will help with my blogging. I can't wait to take some cute pictures of my kids at school. I thought I would share some pic of us this Christmas season.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

I know all my followers have been wondering where I have been!! (all 3 of you) I have just been in a blogging rut and I am hoping to get out of it soon. Kevin and I celebrated 1 year of marriage on November 15th! We took a delayed anniversary trip to Branson this past weekend with some friends. It was so much fun. I love going to shows and shopping. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done. We put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving! This is our new tradition at the Strom house. I am so proud of all my ornaments....I didn't have very many, so my mom took me to Hob Lob to get some. Kev and I give each other one every year. I also have a few homemade ones from friends that I cherish.

I love this time of year and I always try to make it go as slow as possible. I hope that it will go slow this year. At school we have been making some pretty cute Christmas crafts. I told the kids that I make daily reports to Santa, so hopefully they will have some good behavior! We will see!!!

1 little, 2 litte, 3 little pumpkins....

I took my kids to Motley's Pumpkin Patch in October! It was so much fun. I wish we could take a field trip once a week. I think it is such a wonderful learning experience. As you can see from the pictures we had so much fun. I had my kids draw pictures about their favorite part of the field trip. By far they loved riding the school bus (they are not allowed to ride the bus to school) and the pig races. The pig named "Jimmy Dean" won all 3 races this year. We got to have pumpkin juice and pretzels while we watched the races. I felt like I was at Nascar! I was also so thrilled to have about 15 parents go with us. If you are a teacher you know that good parent support makes for a successful year. I can't wait till next year!

Operation Christmas Child!

Operation Christmas Child is something that I found out about at my church several years ago. It is project that Samaritan's Purse does every year that allows people to make shoe boxes full of goodies for children in other countries for Christmas. My parents and I have always gotten involved because it is something that is very important and it is so easy to do. I watched a video at church on Sunday about a girl that is now in her 30's from Bosnia that received a shoebox when she was 11 years old that changed her life forever. She was very poor and was embarrassed to go to school because her shoes were so old and torn up. She tried running away the very day that the shoe boxes came, she saw a commotion and went to see what it was...low and behold a man said come and take a shoebox and what do you think her box had in it? You guessed it a brand new pair of shoes. She prayed to receive Christ that very day and now works for the organization and delivers boxes herself to children....now tell me God didn't have a purpose for that little 11 year old. I thought this story was so overwhelming I just sat with tears in my eyes. You see not all the shoebox have shoes in fact most of them don't they are filled with toys and games and socks! God knew that she needed shoes and that is exactly which box she received. My church will be stuffing 1000 boxes on November 22! If you feel like you would like to do a box please do it is such a blessing!

BOO-kly!

This is Halloween week! My kids at school are having so much fun talking and singing about Halloween. We have a song called Witches Brew that has some really neat hand motions. They pretend that they are making some witches brew and stirring it in a cauldron. TOO CUTE! I went to Wal-mart and got one of those pumpkin carving kits. It is so neat. I had never seen one of those before. I let my kids vote on which design we would carve. They decided on a ghost. They each got to take some of the seeds home! I think they enjoyed it. We also voted on his name. They threw out some names and then we voted. The top 2 names were BOO-kly and Little Bitty Pretty so we had a runoff. BOO-kly won! Today I spotted several of them going up to him and having some conversations....wonder what they could possibly be talking about?!?!?!

I am ready for Halloween! We are going over to some friends house to play cards and welcome the trick-or-treaters! I always love answering the door and seeing how all the children are dressed. I can't wait till I have a baby and can take him/her trick-or-treating! What are you Halloween plans??

What we have been up to

I love lists so I am going to make a list of some things we have been doing or are going to do in the next few weeks:

• fall cleaning
• watching college football and NFL GO HOGS!!
• kevin got a new ps3 game, so he has been playing this A LOT!
• hanging out with all the new babies that entered the world last month
• we went to a high school football game with our friends Tiffaney and Aaron
• watched the proposal (kevin loved it)
• Robin Williams (left early he was really over the top and his mouth was terrible!)
• Mama Mia (AWESOME)
• we got our wedding album after almost a year of marriage (so worth the wait) thanks Corey Gillum!
• made Martha Stewart pumpkins with my kids at school.
• made applesauce with the kids
• ARKANSAS STATE FAIR -had a corndog it was yummy!
• getting geared up for CITYFEAST!
• biggest loser
• we are going to Abby Anne's 3rd birthday party on Saturday!
• sunday school/church we love our class

What have you been up to??

