Monster Trucks

Hayden is ready with his earplugs!

Hayden and Jeremy love the big trucks!

Brian, Hayden, Scott, and Jeremy went to the Monster Truck Show at Alltel Arena. Hayden absolutely loved it!!!! Brian had gotten them pit passes to go down and see the trucks up close but the line to get in was so long they weren't able to do it. They had a good time and sat right where the trucks pulled out. Hayden said, "This is awesome!" It was good that they got to have some "boy" time together. Hailey, Hannah, Kristen, and I decided to go eat US Pizza and then come back to our house. The girls played while Kristen and I visited and watched Miss America. Hailey ended up having a sleepover with them while Jeremy stayed with us. The boys had a great time and were so good. They just played in Hayden's room right up until bedtime and then crashed.

Jeremy's Birthday Party

Ready for a dip!
No life vest...yeah!!!!!
Cheese!
The three princesses!
Bathing Beauties!!!

We had a big day today. First Hailey had a basketball game. Then we went to a hotel in town for Jeremy's B-Day Swim Party and then the guys would be going to the Monster Truck Show. Jeremy got lots of cool stuff from everyone and the kids were so excited to get to go swimming. Happy Birthday, Jeremy! We love you!!!!

Mystery Reader Day!

At Hailey's school, every Friday, a "myster reader" comes to read a book to the class in the afternoon. At the beginning of school, we signed up for dates for this. Today, Mimi was the mystery reader. Hailey had no idea! She was very excited. It sounds like they really enjoyed the book; and Mimi even made it more exciting by letting the child who could answer a question about the book, at the end, keep the book! Thanks so much, Mimi! I know she loved having you there!

For those of you who do not live close, we have had bad weather in some parts of our state. Brian made his way back home from LR early because of the freezing rain and sleet. He said it took him 45 minutes just to get across the river bridge! Luckily, we haven't had too much here, but we are going to pretend that we did and go to the store with the rest of the state and stock up on good food! :)

We have a big weekend planned so check back for more fun things to come! Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend!

Exciting News!

Well, we just found out that Hailey has her 1st jump rope performance next week! They have been practicing really hard on their routine but we haven't been able to watch so I cannot wait to see what they can all do. Several of you have asked when they would be. So far this is the only one we know of but their will be more so I will post them as we are notified. Next week will be Tuesday night the 29th at around 7:15 at the high school 's new basketball arena. We are assuming it will be either between girls and boys games or at half time. I do know their is an admittance charge for the game. Our note says our jumpers are free and parents are admitted at student prices....how many parents can we claim?! :)

Hailey's New Room

I just remembered that I never did post pictures from when I re-decorated Hailey's room awhile back. So I thought I would go ahead and do it! My mom made the pillow shams (black and white ones), bedskirt, canopy, and window treatment. She is awesome! Thanks Mimi!!!! You can't really tell, but the bedskirt is black with white polka dots and the sheets are white with black polka dots. One wall has big black dots, too. Here are some pics....

Biggest Loser Update

Today was weigh-in day again! I was a little worried but I did better than I thought. I lost another 2 1/4 lbs!!! Yeah!!! That brings my total weight loss to 7 1/4 lbs in three weeks!!! So far, so good but we still have a ways to go! Tonight is my "night off" so I am pondering what I want to eat :)! I haven't had a coke since Saturday night and that wasn't a very big one so I imagine I will be treating myself to some carbonation!!! I am so sore because several of us from work stayed and exercised to one of the Biggest Loser DVD's. Although we thought we weren't going to get that much of a workout, we most definitely did. I cannot hardly bend down today! It was fun and different from being on the treadmill!

Brian is home, he had to spend the night in Fayetteville last night for work so the kids are glad to see him back. Last night after BB practice, we watched American Idol and they talked me into letting them sleep with me. Boy, was that not a very good night sleep! I had to sleep in the middle so they could both be by Momma. For those of you who do not know, my kids move all over the bed (especially Hailey) and they both talk and yell out in their sleep. Hayden punched my twice in the gut and then was yelling something about his webkins to Hailey, Jeremy, and Hannah! :) Too funny! Hailey was all over the place, too. But it was nice to have them close to snuggle with.

Oh, by the way, several of you have been asking for ideas for Hailey for her birthday. I decided to just post her "wish list" so maybe that would be easier. Here are some things she has mentioned....
Webkinz (of course, but don't tell Brian-he is so sick of them!). She has mentioned a duck, penguin, reindeer, yorkie dog, and the "lil" kinz tiger (it is just smaller). She already has a black lab, choc lab, chiuahua ?, cheeky monkey, polar bear, terrier, panda bear, pink poodle, bull dog, leopard, rabbit, yellow lab, and the frog (the one that is "hairy").
A new boy barbie doll
Nintendo DS Lite video games
A black shag-like rug from Target for her room she has been wanting
My e-pet
Karaoke CD's (she only has the high school musical 2 CD)
More stuff to play school with
Clothes or Gift Cards for clothes for spring -she says her favorite stores are Justice, Limited Too, and Target. I will say that she is very picky about the way her clothes feel and is very hard to fit. I do not buy her clothes unless I have her there to try them on.
Anyway, hope this helps everyone! I just thought it would be easier for her to give me a list and put it on here.

