Daytrip to Branson!

This morning I woke up with a desire to head to Branson for the day. I know. Kinda crazy, especially on my own with the boys (Jim was playing in a golf tournament) but I have been wanting to go up there and take Christian to a couple of the sites before school started.
So at 9am I decided we were going and at 10am, we were pulling out of the driveway!

Both boys did great on the way there...Andrew slept most of the way or jabbered. Christian listened to his headphones. Though he did get car sick from the curvy roads, we had to pull over and take his shirt off. It wasn't too bad. So when we arrived in Branson, I headed to Tanger Outlets first. We strolled into Gymboree with Christian shirtless. ;) He said, "I can't go anywhere until I have a shirt!" (you see, going to Branson on a whim...I forgot extra clothes for Christian--though I had PLENTY of extra onesies for Andrew). After Christian got his shirt ($4.99 off the sale rack). We sat outside at a table with an umbrella and enjoyed our lunch "al fresca". I had a couple Lunchables in the fridge and threw those in the car. That way we did not have to fight the crowds at the one and ONLY place to eat at that outlet mall..A&W Rootbeer and burgers...saving time and money. Yes, I am a smart one. ;) It was so nice and relaxing watching all the people while we took our time. Andrew drank his bottle and we enjoyed some shopping. Then we headed to the Titanic exhibit!

Christian outside the Titanic exhibit. They would not allow cameras inside.

Christian has really been into boats recently and I thought he would enjoy getting to walk through the big boat exhibit! He was SO excited when we got there! Though it had lots of artifacts and interesting information displayed about the ship and a five year old could care less, he LOVED going into the captains area and "steering" the boat with the big wooden steering wheel. It had the grand staircase and some other fun stuff Christian really liked too. Andrew slept through the whole thing in the stroller.

After that, we went to the Ripley's Believe or Not museum.


Christian on some crazy contraption in the museum

Personally, I thought the museum was lame. Christian really only enjoyed a few things in it, but I am glad we went so we know what it is all about...and to not waste our time there again. ;)
After that, we called it a day and headed home.

Christian and his souvenir boat from the Titanic. He wanted a "soft and squishy boat to snuggle with". Too cute. Do you see those tired eyes?!
What a fun day!

Kids Say the Darndest Things....

I live with a 5 year old that starts talking as soon as he wakes up and never stops! :)
And to think, he did not say but three words for the first two years of his life! Christian is at the stage in life where he wants to figure out how EVERYTHING works, why certain things happen, etc. Some questions are silly but some are really deep and make you think.
Here are just a few questions he has asked me recently...

"Do firefighters get dirty?"

"Are people important?"

"Why did God make bugs that sting?"

"Why do babies have to fuss?"

"Where does the moon go when the sun comes up?"

"What makes rain wet?"

"Mom, why does your face get broken out?" (I wish I knew that one!)

But the most recent deep question was asked of me yesterday while we sat and ate lunch.
Christian asked "When you go to heaven to be with God, is it for a long time?"
Hhhhhmmmm, pretty deep question for a five year old. So I told him, "When you die and go to heaven to be with God and all the angels, it is a place that you will be forever and that's a wonderful thing." I could see the "wheels turning" as he thought about that one. He then asked, "Is that where Grandad is?" Jim's Grandad passed away recently when Andrew was just a week old. I told him, "Yes, Grandad is in heaven and when we die we will go to heaven too because we love God and have His love in our hearts, and we will get to see Grandad again."
He sat and thought for a moment then replied, "I would love to go to heaven with you mom, and I will take you to go see Grandad". I was holding back tears at this point and all of this happened on what would have been Grandad's birthday yesterday.

All American Baby!

Look at my all American boy! His 3 month old picture courtesy of Legacy House photography!

Mt. Magazine!

This past weekend, we stayed in Van Buren again. Christian took his first swim lessons and did great! I was so proud of him! Saturday night, I went out with friends. Sunday after Christian's swim lesson, we went on a long a scenic drive to Mt. Magazine.

views from Mt. Magazine lodge


GoGo, Pops and Jim enjoying the view

A little tidbit of information on Mt. Magazine.... At 2,753-feet, Mount Magazine is Arkansas's highest mountain, rising dramatically above the broad valleys of the Petit Jean River to the south and the Arkansas River to its north. Graced with timeless natural beauty, this plateau-a remnant of an ancient sea floor-runs east-west stretching six miles long and up to a mile across. It is a popular place for hiking, hand gliding, horseback riding and camping.

The lodge had lots of rocking chairs where you could sit and enjoy the views!

A beautiful water feature at the entrance to the lodge.

The lounge with a huge rock fireplace

We had dinner at the Mt. Magazine Lodge and it was really nice and relaxing.


Andrew did great for the whole trip and through dinner! After dinner, we got in the car and drove home and the boys slept the entire way! Yea!

July Girls Night Out!

