Busy Busy...

So it has been too long since my last entry... We have been very busy to say the least. I finished my last class the first part of May. I am so happy. I love learning but classes and studying takes up a lot of time and when you work full time, are doing research, have two little boys and a husband and a life classes get in the way. I am so glad to be done with them!!!

We have been busy the past couple of weeks. We went to Chicago at the end of April to a meeting and were fortunate to get to visit Ross' family that live near Chicago in Pecatonica, IL. The boys had a blast playing with their cousins.

We have had graduations (Taylor's high school and Drake's pre-school), Mason's 3rd birthday and Ross and I celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday.

May is a very busy month for us so I am glad it is behind us now. The summer is going to be pretty busy too.

Batter up

Drake's T-Ball season is in full swing. We had our first game Friday night. He was so excited and enjoyed the game much more than practice. The team we played was mostly little girls and had a couple of little boys on it. Let me tell you those little girls can play. I was really afraid that they were really going to lay it on us. Their attention spans are orders of magnitude higher that our little boys and they can catch too. Luckily they could not throw!!! Evidently in each inning they get a max of 6 runs and since no one ever got out the game ended in a tie at 18 all. Drake batted in the last run, he thinks it was the winning run! Too Cute.

Easter 09

Okay Dad here you go!

We had a great weekend! Saturday, we had dinner with Ross' friend Israel and Tiana and Heith and little Rowan. Israel is not around very much because he works on cruise ships. He is going to Alaska to captain a boat this summer. He is a great cook and looks just like the guy from the Transporter movies, I wish I would have taken a picture!!!

Sunday, Ross left for Dayton for a business trip. Tiana and Rowan went to church with the boys and me. Mason got chocolate on his sweater before we even got to church. I was so mad, I told him not to eat anything!!!

Church was packed on Sunday, which is to be expected. Great sermon on the meaning of Easter. After church we had a late lunch with Ross' family (Valorie, Tiana, Heith, Rowan, Taylor and Bobby(Taylor's dad)). We had a great time catching up with family and the boys got to spend some time with Bobby. They have not been around him very much in the past but we have a feeling that is going to be changing.

Ross was supposed to be home last night but got stuck in Atlanta overnight. He called this morning to tell me that he did get on the early flight but then they made him get off because "he caused the plane to be unbalanced" He then had to go stand out in the rain to wait for them to get his bag off the plane!!! He is on standby for the rest of the day and supposedly has a ticket for the 4pm flight. He said he hopes to be home sometime this week!!!

We are leaving this weekend to go to Chicago to visit family and Ross and I will be at a meeting for a few days. More on that later.

WORMS, THERE ARE WORMS ON MY HEAD!!

Mason woke up several times last night from dreaming that there were WORMS on his head and hands. This morning he came in to the bathroom to wash his hands to get the worm juice off. I did not think that he would remember the dream but I think it was pretty traumatic for him. He said they were going to eat his eyes. I am sure this is the beginning of another irrational fear!!!

Where my PEEPS at!!!

I recently discovered peeps, you know the sugar covered marshmallows that come in the shapes of chicks and bunnies at Easter. I say recently because I have never been a fan of marshmallows so I did not think that I would like them. Turns out that I am a fan of SUGAR coated marshmallows in the shape of cuddly little animals. I bought some peeps at Wal-Mart Saturday night while we were grocery shopping. When we got home Mason and I had one, turns out Mason is a huge fan of peeps. Sunday afternoon after church, we had lunch and the boys were supposed to clean their rooms before taking their naps. Ross and I were in the kitchen talking and Mason (the stealth bomber) snuck into the kitchen and grabbed the peeps of the counter and RAN. The whole time stuffing as many peeps as he could into his mouth!!!

Saturday, Cole, Drake's BFF, came to spend the day with us. They played inside and out and in and out all day. We also had T-ball practice, Cole and Drake are on the same team which seems great but they are an unstoppable force when they are together. Coach Jerry figured this out on Saturday and they now play on opposite sides of the field.

