Growin' Up a Little.....

Sold this.....

Traded this......(minus the cute little boys...we kept them!)

And ended up with this.....

Our very first family-mobile!

Why did we ditch all the toys, you ask?  Well, we were kind of over the boat. Don't get me wrong, it was a BLAST while we had it, but it was just more of a hassle than a good time.  Several boat owners had told us this: The best days in a boat owner's life are the day they buy it, and the day they sell it.  I couldn't agree more. Maybe again, someday.....maybe not. :) We have also decided that renting a boat for a couple days and walking away from it when those two days are over would be much cheaper and easier....think about it...no payment on the boat, no insurancee on the boat, no winterizing the boat, no de-winterizing the boat, no storing the boat, no towing the boat....just parking the boat and heading home.  Now THAT sounds like a good time to me :)

And the Jeep? When Justin worked his brief stint at Auto Accessories Unlimited, it was like letting a small child work at the candy store. The Jeep ended up going from 33 inch tires, to 35 inch tires...from a 4 inch lift to a 6 inch lift...there once were steps to help me get in....after the big transformation there were no more steps. Getting Connor in and out of the Jeep was NOT easy! Shoot, getting mySELF in and out of the Jeep was not easy either! Oh, and max speed in the interstate? 55. 'Nuff said.

Someone in the Scarlet family has an opportunity that has been in the works since November. More on that at a later date :) But the opportunity is going to require that the "someone" have a personal vehicle, and the deal on the Tahoe was just to good to pass up. We love it....except for that first $69 gas fill up! WHEW! Connor loves it because he can watch "Buzz and Woody".....we are going to have to teach that little guy that everytime he get's to ride in the Tahoe, he does NOT get to watch TV!!

Hope everyone has a great week! XoXo

Valentine, Schmalentine

Happy Valentine's Day, from The Scarlet's :)

Ok, ok....want to know what I really think of Valentine's Day? I think it's a GOLDMINE for the retailers, and the sight of that much pink and red makes me want to vomit.  Seriously. Did you SEE Walmart this year? Was it more ridiculous than last year, or did I just become more of a Valentine's Day scrooge over the last 365 days?

Now, please don't get me wrong.....I will celebrate this LOVE-ly holiday each and every year, just like my mom and dad celebrated for me when I was a kid (and STILL DO!  Yes, I still get Valentine's Day goodies from my mom....she's the best) :) 

Wanna hear my "bad-mom" story?  Connor goes to an in-home daycare 2 days a week, one of those days just happened to be Valentine's Day.  I went back and forth in my head on whether or not to take Valentine's since this isn't an actual "class", ya know?  I finally decided on NOT.  Guess what? I should have decided TO take them.  Yeah, yeah, I was THAT mom...the one who didn't contribute cute paper valentines to the kiddo's little red and pink paper  bags...the one who didn't take candy or heart shaped slinkies or bubbles.  Oh well, atleast I took a nice gift for his sitter :) That's gotta count for SOMETHING right? AND, I lived and learned....isn't that what being a parent is all about? :)

The morning of the big pink and red retail goldmine holiday, Connor was showered with fun little gifts from the two people who love him the most!

He was excited to get his "Woody Colors" (Toy Story crayons).......

......and his little tambourine.....

......and his "Spiderman Book"

 (aka $0.50 cent calendar from Michaels that his daddy picked out) :)

After all the goodies, he had pancakes and bacon for breakfast before heading out to the sitter's for the day (where I immediately became THAT mom....yeah, well, so what...lol)



Thanks for sharing Valentine's Day with us! (10 days later)

XOXO

Oh, and for those of you wondering what Justin and I did for each other for Valentine's Day....well, I made homemade sushi on the 15th because the 14th was a ridiculously hectic day. The sushi rolls did NOT turn out pretty because I didn't have a bamboo mat, but hey, they tasted good!  The way I see it....after 9 years together.....EVERYDAY is Valentine's Day :)

Snow Dayz

Last week, Northwest Arkansas SHATTERED records with up to TWO FEET of SNOW!  Check out these record breaking snow totals HERE on the 40/29 Weather Blog!

The forecast predicted that the River Valley would be getting higher snow totals than Northwest Arkansas, so when I woke up and turned on the news, I heard that Northwest Arkansas already had 15 inches of snow! I RAN in anticipation to the window, only to discover that we had a slight dusting....HUH?!?!!? Talk about a MAJOR letdown.  However, the snow did eventually pick up, and we ended up with about 5 inches.  That was JUST enough to go out and play for a bit!

His hat is a little big, but he LOVES it, and it's the only one he will keep on!



This was the only car that the Scarlet's could get out that day!

This little boy absolutely LOVES his daddy :) 

Later that day, I laid down on the couch to relax while CJ napped.  I realized the house was too quiet, as I didn't hear my husband roaming around.  I walked outside to find that he had been playing in the snow and made this:

That night, Connor's picture made the local news (many thanks to Angela and Drew!)  :)  We DVR'd it, and when we showed it to Connor the next day, he was kind of confused.  He kept looking at the TV and then back at the remote.  Lol....yes, baby, that's YOU on TV!  Here is the picture from his first TV debut :)

SUPER(bowl) SUNDAY!

The Scarlet's had a SUPER Superbowl Sunday! :)

To start the day off, we made the decision to become members of Community Bible Church here in Fort Smith.  It's a wonderful, non-denominational church where we feel at home.  We do not feel like we have to "try" to fit in anywhere, we just do....we fit in everywhere at Community Bible.  If you are looking for a church home, please give it a try.  I highly doubt you will be disappointed!