Saturday night, I went out with my gal pals to celebrate Kellie's birthday! 17th Floor, a band we used to go see when we were in college, was playing at the Rib Room in Fort Smith. It was a lot of fun but WAY too hot! We were melting by the end of the night....literally! Luckily, we took lots of pictures early in the evening, before all the heat and dancing made us look like we had jumped in a lake! But we still had a blast!

17th Floor!


Happy Birthday Kellie!

A Random Quiz about me...

I received various quizzes from people via e-mail and Facebook, so I thought I would fill one out and post it on the blog. Here ya go....

1. What time did you get up this morning? which time...1:30 or 2:30 or 6:15am???

2. How do you like your steak? medium with a pink center

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Hangover, one of the funniest movies ever!

4. What is your favorite TV show? right now-So You Think You Can Dance, The Office, The Closer, How I Met Your Mother...past shows-Sex and the City, Nip/Tuck, Friends

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Honestly, I like it right here in Northwest Arkansas, but it would be nice to have a summer home in Savannah, GA or on the beach in Florida somewhere--and maybe a winter cabin in Colorado for skiing.

6. What did you have for breakfast? so far...my morning coffee

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian

8. What foods do you dislike? oysters, mushrooms, tomatoes, chicken livers--well, any livers really.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Bordinos, Rolandos, at my friend Susan's house (she is a chef) and makes the best food!

10. Favorite dressing? Olive Garden's Italian dressing, MarketPlace's poppyseed on their chicken berry salad, ranch, or rasberry vinaigrette

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? A Mazda CX-9 and I love it!

12. What are your favorite clothes? Lately, I have been wearing lots of dresses-cotton, flowing summer dresses, so comfy. But I also love to wear my Seven jeans with a cute top and heels.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? I would go back to Venice, and I also want to go to Amsterdam. Looking forward to going to Disneyland or Washington DC when the boys are older.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full!

15. Where would you want to retire? I already live in a retirement village-HA!

16. Favorite time of day? morning-when I have the most energy!

17. Where were you born? Houston, Texas

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? college football...GO HOGS!

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? ??

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? not sure

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Everyone

22. Bird watcher? if I look out my window and see a bird, I will watch it. But I would not call myself a bird watcher.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning

24. Do you have any pets? an old and lazy cat named Stewie. (named after the baby on Family Guy)

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? not NEW news...I had a baby a few months ago and Christian is starting kindergarten in just a few weeks.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? a banker. Seriously. Me and my friend Meg would play drive thru bank at my dining room window when we were little. I like money. ha!

27. What is your best childhood memory? spending time with my grandma, whether it was fishing trips, picking vegetables in the garden or watching her cook. I loved being with her!

28. Are you a cat or dog person? at this point...I am so over pets.

29. Are you married? yes to the most wonderful husband in the world!

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes!

31. Been in a car accident? a few

32. Any pet peeves? slow drivers in the left lane, people who don't watch where they are going when pushing their shopping cart and whiners.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? lots of meat please.

34. Favorite Flower? mums, blue dutch iris, tulips, roses

35. Favorite ice cream? chocolate chip cookie dough

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chickfila or Wendys

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? passed with flying colors the first time!

38. From whom did you get your last email? Julie Woody

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Dillards...fo sho!

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? took my boys on a walk last night...thought the weather was nice.

41. Like your job? I am loving being a stay at home mom again. Andrew is the sweetest little baby and I am enjoying my last days with Christian before he starts school.

42. Broccoli? steamed, please

43. What was your favorite vacation? When Jim and I went to Europe for a couple weeks. Amazing.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? trying to remember the last time I went out to dinner...ha! Having a new baby restricts that activity for awhile.

45. What are you listening to right now? silence and it is music to my ears. ;)

46. What is your favorite color? red and blue

47. How many tattoos do you have? none-OUCH!

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? no one really

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 7:57am

50. Coffee Drinker? you betcha!

Bath time!

Andrew REALLY loves his bath time!

What a beautiful baby boy!

And so happy!

VB weekend!

What a fun weekend we had in Van Buren! We drove down Friday so Jim could play in his ASGA Golf Tournament at Eagle Crest this weekend. His practice round was Friday and he played Saturday and Sunday. While golf kept Jim busy, Christian and I went swimming a lot at Pops and GoGos during Andrew's naptimes.

Christian was brave enough to float down to the deep end of the pool, and he practiced his swimming with me too!

After golfing, Jim cooled off in the pool too!

Christian enjoyed shooting his dad with his new water gun!

The weather was unseasonably cool and comfortable in the mornings, so I feed Andrew on the patio enjoying the beautiful weather.

On Sunday, we ate lunch and then went outside to the gazebo and had popcicles.

We put Andrew in his Bumbo chair and used him as a centerpiece. :)

GoGo playing with Andrew

We had a great time visiting with friends too!

Walter and Deborah came over to see Andrew for the first time!

Walter seemed a bit scared of holding a baby...can you tell? ;)

Andrew may have been as scared as Walter too!

