This is one of my all-time favorite pictures. Ever.



Mallory, my precious, precious first born, was baptized yesterday. At the age of 9 she's decided to show everyone her love for the Lord and that she's accepted Christ into her beautiful little heart. She wanted her Daddy to do the baptizing cause she thinks he's pretty awesome ;) He was more than touched to do so. That's our phenomenal Pastor Tim holding the mic for Scott.

My sweet girl.

This is Mal with one of her besties, Mikaila.









Mikaila was also baptized on the same day by her Dad. What an awesome memory for these two! They also lost the exact same tooth, on the exact same day about a week ago, and they think that's pretty darn swell :)

To make Mallory's baptism even more sweet is the awesomeness that it was also my Dad's birthday! So of course they came to church with us to be there for the special event. My sister and my niece, and Scott's mom came as well.

Afterward, we went out for some Chinese. I took pics, which confirmed to everyone how weird I am. But that's ok. I wanted pics so I took some!

My sister and my Maggie

My Mom and my niece

Birthday Boy & Mallory

The sweetest Mallory there ever was!

My awesome Dad!

There was a mirror above our table so I made everyone look up so I could snap that shot ;)

Hard to see, I know, and my flash doesn't help, but I enjoyed it!

Then we spent the afternoon at our house playing this fun game, along with some b-ball in the driveway and a little football in the yard (I didn't get any pics of that, frown). But it was such a fabulous day and I will cherish it forever.I really could not be more proud of my little Mallory who totally loves Jesus and wants everyone to know it!
I'm a blessed Momma. My cup runneth over.

Deny Yourself

Selfish. Selfish. Selfish. It's what we all are.
Selfless. It's what we should be.
Nobody's perfect, of course, but being Christ-like means striving our darndest to be selfless. It's honestly quite elementary, yet we all tend to really struggle to think less of ourselves and more of others. The only way I even come close to being less selfish is with God's help. And I literally thank God that He does help me. It's simply impossible to do on my own.
My devotional that I've (tried) to read everyday this year is from Joyce Meyer, whom I really enjoy, and is about this very subject today. And I'm feeling led to put it on here. Not sure why. Maybe so that when I read over my posts in the future I'll come across this one and be reminded to be selfless. Or for my girls when they're old enough to get online and look at this. Maybe it'll speak to someone else who may stumble upon my blog. Whatever the case may be, there is a reason. So here goes.

Deny Yourself

And Jesus called to Him the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and follow Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me]. ---Mark 8:34

Jesus said if we want to be His disciples, we will forget about ourselves, lost sight of ourselves and all of our own interests. The minute we hear that, fear strikes our hearts and we hear loudly in our heads, "What about me? If I forget myself, who is going to take care of me?"

My beloved, do not be afraid, God Himself will take care of you. Everything you do for other people will come back to you many times over, with joy. If you are willing to give yourself away, you will have a much better life than you ever would have had trying to keep yourself.

Are you using the resources you have in the service of God and man? Be courageous. Forget about yourself and start doing all you can do to help others. Get a new goal. "Put smiles on faces." Encourage, edify, lift  up, comfort, help, give, relieve pain, and lift burdens.

(She ends with a prayer for the day...) Lord, You called me to a life far bigger than my own interests. Help me to forget about myself and follow You wherever You lead. My greatest pleasure is to be Your disciple. Amen.

And AMEN!



Good Times @ The Tulsa State Fair :)

This is my little monkey that won a BLUE ribbon in the 6 & under Arabian Western Pleasure horse riding event at this years Tulsa State Fair. (We won't mention that they all get blue ribbons in this age group, or the fact that she was the only entry!) Anyhoo, ain't she a cute lil cowgirl?!! She was also given a pony Webkinz she decided to name Centennial after the sweet horse she rode that day. Centennial belongs to a dear friend of ours, Mrs. Karen Doney of Gooseneck Bend Arabians.
We looove horses. It'd sure be a dream come true to someday have enough land so we could have some. Maybe some cows, chickens and piggies too ;)

My other lil cowgirl didn't get to ride this year :( she's had some ankle issues and sadly, it was also time for the sweet horse she always rides, Willie, to hand over the reigns, pardon the pun, and retire :(

But she'll be back at it next year I'm sure, barring no physical reasons getting in the way. Miss Karen has lots of precious ponies to choose from. There is, however, something she did get to ride this year! Check out this sweet video:

Is she good or what?! ;)

&

Her dad had to get in on the action too:

Bahahaha! Good times!