My Signature and My Wonderful Hubby

I am so excited my friend Effie showed me how to make a signature on the the bottom of my blog. What do ya'll think??? Not many people comment on my blog and that is ok (well really it isn't)! haha! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week this week! I am having a great one...the hubs has made this week so much fun for me. On Tuesday night he called me after school and said to go home and get changed we had to be somewhere by 7. He wouldn't tell me where we were going. We pulled up to Robinson and he took me to see Mama Mia!!! It was the best show I have ever seen. The movie was not good to me but I love the show! Then today at school I was eating lunch and he sent me flowers. WOW! I am super impressed. I am so very lucky to have a wonderful husband! Thanks Kev!

Arkansas Traveller 100 Mile Marathon

This weekend Kevin and I helped work an aide station for the Arkansas Traveller. I thought Traveller was misspelled all weekend but that is how they spell it. Anyway, it is a 100 mile marathon around Lake Silvia and the surrounding areas. Our station was called Pumpkin Patch and we had pumpkin pie, potato's, crackers, pretzels, and other goodies. Kevin's job was to fill up their water bottles with HEED, Gatorade, or water. My job was to cheer them on. I think I did pretty good...Lord knows if you are going to run 100 miles, you need some cheerleading. The race started on Saturday morning at 5:30am and the last runner came in 30 hours later. The winner ran it in 17 hours at the age of 43!!! Now can you imagine running 100 miles at this age....I can't imagine ever running 100 miles and the oldest person was 75 now that is just amazing. I can't get over it. I checked the results and he finished finished the race, where as only 1 twenty something finished the rest dropped out. Kevin and I have talked all weekend about how this is more mental than physical, don't get me wrong you have to be in good shape, but this is a very rocky area and on trails, not on pavement. Not to mention you are running throughout the night in the dark woods where bear, snakes, and spiders are lurking. Sounds like a horror film to me.

Kevin has been inspired to run a marathon! He has always been very athletic and enjoys running,(he ran a 4.5 40 in high shcool just to brag a little) so I think he is going to start training so that he can do it! I will be there to cheer him on. I am not a runner, but you never know maybe one day I will run a 5k. Small steps here people, don't laugh! Did I mention that we camped out on Friday night, I am not a camper, but I will say it was the best camping experience I have ever had. We slept in K's avalanche and that was fun we looked funny and I coudln't stop laughing, but it was a great time. I hope we can work it again next year.

Fall is here

I am so excited that fall is here! It is my favorite season and I love everything about it. Kevin and I went went with our friends Tiffaney and Aaron to the Central High School football game on Friday night. We had so much fun. One of my favorite things about fall is high school football games! I love the food, fun, and fellowship! I had several friends that went to Central and I was glad to get to go to their new stadium. It was great...sorry that they didn't, but I think they are used to it. They haven't won a game in 15 straight games. Maybe they hate change who knows. (just kidding). We went to Denny's after the game and ate some really unhealthy food, but we laughed so much that I got a workout!

Saturday we watch football all day. Too bad the Razorbacks didn't win. I hope that we will get past it and still have a winning season. I think that Mallet is good for our team. Does anyone know what those little things are on the back of their helmets this year. They look like little mallets I just wondering if anyone else noticed.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week. Congrats to my friends Diane and BJ Lafferty. They had a baby girl yesterday. Her name is Mallory Catherine. I can't wait to meet her. I know they will be great parents.

Wedding Book!!!

I know it has been almost a year since my wedding, but better late than never. I got to see a proof of what my what my wedding book is going to look like. Since I used to work at Gillum Photography they have really worked with me and let me pick certain pictures that I wanted in my book. I am very pleased with the proof and now it is being ordered. I wanted to give you a sneak peak!

UFC 103 in Dallas

Thank you Dana White! (UFC PRESIDENT) for giving us 10 free tickets to UFC 103 in Dallas. My friend Natalie follows Dana on Twitter and she saw that he was going to be at a mall in Dallas giving out tickets, so she called her friend who lives in Dallas to see if she could go get some tickets. She found Dana and he gave her 10 free tickets for the fight on Saturday. Let me say that these tickets sell for $360 dollars a piece. We lucked out big time. We thought we would be in the nose bleed section and wouldn't be able to see a thing, not the case. We had amazing seats and got to see some celebs! Hershal Walker was sitting not far from us, as was Tido Ortiz and his wife Jenna Jameson....don't go there in your mind!!! HAHA she is in the adult film industry! As I have said before my hubby loves UFC and sometimes thinks that he is a UFC fighter in training. He couldn't believe that we were going. We loaded in the car at 2 on Saturday and made it to Dallas by 7! We sold some of the tickets and made money to get a room and to have fun while we were there. I stayed up to 2am and I don't do that anymore so I have been so tired ever since we got back. Hope you enjoy the pics!!

