15 Foot "Hay" Snowman

My MIL just sent me pictures of Uncle Elbert's latest creation, and I have to share! Uncle Elbert is my MIL's brother, he put together a 15 Foot Snowman in my MIL's sister's, Aunt Katie's yard! It is made of 3 round hay bales. He has worked two days spray painting it! I think I want one for my yard. ;) Isn't this the cutest! If you want to see it in person, you'll have to drive to Centerville, Arkansas!

Writer's Note: Just found out, it was Lois Ann & Julie who did the decorating. Gotta give credit where credit is deserved! :)

Black Friday, "Absolutely, It's Unbelievable"

This is the second year that I have been a SAHM. I always heard about Black Friday, but working for the bank the day after Thanksgiving was always "Red" Friday. If you weren't at your sales goals for the month, you were not going to have a bonus for December, because the bank was null and void to traffic. Last year I was out and about around 8 AM, and caught no sale items. This year, I decided to be a little more adventurous. My friend Angie and I met at Target at 6 AM, she is 7 1/2 months pregnant (I am so sorry that I drug her out and about)! Anyway the line was around the store, news helicopters were hovering, but we really only waited about 10 minutes to get into the store. I found everything I was after, had a nice talk with Santa ;), saw an old college friend, and then we were interviewed by KJRH TV. Check out the video, I am actually in it, boy do I need to start my holiday diet! Then we made our way to Chic-Fil-A, Kohl's, Ulta, and then Michael's. The worse place was Kohl's we stood in line for 1 1/2 hrs! All of my shopping is done except for a few odds & ends and I am so ready to get them wrapped and under the tree! We really had a lot of "girl" fun, and I hope we can make it an annual tradition!

Awesome God, Good Food, Boy did we EAT!

The Crow Family held its second annual Thanksgiving dinner today. Yes, I cooked! My MIL came over and so we had a total of 5 Crow's. The annual dinner consisted of: Turkey Breast, Cornbread Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Giblet Gravy, Cranberry Salad, Deviled eggs, Cranberry Sauce, Rolls, K-bars, and Chocolate Pie. Yum! Yum! I can't take all the credit for cooking, my MIL made the gravy, cranberry salad, chocolate pie, and the rolls. I took pictures of our leftover spread......lots left, come on over!

My Thanksgiving Prayer

Dear God, Oh the many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! I have to begin by being thankful for you, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without You, Jesus, in my life, there would be nothing to be thankful for.

Thank you God for my beautiful, healthy family. For my wonderful and loving husband Jason, thank you for bringing him into my life and being a wonderful husband, father, son and provider, I pray Lord that your will, will be done in his life and that you lead us to make wise and Godly decisions regarding our life together. Thank you for Braden, my beautiful baby boy, God you have a plan for this child and I give him to you, please give me the instructions that you would have me to develop him. Thank you so much for blessing me with a sweet baby girl. You knew exactly what I needed when you gave me her. Guide and direct me into also paving a Godly future for this child, I also give her to you.

Lord, thank you for my parents, my brother & sister, and my 9 nieces and nephews. Lord, you know their hearts and their needs, I ask that you bless them and keep them well and safe.

God, I ask that you be with all my extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, for those who do not know you, I ask that you use me as a tool to lead them to you and if not me personally, please place someone in their lives who can lead them to you. Be with those who are ill and hurting this holiday season. Please give them comfort.

I pray for our country, for our leaders and for our future leaders. I know that I am not in complete agreement with our president elect, but I do respect the office and I know Lord, that nothing will happen unless it is your will.

I also pray for those that I don't know. I pray that you will send someone into the lives of the ones who do not know you.

I love you Jesus, Thank You! Amen.

Twilight

My friend Carrie T. was telling me about this awesome book she was reading w/ her 11 year old daughter, I have to admit, I honestly did not think this would be up my alley. I typically read "adult" love, romance, and mystery! Then, all of a sudden I started seeing everyone's blog postings about this movie. I went back to Carrie and asked her, "is this what you were reading?" So, I broke down this past Saturday and bought the book and finished it Monday night. Loved it! I actually talked Jason into going w/ me today to see the movie. There really was not much talking him into it, considering he loves anything supernatural. I loved the movie, it was a little different than the book, but, Hollywood has to sell, and it did make $70 million its first weekend in the box office. I have purchased the next two books and plan to delve into them tonight! Now is where I tell you that I think I am truly married a vampire. What? Well, Jason loves the dark, loves cold and rainy weather, and, his bite isn't all that bad......:)

Stickers to Feminine Products, What Next?