Afterschool Snacky Snack

So I wanted to make my monkeys feel extra special when they walked in the door after school today. What better way than with something yummy for a hungry little tummy?!
I love strawberries and I also love and adore chocoloate. Who doesn't, right?! Well my babies certainly take after their momma when it comes to taste buds, and those two particular yummies go really well together. So I melted me some chocolate and dipped my strawberries. Pure deliciousness, check.it.out!

+PLUS+

=EQUALS=

And my two spunky lil monkeys said they were pretty darn yummy!

A couple of our sweet neighbor friends liked 'em a little bit too!

I'd say they were a hit.

Good times :)

First Project to Blog About!

So I LOVE a crafty PROJECT! For many many reasons that I could list but won't cause it could take a while... But let me try to explain quickly, in a nutshell, the manner in which I go about my craftin': Un-organized.
Seriously. It's bad.
Now let's talk about Pinterest. I've been on Pinterest for only a short while now but I am blown away by all the wonderful pins of organizing & crafting ideas out there, but it kinda makes a girl feel a bit like a slacker. Especially this girl. Ironically, though, I've also been inspired to enhance my organization skills so I'm gonna give it a go and try my darndest! There's quite alot to be done so here we go...
First on the list, now that my monkeys have finished their first full week of school, "Command Central". I have vowed not to become a slave to all the papers, dates to remember, lists of things needed, etc. that go along with two very busy kiddos. So I've designated an area in my kitchen to help with this. This particular space has been home to our friend "Chef Baker" whom I painted shortly after we moved in. It was a crafty kind of moment ;)

I think he's kinda cute myself.

Unfortunately, this wall space is the prime area in my kitchen to serve as the family grand central station, if you will. Now, I've placed a shelf with a basket for each girl and various supply things used on different occasions, as well as a bulletin board that holds our calendar & all those fabulous papers  that make our world go 'round. I put a little white board we have up there too, but that may be coming down soon, don't really need it I think. Anyhoo, it's very mismashed at the moment, not very fabulous, but my goal is to get it to be super cute and efficient to fit our needs and help us function as smoothly.as.possible.

So I'm needing some fabulous ideas for cleverly covering up Chef while incorporating the shelf, bulletin board, hook for their school bags, etc. And Pinterest is coming is very handy for lots of fantastic ideas!  But like I said, it's a PROJECT! in process so, fingers crossed, I can git er done relatively soon, but, be patient with a sista, k!

Sarah

Back to School 2011

So my monkeys went back to school today. Fourth grade and Kindergarten! Woohoo! Sniff sniff :( Woohoo!?

Yeah, Momma's having mixed emotions. I'm thinking something is wrong with me because you see, I've honestly never been too terribly sad (? emotional ?) about the first day of school. Even though I'm typically quite an emotional gal. Like, I wear waterproof mascara because I tear up at least once a day. Sometimes for no reason at all. Maybe I need professional help... hmmm... Anyhoo, I sincerely hadn't ever felt a tiny pang of sadness about the first day back. Maybe this is why: You see, I'd been a stay-at-home Momma since the oldest monkey came along 9 years ago and when she started pre-school 3 days a week, at 3 years old, I was pregnant with our other monkey. So, perhaps, Momma was a little tired and looking forward to the few hours break it provided, plus, she was SO excited to be a Big Girl and go to school that I really didn't need to be sad, I was actually happy, selfishly maybe a tad, but happy that she was happy, ya know?

Fast forward to the little monkey starting school and it was actually a serious necessity for Momma's sanity. We were in the midst of a situation (more on that at another time, maybe) and I was single parenting. She was two. I needed a few hours of peace and heeded the advice of trusted friends, so she went to Kid's Day Out. 4 hours a day, 3 days a week. And, she loved it. Sigh.

Both my monkeys have thoroughly loved going to school. They don't beg to sleep in, stay home and watch cartoons. Oh no. They want to be out in the world! Being busy! Learning! Moving around! Strutting.their.stuff! They've made it easy for me to not be sad to see them go. However, this year, there has been a huge lump in my throat.

I had a taste of going to work full time this past December. I was scared, yet excited, to get back out there so to speak. I loved that I accomplished something everyday that wasn't completely about children. I got to use my adult brain and it felt fabulous!! I looked forward to coming home after being gone all day and all that jazz. But I did miss my babies.