Big Brother Finale!!

Kevin=Like

Natalie=Can't stand

Jordon=LOVE

My favorite show of all time is Big Brother! Tonight is the Finale and I am so super pumped. We have open house at school, but I will be rushing home so that I don't miss one second of BB! Some let me give you the run down. It is between 3 people one I love, one I like, and one I can't stand. First lets talk there is the one I Love=Jordon. She is down to earth and really needs the money. She wants to by her mom and her a house. They live together! She has a showmance with my other personal fav Jeff. Then there is Kevin, I like him ok...he is super funny! Now Natalie is just annoying and I would rather anyone win but her. Can't wait to see the results. GO JORDAN GO!!!!

Fun Weekend

This past few days have been very exciting. My friend Holly had her twins on Friday and they are precious. Congrats to Holly and Stephen. Kevin and I had a date night on Friday night. We went to dinner and then we went shopping in the Promenade in Chenal. I went to DSW and found the greatest pair of boots. I am going to go back and get them tomorrow! We went home and watched a movie and I was asleep by 10! I guess I was sleepier than I thought. We woke up Saturday morning and went on our Saturday morning drive. We ended up going to see the movie Gamer....not my pick but it was ok! We came home and watched college football and Nascar! On Sunday we went to Sunday School and Church! We went to eat with some friends after church at Olive Garden (Kevin had never eaten there) isn't' that crazy??? I think he liked it! It is back to school and work for us this week. I hope it goes by fast. I am already ready for the weekend.

Oh I forgot to mention that we watched the VMA's...not the most wholesome TV program, but I love award shows. If you hadn't heard a certain someone who I refuse to speak of rushed the stage when one of my favorite singers Taylor swift won her award. It was pathetic and made my blood boil. I was glad to see that my husband was equally ticked. I think some of these Hollywood people really think that our world revolves around their opinions. Well, I hate to break it to him, but I could care less! Sorry I just needed to vent!

Can I Get a Whoo Pig...

This weekend was the first Razorback football game and it was here in Little Rock at War Memorial. I have always loved Little Rock game days. No offense to Fayetteville, but ever since I was little my dad and grandparents would take me to all the games. My Grandaddy was an usher and I thought that was big time! My Mama A said that means the girls go shopping and the guys go to the game. I always wanted to go to the games instead of shopping. My dad is a huge football fan and more than on occasion I have heard he was asked to settle down or leave when attending games. HAHA this is funny because my dad is so laid back and never gets worked up.

This weekend a bunch of us all met bright and early at US BANK by the mall so we could all be line so our tailgates would be together. Well, Kevin has a new ride and couldn't wait to tailgate from his tailgate....well, Captain Woody King (that's the trucks name) wouldn't start and I thought Kevin was going to just fall out and die right there on the spot. We got a jump and off we went. We all had so much fun together. I love to people watch and see what everyone is wearing. Wow! I didn't know shorts could be so short!! They left little to the imagination if you get my drift. My wonderful hubby decided he would be in charge of getting mine and Lindsey's food for the day and he so lovingly went to the store and when we got there we realized he got brauts and not hot dogs! Poor guy we don't eat brauts, so we had to steal hot dogs from other tailgates. He did try though! Lindsey was in town and got to go with us and that was so fun, I hadn't seen her awhile.

I can't wait till the next tailgate. I think Kevin and I are going to a Fayetteville game with our friends Tiffaney and Aaron next month so that should be fun. Hope you have a great week!!

Little Lily Katherine was born on Monday, August 31, 2009 at 3:35 pm. As you can see she is so precious. Emily ended up having to have a c-section because Lily's head we turned sideways. I was able to arrive at 3:15 and got to see Emily just before she was taken back to surgery. Lily came moments later. Kyle brought her back to the room and as you can see he is smitten from the start. I have never seen someone with such a big smile. Noah came up a little while later and was so excited to meet his new baby sister. I think Lily looks a lot like Noah did when we was born, but the jury is still out on who she looks like. Kevin and I have gone over to see her since they have been home and she is so alert and has really dark blue eyes. She doesn't cry when I am holding her, I think she loves me already. Kyle and Emily love take out so this week K and I took them their favorite Sr. Tequila's. I think that enjoyed it. Tonight I am going to see her again. I am riding with Holly to take dinner. Holly is having the twins on Friday so hopefully I will have a blog to right about them soon. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. GO HOGS!!! We had so much fun tailgating I will have to write a blog about that some other time!!

