Our "Terrific" Kid!

Christian received the Kiwanis Terrific Kid Award!

This morning, Jim, Andrew and I attended Christian's Friday morning monthly assembly at Cooper Elementary. They call it "Round-Up" since their mascot is Broncos. ;)
Each month, school staff nominates students to receive the "Terrific Kid" award based on outstanding performance in classwork, homework, how they treat others, positive attitude, good character and responsible citizenship. Christian said he was the first in his class to receive the award! We were so proud! They presented Christian with the award (along with a goody bag) during the assembly. Afterwards, I went to say hi to his teacher. There were a few other teachers standing with her and they all asked, "Are you Christian's mom?"
"Yes, I am!" I proudly replied. They all began telling me what a sweet boy he was, always polite, and how much they get a kick out of him, saying he always talks like such an adult. I was very excited to hear how all the teachers enjoy Christian.
Award or not, we are truly so proud of our terrific kid!

Christian showing off his "Terrific Kid" button

So after school, I took Christian to get a special treat....

Ice cream!
(with sprinkles, of course)

10 Months Old!

Andrew is 10 months old!

Here is what my little man is up to lately....

Andrew weighs 20lbs. 9 oz. He recently had his first cold that turned into an ear infection....twice. Luckily, he is on the mend and doing much better!

He is clapping his hands and when you say "give kisses", he will give you a kiss. It is so sweet.
He is also walking around holding onto my hand. He gets so excited about it too!

Here are some more fun pictures of Andrew...

Andrew loves to help mommy with the laundry!

His favorite thing is to take a bath...

and splash with his big brother!

Andrew loves to play with his house!

And just be a cutie pie!

Girls Night Out...of town!

For the past couple weeks, me and my gal plans have been planning a weekend getaway for Dara's birthday. Our orginial plan was to go to Kansas City. However, as of Friday night, they were put under a winter storm warning and it was already snowing there. So on Saturday morning, I called up Dara and said we better not go to KC, we could get snowed in! (thank goodness we did not go or we might still be there). Dara's reply was.."I don't care if I hang out in Bella Vista all weekend, get me out of my house!" haha. Poor Dara has had a very stressful couple of weeks working on divorce cases (she is an attorney) and having no childcare, getting anything done with an 11 month old and a 3 year old at home is almost impossible. She was ready for a break...and all of us were looking forward to a mini getaway...even for one night. ;) So we decided to head to Tulsa. It was me, Dara, Mischelyn, Susan, Allison and Melinda. Luckily, we were able to cancel our hotel reservations in KC with no penalties because of weather. So on the drive to Tulsa, Mischelyn started checking on hotel rooms from her iPhone and calling around. After checking a few hotels, they were all booked! We finally decided to ask "What is going on in Tulsa this weekend?" We were informed there was a Reba McEntire and George Strait concert in Tulsa Sat night. Luckily, we got a couple rooms at a Hampton Inn and were set for the night. I think we were the only people in town NOT going to that concert. ;)
We shopped Utica Square and had lunch at the Wild Fork. Then we went to the Woodland Hills mall. After a FULL day of shopping, we headed to the hotel to freshen up and head out to dinner. But first we did our gift exchange with Dara...

Happy Birthday Dara!!

After checking with the "locals", the restaurant "In the Raw" in Brookside was highly recommended. By the time we got to the hotel and six of us got ready, we were heading to dinner at 7:30. The wait time at the restaurant was 1 1/2 hours so we put our name on the list and headed across the street to a Mexican restaurant to have a drink while we waited.

Cheers!

We told them it was Dara's birthday and they brought out the Sombrero and the Mariachi band!

Our waiter enjoyed a little dance with Dara! ;)

Thanks ladies for such a fun weekend! I had a blast!

Happy Valentine's Day!

These are Andrew's 9 month pictures done at Legacy House Photography.

Christian worked on his Valentines for his kindergarten class earlier this week. He wrote all his classmates names on them! He picked out Disney/Pixar Valentines with characters from Cars, Toy Story, Wall-E, etc. which are some of his favorite movies!

After school on Friday, Christian came home with his box full of Valentines!

