Celebration on the Lake

Grandma decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday out on the lake and we thought that sounded like a great idea too! (especially since we had only been out one other time this summer! Madison sure looked cute all decked out in her turquoise suit, glasses, and bow!

Here she is in the lake with Aunt Melissa. She had a good time despite the ridiculous heat and warm bath water!!!

Logan had a high time eating all of the yummy snacks. This boy doesn't joke around when it comes to food and he's trying more and more of it these days!

We had engine issues with the boat (for really the 1st time ever) and weren't able to tube as we had hoped, so we just layed around in the very warm water. It was pretty stinkin' hot! We ordered pizza and made homemade ice cream and came back to the house to enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Grandma! Hope you had a great one.

VBS Catch-Up...Big Apple Adventure

I worked in our Preschool VBS this year with my friend, Melissa. She has a little boy, Beckett, the same age as Madison and we decided to work in their class, AKA the 1.5-2 year olds. We thought it would to be neat to watch them interact with their friends and do all of the VBS activities. Well, not such a good idea! Our kids were extra clingy all week and wanted to be held by Momma! That is so not how they normally are so we decided that next year we won't be serving in their class! It's not fair to the other kids in the class and they need to go have fun and participate with all of the other kids.

Despite the clinginess, we still had a great time with the kids. We took long buggy rides... Aren't they cute? Can you imagine having a whole buggy of your own? Umm, NO I cannot! And thanks, I don't want to!

We did a little rocking...

We did a little snacking...

We played instruments and listened to music...
We changed a LOT of diapers...

We made some cute crafts...

We beaded some necklaces...

We played outside on the playground...
We listened to stories about Jesus...

I was really curious how the kids would respond to story time, but they actually listened really well. The story teachers usually had them do a couple of activities afterwards to pass up time and those were always a little challenging and a bit chaotic. Our kids were just a little bit too small for real games!

One of the activities was to get in a taxi. We only had two takers!

And we hid in the cubbies... This was so cute because we didn't put them there. A few just plopped down there and then we put the rest of the kids in for a very cute photo!

We had a good time this year. Madison and I actually only did VBS up until Wednesday because we left Thursday morning for my cousin, Jennifer's wedding in TX. I didn't mind skipping out two days early. Whew! VBS wears a momma out!!!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to two very special grandmothers. We sure are thankful for you both! It is so nice living in the same town as you both. Not only do we get help with our kids, but our kids know you both well and get to enjoy an extra special relationship with you! You can't beat that!

Grammy's birthday was yesterday and Grandma's birthday is today! We celebrated Grammy's birthday by going out to eat at Brown's catfish. It sure was yummy. I'm back on WW so I ran extra yesterday and saved my points so I could enjoy all I wanted at Brown's! We are celebrating Grandma's birthday tomorrow afternoon out on the lake. We have only been out on the lake once this summer so Gabe and I are both really looking forward to it.

My grandmother's birthday is also today...my Me Mommie. The kids don't get to see her and Big Daddy too often because they live in Texas, but they are still special to them.
Hope you have a wonderful day, Me Mommie! Make Big Daddy take you to The Cheescake Factory!

Madison recently posed in this ad for the Millard Henry Clinic Pediatricians. It will be used for something Arkansas Tech related. Madison is being held by her pediatrician, Dr. Harrison. He was my pediatrician when I was a child up until I was in college! Madison really likes him- mostly because going to the doctor means leaving with a sucker! He knows she's a firecracker and always gives her some special attention. Madison is quite famous around MHC and she knows it. She knows it's where her Grandma works. And she loves going upstairs to see her Grandma. She plays with the water tank and fills cups up with water and makes Grandma drink them only to go fill up more cups! MHC is a fun place for her.

Well, Friday is finally here. I'm looking forward to having Daddy home for the weekend! Have a good one!

The Incredible, INEDIBLE egg!

We've known for some time that Logan is allergic to something. It all started when he had his first bite of homemade ice cream. He broke out in a rash around his mouth. I thought, surely it couldn't be dairy since he'd never had a problem with breast milk, milk-based formula, or yogurt. All of which he had on a regular basis. I knew there were eggs and flour in the homemade ice cream and hoped it was the eggs! He also broke out after eating cornbread once, which had egg in it. I've never given him scrambled eggs because I really thought that eggs were the problem and was scared of the reaction he might have to them.

Well, this morning the kids stayed with my sister for a bit while I went to the gym. They normally go to Fit Kids, a daycare in they gym, but she wanted them to come to her house instead for some lovin' time. She decided to give them some...wait for it...scrambled eggs! She said Logan's whole face broke out. She was scared of what I might say, (which I really don't know why because I'm one of the most laid back moms there is when it comes to my kids getting hurt) so she called my mom. My mom works at Millard Henry Clinic and it's a bonus for times like these. She talked to the doc and they said as long as he was breathing he'd be fine. He said Logan could take some Benedryl and Melissa just happened to have some on hand for her...DOG!!! I didn't even ask if she cleaned the dropper before giving Logan some medicine. I think I'd rather not know. (I'm NOT an animal lover!) Anyway, after about 40 minutes the rash went away and he was fine. That's about how long his rashes have always lasted before.

I'm just glad we now know what his allergy is. I really never cook with eggs and if he ever wants to eat a little cake at least the worst that will happen is a small rash around his mouth. If you ever want to know what your kid's allergies are, just send them over to Melissa's!

