oh how pinteresting wednesday

Better late than never! Today I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple for Pinteresting Wednesday. I LOVE Pinterest. I can't say it enough. I haven't had as much time lately to browse on there, but here are some things I've found that I adore:

Source: tumblr.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Deanna on Pinterest

I love this. I plan on redecorating our guest bath after the holidays and I will probably do this.

Source: etsy.com via The Perfect Palette on Pinterest

Definitely doing this for the girls bedroom AND for Christmas gifts!

Source: realmomkitchen.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Making this for our weekly squadron wives get-together on Tuesday.

Source: polyvore.com via Bridgett on Pinterest

I want this outfit. Stat.

That's all for today, folks. I'm off to ogle Pinterest and find more things I've just GOT to have!

rest in peace, bo duke

Back in May, my little sister Allie got the sweetest little puppy. 

She named him Bo Duke, but we called him Duke. 

Dukie (as I affectionately called him) went everywhere with Allie. She treated that dog like he was her son.  Duke was not just a dog to Allie...he was her best friend.

I will spare you the sad details, but sweet Duke was (we think) poisoned and he passed away  yesterday afternoon. Allie is completely devastated. She lives alone in a house full of men and Duke was her little buddy. Some of ya'll might think it's silly to be so upset over the loss of a dog, but Duke was NOT just a dog. He was so much more.

As a tribute to Bo Duke, here are a few pictures celebrating his life.

Allie May, I am so sorry for the pain you feel. Dukie was the sweetest dog. I promise you we will get you another puppy as soon as you are ready. There is a perfect one out there just waiting for all your loving!

I so wish ya'll could have been there for this. Duke jumped in the bathtub with the girls and Homer was trying to get him out!

Allie and Bo Duke

 She loved him so much she decorated his little grave

Duke riding with his Pawpaw (my dad)

i'll take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad, and put it all in Jesus' hands

 Since I was a teenager, every once in a while I would get severe neck pain, down my shoulder. I went to the doctor several times -- x-rays always showed nothing. I just chalked it up to a bad car accident that I was in when I was 16.

Earlier this year, I started having problems with my lower back hurting. X-rays showed nothing. It was always right in my epidural spot, so I just chalked it up to an after effect of that.

This year, I've also started having migraine headaches & bruising easily. At any given time I will have 5-10 terrible bruises all over my body.

Around the same time that my back started hurting, my youngest sister (I have three) was diagnosed with this rare bone disease. Oddly, my older sister was diagnosed with it when she was about 25. After some research, we learned it was genetic. I decided to check it out with my doctor.

Sometime around the end of August, I went in & immediately she confirmed I had blue sclera, which is one of the leading symptoms. It's where the whites of your eyes have a bluish tint. It's extremely rare. My doctor was completely shocked and before I knew it there were about 15 people in my room with me -- doctors & residents all wanting to have a look. 

"It's something we learn in medical school, but are always told we'll never see it in our careers."

Not exactly something a 26 year old woman at the prime of her life wants to hear.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta is a brittle bone disease. It causes bones to break extremely easy and with it comes a terrible amount of pain.

Since then my body has completely went WHACK. I have experienced the worst pain I have EVER felt in my ENTIRE life. Natural childbirth was 10000% times easier than this. I feel like my bones are going snap, crackle, pop! at times. Since September 7, I have had my back go out once for a week, my left hip go out twice for a week each, and my right knee go out for 3 or so days. I have to take heavy pain medication to even be able to stand breathing. It feels like someone is scraping my bones against each other with no tissue to protect it. 

I'm not telling you this for you to feel sorry for me. I'm being honest and real and saying that some days, I HURT. It helps that I can talk to my sisters about this. It helps that I have an amazing doctor (how I found her in the Army, I'll never know!) who is giving me referrals to wonderful specialist to help me out. I'll be traveling to Alpharetta, GA soon to get some genetic testing & a whole bunch of other test that I won't bore you with -- to determine exactly what type I have & where I am in the process.

There's no cure for OI. But I'm not worried. Because let me tell you -- I serve a God who is still in the healing business. I have proof of that sleeping in the bedroom right next to me. He will carry me through. I'm not saying I will never worry, because I know I will. Some days (like yesterday when my doctor told me she could get a walker or wheelchair for the bad days) I will cry my eyes out. But at the end of the day, I WILL turn it over to Him and I WILL trust that He will help me. 

We are not promised a life full of happiness & sunshine. If I EVER portray on my blog that my life is full of that -- let me clear it up right now that it's NOT. Most of the time, I choose to only write about the happy because it's what I want my girls to remember when they read this later in life. I just wanted to explain to ya'll why I may be absent for days at a time in the future. Some days I just cannot sit to type a blog. 