MLK Day

Mimi, Hailey, and Hayden



Hailey and Hayden in front of the sinking ship.

The kids were out of school for MLK day so (since I forgot about it) I decided to take the day off with them. Mimi joined us and we headed down for a great lunch at one of our favorites, Carino's! Next, we tried out a play center that we had never been to before.
We went to Jump Zone and it was pretty cool. They have 7 big huge inflatables...some are half as big as our house! They go in and you don't see them for awhile until they make their way out through the maze. They had a Mr. Incredibles one, a sinking ship, a basketball game one, a carousel, a T-Rex and more. They got a good workout! Mimi and I followed them around for awhile taking pictures but they were flying from one to another so we gave up and sat down to visit! We had a good time...thanks for going with us, Mimi!

The HUGE T-Rex

Wheee!

Doesn't this look like fun?

Too Cute!

Our Lazy Saturday

Hayden and Hailey hard at work!



This past Saturday Brian was at deer camping clearing his "lanes" all day. It was too cold to do anything around here so we just stayed home and it was nice. I got the kids easels and paints out and brought them into the kitchen. They were so excited to do artwork. Hailey's friend Megan came over to join us and they made several "masterpieces". Here is a sample:


Hayden's "penguin"

Hailey's outdoor scene.

Upward Basketball Game

Go Lady Leopards!!!!

Sorry this is so late, but I wasn't able to get any good video on Hailey at her game. We were at a court that you have to sit up above them and look down on them so it was hard to video. She did good but didn't get to steal as much because she kept her girl from ever even getting the ball. Brian finally told her to let her girl get the ball and then steal it from her, which she did! She has another game Saturday and we will be at eye level with her so maybe I can keep up with her better! They did not get to have their planned sleepovers as little Madison has been very sick. Hailey was crushed so to make things "better" we decided we would go bowling after the game. She has been begging us for some time to go so we headed out for some late night bowling. We had alot of fun and they have been asking to go back ever since. Here are a few pics I took with my phone so not very good quality, but you'll get the point!

Biggest Loser Update

Well, I didn't do as well this week...actually I was just happy I hadn't gained any! I lost another 1 1/4 lbs. I think that brings my total to around 5 lbs. It just seems that the older you get, the harder it is to take it off! I am doing well with my exercising and have DRASTICALLY cut back on cokes. I treat myself to one about every 3 days or so. It hasn't been too bad...just breaking habits. I even altered a favorite recipe tonight and could not even tell the difference (and so far, neither has Brian :) shhh!) I have lost almost 2 inches around my waist though which is my problem area so I am happy about that! We are getting ready for another basketball game tomorrow night. She also has her team pictures. She then gets to go have a sleepover with her cousin Hannah and we will take their cousin Jeremy for a sleepover! Hayden is very excited as this will be his first buddy to sleepover! I will try to post some pics from the game and maybe another video, I hope I am not boring everyone with more of the same stuff....then again, it's my sweeties and my blog so I have to show them off...that IS the point right? Heehee. Hailey got to Wal-Mart with her teacher yesterday. She got an E pet and a bag of Doritos! She was thrilled. Afterwards we went to eat at US Pizza and it was WONDERFUL! I decided on weigh in days I would eat something I really wanted and take the day of off exercising....because I would have a whole week to work it off! Well, I better quit procrastinating and get on the dreaded treadmill.

Upward BB Game

Early Saturday morning Hailey had her first BB game. She did awesome. She made 5 baskets!!!! She is just so darn cute when she is on defense. She knows exactly what to do. She guards her girl like a hawk and the poor little girl doesn't get to keep the ball very long before Hailey has snatched it away and is already down under the goal! She definitely did not get her basketball skills from me! I will post a cute video of her stealing the ball. Watch how she times it perfectly and actually goes under the girls arm like limbo to steal and go down to shoot...HILARIOUS!!! I cannot wait for her next game...it is so fun to watch.

Hailey got to do the coin toss and she picked tails (home)!

Hailey and her buddy Hollis cheering as the other team is announced.

This is another teammate. Her name is Blair. The ironic thing is that her mom and I were really good friends in elementary school before her mom (Johnna) moved off. We are going to compare the pictures of us as little girls to their picture. If I find one I will try to scan it to put on the blog but my scanner has not been working right lately.

