Our Cammo Girl

I had to get Brian's picture taken for Hayden's school that starts next week. My camera is not very good so I don't ever take pictures of Brian and I. Hayden needed some pics of family so I had to get one of him this morning so everyone would know who "my baby daddy" was :)

Here is Hailey with one of her new outfits for school. She told me this morning that she would be wearing it when she goes hunting with her daddy. And she means it! She is definitely not my child! :)

Our Weekend-August 24th-26th

OK so I didn't do so hot getting pictures EVERY day last week. Sorry about that but seems like each day we were rushing more and more. To catch you up to speed. .... Brian went to Shreveport for work on Thursday and was back Friday around 6:00. We ate dinner and I headed to Russellville to sit with my grandma while my aunt and uncle went out of town. I enjoyed getting to spend some extra time with her even though she doesn't talk as much as she used to. I hope she enjoyed it, too. I think she did. I left there around 9:00 Saturday night to come home. The kids and Brian were STILL up watchin Pirates of the Caribbean! Of course, guess who had to sleep with me that night....Hailey. Anyway, we got up this morning and went to church. Later we went to Wal-Mart to buy me a bicycle so now we all have one. We packed up once it got cooler and went to McDonald's and then off to the bike trail. We have a nice trail here that is 1 1/2 miles deep so if you do the whole trail down and back you've done 3 miles. (and we all did!). It's shady and runs along a creek. You can always see lots of squirrels and stuff. So we went on this family bike ride which was alot of fun and good excercise. Hayden was a hoot. He has one of those old fashioned horns that you squeeze the bulb. Everytime we would come up to someone he would start steering with one hand and then wave and honk at them. All the passerby's were dying laughing. It was pretty cute. Oh, yeah, and he would start singing (at the top of his lungs) but his music would go from vacation bible school songs to rap :). Hailey enjoyed it, too. Her and Brian kept going off the trail to ramp and go up big dirt piles. She is a little daredevil. I don't know who had more fun, Brian or her! We had a good time and they are already asking to go back tomorrow night. Hey, good cheap fun, right? And maybe I can loose some lbs. for my upcoming girls trip in March! I will try to get some new pictures posted in the next day or so. Hayden just got a haircut and wants everyone to know about it. He has orientation for his school this week and then starts next Monday, so we will be busy. Have a good week!

Day #3

Well, she seemed a bit more excited and willing to talk about her day today. They got two new students and got to play a cool game in P.E. Hayden went to Mrs. Katie's today and was so excited to show me his homework folder (which he picked out and is purple :) ) But he is pretty proud of it. She does such neat things with them. They are reviewing their shapes and how to write their names, etc. He will have "homework" to bring home on Friday and bring back on Monday. He thinks that is super cool! Well, here are a few pics of Hailey.

Hailey's 2nd Day of School

Well, here are some pictures of Hailey from her 2nd day of school. She was a bit cranky yesterday I guess just hard getting back into the routine and going to bed earlier/getting up earlier. She was excited about getting a new math workbook and thought it looked easy so that is encouraging! Hayden and I headed for NLR to join the ladies at Mimi's work to celebrate Peggy's birthday at Benihana's. It was sooo good. Hayden enjoyed it too. Thanks for letting us join you guys and Happy Birthday again Peggy! Next, we headed up to Mimi's work to see her new/old building :)! Hayden made out like a bandit with all the snacks he got. He especially loved the "snack-a-chine"! :) Well, got to go round up the little 1's to get ready for day #3. I will try to take pictures tomorrow too.

*****************

Here is the big 2nd grader not quite woke up from her beauty rest yet. She ended up ditching the headband I later discovered. This picture doesn't do it justice, but this little shirt is sooo cute.

Ready for day #2!

Hailey's First Day of School

Hailey sitting at her desk with all of her "stuff".

Hailey's First Day of School

Hey everyone! Well, today was the big day! Hailey started 2nd grade. I cannot believe it. It is very quiet around the house today without her here. Hayden has played cars & play-doh (he likes to make them drive through the play-doh and make marks and get stuck) all morning while I have actually gotten to straighten up my house and fold some major laundry. Hayden is taking his first nap since probably school ended so I thought I would get some pictures on here. I have still had trouble posting my pictures and narratives so that is why the date's above don't necessarily reflect the timing in the post. I have to save them and publish later when it is working properly. So hope it is not too hard to keep up. These pictures are from this morning before we left for school and at school. Hailey was very excited but a little scared (as she says with a big smile on her face). It was kind of rushed at school this morning so I think that helped. Hayden and I went up and ate lunch with her today. She had already had P.E. which she LOVES so I got to hear all about that. This should be a good year-she has a great teacher and lots of friends in her class. Enjoy the pictures and I will try and post one each day with her new school clothes on. She is just growing up so fast!!!!