If you or anyone you know has this, please feel free to set up contact between us. I would love to learn more about this from a PERSON rather than GOOGLE. I have not googled anything further than what I shared with you at the beginning of this post.

long time, no blog

I can't believe I haven't posted since last WEDNESDAY! That's almost a week ago. Friday night I had a baby shower, Saturday I had a baby shower, and Saturday night we went to visit with my aunt & uncle and then my dad & sister. Sunday morning we went to church, Sunday afternoon we had a birthday dinner, and shortly after that I got REALLY sick. I'll spare you all the sick details, but it involved a trip to the ER where they thought I was having a stroke. Thank God it was just an awful, awful sinus infection. I hope I never have another one of those again! I've just been recovering since then.

This week I'll post about all the showers & parties -- they are all for special people in my life!

Last Wednesday, I took the girls to story time. Sara has literally NOT stopped asking about going back since then! So if I feel alright, we will be heading down there again tomorrow. 

#1) I don't know what to do about Sara's chap ring below her lip. I've put loads of Burts Bees and even Vaseline on it and nothing seems to help. Any ideas?

#2) This was June's very first craft!

I have lots of other things I want to blog about...but my energy is quickly slipping away. 

It's time to go lay down and rest while June sleeps. 

If I'm still feeling well, I'll be back tomorrow with baby shower pictures! 

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Tuesday!

oh how pinteresting wednesday

Linking up with The Vintage Apple this week for Pinteresting Wednesday. 

First of all -- ya'll remember last week when I showed ya'll the Alabama wreath? Well -- my cousin (who owns a florist) made me one! She made me a "house divided" one -- with Alabama colors & Gators colors. It's SO cute! I will post a picture of it tomorrow. I love it! If ya'll live around the Montgomery area -- contact me & I'll give you the name of their florist. They have great prices -- the cheapest I've seen around here. (Yes, that WAS a shameless plug!)

Source: howdoesshe.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Made this for Sara's birthday party last weekend -- it turned out SO good! I love it!

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

This is a FREE birthday printable!

Source: daisypinkcupcake.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

This are awesome!

Source: marthastewart.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I duplicated this cake in a very homemade way.

Source: hostessblog.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

These are all birthday/party related -- I had one birthday last week & two baby showers this week.
I'm on a party overload!

it's party time!

Anybody else think, "It's Hammer time!" in their head?

No? Just me? :)

This past Sunday was Sara's 4th birthday party. She wanted it to be princess themed, but I'm sick a little bored of Disney princesses, so we just went with super girly & she got to wear a princess dress. 

I'm sure all the boys were very happy about that. :)

Saturday night, I had seven children and four adults in my home. I didn't get all the decorating done that I wanted (I couldn't find my tissue paper last minute, so that meant no tissue paper balls from the dining room chandelier), and Michael decided he wanted to grill at the last minute, but it still all turned out and we happily hosted around 40 people Sunday afternoon. 

I found this balloon wreath idea on Pinterest. I originally wanted to do it in pink, purple, and white -- but ya'll, that was expensive. So we got the multi-colored ones & used those instead. I figured that this way, I can lend them out and it's both girl AND boy colors. More use...hey, I'm trying to justify $$$ spent, can you tell? ;)

I think it turned out pretty well! I borrowed a spray stand from my aunt who owns a florist & spray painted it white to hold the wreath. I really like it a lot.

 (And she forgot to take the stand home, so now my Alabama/Florida "house divided" wreath is on it. I will show ya'll that in another post -- it's super cute!)

I wanted to do big lollipops as favors, but couldn't find any. So I opted for bubbles. I'm not a fan of huge goody bags filled with lots of little things that will be thrown in the trash in five seconds that the kids never really play with. One year I gave out books, one year was coloring books & crayons, etc. 

I found the plate at Ross back around Easter for $3.99, I think. I used it for June's birthday & then now for Sara's. I had a pink one, but it got broken. I put pink tulle around the bottom of it & tied curly ribbons to the bubbles. Simple, easy, and cute.

I found these plates/napkins/flatware at Target on clearance. SUPER cheap -- and so cute!

I found this idea on Pinterest, too. 

I don't know about ya'll, but I loooove chocolate dipped pretzels! These were a HUGE hit and I will definitely be doing this more at get togethers.

Note -- this was about 3/4 of a bag of pretzels & a whole package of almond bark.

I thought about this last minute. I found it on...wait for it...Pinterest! I painted an old yellow planter (baby pink, if you can't tell) & filled it with water bottles. If I'd thought it out, I would have ordered labels for the bottles, but oh well. It was still cute. :)

And....the cake!

Oh, this cake. 

I am NOT a good baker. I don't claim to be, and I never will be.

I found this idea on Pinterest (where else??) and HAD to try it. It was super easy, but I'll be the FIRST to say my cake turned out lopsided, uneven, and all around NOT the best. But I made it, Sara loved it, and I got a few compliments on it. That made me happy. :)

I tried to make the inside pink & purple layers...

Well, I got the pink, but the purple could have been more pigmented.

It was the first time I've ever done anything like that, so I'm happy with how it turned out.

And let me leave you with the birthday girl showin' off her moo-lah!

We are SO thankful for all our family & friends who took the time out to come to her birthday party. This is probably her last birthday here for a few years and it was so nice to get everyone together.