I'm so glad...

That my hubby likes to cook.

That he LOVES playing with his little girls.

 That he loves singing and playing the guitar for us.

And that he will play in the snow with me at 1 AM.

I could go on and on about this great man of mine, like how he loves to make me laugh, never hesitates to get up for a 3 AM feeding, changes diaper after diaper, takes charge of bath time, gives me foot rubs, helps clean, encourages me, and how much he loves his girls...but for now, I will just say that I'm so blessed to be married to such an awesome man. I love you Kyle!



Off to the park we go!

We've had some BEAUTIFUL weather this weekend! And the Davis clan didn't spend much of it inside. Instead we spent some time at a new park...well a "new-to-us" park. I've passed by this park several times and decided to stop by. It's the same park that my friend Maile was telling me about, and it is so fun!

The truck

There's a truck, an F-100 that belonged to my husband's late grandfather, John Davis. For many years the truck sat in a barn on the family farm in Oklahoma. Several months ago my in-laws had the truck moved to my dad's house so my dad & Kyle could make some repairs on it, and so Kyle could have this truck that has always had a special place in his heart. They've done some work on it, but with adding a second babe to our home, we haven't had the time or resources to do much. Hopefully in the future the guys can get it in good shape!

So anyway, whenever we go back to Many, Kyle likes to visit the truck! Haha! I snapped a few pics of Kyle & Finley playing in the Ford. Pretty cool watching my daughter pretend to drive her great-grandfather's truck!

Here are some of my faves:

A Sunday in February

Last Sunday, a bunch of loud, crazy, big-footed, people from all over met and went to a tiny baptist church, that had views of a lake, in a tiny town....

Let me explain. My mother's side of the family is quite large...like as in my grandmother has 20 something brothers and sisters...no lie. We are a close knit bunch known for our large feet, loud mouths, and outspoken ways. I have had the privilege to grow up knowing several great aunts and great uncles (there is only one living brother, Uncle Don, or as his sisters simply call him, "Brother") who are pretty FANTASTIC.  My grandmother and her sisters, and the women in the generations after them (aunts, cousins, etc) are pretty amazing. (As are the men who are lucky enough to marry in to this bunch.) They are all strong, hilarious, crazy women. The women outnumber the men, but the guys in the family are pretty spectacular themselves!

We are always there for one another and these people are just "my people." We get together several times during the year; one Sunday in February, for Easter dinner, Labor Day weekend for our annual reunion, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. And there are always in-between times, when someones getting hitched or having a baby, and those tearful times when we're saying farewell to a loved one. 

This post is about the first one, a Sunday in February.

The patriarchs of this family (my great-grandparents) are Ollie Belle & D.W. Armstrong. They were both born in February (although MANY years a part). For as long as I can remember, and probably even longer, the family would all get together and join great-grandma at church in honor of her and great-grandpa's birthday. After service we did what all good baptists to...we ate! Usually a fish-fry at Aunt Gen's house.

Even though great-grandma passed away several years ago (2001?), we still all go to the same church where she brought her family every Sunday (and the same church where my parents were married). We remember Ollie Belle & D.W. and the legacy they left. I didn't know D.W., but I knew Ollie Belle, and let me tell you, I have never met a stronger women. I don't know how many times she read her Bible cover to cover, but she knew her Jesus well and waged war on her knees like a mighty Saint. She worked hard, took care of her family, and always made time for everyone. Even in a family as large as hers, she made everyone feel special. I remember she would always call me "little sweetness" and my sister "little meanness." I mean, that should tell you right there what an awesome judge of character she was...hahaha! (Just kidding Stacy, now get back to work and go deliver a baby!) Great-grandma was a spit-fire of a gal. I only got a peek, a small view of her long, incredible life. I am so honored to be her great-granddaughter and hope that I can teach my girls about her and the life she led.

So this past Sunday, we all once again met at Aimwell Baptist Church to honor Ollie Belle & D.W. There were 50 or so of their descendants there to honor them! After that we went to Aunt Gen's house for some yummy Mexican food...don't even get me started on the cooks in this family!!! Yum-O!

Anyway, here are some pics from that day!

My grandma and three of her sisters cleaning up from lunch!

We're going on a heart hunt...

Finley & Rowynn's grandparents (Davis) sent beautiful Valentine cards for our family. Inside were several red and white doilies. So why Finley was napping, I hid them all around the house. She loved finding them all!

We sang (to the tune of "We're Going on a Bear Hunt"):

We're going on a heart hunt
We're going to find a red (or white) one.
What a beautiful heart.
Let's put it on the window!

All You Need Is Love!

We had a fun day celebrating Valentine's Day! For the past couple of weeks or so we've been doing all sorts of fun crafts/activities that are all about hearts, pink, red, and love. Finley has had so much fun and loves finding hearts and saying, "hart." We'll probably do more pink/red/heart stuff this week because we are girls and can never have too much pink! Although we are also going to be working more on our "things that go" theme.