It was so fun going through all the Valentines and Christian read each one to me. ;)
He enjoyed all the candy!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day on Sunday. After church, we came home and I made heart-shaped pancakes, sausage and strawberries for lunch. That evening, we went to Johnny Carino's for an early dinner. With Andrew's bedtime at 6pm, we don't get out much for dinner. It was delicious and fun!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentines Day with your loved ones!

Ski Utah!

"An enjoyable vacation is awaiting you near the mountains"....was my fortune in my cookie I ate when I fulfilled my Chinese food craving I had last week. However, the vacation in the mountains was not for me, but for Jim. ;)

This past weekend, Jim and his dad went on a ski trip to Utah. Even though Jim has been gone just a few days, we have really missed having dad around! They went skiing at Deer Valley, Alta and Snowbird.

Here are some of the pictures Pops has already sent to me while on their trip...


Here in Northwest Arkansas, I have felt like I lived in the mountains with all the snow we have gotten in the past weeks. School was closed today after getting 3 more inches of snow yesterday (Monday) then all the slush froze and the roads were slick this morning. Luckily, the sun came out today and melted the snow and ice from the roads, so school should be in session tomorrow! Today marked the 100th day of school for Christian but it feels like we have had 100 snow days this winter!

Super Bowl Sweethearts...

Sunday evening, we went over to Dwight and Joanna's house for a Super Bowl Party.

Before the big game, Jamie and Dwight played some Wii. Andrew enjoyed watching them play and making lots of laps around their coffee table. :)

It was fun to see Audrie! (a possible future daughter-in-law, heehee)
She just turned 2 and is getting so big!

Look at these Super Bowl Sweethearts!
During the football game, Christian came over to sit with Audrie. A few minutes later, he started putting on "the moves"....putting his arm around her. ;) We even overheard him say, "Audrie, I sure like that pretty bow in your hair." Unbelievably cute.

When it was time to eat, I set up Andrew in his portable high chair. He had lots of help with his dinner. :)

Audrie would do "airplane" with his Gerber puffs and would say "Ah".
Audrie is going to be a great big sister. Rachel is due to have another girl in May, Annie Beth.
Joanna is also due in May, they are having a boy, Leo.
Thanks to Dwight and Joanna for having us over for the big game!
Go Saints! WHO DAT!

Fast Lanes!

Saturday night, I joined my friends at Fast Lanes to celebrate Susan and Matt's birthdays!
(Zach, we would have celebrated yours too, but I guess hunting was more important-haha)
We had originally planned this Couples Night Out for last weekend but we had the big winter storm. Jim rescheduled his ski trip with his dad for this past weekend as well. So since Dara's husband Zach was out of town too, we were each other's date. ;)

We even showed up wearing similar green v-neck sweaters, which was not planned. ;)

Susan and I

We enjoyed some bowling and lots of yummy fattening food--fried cheese sticks, nachos and pizza!

Susan and Brandon


Joe and Mischelyn

Matt and Kellie

We even took a ride on the indoor go karts! But first, I had to make sure I was tall enough to ride the "adult" go karts....thank goodness I had on heels. ;)

Aaron was ready to go!

Of course, I had to pick out a red go kart-my favorite color! And it was #9, my favorite number!
They went pretty fast for electric go karts!
I even had time to play a few games of Mrs. PacMan and some Dance Dance Revolution!
While I was out having fun like a kid, GoGo and Grandmother came up to our house for the night to babysit the boys.

GoGo, Grandmother and Christian playing Go Fish!

Grandmother had the best time staying with us! She really enjoyed spending time with Christian and Andrew. I fixed dinner for them Saturday night and breakfast Sunday morning.
GoGo and Grandmother joined me and the boys for church Sunday morning before heading back home. Thanks again GoGo and Grandmother for babysitting!

Christian lost his 2nd tooth!

About a week ago, Christian lost his 2nd tooth! We had just gotten home from his dentist after he got his teeth cleaned. I asked him if he wanted Dr. Caple to pull the tooth--it was literally hanging by a thread, sideways--just dangling there. But Christian's response was "No thank you, I want it to come out on its own." So when we got home and ate dinner, it did. :)
Christian bought a Thomas the Train book with his tooth fairy money!
Jim and I find it funny that we have one kiddo losing teeth while the other is just getting them!