Riding Bikes

The weather has been beautiful the past few weeks around here and the kids are enjoying their bikes. Sofia loves to ride Joshua's bike or scooter. Joshua will ride on anything he can. And Megan has finally learned to ride without training wheels. One evening we loaded up the kids and the bikes to head over to a nice path close to our house to let the kids ride.

Awana

Awana ended for another year. This is Megan's 4th year and Joshua's 1st. Megan just finished her second year of Sparks and the church just added the Puggles program for the 2s and young 3s. In the fall Joshua will begin in Cubbies.

When we arrived at the church Joshua said he wanted to wear his sunglasses inside to show his teacher. Fine. I only forgot to get them from him once I dropped him off in his room. So here he is being the "cool dude" up on stage. That boy cracks us up.

Megan had to say a verse when the Sparks went up to recieve their awards. She did great!

Here the kids are with their friend Ryan.

Our New Nephew

Two weeks ago I got a last minute ticket up to Chicago to visit my sister Lisa and her new baby boy, Jude. This is the first time in FOREVER that I've had a chance to do something KID FREE!!! It was wonderful!!! Lisa and I spent lots of time just hanging out and catching up. Our days were not filled with tons to do, like it often is when I go back "home". Jude is adorable. It was so wonderful to hold a newborn again.


Lisa and me at the Cubs game.

Smilie Jude

Jude loves his Tia.

So, we're having a little...

GIRL!

It definately was a Weekend we'll always Remember!

We had a wonderful time at the Weekend to Remember conference this past weekend. It was a FULL weekend, but we so enjoyed our kid-free time together. We were both a little unsure what it would be like and what kinds of things we would be encouraged to talk about. It was very good! Some things were hard for us. Some issues were brought up. But, in the end I think our marraige will be better for it!



A very special thank you to each of our friends who helped us out by watching our kiddos. We are SOOO sorry they all ended up getting sick while we were away. We definately owe each of you - BIG TIME!

Thank you! We love you!

Weekend to Remember

Tomorrow we are dropping off all the kids to stay with friends and family. Megan will be staying with her friend Grace, Joshua will stay with his friend Ryan, and Sofia will stay with her cousin Bekah. After all the child transfers happen, Jaime and I will be dashing off to Branson, MO for a Weekend to Remember. This should be a great opportunity for us to spend some time together before baby #4 graces us with his/her appearance. (We find out next week what we're having so, stay tuned..!)

First Sleep Over

Tuesday night Megan had her first sleep over with her friends Brenna and Amber. She had a wonderful time but was completely exhausted when she got home. Here are some pictures:

Giveaways are so fun!

Lindsay over at Passionate Homemaking is giving away an Envibum cloth diaper. If you'd like to try and win head over here and enter too!

Brayden is Home!!!

This past Saturday Brayden was able to come home from the hospital. Andrea had been at the hospital the previous two nights so the doctors could see how Brayden would do if he was just nursing. He did really well and was discharged the next day!


Holding my new nephew!


Andrea with her two boys - Benjamin (2 years) and Brayden (1 month)



Megan, the proud older cousin. She was so excited to hold Brayden for the first time.

Randomness of Today

This morning Sofia wanted to color like big sister Megan was coloring... with markers! She usually does ok with a marker for a minute or two but this morning decided to color her face instead of the paper.


Megan had a loose tooth (#3!) but it wasn't quite ready to come out yet. Last night, however, while Megan and Joshua were playing they had a little head to mouth bump and out the tooth came. There was a little blood and LOTS of drama. What else would you expect from a 6 year old girl. She's fine now and proud of her new smile.

Unfortunately, the tooth fairy didn't make it to our house last night. Probably due to the 1/4" of snow we recieved over night. (Because Arkansas slams to a halt on the prediction of snow, which will forever make me laugh!) I tend to think the tooth fairy was really tired because she's pregnant right now and just plum forgot. Megan was a little disappointed but sweet about it and very willing to give the tooth fairy another chance.

This is what we woke up to. It's very pretty, right now. We are expecting 4-8" more throughout the day. Who knows what we'll really end up getting.

Ready or Not...

...it's coming, AGAIN!!! A year ago, this week, we got the worst ice storm Arkansas has seen in twenty years, or something like that. (I don't remember the exact stat.) Sometime this afternoon we're going to get hit again with what they are saying could be the #2 or #3 storm in twenty years. We'll see what the weather actually ends up doing. We're praying it's not as bad as they are saying it could be.

