Whoo-Hoo!

Its an exciting week already! Mom and Dad left for Utah yesterday, so I'm on my own for the next week and a half. Not liking it so far. I'm hoping to get a babysitter so I can go exercise. At least back at NC I could toss kids in the jogger and go, but here I have no stroller, and the road really is not safe to walk down. On the exciting side, all 3 girls went to Mother's Day Out. That's what they call the preschool. I signed up Marian and Callie for T & Th, and Delaney for just Tues. It runs from 8:30 to 2:30! So long! And can I say how wonderful it was?!! I have a couple projects I want to do and one of them involves scanning a million pictures into the computer. I got the photos organized and started, and I felt so productive!

The girls had a good time, but were ready to come home. Marian had a meltdown when we got home- change doesn't go well with her. Still, I am glad, and if I can swing it in the buget, I may try to get Delaney in for both days. I just wasn't sure how well she'd deal with it. There's no preschool next week, which is annoying, but after that they'll go all summer.

Now, as I was getting dinner ready, I went downstairs to check on the girls and this is what I found! Grandma would be so cross if she saw this!

Yep, that's a nasty look she's giving me. Callie, the assister-in-bad-behavior looks a little more concerned as to how much trouble she may be in.

I know, rather than haul her out and scold her, what am I doing? I'm taking a picture. Then I get on with the less important stuff. She was having such a good time!

See how sad she is? She really wanted to be in the fun fountain.

Happy Birthday to me

Actually today is Callie's birthday and tomorrow is mine. However we celebrated Callie's yesterday and mine today. Don't ask, that's just how it worked out. All I wanted for my birthday to be special was MY own cake, so I was happy with that. I got my very own cake- chocolate with chocolate frosting. Callie got a pink pony cake, which she's been asking for for months.


Here is Callie's pink pony cake. She was delighted with it. It does NOT look like the Family Fun one, but that's due to my own laziness and lack of interest in perfection. Callie doesn't care and it just has to be yummy. Since I made the frosting, I know it was!


Here is Callie on the phone with Daddy talking about her "birsday". She was so cute. Grandpa took her out for ice cream as a special date and they had fun together.


Here is my cake. Since I didn't get candles put on Callie's, she got to blow out the 3 on her side. Joshua is just a ham, and had to be in the shot. He tries to squeeze into every picture he can.

Congradulations to Jonathan!

I think the world (okay, my friends) need to know that I became an aunt again. I am (was?....hmm, my grammar needs work!) going to become an aunt again 3 times this summer, and #1 was born Tuesday night. Jonathan and Kristy welcomed their 4th baby into their family, and here was Jonathan's brief announcement about the blessed event:

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Baby Emily Fox was born last night at 11:03PM in Manchester Memorial Hospital, weighting 7 lbs 1 oz.

She came into the world a very calmly, 12 hours after Kristy was admitted to the Hospital. Kristy is glad to be done with the laboring process and Emily is happy to be held and nurses like a pro.
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I am delighted to add to my collection of neices and nephews. My sister in law Kera is due in just about a month- another girl. And my sister Deborah will have her baby boy the end of August. That will give my parents a total of 15 grandchildren, although the girls seem to be overwhelming the boys, 9 to 6 by the end of summer. Oh yes, we are prolific and proud of it.

We love summer!

Today I have no deep thoughts. Not news to some of you, I know. Still, I am going to let the photos do the talking and you can see what we've been up to the last few days. May I just mention that my kids make me laugh?! And I love it when they are sweet to each other.... then I try to get a picture of it! Here are a few reasons we love summer:

Reasons #1 & #2- Friends and watermellon

We had friends over on Tuesday evening and the kids had a great time. They had brought watermellon, and it was a huge hit for the kids. Delaney was in heaven, and Callie thought it was such fun to share. So did our friend who was visiting, Audrey, who is 7.

One happy watermellon-covered little girl. Such a satisfied face.