While at practice, Mason learned to climb a chain linked fence. He was going up pretty high and then fell and busted his bottom. I thought that would be the end of the climbing but it turns out that Mason is only afraid of things that he will probably never incounter, like bears, and not those that really could hurt him, like climbing fences. Because of this Mason had a near death experience later Saturday. We have 2 dogs and the boys like for Mack, the boxer, to be put in his kennel, 7 feet high chain linked fence, when they are playing outside. But since the boys had been in and out all day I had told them that I was not going to put Mack up anymore and they would have to play with him out. So Drake and Cole decided to play inside the kennel and lock Mason out, see where this is going. Mason then decided to climb over the fence. I was doing laundry and heard "Miss Amanda and MOMMA" coming from outside. I ran because they sounded scared, when I got outside I saw Mason teetering at the top of the fence, he couldn't figure out how to flip over. He finally did and thankfully he is strong and could hold himself until I could get him down. HE IS STILL NOT AFRAID!!!

Sunday, we had a great Easter musical at church. There was an Easter egg hunt after church but it was freezing, really freezing so we went home. Valorie (Ross' mom) and Taylor (Ross' youngest sister) came over for dinner. Great food and family, can't beat it.

Later, Heather and I went to the gym. Good arms workout (hard, really hard, not easy) and a 20 minute run walk on the treadmill. Heather and I are going to do the Poultry Festival 5K in June so we are training for it. More on that later!!

One more note, the pictures published of Drake, Mason and Lane were all taken by one of Melissa and my good friend, Brooke Allison. Brooke is a nurse and an awesome photographer who lives in Rison. She does great work. All you girls in South Arkansas should check out her work and use her is you can.
http://www.brookeallisonphotography.wordpress.com/
http://www.brookeallisonphotography.com/

Busy, Busy Weekend

Saturday, the boys and I went to Sheridan for Lane's 1st birthday party. We picked up the cake and proceeded to drive through a small blizzard from Fayetteville to Alma, from there on it was a beautiful drive. The party was a blast. Lane loved the cake. It took a few minutes for him to figure out that it was okay to eat it but once he got the hang of it he dug in. He even put his face down into it, so funny. His other Aunt Mandy got a great photo of the face plant. He got so much stuff, it looked more like Christmas than a birthday party. Lane was not very interested in the presents, he kept crawling away, so Drake and Mason opened most of the presents. We left after the cookout and headed back to Pea Ridge. The weather was not too bad just a little rain and snow on the grassy areas.

Sunday, we had a great message at church and then during out Sunday School Class we did out outflow. This is when we take time to help others and show God's love through our actions. Ross and I went with some of our friends and delivered about a month's worth of grocery's and a check to help out in there time of need. This really is an amazing story of how we as Christians can show God's love for others. Adrianna has two children that attended (they are in school now) the preschool that Becky runs in Pea Ridge, Drake attended there a couple years ago. She had a brain aneurysm a few weeks ago, just before this her husband was laid off from his job. She survived the aneurysm and is at home now. She has almost completely recovered. She still stutters a little and is having problems with one of her eyes. She needs to see the neurologist in Little Rock more often than she is financially able (gas, hotel, etc.) so we have set up a fund to help with these expenses as well. Yesterday when we took the food over they were overwhelmed by what almost total strangers had done to help them. She said that they wanted to come to church with us and know this love that we had extended to her and her family. God really is awesome!!

After church, we had lunch with John and Becky and their son, Cole, he is Drake's best friend. Cole came home from church with us and played for the afternoon. Then we had the David's over for dinner. What a terrific day!

*This is a correction to an earlier entry regarding my gym partner, Heather. We are not going easy because of her. We did reps of 10 instead of 15 but not because she is pregnant!! Okay Heather are you happy now. Back to 15 tonight and 30 on the devil treadmill!!*

Drake and Mason last fall













Silly boys