Swimming!

This summer, Christian did two weeks of swim lessons at our neighborhood pool. The instructor was really nice and did well working with Christian. Christian can now float, swim under water and is much more comfortable being in the pool. Yeah!

Christian learning to float. He does it well with his noodle. ;)
I was so proud of how well he did! He even went down the water slide!

After watching his big brother swim each morning, Andrew was ready to hit the pool too!

The boys in their matching swimwear! Aren't they just the cutest?!!!

So a few times a week, we have been enjoying our neighborhood pool.
It even has a baby pool too for Andrew! Sometimes after dinner, Christian and I will head to the pool for a little evening swim. So relaxing.

Christian hanging out by the pool

me and my little man!!!

Adirondack chairs

I have always loved Adirondack chairs. I think they look so relaxing and they are really comfortable too! So recently, we replaced our old log seating around our firepit
with something new...

BEFORE

(this picture was actually taken in 2006, 4 years ago right after we finished the yard)
The idea of using logs from the trees we cut down was a fun and practical idea. However, sitting on top of a log was not the most comfortable place to relax. Plus, these logs had rotted and were falling apart by 2010.

AFTER

I actually bought these red chairs at Wal-Mart!
Now I can't wait for the weather to cool down so we can sit around our firepit and roast marsh mellows and make Smores!

Green thumb...

This summer we planted our first tomato plants. Christian LOVES tomatoes! He eats the little grape tomatoes like popcorn! It is so nice to go outside and just a pick a few each day and enjoy!

July Girls Night Out!

This past Saturday night, I met up with my girlfriends for dinner at Powerhouse to celebrate Kellie's birthday!

Dara, me, Allison and Kellie


Dara, me, Audrey and Kellie

Susan and I

Can't be an official girls night out without a picture of our shoes, right??!!! haha

Thanks ladies! Dinner was a lot of fun! Happy Birthday Kellie!

Mama...mama....mama...

Let's just say I can so relate to this video...

Pizza chef!

This past week, I bought ingredients for making a homemade pizza. He loves to help me cook! When I sat out all the ingredients and told him he could make the pizza ALL BY HIMSELF, he got so excited! He went step by step and was VERY neat and did not make a mess at all!

This is what the pizza looked like when he was finished! Looks good huh?!
It was delicious and Christian was so proud of his pizza!

Everything is amazing and nobody's happy

It's been a really rough week around here and I just got this video from a friend and it made me laugh out loud! Just what I needed...

Kupcakes...

Last week (before my sickness hit), we headed to the Bentonville Square to check out the new cupcake shop in town.

Christian picked out the Strawberry Shortcake cupcake! He loves anything stawberry!

Andrew sat quietly and enjoyed his sippy of juice while we ate our cupcakes!

The boys having fun at the cupcake shop!

I have returned to the land of the living...

Yes, it has almost been a week since my last post, but I came down with what had to be the flu. That's right, the flu in the middle of summer. NO FUN! After running high fevers, chills, runny nose, aches, etc. for a few days, I felt like running out of the house today yelling, "I am free!"
Luckily, Jim was able to help out with the boys while I went to the doctor, tried to get some rest and mostly not spread my germs around the family. So far it worked. ;)

While lying in my bedroom being quarantined from everyone this past week, I got very bored. We don't have a TV in our bedroom. Yes, it's true. It has been something I have never wanted in there, but the past few times I have been sick (or just wanted to watch a movie while lying in bed), I kinda wished we had a TV in our bedroom. ANYWAY, I decided to check out games that I could play on my new iPhone. I have never been much into playing games on my phone or Facebook... (no I will NEVER accept your Farmville or Mafia Wars---
who has time for all that??!!)
So I had to search the Apple app store for something that looked interesting to me. I found one....Build-A-Lot. It is a property management game that is based on superior time management skills (check!), organizational skills (check!) and knowledge on how to make money in real estate (check!). It was FREE, so I downloaded it. So when I could not sleep or I was trying to sweat out my fever, I would play this game. I have reached level 26 and have over $159 million in career earnings! Pretty good for spending a few hours playing! Now if only I could do it in real life. ;)
But just like the game, you have to spend money to make money.
Each level I start with $100, 000. Not bad. But who is gonna give me that??!! ;)
Guess I will just go back to the "spend money" part....I think I will begin with buying a TV for the bedroom. :)

iPhone 4

It has finally arrived. :)