Then, I had the opportunity to stay home over the summer (more on that at another time too), and I've.never.been.happier. Could it be the absence made my heart grow fonder? I'm thinkin probably so. I'm thinkin I appreciate these days with my monkeys more than I ever had before. I have the choice to return to work in a few months, and I keep going over the pros and cons... Only to keep coming back to the fact that these sweet girls of mine keep getting bigger and bigger. They're not slowin down. At all. And I don't want to miss another minute. I want to be home for them, while they're little enough to need me and/or want me. Cause I know it won't last forever. Sniff sniff :(

So my bank account may not be growing, but I'll work on that later.

For now I'm gonna be a cookie-baking, milk-pouring, (DIY project-doing!), stay-at-home Mom. It's what I/we need. For now :) 

Fishin' Trip

I realize it's been a couple of months since my last post. To tell you the truth I'm still trying to figure out all this blog stuff and keep stumbling across new blogs that I cannot tear myself away from long enough to make new posts of my own. I do have a goal of being more creative with it once school starts back in a couple weeks, and hopefully gaining a lot more readers, if I can figure out how. Anyhoo, this is fun just to do for my own reference, even if no one else is interested!! I'll be glad I have it to go back to someday :)

So yesterday was the Hubbie's birthday, and all he wanted to do was gather up our two monkeys and take 'em fishin'. So we did.
Here's some photos snapped to capture our rather enjoyable fishing excursion:

 Off we go...

 Our little visitor we didn't really enjoy spending time with:

 Havin' a grand ol'time

 Maggie go the first catch o'the day!
 Birthday Boy had to help ;)

 So relaxed...

 Mal's little Perch (sp?)

 On the bridge...

 Maggie had to try some photography...

 She finally got it focused!

 Okay Maggie, enough!

 Her sweet Big Sissy...

 Didn't they do good?!!!

It was a great day!
Sarah

~~~My Beautiful Babes~~~

This is one of my faves. We spent the day at the fort (in Fort Gibson, that is) right around their 7th and 4th bdays, which are two weeks apart, with me trying out my camera to see if I could snap anything worthwhile, and lo and behold I did. These two monkeys of course! Now this is also my profile pic on facebook so a lot of people are familiar with it already, and it was readily available to upload ;) but, seriously I'm so proud of this pic that I just have to put it everywhere. I even developed an 8x10 for both my Mom and Mother-in-law, which of course they both went ballistic over as everyone should!

I have a dear sweet friend who is a fantastic photographer and will be instructing me in the very near future on how to photograph subjects in a professional manner. And seeing how these two precious monkeys are my favorite subjects, there shall be many more of these pics to come! Woohoo!!!

My Fabulous Mother

For My Fabulous Mom on Mother's Day!

This is one of the many fun photos taken during our Branson get-away last summer. A week of running here and there, and doing this and that, with 3 grandkids, and two other adults in the Missouri summer heat and she still managed to look incredibly fabulous for the 3-plus hour ride home ;)

Here she is fitting her tiny little self in the back seat with her 3 oldest grandbabies for a round of Trick-or-Treating two years ago. Only fabulous Nanas do that kind of thing!

She's not too happy that I'm always shoving a camera in her face when she's around, but she's too fabulous not to! Plus this is a Christmas at my house, and in my house I take pictures of who I want, when I want. Ya hear me Momma?!

Well, this is all I can do for the moment, but trust me, there's a lot more where these came from! In the meantime, isn't my Mom fabulous?!! Thank you, Mom for being the inspiration that you are and showing me how to love my little spunky monkeys the way you've always loved me. You're the best!

My Monkeys!

So here are the two monkeys that make me a Mom!

This being Mother's Day weekend I told myself I had to show the blogosphere the reason my blog is titled Two Spunky Monkeys, after all, as you can see there are two of them, and they are both very spunky. And Spunky is also what my Mom has always called me, so the title could not be mas perfecto! (little espanol for ya)

I totally love that my girls are full of spunk!

More pics soon I promise :)

Photos by Melissa Poffel Photography

Coming Soon!

So I'm super excited to start this blog thing! I read a lot of friends/acquaintences blogs and it appears to be fun so I hope to get started soon! Be patient though, it can take me a while to figure this sorta thing out ;)