We also went over to Dawn and Josh's house that they recently built. It is a beautiful house! Thanks Dawn for letting us come over and visit!

Thanks Pops and GoGo for a great weekend!

Rolling Over!

Andrew is now rolling over both ways! He started rolling from tummy to back at 7 1/2 weeks. Tuesday, when he was 3 months and one day old, he rolled back to tummy! Now almost every time you put him on his back, he will try to roll over! He is so strong! Below is a video on him the first day he rolled over! Christian is cheering him on!

Bumbo Chair!

One of the best baby "inventions" is the Bumbo Baby Seat! My trade desk co-workers put together a gift basket for me that included one of these and I just LOVE it...and so does Andrew!

Just hangin' out

Doing what he does best...chewing on his hands. :)

Andrew looks to be saying..."Hey, your chair is bigger than mine!"

3 Months Old!

Andrew is 3 months old today!

He is getting so big! He weighs around 15 pounds (at least that's the difference when I stand on the scale with him, then just weigh myself). He is rolling over a lot and is already trying to crawl but tends to "scoot" across his blanket. Even on his back! Sometimes when we go into his room when he wakes up, he has scooted himself all the way into the corner of his crib and gets upset. Silly boy!

He is getting better at falling asleep on his own from time to time, but really likes to suck on his hands or fingers and it keeps him from falling asleep. He gets really upset because he is so tired but refuses to pull his hands out of his mouth so sometimes we have to go in his room and pull his hands out of his mouth, and then he falls asleep immediately. So frustrating! Christian did this too but only when he was teething....could he be teething already??!! I hope not, though Christian got his first two teeth at 4 months!

He is eating every 3 or 4 hours, but still wakes up around 1 or 2am and wants to eat, even though his last bedtime feeding is usually 10 or 10:30pm. Last night, he woke up at 1am and we let him cry for awhile to see if he would go back to sleep. After 30 min and finally putting a paci in his mouth (which never stays anyway), he went back to sleep only to wake an hour later. So I fed him. I guess we will continue to feed him at that 1am or 2am time until he hopefully sleeps through the night someday! I am starting to get used to it, but I try to gi to bed early a few times a week to catch up on my sleep. Naps are hard to do because I need to play and spend time with Christian too. Chrisitian still tells me I am his "best buddy". :)

As you can see, he is really holding his head up well. He is almost sitting up using his arms as a tripod to hold himself up. He is so strong!
His mood is much happier now, I think he is getting over his fussiness. Now he only fusses when he can't fall asleep.
He loves it when you talk to him and he will try to talk back. He smiles and laughs and shows off his dipples (just like Christian). I will try to post a video of him talking and laughing soon!

Wedding cake, movie popcorn and steak!

Saturday afternoon, Jim and I had an afternoon on our own. Hope came to babysit while we went to a wedding for one of Jim's friends from work. After the wedding, we went to see the movie, The Hangover. It was one of the craziest, funniest movies we had seen in a long time!

We loved it!

Sunday afternoon, we decided to explore the new Wal-Mart neighborhood market that was just built near Pinnacle in Rogers.

(yes, I took a picture of it--I know, I am a dork)
But seriously, it was a REALLY nice store. It had a wonderful produce and meat section, coffee shop, gelato and lots of yummy food in their deli! We bought some good lookin' steaks and Jim grilled them for dinner this evening. Delicious!

Christian played outside in his pool and with his new outdoor art easel he got for his birthday from Pops and GoGo!

Luckily, this thing came with its own air pump and we did not have to blow it up ourselves!
Christian LOVES it! He can draw with chalk or paint pictures and then wash it all off with a hose and do it all over again!

Here is a picture Christian drew of me and Jim. :) He draws better stick figures than me!

Time with daddy....

Andrew loves spending time with his daddy! Here are some cute pictures of them hanging out on the couch together...

Gotta love sweet baby feet!

Makes you wonder what Andrew is thinking. ;)

Legally Blonde!

Wednesday night, I went to go see Legally Blonde the Musical and it was actually a cute show!
There were lots of girls there dressed up in pink and lots of mommies and their little girls too.
It is playing through Sunday at the Walton Arts Center, so if you need a girls night out, go see it!
It was a fun show!

It's "official", my big boy is 5!

On July 8th five years ago, I was blessed with a beautiful healthy baby boy!
I can't believe he is 5!

I told Christian that we could spend his birthday by going toy shopping so he could spend his birthday money from grandmother. We went to Dilly Dallys toy store but he did not find anything he really wanted. He then asked, what about a Star Wars toy? Off to Wal-Mart we went! WMT had the perfect toy---the spaceship fighter from Star Wars that Luke Skywalker flew! He was so excited! And it was only $16.76 and he had $20 to spend! Perfect!

Christian and his space fighter!

I told him we could go wherever he wanted for lunch and he chose MiMis! :)
Jim was able to meet us for lunch too! Andrew slept through the whole thing so we had some good one on one time with Christian!

But his favorite toy is still his baby brother!