First Steps & Mama

Logan took his first few steps on Monday. He took about three at a time with us right in front of him holding out our hands to him. When I picked him up from MDO on Tuesday, his teachers asked me if he had taken any steps yet. I told them yes and they said he did the same thing in MDO that day. I'm sure he will be off in no time since he now has "experienced" it!

Logan accomplished another milestone this week. This morning after Gabe left for work he said "mama" as he crawled towards me. I have waited 11 whole months to hear that boy say that sweet word. He also said my name several times during dinner, but daddy was too busy reading the paper to hear him. Funny how that happens.

I am loving Logan's age right now. He's a chunk, but I love to hold him and kiss his sweet chubby cheeks. My favorite time with him is naptime and bedtime. I feed him his bottle and rock him and then we play in the rocking chair. I'll get his neck and he bumps his head into mine. Sometimes he settles down and lays his head on my chest and I'm able to rock him to sleep, but usually he wants to giggle and play. I'm fine with that too!

These pics are some of my favorites. They were taken almost a month ago, but since I haven't blogged much I never posted them. I love how their outfits match. Madison loves her little "bigger" brother. She plays pretty good with him, but has started to boss him around a little more lately. She acts like his mother and says things to him that I say like "I'm gonna spank you" and "you're driving me nuts." She has spanked him a few times (on the diaper) and I have informed her that she cannot spank, only the momma can. ;)

Hawaii

This post is WAY overdue! Things have been busy and I haven't been in the mood to blog, but I can't put it off any longer. Gabe and I had a fabulous time on our vacation. It was like a honeymoon all over again. It was a much needed trip for both of us. Life with two small kids has worn me ragged and I was pretty burnt out. A trip with this cute boy is just what I needed!
We visited two islands...Oahu first and then Maui. I'll start with Maui because I accidentally entered the pics in the wrong order.

Haleakala:
This cute boy had the bright idea of waking up at 2:00am in the morning, driving 2+ hours in the car, and freezing our butts off, all to see a sunrise on top of this dormant volcano. Okay, it wasn't JUST a sunrise. It was a sunrise ABOVE the clouds. And it was FABULOUS. Well, maybe for him. But, not so much for me. In my opinion, if you've seen one sunrise, you've seen them all. It just wasn't quite worth it to me to loose that much sleep, especially in freezing cold weather.
Mama's Fish House:
The BEST seafood restaurant we ate at. Fancy, overpriced, but great food. It was right on the beach and was quite lovely! I'll have to admit that I do love to wine and dine. Minus the wine.

Hana Highway:
Oh, Hana. How I do not miss thee. Hana is a highway along the coast. AKA, a scenic drive. We rented a mustang convertible and had a lot of fun driving this windy road. We stopped a million times and hiked to beautiful waterfalls, fresh and salt water natural pools, and various beaches. It was great until our last stop. When we got stranded. And I was tired. I'll share all about this in a separate post because this little adventure deserves it's OWN post!

Old Lahaina Luau:

The BEST luau ever! We loved it. Everything about it was perfect. We were each greeted with leis made of fresh flowers. The pig was roasting underground when we arrived and we later watched them retrieve the pig right before dinner. Dinner was a yummy buffet and you got all the fruity drinks you wanted. The servers were fabulous. They were all Hawaiian. During dinner we watched a show complete with dancers wearing coconut bras and grass skirts made out of real tea leaves. They told the history of Hawaii. It was great! This was one of my favorite events.

Dinner Cruise:

Romantic and sweet. The food was good. It was hot until the sun went down, but I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with my man!

Now, on to Oahu. We rented a mustang convertible on this island as well and drove along some scenic highways along the coast. I really enjoyed all the beautiful scenery on this island. It was much livelier here, but if you got away from the shopping stores and restaurants and drove around the island, in my opinion, it was more beautiful than Maui.

During our drive, we stopped here and literally hiked through the jungle up a steep hill for about 45 minutes in search for our first waterfall. It was a little scary being out in this "jungle," but the the waterfall was well worth the hike!The view from our hotel room...

Pearl Harbor: By far, one of my least favorites. Just not my cup of tea. On this ship you could take a guided tour OR a tour with an ipod. They had both a short version and long version. He decided we would do the tour with the ipod so we could "hear" better, along with the longer version. Geez!

We saw many rainbows in Hawaii...God's promise to never destroy the entire earth by a flood again. Guess that's why they are the rainbow state.

We had a blast, but did miss our kids. We sure were glad to be back and I think the grandparents were quite glad for us to return too!!!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We are back from Hawaii and have hit life again in full swing. We got home yesterday morning and are still trying to recover from major jet lag! I have several posts to come of our time in Hawaii. We had a great time and have some great pics to share!

The Oliver's

Today we celebrated the 4th at the Oliver's home. Jason grilled burgers and hot dogs. It was like a mini water park complete with kiddie pools, a slip n' slide, wiggly water hose, 4 wheeler rides, a sand box, and 2 bump n' jumps. Everyone brought what they had and the "entertainment" turned out great!

The Kirtley's

The McGaha's

Us girls...Julie,(Keaton), Megon, me, (Logan), and Lori

Madison and Logan enjoying the sandbox. An extremely messy toy if you ask me, but it kept Logan entertained for quite some time. He even had a few bites!

Yum!

You would think by looking at this picture that this girl has some experience riding these things. Nope! She just hopped on and took off. Kinda scary if you ask me!

The dads worked really hard keeping the kids under control...

After lunch we all headed home pretty quick to get those babies to bed! Happy 4th! Sure hope those fireworks don't wake up my one last sleeping baby! :(