Model Train Show!

This past Saturday, Jim and I took the boys to the Bentonville Model Train Show at the Clarion Hotel. When I read about this event, I thought "how perfect!" for my train lovin' little boys!

They had several trains displayed and even took time to let the kids operate the model trains!

Christian really loved being able to operate the trains! They even gave him a certificate as an "official model train engineer". Too cute!

They even had lots of train memorabilia and collectibles for sale. I took a picture of the old chalk board train schedule from the train station in my hometown, Van Buren, AR.

They had everything from matches, dishes, pencils to maps and old schedules and advertising for old train lines.

I was really surprised to see more grown men walking around buying train stuff than kids at this event. So many of the older men where excited to see the young boys excited about trains.
One said to me, "We gotta get these youngins' into trains!"

Andrew was one of the youngest little boys there but he had fun strolling around and pointing to all the trains and saying, "Ahhh, chooo chooos!" He even received an engineer hat for his enthusiasm. ;)

Couples Game Night!

Last night, Jim and I hosted a game night for all the ladies in my bible study group, Mom's Ministry, with their husbands. Since I am leading a marriage study ("Date Night in a Minivan) right now, I thought it would be appropriate to get everyone out for a "date night" and let everyone get to know each other better. A few of our husbands had never met each other, maybe just seen each other in passing at church. What a fun opportunity to mix and mingle! Endless Mexican food and then we played CatchPhrase and laughed until we cried!

Jennifer and Chad Smith

Mandy and Jay Boyett

Laura and Andy Drexler

Tricia and Kevin Griffith

Chris and Becky Cook

Kari and Jeff Young

Ama and Carl Engmann

Laura and Matt Harrison

And of course, the hosts! :)

Thanks to everyone who came! It was so much fun! Winner to Jeff Young for his "Merchant of Venice" answer and I am thinking "The Newlywed Game" next time...with Chad being the "MC" starring the Boyetts! That will be a blast!
Thanks again everyone for the amazing food but most of all the amazing company!
And a big thanks to Pops and GoGo for watching the boys for us! I am sure they had as much fun in Van Buren as we did! :)

Mamma Mia!

Saturday night, I took Hope with me to see Mamma Mia! That was one Jim did not mind passing up. ;) I have seen the movie but the Broadway show is SOOO much better! I really love all the music from this show--singing along in my head during many of the songs.
It was a really great show! Afterwards, Hope and I headed to Bordinos for some dessert and got to sit at the table next to the cast members from the show! Pretty neat!
Guess who is listening to the soundtrack in their car??? ;) And Christian says, "Dad has better music in his car, mom" HAHA!

Be Mine!

My sweet Valentines at church on Sunday!!!
I love putting them in matching/coordinating outfits!

Jim and I celebrated our Valentines Day this past weekend. Friday we went out for date night...had some margaritas at Rolandos then went to the dinner theater at Rogers Little Theater. It was fun!

Yesterday, he came home from "washing his car" with red roses!!!

Andrew even made me a sweet Valentine heart for me, Jim and one for Christian. ;)

Love my little Valentine!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

The Real Deal...

So my earlier posts of lots of snow were surpassed in magnitude by this week's winter storm. Weathermen predicted 4-7 inches of snow. We received almost 2 feet! It was the most snow we have ever seen in our 15 years of living in Northwest Arkansas!

When we woke up Wednesday, we had 10-12 inches on the ground. It continued to snow all day, very heavy at times, and Bella Vista reported 19 inches of snow!

Arkansas broke state records for the most snowfall ever!

Andrew watching the snow falling...


Then Thursday, we woke up to record breaking cold temperatures...

-15 degrees!!! Not windchill but the ACTUAL temperature. It was insane!

So this past week, we have stayed in and school was closed Tuesday-Friday.

Here is how we entertained ourselves for another snow storm...

Lots of playing in our jammies!

Bake cookies! (and muffins, pies, etc...)

Colored pictures!

Reading...

Christian worked on his Valentines for his class party on Monday!

Cleaning the house!
Christian even wiped down all our dining room chairs!

Andrew tried to help but he just liked being silly for the camera!

And lots of snuggling on the couch watching movies and staying warm!
Warmer temperatures are on the way this weekend...Come on SPRING!

Fun with Christian!