Ready for Babies!!!

Tomorrow one of my best friends Emily is having baby Lily. I can't wait to meet her. I have given Emily strict instructions to try to hold off till 3 so that I can be there the minute Lily arrives. I won't hold it against her if she can't! My other dear friend, Holly is about to have her twins, Gideon and Lizzy! I know she wishes that they were coming right this second, but hopefully it won't be much longer. She is beyond ready! All these babies coming is making me want to have one of my own, but we will just have to wait and see about that. I am praying that Lily, Gideon, and Lizzy all have safe arrivals! I know God has placed them in my friends for a reason and they are so blessed to have such wonderful mommies. Since I am an only child I consider myself an Aunt to my friends children. I am super excited about tomorrow! I hope everyone is having a great week! I will post another post about how my first full week of school has been! Until then happy Wednesday!

My 30th Birthday

This year for my birthday I wanted to do something that everyone could enjoy. I thought it would be a great idea to go to the Travelers game. We had a really good time and I enjoyed having my friends come and celebrate with me. Right before we got there my parents called to tell me that they at the last second after everyone had boarded the plane minus my parents the airline got a call and said mom had been approved. Isn't God Great!!! Here are a few pictures of the game...well I didn't really watch the game or know who won. Haha maybe we did!

Please Pray

My parents left yesterday for Southeast Asia on a Mission Trip. A little background story before I get to my request. My mom was supposed to be leaving yesterday for a mission trip to Pakistan, which she has been to once before, well, being the worrier that I am I didn't want her to go. I prayed and prayed that God would somehow not let her go. She would always tell me that being in a country that is at war in the center of God's will was much safer than in your house out of God's will. I believed her but I still wasn't comfortable about it. Well, God had a different plan. A few months back a group asked her and my dad to go to Southeast Asia, mom and dad prayed and prayed for what they should do. Low and behold the Pakistan trip was cancelled and they are headed to a different part of the world to do God's plan.

I on the other hand am a nervous wreck. Growing up as an only child my parents and I have been super close and I don't do well when they leave me. Yes, I know I am thirty years old today, and I have a husband, but my parents are my rock! So now for the request. Last night my parents called me from LA and according to the government of the place they are going mom's passport is not valid, due to it expiring in six months. They were not aware that you couldn't enter the country if your passport is 6 months from being expired. My dad will not leave my mom behind, so they had a decision to make. Do they trust in the Lord and just go and hope for the best or turn back. At 2am our time, they both loaded the plane for Hong Kong, and are trusting the Lord will get them there. My mom is the biggest prayer warrior I know and prays for everyone even if she doesn't know what she is praying about. I am praying for her that everything will work out. She said she didn't come this far to turn back. Please lift her up today if you get a chance. I know my mom can be a missionary anywhere even if it is in a airport. She just has that gift. The Lord has a plan and I trust in him.

Big Brother my thoughts so far......

This season of Big Brother has been very different. I am not sure how much I like the cast, but I will continue to watch. It usually takes me a little bit to get used to the new cast. This year is full of drama and they are really mean to each other. Let me just give you my favs and the ones that I just can't stand.

• Jeff is an athlete and he is really cute all American guy. I like him the best (however he has a potty month)
• Jordan is the blonde kinda dingy girl. I really like her too and Jeff likes her too.
• Casey is a 40 year old school teacher that is a dj at night I like him too. He is very funny.
• Jesse is the pinhead from last season who I personally can't stand he stares at himself in the mirror and talks about how everyone likes him and he is constantly annoying. NEEDS TO GO!
• Natalie is a little girl who told everyone she was 18 but really she is 24. I do not like her all. She is one of those girls who thinks she knows everything and everyone should listen to her. She is constantly with Jesse and sleeps in his bed. Mind you she has a boyfriend. Not too classy!
• Ronnie is a dork who is very smart and he is the rat of the house. He is playing everyone and I hope he gets kicked off soon.

Well I hope you enjoyed my BB11 recap! Have a great week. Summer is almost over!

The Proposal!