The new iPhone 4. And I love it.
I was an owner of the original iPhone (represent'n the Edge, yo!) for 3 years. It was the longest I ever had the same phone. I could not imagine my life without it, as lame as it sounds. But being able to check emails through the day, see weather updates and live doppler maps, watch the stock market, etc. It made me VERY efficient. In recent weeks, it did begin to not hold a charge, shut down randomly, etc. Then there was all this talk of the new iPhone 4 coming out soon! I prayed my phone would not die before I could upgrade. Replacing the battery was $80 so just getting the new phone was much more cost effective. So last week, I ordered my phone to be delivered directly to my house. I felt like a kid counting down to Christmas. I checked the order status frequently. I jumped up and down when the FedEx guy arrived at my door. ;)
I activated it myself and had it working in a matter of minutes. So user-friendly. And did I mention how clear, crisp and bright the screen is??!!! I LOVE it! And it is much faster, light weight and so much more!
So does anyone out there have the new iPhone 4? If so, I would love to try out the "FaceTime" function--"video chat". Leave me a comment or send me an email and we can set up a "facetime" appointment. ;)

6 years old already???!!!

Wow. Times flies. I have heard it said a million times. But seriously, TIME FLIES! And it only seems to do so when you have kids. Watching them grow up...it happens so fast. Seems like just yesterday I spent my days scrapbooking with Christian lying peacefully on a blanket when he was a baby. Now, our days are full of playing, going places, and staying busy! I have not even yet begun Andrew's scrapbook and wonder if I ever will. But scrapbooks don't really make a difference in my children's life. Me being there to play and to give them love is all that matters.

Enough of the sappy stuff, right?! haha. Yes, Christian turned 6 years old this week. Wow! Even though we had his birthday celebration down in Van Buren last week, I still wanted to do something special and fun on his actual birthday. So on Thursday, we picked up his best buddy Izac and went to Jump Zone for a playdate!

Izac and Christian were so glad to get to play together!

My friend Jenn and her daughter Brianna joined us too!

And you can't forget about Andrew! He had fun at Jump Zone too!


Andrew LOVED the big ELMO! He would hit it and it would wiggle and he just laughed and laughed!

And I put the boys in the matching USA t-shirts again to try to get a picture of them together, but was not able to get a good one. Oh well!

After a big morning at Jump Zone and lunch at Chickfila with Christian's friends, we came home and took naps. All of us. ;)

After dinner that night, I took Christian to get a special dessert treat! We went to Dairy Queen and he got the Stawberry Oreo Blizzard!

YUM!

Christian took a picture of me eating my Cookie Dough Blizzard. ;)

Happy 6th Birthday Christian! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Christian's birthday party and 4th of July celebration!

Saturday, we drove to Van Buren to start our big day of celebrating Christian's birthday with family. Our first stop was the Van Buren train station. Jim, Christian and Pops had first class tickets to ride the train! Christian was SO excited!

All Aboard!!

Even though it was a rainy day, Christian was happy to be riding the train. He actually LOVES rain and thunderstorms.

They enjoyed lunch during their ride!

Christian and Pops looking out the window of the train. So much to see!

Jim said the conductor was a lot of fun! He told about things they saw during the ride and told funny stories too!

Christian and Pops stood on the back of the train during the return trip to Van Buren. Pops said Christian loved it!


What a fun time!

After the train ride, we were suppose to go swimming, but it was still raining. So Christian told us all about the train ride until it was time to open presents. ;)

Present time!
(Can you see Andrew in the back trying to help out too?)

Christian got lots of great gifts...water guns, books, golf clubs and TRAIN STUFF!

Andrew was wore out from it all and found this open box to sit in and suck his fingers. ;)

After presents, we had chicken for dinner (requested from Christian--check out his "plans" in the blog post below). After dinner,we enjoyed a wonderful train cake!

Christian loved his train cake!

GoGo even set the table with train plates and napkins

Happy 6th Birthday Christian!!!

After the party, presents and dinner, Andrew was ready to go to bed. So I put him in his red, white and blue jammies.


That evening, we visited with family and watched the Van Buren fireworks from the bluff.
So fun!

Thanks Pops and GoGo for hosting Christian's big birthday celebration and thanks to all of our family who was there to celebrate!

Happy 4th of July!