The past couple weekends, I have been out on "dates" with my big boy Christian. Two weeks ago, we had dinner at Joses then went to a talent show where people in the area showed off their talents to raise money for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in honor of 17-year-old Micayla Patterson of Springdale that was killed after a John Mayer concert in Tulsa. Hope did a clown act and it was too cute!


After the big snow last week, Christian and I got out Sunday afternoon to go skating at Starlight Skatium in Fayetteville. It was his first time to ever go skating!

Christian and I about to skate!

I had not been skating since my 30th birthday party and it was a lot of fun! Christian was impressed with his mom's skills on the skates. The rink had "walkers with wheels" so kids could hold onto them while they learned to skate. Luckily, I could skate backwards and hold onto it while Christian got used to being on wheels. It may take several more visits to the rink before he can skate on his own but we had fun!

Snow days continue...

Friday the weathermen called for a "dusting" of snow. Well...they were a little off. We ended up with an additional five inches of snow yesterday! It snowed all day and it was still snowing when we went to bed. The last thing we needed was more snow, but it was absolutely gorgeous watching it fall all day! Here is what it looked like this morning...

Needless to say, we had another lazy morning. :)

We baked apple cinammon muffins and took some to our elderly neighbor next door, Ginnie.
The sun came out so we decided it might be warm enough for Andrew to get out and play in the snow!

He loved his snow boots!!!

It won't be long before he is hitting the slopes!


Jim shoveling the driveway AGAIN!

Andrew wanted to mow the snow!

And ride the Big Wheels!

Our road is still a mess!

Below is video of Andrew's first steps in the snow!

Andrew's first sled ride!

Christian and I went to the grocery store this afternoon, then unloaded it all at house and pick up Jim and Andrew to head down to Fayetteville for dinner at Hugos!
We really enjoyed our dinner out!

Andrew checking out the wine list. ;)

Now to prepare for the next storms. We are suppose to get a couple more inches tomorrow. Then a big storm is predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday. 8 inches??? Hhhhmmm....
Please refer to the Southerners' Snow Day Time Line below. ;)

Southerners' Enjoyment of Snow Over Time

Snowpocalyse 2011

Over the weekend, the weather forecast for this week was a shocker. Local meterologists predicted freezing rain, sleet, ice then accumulating snow....up to a foot??!!!

I was so glad that we had already been to the grocery store on Sunday, because these pictures from our local Wal-Mart Supercenter were on the news...

no bread...

no more gallons of milk...

and fresh produce was almost gone!

Well, Tuesday it hit. Monday night we got freezing rain and ice, then a few inches of snow was already on the ground when we woke up. It snowed all day!!! Blizzard warnings were on the TV. I did not know Arkansas could even get a blizzard! It continued to snow until after we went to bed last night. At times, it was blowing snow like a blizzard outside. I was so glad that Jim could work from home. We have heard nothing but horrible things about the roads. No plows, no sand...what is going on?!! Oh well, with below freezing temperatures for tomorrow, we will just be staying in. But we did get out to do a bit of sledding today. Jim shoveled the driveway yesterday and today. But there is still an inch of ice on it.


Jim stuck a ruler in the snow....



7 inches yesterday afternoon (and it continued to fall hours after this)
I bet we got close to 10 inches!

Just the tops of our bushes stick out of the snow in front of our house!

Jim shoveling the snow, but an inch of ice still remains on the driveway!

The boys snuggled in our bed together watching cartoons!

Later this afternoon, it warmed up from 7 degrees to 28 degrees, so we went outside for a bit to play and go sledding.

The snow is so dry that we could not build a snowman so Christian pushed one of his little trucks around pretending it was a plow. I wish we would actually see a real plow sometime soon.

This is our road. Just the mailman and newspaper delivery drivers have been by in their big trucks.


Christian and I about to head down one of the hills on the golf course!

The view of the golf course from the top of the hill.

Christian walking back to the house...you can't see where the road ends and the ditches begin!

But we had fun!

So much fun we put a crack in the bottom of our sled!
Looks like we will be getting a new one, if we can ever leave the house! A few snow showers are predicted for Friday, then another winter storm comes Sunday night into Monday morning that is going to bring a wintry mix.
Wondering if we will ever go back to school??!!! School has been closed Tuesday, Wednesday and tomorrow. It will have to be closed Friday too. I just hope we can leave the house by the weekend or we will be stir crazy!!!