Here are some crafts we've made:

This was a modified craft found on another blog(but I can't remember where! oops!)Basically, I let Finley color a sheet of paper with different green crayons and markers and then cut it in to strips for the stems and used the rest for grass and leaves. I then had Finley paint with purple, pink, and red and once it was dry, I cut out heart shapes for our flowers. "My heart is blooming for you!"

These cards were super easy, and best of all super cheap! I got a pack of pretty Valentine-themed paper at Target, (I think I got 16 sheets for a $1). Folded them in half and stuck a felt sticker on the front. Easy as pudding pie. Although I've never made pudding pie...

And on the inside:

This was a cute idea I found here. The yellow is her thumb print!

This was found here. I let Finley put the round dot stickers on and then I added the end pieces!

 I cut out a heart shape on construction paper and put contact paper behind the paper. Then Finley sprinkled heart-shaped confetti on the contact paper and colored around the heart. I added a top sheet of contact paper, and we enjoyed how pretty they looked with the light coming through

We also used the same idea with paper dollies. I cut out the center heart and attached contact paper behind it for cute gift bags! Inside were some heart-shaped crayons to give out to some of her buds :)










We've enjoyed all of our heart crafts! I'll post more later on some other fun things we've done!!!

Cold Weather=Crafts

I have always been a child of the wonderful season of winter. I was born on a cold winter day in December. If you ask anyone in my family, they will say that I've always loved cozy weather; comfy sweats, hot chocolate, blazing fires, and soft blankets. I love snuggle weather. I love cold, dreary days. I even converted my hubby into a winter child.

Don't get me wrong I love the other seasons too; seeing everything come alive in spring; lazy summer days at the lake (I'm also a fish when it comes to water, just ask my mom!) and my second favorite season fall, with it's crisp colors and excitement that comes with that time of year. But winter will always have a special place in my heart. I've just always loved winter...

until I had kids...or more specifically, until my first child reached toddler-hood. Now, I know, we live in Texas and very rarely get real "winter weather." It rarely snows and is still fairly warm in December. But the last month or so it has been either rainy or too cold to go outside. And even trips to the store or play area have been limited because I don't really want to get little Rowynn out much. And my outside-loving, born in the summer, rough-in-tough darling girl longs for warmer weather. She LOVES to be outside. And it breaks my heart to have to tell her it's too cold. Especially when she doesn't really understand why all of a sudden she can't play outside. All in all though, she's handled it pretty well. Much better than her stir crazy momma!

So we've decided to combat our cabin fever with some fun crafts. And we are getting out more, we are a family that loves to be out and about!

Anyway, here are some fun crafty things we've done. I'm not a crafty person at all. Well, not an original crafty person. So me an idea, and I can recreate it. Show I've scoured blogs, and pestered fellow mommas for some fun activities!

I cut out some cars from some foam paper and made a pretend car wash for Finley. She used markers to make the cars dirty and then she cleaned them! Water and cleaning, two of her favorite things...and no I didn't come up with this on my on. I found it here.

As you can see, it was a big hit!

My sweet friend Maile, who blogs here, sent a bunch of fun poems and we turned them into crafts and have them displayed around the house.


There's one about the sun. I let Finley paint (yellow and orange) two paper plates and then I placed card stock triangles int between the plates and stapled. We attached our poem about the sun.

Now it brightens up our play room.

We also made a cloud. I let Finley tear up some tissue paper and glue it to some card stock. We then glued cotton balls to make our cloud:

There's one about colors that I just changed the font color and printed out. And one about a rainbow that I attached to a outline of a rainbow and let Finley use glue and glitter to decorate. And one about water that I put on the mirror in her bathroom.

And then we put this one above her bed. She loves to hear it every night. And if we forget, she points to it!

I love having little poems around the house for us to say together. They're short, fun, and teach her all about God's wonderful creations. We've also started learning scripture together. She repeats it after me, word by word. It's so important to lay a solid, biblical foundation when they're young.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

                                                  -Proverbs 22:6

Some other fun craft projects:

We made an igloo. Basically I let Finley cover an entire piece of blue construction paper with white labels. And then I cut out a shape of an igloo and glued it to some bright blue card stock. For detailed instructions go here.

We also made a salt snowman. Easy-peasy. I drew a snowman and had Finley "paint" it with glue and then she covered it with salt. Oh and small tip, I reused a spice container for this and all glitter-involved crafts. I can control how much glitter or salt goes into the container and then she can sprinkle it without dumping the entire container of glitter. Live and Learn! Although we did sprinkle some glitter over us and fly around the house! Messy, but hey, they're only young once!

And then we made a butterfly! Probably gonna do some more and use them for decorations at her Eric Carle-themed birthday party!

So while I can't wait until warmer weather so we can play outside, I am enjoying winter weather once again, snug inside, crafting the day away!