Hailey's Accomplishments

Well, Hailey came home from school today all excited. First, she reached 206% of her A.R. reading goal. She was the only one in her class to get over 200%. Her reward is that her teacher will take her to Wal-Mart next week and let her pick out a prize. She is pretty fired up! She also got lots of "prize cards" including a free bowling pass for honor roll award, a super star student card good for a free pizza buffet at CiCi's, and a free personal pizza at Papa John's if she reads 5 books. She also got her report card. She did very well, too. She got all A's and 2 high B's. Her computer reading score was at 3rd grade level and her math computer grade was about her current grade now. We are very proud of her....Way to go Hailey!!!! We are getting ready for her first basketball game in the morning. It should be fun...she can't wait. I will try to get a quick video clip of her to put on here so you guys far away can see her. Go Lady Leopards!!!!

Biggest Loser Club

Well, I weighed in today because I will not be at work tomorrow...I have a conference to go to. I did OK. Not as good as I had hoped. I lost 3 1/4 lbs. I am going to weigh again on Thursday just to check since I am shorting myself 1 day of exercise from everyone else. My goal was 5 # for the first week. Oh well. I guess I will stick with it a little longer since I did loose some.

The Weekend

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! We laid low on Friday night and ate Subway :) and rented a movie. I am still plugging along on the diet. It is so hard though. Especially going out to eat. I have really tried this week and exercised like crazy so I will be very disappointed if I don't see some numbers drop on the scale. We weigh in on Wednesday so keep your fingers crossed. I'm liable to quit the whole thing if I haven't lost! :)

We got up early Saturday morning to make Hailey's first basketball practice. She has a really nice coach and she did GREAT!!!! She is going to be a little athlete. She loves all sports...Hayden on the other hand says he only wants to play soccer(Uggh!!!). Brian will have to work on that one! Anyway, they got their schedules and I will post it for anyone who is going to try to make it to a game.

Lady Leopards

Sat. Jan 12 9:00am FCN#1

Fri. Jan 18 6:00pm FBC#1

Sat. Jan 26 12:00pm FCN#1

Sat. Feb 2 11:00am FCN#2

Fri. Feb 8 8:00pm FBC#2

Sat. Feb 16 1:00pm FCN#2

Sat. Feb 23 9:00am FBC#2

Fri. Feb 29 6:00pm FCN#1

I went to dinner with my "Mexico girls" on Saturday night. We met up at Bonefish again and it was sooooo good. I will post some pictures. We enjoyed visiting and planning our trip in March. We now all have our tickets booked so we are ready to go!

Heather, Gretchen, Jenifer, Me, and Traci

Me and Traci

Heather, Gretchen, and Jenifer

Check out the pictures of the kids getting ready to wash Brian's truck. They are ready with their rubber boots. The weather here has been crazy. It is January and the temperature has been 75 degrees!!! We went on a bike ride at the bike trail Sunday afternoon. The weather was awesome. We did over 3 miles. Hailey did awesome climbing those big hills on her bike with me. Brian and Hayden waited at the creek and threw rocks in while we did the hills. A lady even stopped me to compliment Hailey on how she was able to get up that big hill without stopping. I thought I was going to have to stop!!! How embarassing would that be...my seven year old make it and me not!? I made it though and came home and got on the treadmill . Speaking of, I better get off here so I can get on the *!#$ thing! Just kidding. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year!!! We did! We ended up going out to eat at Colton's and then heading to the Polk's new house. They have one son who is in Hailey's class and they have known each other since preschool; and another son who is Hayden's age and they have been in the same preschool class for 2/3 of the past years at their school. Plus they have another son who is about 15 months old. We enjoyed visiting with them and two other families that were there. They had fireworks for the kids to watch and sparkling grape juice and BLOWERS!!!!! We had lots of fun and didn't leave until after midnight!!!! We were all pretty tired. We ended up sleeping in till around 10:00. We got up and I fixed Hayden his favorite French quarter donuts (beignets) with lots of sugar, of course!!! He has been asking for them for awhile. He asked if I would make them again tomorrow. :) We all just had a lazy day today. We stayed in our pj's all day. Brian and I watched the Razorbacks end on a sour note until I dozed off for a nap! We finally all got dressed and headed to Mazzio's for some pizza for dinner. I had to get one bad meal in before I start my diet tomorrow!!! Uggghhh. We are starting a Biggest Loser Club at work tomorrow. It should be pretty fun. You have an entry fee and we'll weigh in each week. After 12 weeks, the one who has lost the greatest percentage of weight wins the pot!!!! I have got to do something!!!!! Hopefully this will motivate me! Wishing you all a great new 2008!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!