I previously blogged about Kaybrie's love for stickers! Her love ranges from Smiley Faces at Wal-Mart , to banana stickers, to Barbie stickers at the Dr's office, to the Princess one's that I have hidden that are only deserving for a "big" girl who uses the potty. Well, today she found a new type of sticker at my "not so fun" doctor! My little nosy girl, while sitting in her stroller, decided to prowl through the drawer of the examining table, while I was a little preoccupied! Needless to say I could not get a picture, but when finished she had managed to find 3 new types of stickers stuck on her clothes and stroller, one mini and two maxi.........Oh, what next?

Grandma Played Outside with Us this Afternoon!

For dinner tonight, I made my famous and easy Taco Soup! We invited my MIL over to eat and see the kiddos! We were having a wonderful, beautiful 78 degree day and Jason & the Kids were outside playing. Braden was running pass routes w/ the football and Kaybrie was climbing and playing w/ the outside toys, when their Grandma got here. For a 68 year old woman, I'm loving that she got out & played w/ the kids! What memories......

Braden's Questionairre

This evening I was sitting in front of the computer and Braden came in asking for a piece of paper. He then proceeded to sit down at the table and ask me questions, kind of like I was being interviewed. Who knows maybe he was just trying to get to know his Mommy a little better. Well, I of course answered his questions and he wrote down my answers. Here is what I discovered after I had put him to bed. Now keep in mind he is 7 and is really trying to spell according to sounds.

food-chocolate
vecdboll(vegetable)-lettis (lettuce)
coler (color)-red
movey (movie)- littel marmad (little mermaid)
spot (sport)- sofball (softball)
Book- Marry higs clark (Mary Higgins Clark)
Play with- play with my kide's
mothe (month)-October and Decimber
Game-Candyland
drink-dit cook (diet coke)
state- Oklahoma
contry (country)- Younite Stats of a Amrkei (United States of America)
song- I am not a lown(alone)
cake- straberry sortcake (strawberry shortcake)
toy- my copter (computer)
cook- All, I like to make food.
animal- horses
pet- a dog for my kide's
And then, this note: I Love You Momey

I am of course a little concerned about some of these words, but I think we will sit down tomorrow night and go over them. What will be interesting is him reading this post a few years from now and being embarrassed. But, I really do have to give him an "A" for effort!

Christmas 2008 Kickoff- BA style

Last night BA kicked off its Main Street Merchants Christmas along w/ the unveiling of the Century Clock. The weather was perfect at 59 degrees. The Merchants had their shops decorated for Christmas and were passing out goodies to eat, prizes to win, and trying to boost the economy. There was also horse drawn carriage rides and the trolley was running. This also kicks off the "Buy Broken Arrow" ticket program. On December 22 a drawing will be held to win $2,000. $3,000, & $10,000. For every dollar spent in Broken Arrow at participating merchants you get a ticket. Who knows, maybe someone I know will win this year.

This is is the first time I have ever participated in this event. My friend Carrie's daughter Jamie

participated in the live stage performances. Jamie is 11 and dances for Moore's Dance Studio (this is the studio that put BA on the map when they performed clogging on "Star Search") Jamie is AWESOME! Her troop has performed in Branson and hopes to go on the Carnival Cruise Line next year. (I am so going as a sponsor, she does not need to be on the open waters without me!) Kaybrie & Justin (Jamie's little brother) danced w/ the performers. I'm thinking Kaybrie may be a natural.....

Broken Arrow was also paid a visit w/ a special visitor from the North Pole. Needless to say Kaybrie and Justin like to look at Santa, but no touch or smile will be had this year from them, but Christmas is still 8 weeks away!

I've Been Tagged........

Okay, so this has never happened before, but my friend Jennifer at 3 Gals & A Guy has tagged me! Here are the rules:

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the closest.
Tag five people to do the same.

