Roughin It

I took the kids down to meet my dad's family for a short camping trip on Wednesday-Friday of spring break. Dave was not able to take off work for the trip, so the kids and I decided to brave it and make the nearly three hour trek to Dierks, AR. on our own!! If you've never heard of it, which I'm sure most have not, it is in southwest, AR in the sticks!!! I thought we would never arrive and thought I must be lost more than a couple of times on my journey. In my anxiousness to arrive, I was going 51 in a 35 speed zone in a little town outside of Nashville and got pulled over!! I truly thought the speed limit was 45, so in my mind I was only 6 miles over, in reality I was 16 miles over!!! I was so thankful that the officer only gave me a warning. Of course, Kennedy thought it made for a good story that mommy got pulled over by the police, good lesson in slowing down!!! The officer followed me to the next small town like twenty miles away, which made me so nervous, it is very hard to make your car go 30 miles an hour on highway, but I did and we made it to Dierks with no other news worthy for Kennedy to tell!!! The kids love the outdoors and were thrilled to arrive to fish with their Papaw Ricky, Uncle Colby, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Caleb had been waiting to open his spider man fishing pole since I brought it home from the store a week ago. The time had finally come and he went right to fishing, with no hook of course. He didn't seem to notice that he caught the same red (plastic) fish all weekend. Kennedy loves to fish as well, and even caught five real fish with her Papaw. I don't know who was more proud, Kennedy or Papaw!! This was my families first trip without Grandpa Dave and his absence was tough, we all miss him so very much!!! My grandmother wasn't sure she would go back to the lake when he passed away back in August, but I'm so glad she decided to carry on the tradition and go even though I know how hard it was for her to be there without her husband of 58 years. This is the second year I've taken my kids to join The Donaldson Family in their annual fishing trip and I'm so glad I did. Little did I know, our first time to go last year would be my grandfathers last, made this trip even sweeter knowing memories with family that we don't see near enough are so very important!!!

 

 

 

 

Heifer Village

We took the kids to Heifer Village here in Little Rock today for free family Saturday!! We've gone in the past and the kids always have a great time petting the animals, making crafts, and exploring the hands-on exhibits about ending world hunger!!! Heifer is such a great organization and I'm so proud that it is right here in our city!! If you've never taken the kiddos, it is a must do to teach them about poverty and world hunger that us Americans so often forget about. Heifer's mission is to end hunger, poverty and care for the earth by giving families a hand-up, not just a hand-out empowering them for a lifetime!!! You can buy a family an animal in another country which turns into a sustainable income and nutriton and they pay it forward by passing on the offspring of their livestock to another family in need!! What a great organization!! I'm thinking about having Kennedy's next birthday party guests bring a donation toward purchasing an animal for a family, she has picked a goat, which produces milk, yougurt, cheese, etc!! I love that we have this in our backyard to teach our kids about giving back and that the world is so much bigger than what is right in front of us!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wye Mountain

 

 

 

 

What a beautiful day the Lord has made!!! We made our annual trek out to Wye Mountain this morning to soak up this awesome sunshine!!!! I always envision getting these precious photos of the kids and of course they always have a different plan that does not include stopping for a photo session :) Well, K is all about posing with the flowers and Caleb just loves to run, run, run in this wide open space and explore. I love his sense of adventure and energy, wish I could bottle it and drink some in to help this momma keep up!!! We got a few pics, ran, picked flowers and had a picnic lunch with friends. I'm so thankful for the special ladies God has placed in my life during this season to share in days like this!!!

 

 

 

 

Winter Weather

The snow started coming down Sunday afternoon and we were so excited to see it!!! I love playing in the snow and so does Kennedy, Caleb was not so sure at first, especially when it was coming down hard and hitting him in the face. He said, "fun momma?" Like, this is suppose to be fun!!! He liked it much better today when it was not coming down. We love all the hills in our new neighborhood perfect for sledding. We didn't have a sled, but Daddy improvised with a cardboard box and plastic bin top!! Then, our neighbors came out with the real thing and let us sled with them. Kennedy loved making snow angels. I tried to build a snowman, but the snow was so powdery dry, it was hard to pack. I got the first level built and Caleb thought it was fun to knock it down, so needless to say we didn't have a snowman, but we sure had fun!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Holidays

What a wonderful Christmas season we had!!! Full of activity and excitement for the entire month of December!!! We started the celebration of our Savior's Birthday by making our second annual trip to Motley's Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. We had a great time picking out the perfect tree. We made a trip to Branson the first weekend of December and had a blast with friends, The Sanchez and Billings families. We went to Silver Dollar City which is fabulous at Christmas with all the lights and it was even warm enough to ride all the roller coasters this year, a big hit with us adults. We had a great condo with an excellent view of the lake, best place we've stayed in Branson yet!! We returned home and continued the fun with play dates, Christmas parties, decorating, baking, crafting, ice skating and light looking. On December 18th, Kennedy had her dance recital and we all got a kick watching her dance to Christmas under the Ocean. We had Christmas with my dad's family that day with pizza and gifts after the big show :) We made a trip to Garvin Gardens to look at the lights and it was wonderful. Christmas Eve, GiGi and Uncle Chase came over and we did our traditional Jesus Birthday Cake and gingerbread house, church service and then down to Pine Bluff for our PJ party with The Coyle side of the family, returning home that night just in time for Santa to come. The kids were so excited, Kennedy woke us up at 5am wanting to see what Santa brought. Her favorite gift of the year was her Alice and Wonderland doll and Caleb loved his Batcave and Batmoblie. We spent Christmas Day at home for the entire day for the first time ever. Dave's Mom, Jim and NaNa we're at the beach in Florida, so we had Christmas with them the week after Christmas! Our holidays are filled with family and fun!! Dave and I joke that we are the couple on Four Christmases traveling and celebrating with four sets of parents, but we have a great time!!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus, we sure did!!!