Reason #3- All kinds of animals (I'll have to get pictures of the deer in the backyard!)

There were a bunch of these tiny frogs hopping around. Marian actually was happy to set this one free when she was done. I only hope it was still alive!

Reason #4- Playing outside (And friends again!)


Another summer perk is going to the park. We went to a new one yesterday with my friend Wendy, and her 4 kids. The park was pretty fun.




Marian loved spending time with Eva. Finally, a girl her age! They played really well together.

Here is Wendy and all the kids. This was the big draw for the park- Joshua wanted to check out the train- there is a Railroad Workers Memorial here, and 2 train cabooses. Very exciting for the kids!

Reason we love summer #5- You can go swimming!

After the trains we decided we would let the kids swim in the swimming hole. We had brought stuff so they could. The water was COLD! It didn't bother them though!


Callie was so silly. Here she is, dancing for me. She is such a ham!


Marian was the only one to truly try to swim. She went all the way in and jumped off the rocks and really had fun. Then she had a problem with her goggles and this was what she did- total mentdown till we fixed it.

Yep, its about time to get out! The air may have been 90+, but the water was really cold. The kids had a very good time though. Next time, I'll look for somewhere more kid friendly. This one was a little too deep, too rocky and not enough space for the kids. They did not care though!

Reason #6- You get to get wet and its fun!

The kids were getting whiny by mid afternoon. Grandma swooped in and saved the day by dragging these water guns out of the garage. Check out Joshua's face. hee hee hee
2 full hours they were outside squirting the heck out of each other! They were drenched when they came in, but it was worth it! Good job, Grandma!

Fun with Family

I love my family. I love it when they come to visit. It was a little tight with 7 adults and 8 kids stuffed into the house, but we managed. I did get to share a bed with Marian which wasn't as bad as I feared. Actually, all us girls slept in one room- Me, Marian, Katie and Callie. All the older boy cousins shared Joshua's room. 3 of them squeezed in tight. Oh, you want to know who was there?

Well, My sister Miranda came over from Oklahoma with her hubby Dan. And my brother Andy and his wife, Kera, and their kids drove up from Mississippi. This was especially rough for them since Kera is 35 weeks pregnant, and nothing is comfortable at this point. Our kids had a ball together though. And I thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with my siblings and their spouses, who also happen to be siblings. Hey, don't be like that! This is Arkansas you know! Just kidding. Andy's wife is the sister of Miranda's husband, which means that my siblings married a set of siblings. Its very convenient and they are both fantastic, so it works out well for all of us.

Anyway, on to the weekend. It was fun. My family rocks, nuff said. And here are a few pix for your viewing enjoyment....

Winner of the cute factor here is Matthew and Aaron. They both have the cutest grins, but I especially like Matthew since he looks an awful lot like Delaney. And he was having waaay too much fun in Grandma's fountain.

My sister Miranda and her Dan. They are way cool and a lot of fun.

Marian found a soul-mate in her cousin Katie. They played horses for hours. They also had another game called "cheetas" which involved a lot of shrieking and running and clawing. But they had a great time together, and Marian was very sad to see them go.

This is Nathan. He is the reason I can't wait for Joshua to grow a bit older. Nathan is a great kid and he was so cute with Delaney. He also humored Joshua, who had issues with the boys playing with HIS legos.

Now, I have to tell you about my least favorite part of living here. The ticks. If I were truly committed to sharing everything with you here, I would have gotten pictures, but the ick factor on ticks is too great. The only thoughts in my mind when I see them is, Gross! And then I want to vomit. But they don't usually just go away, so I have to deal with it. I picked ticks off all the kids this weekend. Callie is the winner for biggest tick and for most on her ears. Joshua had the tiniest ones, but his cousin Aaron won for having the most attached- he had 6 that needed removing. After all that, I am feeling slightly better about my ability to spot and remove the tiny buggers, but I still don't like them!