So, the closest book to me is T. Suzanne Eller's "The Woman I Am Becoming", I haven't had a chance to start it yet. Page 56, ok, 5th sentence, found it.

On the outside, you would never see her personal battle. She's intelligent. She's fun to hang out with. She's one of those twenty-somethings that appear to have it all.

Okay, done now I have to dig deeper, Oh for a minute I was thinking that Suzie was talking about me until she got to the age. But guess what, she is talking about me. As women we "pick" on ourselves. I pick myself apart, thinking that I will never lose this 30lbs or this spare tire around my middle, my hair isn't perfect. I am letting Satan distract me from what really matters, I am beautiful........Wow, this book is going to be great!

Here's who I am tagging:

Carrie O
Liz
Meg
Stacye (no blog)
Carrie T (no blog)

Birthday Club

L to R: Katy, Amanda, Yvette, Me (ShaRhonda) & Sharon

It all began 4 years ago at the Bank of Oklahoma located at 21st & Lewis!

Yvette as Manager, me as Assistant Manager, Katy & Amanda as Bankers, and Sharon as Teller.

Although we have all moved up in our careers and on to other careers we have remained friends and we make it a point of getting together at least 3 times a year, for what else, but birthday's! Katy & Amanda's birthday is in July, Mine & Yvette's in October, and Sharon's in December.

Last night we got together at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, dessert, chit chat, and of course gifts! Yum! Yum! :)

It is so awesome to have such wonderful friends that I can stay in touch with and know what goes on in their lives and careers. Some of the chit chat last night helps remind me of my "old" career, it makes me thankful that I now have the best job ever........

Mommy and Wife and Friend!

I can't wait until the next time girls! I love ya'll!

Bible Study Special Guest: T. Suzanne Eller

Today I officially met my new friend and sister in Christ, author T. Suzanne Eller.

For those of you who do not know, I have been journeying through an awesome study,

"The Mom I Want to Be: Rising above your Past to Give Your Kids a Great Future"

by none other than the beautiful woman in the turquoise blue, Suzie!

A few blogs back, I happened to write over what a blessing this book has been in my life and what God was teaching me. A God "thing" happened. Suzie came across my blog and left a comment that she would like to join our group on a conference call, well one thing led to another and today she was our guest speaker at "The Spa for the Soul" Bible Study at The Church at BattleCreek. What do I say, but WOW! Our God is so Awesome. One of the biggest burdens upon my heart is being the MOM that God wants me to be. He wants me to nurture and help him shape my sweet precious babies into the adult He wants them to be. It was so awesome to meet Suzie, I encourage anyone who reads this blog entry to check out her website and dig deep into her ministry. http://www.tsuzanneeller.com/ .

I want to close with this prayer from "The Mom" book page 190, that really touched me last night during my quiet time, I have edited from the book version slightly, so that it is personalized for me.

Father, you love my children even more than I do, don't you? You can see their hearts, their talents, their sweet and tender hopes. You see my children from when they are tiny infants, full of possibilities, and when they're racing through the house, full of energy, with their imagination at full throttle. Doesn't it say that you know them so well that you've written their names, Braden & Kaybrie, on the palm of your hand, and that you have a future for them? Help me be an encourager for them. I'm glad you've given ME the responsibility of shaping them. Thank you for the memories all around me and for the new ones just ahead. Please come into my home today.

Woooo Pig Soooie!!!!

My prior prediction of the TU Golden Hurricane possibly beating the Arkansas Razorbacks was WRONG! The Hogs won 30-23! The 'Canes feared the Tusk! Good thing Jason opened another Hog Poptart this week.........:)

My MIL had given Jason tickets to the game for his birthday. We left Broken Arrow at 8:30 AM and arrived in Fayetteville by 11AM. Good thing we got there early, the campus was already rockin'. The tailgaters were out, the families were all visiting, and the fans were climbing up the hill. What a great Homecoming day! If you have never been to a Razorback game, it is an absolute must. The atmosphere is like no other, and calling the Hogs to a victory is so much fun!!! After the game, Braden took his picture w/ a Razorback Cheerleader. He is so shy around girls and tugs at his shirt when he gets nervous (seen in photo). All in All, it was a beautiful, warm day in Fayetteville, the trees were beautiful andhe smell of victory was sweet....