High School Musical Birthday Party

The fashionista. Here Hailey is dying because she is afraid someone will actually see her getting her picture made and she is embarassed. She was constantly looking around to make sure no one was looking. She will definitely have to get over that! :) She is on her way to a friends birthday party that was themed High School Musical. They had to dress like movie stars. Who's pretending? :)
The quickest shot I could take before she ran to the car.

High School Musical Party

Sorry these pictures are out of order but I haven't quite figured out how to get them where I want them within the post. These are pictures from Hailey's party and of course, Hayden requested that I take his picture in the pose of his choice. He had been sweeping the floors for me as he asks me to tell him how good he is doing!:)

Week of August 13th

Now to update everyone from this past week. We have had a good week. Hailey got her teacher assignment last Friday and it is who she has been praying to get the whole summer. A very nice lady who has been teaching for 20+ years that goes to our church. Her grandchildren are our kids age. She is very excited and got to go to 2nd grade orientation on Wednesday night. She has ALOT of kids in her class from last year and in kindegarten so she is pretty fired up. It went well and she says she is ready for school. She has all of her clothes and now all of her school supplies. I am just not ready to have to start waking them up that early again. They are sleepers!!! Hailey lost another bottom "side" tooth on Wednesday at the babysitter. Thanks Katie for helping me out and pulling that sucker so I didn't have to!!!! The tooth fairy brought her another dollar. I've never seen someone so excited to pull her teeth! I'm sure she is already started working on another! She got invited to a birthday party of a little girl from last year's and this coming year's class. It was a High School Musical party. For those of you not "in the know" High School Musical is a disney channel movie and tonight was the sequel. It is a VERY big deal to girls this age. It has been compared to a modern day Grease. So she had to dress up like a movie star. She was too cute and they had a red carpet laid out for them to walk into the house and all. They have two birthday parties from church friends to go to tomorrow so we will be fairly busy. Nothing much new with Brian or I. He has been enjoying his new job and is usually out of town one night a week but it is not bad. We stay busy and then are very glad to see him the next day! My work will be slow the next week or so because of our kids going to kindegarten and filling up those classrooms again so I plan on taking advantage and doing some much needed DEEP cleaning--YUCK!!! We're pretty boring....I will post more soon.

Magic Springs

Sorry for the late post but I have had trouble posting lately. This is the third time I have tried to post since last weekend. Seems like everytime I try I can get two pictures and then it locks up. So, I will try to catch everyone up to date on what we've been up to. Last weekend, as you can see from the pictures, we went to Magic Springs. It was a nightmare! First of all it was 110 degrees. Second of all there were so many people there that you could not even hardly get in the water. I got motion sickness on the first "kiddee" ride and with the heat thought I would die! Went to get in the wave pool to "cool off" and it is literally tube to tube or shoulder to shoulder. You pretty much had to stand there and just bend down in the water to get wet. It was awful. Then our kids were not tall enough to go down any of the tube slides!!! We were not very happy after spending $160 to ride rides and driving down there. We complained and they are supposed to be calling us but no call yet. The lines were so long. We spent 45 minutes in line for a 30 second ride. MISERABLE!!!! Hayden ended up with swimmer's ear that night and we capped it off with a trip to Mid America Museum which was alright. Hailey thought it was better than Magic Springs if that tells you anything about the water park because you know how much of a fish she is. Anyway, not the best trip but it was fun just going away for the night together as a family.

Hayden getting tickled at himself because he's acting silly. Hailey just thought he was crazy.
Hailey and Hayden after a long hot day at Magic Springs.

Worn Out From A Hot Day at Magic Springs

Hailey's Lost Another Tooth!

Well, Hailey was pretty excited this morning. She hit her self in the mouth with an inflatable Pirates of the Caribean sword. She came running in to me with blood all over her mouth excited because her tooth was bent halfway out her mouth. She got a napkin and I heard a click and saw a happy little girl. She pulled her own tooth! Yea Momma didn't have to do it this time. I still got the willy's but she was so proud of it. We had to call Daddy right away and go show all the neighbors tonight. We find out tomorrow about class lists...her teacher and classmates. We hope she gets some of her friends in her class. Then we are off this weekend for Hot Springs. We will do Magic Springs and Mid America Museum. I'll post some pictures once we get back.

Here is that little bitty shiny tooth. She was so excited to have pulled it herself. It surprised her and all you saw was a bloody smile! :)
Here is her hole in her smile. We are still trying to get used to these big teeth in her mouth. She cannot wait for the tooth fairy to come. I wonder how much she will bring this time!

Hailey Pulled Tooth #5!

Here is Hailey the night before working on that tooth. She wiggled it and wiggled it. They were all exhausted. The kids had a big day at the water park and Frosty had been outside all afternoon!