Now, on a side note, Community Bible is more of a contemporary style church with fun, up-tempo music, and a "fist pound" instead of a handshake during flu season (I love that lol!), but the ministry is incredible. I find myself engaged in the message each and every week......not falling asleep everytime the pastor says, "Let's bow our heads..." :) We look forward to growing in our relationship with God with our new church family!

When we got home from church, I ran to to store to get all the goodies to make Buffalo Chicken Dip and Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy did I make these things, you may ask? For a SUPERBOWL PARTY of course!

The Hossley's hosted a REALLY fun Superbowl party! Or should I say a REALLY chaotic Superbowl party!  Only chaotic because there were six, yes SIX, little boys ages 6, 4, 3, and three 2-year olds! While the men were conveniently outside in Richard's "Man Cave" enjoying drinks, snacks, and oh yeah, the GAME, us momma's were INSIDE hosting our very own Superbowl! There were lots of penalties, tackles, and excessive celebration, as I am sure you can imagine with six little boys :) Thank goodness the refs were participating in a little margarita action ;)

I don't think we saw more than two full commercials, and possibly a grand total of four minutes of the game....oh, and a little bit of the (crappy) halftime show. Slash shows up at every Superbowl halftime show....is he just in it for the free ticket?  Slash, you are old and washed up.  Give it up.

What's my favorite part of Superbowl you ask? The food....duh! ;)  We had a SPREAD! Corn dip, olive cheese bread, jalapeno poppers, buffalo dip, ribs, cheesy potatoes, beans, and (drum roll please......) MAC & CHEESE.  The BEST part of the night (for me) was my anti-mac-and-cheese son asking for MORE "roni-cheese!" Megan Whitson wins the award for making the first batch of Mac&Cheese that Connor liked! He has asked for it every day since! No lie! Luckily, I got the recipe.  Want it? She posted it on my Facebook, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind me sharing:

....pound of noodles, stick of butter, a cup of heavy whipping cream, pound of Velveeta. Cover with cheese and bacon bits.....

Totally simple! In-freaking-credible! De-flippin-licious! 'Nuff said ;)

Thank you, Hossley's, for a fun-filled, friend-filled, food-filled evening.

Annnnnnnnd that sums up our SUPER(bowl) Sunday! Thanks for stopping by! XOXO 

Sweet Treat, Smell, and DADDY save me!

Connor inherited his momma's sweet tooth for sure :) I just took this quick clip while he was eating some homemade peach cobbler. I got a little carried away at the end, so I think he is looking for his Daddy to rescue him lol!

Oh, and I love the over-nasaly way he says "smell." Lol! :)



Pig Money and Mr. Polite

Connor LOVES to put money in his piggy bank and then scream "Pig Mon-ey, Pig Mon-ey"

He is getting so big these days....he says EVERYTHING! His sitter says that his vocabulary is really big for a 22 month old.  He says, "Dank-doo Mommy" and "Dank-doo Daddy" in the SWEETEST voice. He's so polite :)  He says, "Cue-me" when he toots and "Bwet-do" when someone sneezes. We are also working on saying "Sawwy" alot when he "over-loves" on the dogs lol! :)

One of the things I adored about Justin when we first met was his manners.  He always said, "Yes ma'am," "No ma'am," "Yes Sir," "No Sir," Please," and "Thank-you", and he always told his parents he loved them when they would hang up the phone.  I often told myself, "His momma raised him right," and now I want to raise my son to possess those same mannerly qualities his Daddy has :)  So far, so good!

Thanks for stopping by! XOXO

2010 Finally Came To An End.....

You may have noticed (or not lol) that I didn't write a 2010 summary this year.....

Well, if you want the highlights (most of which have to do with our super-awesome-amazes-us-everyday son) you can click over there on the right where it says "2010" and you will find more than enough wonderful things that happened in our lives in 2010.  For the most part, it was a good year.....

However, we faced some challenges as a family and individually. Of course I don't plan to shaaaaaaaaaaaare those things here, but overall I am thankful for the challenges that God placed in front of us this year.  Each challenge we faced, we conquered, we became stronger, we loved deeper (both ourselves, and each other), and we both became closer in our relationship with God.  The reason I chose to blog about this, briefly, is because I know that blogs can give the impression of the perfect little life with the perfect little family. I like to think that we are perfectly imperfect :) I am thankful for what God has given me in my life......There are days I just wait for something terribly tragic to happen (morbid, I know....) because I don't know how I can continue to have so much good in my life without something bad happening.  The challenges we faced in 2010 were so incredibly minor compared to the big, and very real, scheme of life. So where on one hand I was frustrated with the hands we were dealt here and there, I recognized that it could be a lot worse, and I continued to give thanks to God for our many blessings.

I will tell you this....the tough times could NOT have been handled as well without the love of my my husband- who is my rock, and my son- who is my world. Also, both of our families are great strengths in our lives.....which brings me to one last point...then I will quit, I swear :).........

At 16, 17, 18, 19.....your friends are your entire world.  Most people spend more time with their friends than their actual families.  When I was younger, I'd often hear older people say, "When it comes down to it, family's all you've got."  I thought those people were super lame and that they must not have as awesome of friends as I had...I mean, my goodness, we were all going to be friends forever, duh. Around 23 or 24, I began to see that the older, super lame-o, was right......folks, when it comes down to it, family's all you've got.  Now that doesn't mean I don't absolutely love my friends (you know who you are), and that doesn't mean that if you don't have a traditional family that you are screwed.  All it means is that whoever you consider your actual, unconditionally-loved-no-matter-what, family.....that's where you will find the most strength, encouragement, and love.

Speaking of family.....we'd like to try to extend ours soon.........

I'll leave you with that :)