This is my new favorite movie. I went with a few girlfriends a few weekends ago and it was fabulous. I hadn't been to the movies is a very long time, because my hubby likes to get all the new releases on Tuesday at Red Box, so we never go and pay for a movie. Well, this was an exception. There were tons of men and women in the theater and at one point I looked around and everyone was laughing. I must say I was belly laughing. I usually don't laugh out loud when watching tv or during movies, but I was laughing so hard that others around were laughing because I was laughing. (they told me this after the movie) To top it off the little dog in the movie is named KEVIN! I enjoy the little things in life and this made it more funny to me. Ryan Reynolds is very easy of the eyes and Sandra Bullock is super funny. If I was writing a movie review I would give it 2 thumbs up or 5 stars! So, if you are looking for a great movie to spend $9.25 on here is your answer. Enjoy!

Chalkboard Refrigerator

This weekend Kevin and I did one of our many projects. We think it is so much fun to make little changes in our house. We got this refrigerator a couple of years ago when we moved in for $20. Talk about a deal! I hated it because it was white and gross and didn't go with any of our brand new appliances. Kevin said to just be patient and we would get a new one soon. Well, those things are really expensive and we just never got around to getting one. One day while surfing the net I found this wonderful idea. I told Kevin and he said sure lets do it. So, one trip to Home Depot for some $12.99 chalkboard paint and now we have a great canvas. I loved how it turned out. We decided we would have a weekly Bible verse and would add random things. I got some really cute "m" and "k" magnets and I love them. I bought an extra can of paint so that when school starts back up I can do some cute thinks in my classroom. If you have any ideas I would love to use them. Hope everyone is staying cool during these hot summer months.

UFC 100 and little trip to L and D!

Kevin likes to make goofy faces when getting his picture made.

Kevin and Chris being goofy before the fight!

Kevin and I gearing up for the fight!

Kevin is a huge UFC fan and a few Saturday's ago he actually got to go and watch a amature fight downtown in the River Market. He went with some of his friends and loved every second of it. This past Saturday was UFC 100 and of course we had friends over to watch the fight. All of our friends know that if there is fight on we will have it!! Most girls don't really like UFC, but I am a fan. Seeing people get all bloody an gross is sorta fun! My evening was cut a little sort due to some little babies trying to make an early appearance....no I think they just like their mom and I to spend quality time together on Saturday nights. They sounded like like they were having a little UFC fight of their own. HAHA!! No, I was more than happy to hang with them.

Joe's Jeans

Joes Jeans are my favorite brand of jeans. This particular pair are "The Muse" with the "Tricky" wash. I bought this pair a few years ago and I have wore them out and now they are needing to be retired. I am going to have to get another pair. They are $174.00 which I would never pay for just an ordinary pair, but I make the exception for these. Now I just need my stomach to look like this girls...I wonder how much that would cost, cause I might be willing to pay. Do you have a favorite pair of jeans??? If so share them with me I am curious. I know I ever rarely get comments and that is ok with me, but feel free to leave me one if you like.

Pet Peeves....

I know everyone has pet peeves and I am beginning to have more and more. I am curious what some of your pet peeves are....let me give you a list of mine....

1. leaving your blinker on when you are finished changing lanes
2. people that use the word "ain't" this is not a word in my book
3. people that come into your home uninvited and proceed to stay FOREVER
4. when people stop at a yield sign aren't you suppose to yield.
5. unnecessary tapping of pencils or pens on anything.
6. when you are talking to someone and they talk over you
7. when people have a crying baby at an adult movie and they don't step outside.
8. leaving the cap off of a marker
9. when people go under the speed limit
10. littering

I hope I don't sound like a rude person I was tellingn some of mine what are some of yours???

Just a typical day in July!!! Check it out....

My friend Lindsey is all about some animals and today we saw a turtle in the street so of course she stopped so she could carry it across the street well she saw these really big fish and wanted me and her sister to Whitney to see. Well before we even got to the water Whitney had already jumped in. She wanted to catch a fish with her bare hands. Well, I hope you enjoyed the video. This reminds me of the time Lindsey and I caught a beaver on the road and chased him back to the water or when we caught the duck in the street and led him back to safety. We named him Owen Fishbinder.....we really do have some random stuff happen in Maumelle. Enjoy!

3rd Annual Triple D Fourth of July

Tonight was our 3rd Annual Triple D Fourth of July extravaganza. It was so much fun and a good time was had by all. Diane and I didn't get hit by any fireworks and the Maumelle fireworks lasted about 25 minutes. I can't wait till next year.