Here is my blog post from last year's storm. We have plenty of food and firewood and are about as prepared as we can be.

I'm a little jealous of some friends of ours who are down in Florida right now. They are scheduled to fly back to NWA tonight but my guess is they won't be able to fly home today and will be "stuck" down there a few extra days.

We'll see what happens...

My new nephew!

My sister, Andrea, was pregnant with her 2nd little boy. She was due March 2nd. On January 2nd she ended up at the hospital having an emergency c-section, due to preclamsia. Brayden Seth was born 8 weeks early! He weighs only 3lbs. 2 oz. and is 16 1/4 inches long.

Andrea is doing well. She is still in the hospital but is feeling much better and may go home tomorrow. Brayden is also doing well, all things considered. He's breathing on his own and not loosing any weight. He will be in the NICU at Washington Regional Hospital for probably about 3-4 weeks.

Keep Andrea, her husband Brian, their 1st son Benjamin, and their new little one Brayden in your prayers.

Blogging Failure

I know I have been failing at blogging lately, but I'm not a drop-out...yet! There is so much I haven't blogged about and that overwhelming feeling of needing to catch-up on it is probably what has kept me from it most of all. It is on my mental "to do list" and little by little I hope to work on it.

Some of the things that I have wanted to blog about are:
(1) Megan's first soccer season - Jaime was the coach
(2) Megan lost her first tooth
(3) Joshua's third birthday collage
(4) Joshua's third birthday party
(5) Thanksgiving

Here's hoping I can get to this sooner rather than later!

A New Look for Fall

I know I haven't updated the blog in a while. Since school started things have been pretty busy around here for me. Trying to keep up with household chores, take care of three kids, and school Megan is more than enough to fill my days - all of them!

I did decide it was time for a new look on the blog, since it is officially fall. It doesn't quite feel like fall here in Arkansas. The days have been cooler but the leaves aren't really changing yet. I love fall and all the beautiful color and aromas that comes with this season! I'm hopefully for a very beautiful fall this year!

Hopefully soon I'll have some time to do some new posts about soccer and pumpkins and other fall activities. Until then enjoy the new look!

Megan - 6 Wonderful Years

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Eating Corn

I was changing my son's poopy diaper this morning and I noticed it had some corn in it, which I mentioned to him. So, of course, he asks to see it. I show it him to which he says, "Can I eat that corn, mommy?"

"No, son. You already did!"

What Can An Engineering Degree Get You?

The ability to do THIS:

Cooking and Canning

This past weekend we made a big batch of salsa using tomatoes, yellow peppers, and onions from our garden. Once we finished preparing it, we canned most of it. We are looking forward to enjoying our salsa over the next few months.

We also went blackberry picking this past weekend which I turned into blackberry jam. I canned it as well.

I wish we had more and better pictures of our time at the blackberry farm. Those of you who know Joshua, also know he can be a handful in situations like this. It was all we could do to maintain control of that boy! His white shirt was completely purple by the end of our time there, as well as his hands, arms, and mouth!

We had a good time and are enjoying our homemade jam!

Happy 1st Birthday (+ 1 week) Sofia!!!

If couldn't tell by the title, this post is a week late. Last Friday Sofia turned one! Boy, how time flies. In so many ways this past year has just flown by, in other ways it hasn't. It also has been a wonderful year, as well as one of the hardest for me as a mom. Needless to say, Sofia is a joy to have in our family. Although she has only been a part of it for a year, it truely is hard to remember life before her. She fits into our family so well. Her little personality is coming out more and more each day. One of my favorite things is how she cracks up at her brother and sister. She absolutely adores them and they adore her as well.

This past Sunday (July 5th) my cousin Kristen and I had a party for our two girls together. They were both born the same day, July 3rd. We reserved a room at The Jones Center in Springdale and had a cute little party for the two girls. It was a great day!

(I will post some pictures as soon as I can find where Jaime saved them.)

Backyard Fun

We enjoyed a beautiful day today, working/playing outside. Jaime got some work done in our garden, cleaned up the weeds around the swing set, and did some other misc. things. Joshua and Megan enjoyed the pool, sprinkler, and spraying each other with the hose. Sofia even had fun playing in her pack and play in the backyard.

Our tomato plants are huge and needed to get cages around them. We finally got that done today.

Clearing the swing set of weeds.

This is one way to stay hydrated on a hot summer day!

Fun times!

What a sweetie!

This boy loves the water.

Sofia enjoyed being outside with the rest of us.

Pure exhaustion after a long day of playing.