Wild River Country

Today I took the kids with our church group to Wild River Country. We had a great time and are worn out! We were there from 1:00 to 7:00. We definitely got our moneys worth!!! I thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion and heat stroke from carrying the mattress-I mean-FOUR PERSON RAFT up the winding stairs to go down a ride. I know it's bad when Hailey initially tried to help (for about two steps) and said we should have Daddy here!:) I probably will have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. After that, we only used single or TRIPLE tubes. To tell you how beaten up I got, you mom friends will appreciate this.....you know its bad when you are struggling to hold one child who is not so great at swimming in the wave pool as the waves are beating you to death so you can be out far enough for the good swimmer to actually enjoy the waves, only to look down at the end of it all and notice the flimsy little cup liner in your suit top is now folded several times inside the lining!!!! How does THAT happen. I think I deserve the mom of the year award! :) Anyway, we had a great time together and they were real sweet. Oh yeah, to my high school friends, guess who I saw out there? John J. and his little boy! Talk about blast from the past! Well, I got some good pics of the kids.
Enjoy!

Nana's house

We went to Nana's (Brian's mom;s) for dinner on Sunday afternoon and to swim at the neighbors house. Hailey's best friend, Megan got to go with us. They had a good time. They always get to play at Nana's vanity with all the makeup and perfume. They came out looking very....pretty!! :) I could start smelling them halfway down the hallway with all the perfume. But they had fun and Nana doesn't mind. We ate and Brian chased them in the pool. Then they had ice cream cones before we left. Brian also bought a new bike while we were down there so he can ride with the kids. We watched him try it out, and Nana got on her bike that has been in the garage for who knows how long and we got some pics of her too. I even tried it out which was pretty funny because I haven't been on a bike in probably 20+ years. We are going to buy me one next so we can all go on family rides together. I wish I would have had a video camera. We were quite the entertainment for the kids.

Beauty Shop

Hayden's Reward

Today we spent the day at the pool. I got cooked even though I slathered (is that a word?) on the sunscreen. Hailey did flips off the diving board and was pretty excited about that. She is really a good swimmer. She is having a sleepover with her best friend tonight, so the three of us went to eat at Firehouse. That is Hayden's new favorite place to eat. Then he got to go pick out a prize at the dollar store. He picked out some very cheaply made cars-a pack of eight for a dollar. So, you know they won't last long. Here is a picture of him playing with them. I started a chart/reward system for good manners/behavior. It is mainly for Hailey but of course they are both working toward a goal. They each have their own chart which is divided in half. One side is for stickers with good manners/behavior and the other side is for not being nice or not listening. They get a prize when they get 10 good stickers. Hayden met his goal tonight. He is so funny. He says "OK ma'am" for any little thing that doesn't even require a response like that. He just wants to make sure he is getting those stickers. We had to make a new rule that you don't ALWAYS get a sticker EVERYTIME you use your good manners or that is all we would be doing with him. Then we had to make a new rule that so many "not nice" stickers can take away the "nice" stickers. They have enjoyed it, hopefully, it will sink in soon and stick with the oldest!!

Last Day of Camp

Well, today was the last day of camp. I think she is pretty worn out!! And sunburned!!! She has had a great time and the camp counselors seemed great, too! Hayden and my mom and I went up for family day today and had lunch and swam. Brian is out of town until tomorrow, so Mimi was more than willing to go with us!!:) We had hot dogs and fixins' and then went to the pool for a swim. Hayden loved it too and has been asking all week when he can go to church camp. Hailey thinks she's ready to stay all night :). The place was really nice. Nothing like the church camps I remember with no AC or just a window unit! Well, we're headed to the pharmacy to get ear drops for swimmers ear....our gift from camp. Then we'll head out to Mimi's for some good ole chicken n' dumplins so Momma doesn't have to cook while Daddy's away:)!!!!

Ready to Ride the Bus!

Hailey started church camp on Monday and absolutely LOVES it!!! It is pretty neat. They leave the church at 8:00 and ride the bus to camp and return at 4:00. When she gets older she will be able to stay all night. Each day they swim and have bible study along with either learning to kayak, archery, or target practice with a B.B. gun. The first day they climbed a mountain to a waterfall and heard a story about an indian helping a couple who fell off the cliff. The man lost his memory except for remembering their initials which they found on a tree by the waterfall. They thought that was pretty cool! We get to go up on Thursday for family day and have lunch and swim with them.

First Day of Church Camp

Hayden Bicyclin'

Hailey's Curls- Remember Sponge Rollers?

Our Family

Hey everyone!!! I am testing out this blog I have just created to keep everyone updated on what we have been up to and pictures of the kids. As everyone knows, my camera is not the greatest so this will be an experiment to see if I can keep it updated. We'll see!!! I will try to post pictures and updates as often as possible. Wish me luck and let me know your feedback. Oh yeah, one other thing.... I was hesitant about doing this in the first place due to safety/security with posting information on the computer. So, please ask us first if you want to give our blog address to someone else. It is supposed to be private and only viewed by who you give the address to. Most likely it will be fine, but you just worry about people you don't know getting information on your kids and stuff.
Thanks,
Shannon