May and June 2013

Continuing..

While we waited for Rob, Max practiced tying knots.

Before leaving the campsite.  Kate cried the whole hike bike.  She was really tired too!

We made it to the car, extracted a few more ticks, and started home.  I decided to post my best "grumpy" face!

Rob celebrated his 30th birthday this year!  Kids were both delighted to help decorate and celebrate his birthday.

Rob by his packages.

Max found this hat that says #1 Dad!  Rob is being a good sport and keeping it, as Max really did find it and wanted it for his Dad.

 

Blowing out 30 candles!  Whew!  He got them all!

Kate was thrilled to help hold baby Jackson.  You might not be able to tell here, but he is actually screaming.  Kate doesn't seem bothered one bit.  She is just happy to hold him.

We went to a strawberry patch in Cabot to pick strawberries.  They were really beautiful strawberries!  The kids had a great time filling the buckets (and their mouths) with the succulent berries.

Yummy!

My helpers.  Love them!

Lake Willastein has a great park.  Kate is finally brave enough (and coordinated enough) to climb this structure.  She was one proud girl.

We took the kids bikes, and Max had fun cruising around the trails.

We wandered over to the "big" slide.  Lots of fun!

Max, James, and Asher were all preschool buddies this year.  We did a joy school for them, and they learned a lot.  Kate is under the impression that, "Only boys go to school.  Girls stay in the car!"  To celebrate the end of the school year, we went to Burger King. 

The kids were able to pay for their own ice cream cone.  Delicious!

 

 

 

We have a really fun June planned.  I am hoping to get over the morning sickness phase of this pregnancy, so I can actually enjoy the summer.  I never imagined feeling so horrible.  Max and Kate pretend to be me.  They go into the bathroom (to throw up), come out, put their hands on their heads and say, "I feel like garbage!"  They then proceed to lie on the couch.  It is awesome.  Rob has been amazing at taking care of everything.  He has had no down time.  I sure am lucky to have a fantastic husband, and great friends to help out.  

May 2013

In May, we took the kids to James and the Giant Peach at the Children's Theater.  They had a really fun time dressing up, going to dinner, and then to a live show.  The show was just over an hour long.  Kate started asking, about halfway through, if the show was over yet (the lights would dim while they switched scenery).
Recently, Kate and Max have been playing James and the Giant Peach.  Kate insists on being James.  If Max calls her "Kate", she simply won't respond!  It is pretty cute.

 

Before the how, I let the kids run some energy out on the steps.

Max gave Kate an umprompted kiss!
 

 With the garden in the yard, we attract a lot of unwanted visitors.  This Speckled King Snake is actually a really good snake (it eats venomous snakes), so Rob decided to be a good Samaritan and free it from the netting.

 

It was a tedious process.  Kids were instructed to stay back.
 

Kate is measuring Max.  He waits very patiently while she puts her hand on his head and "measures".
 

The snake kept coiling itself up in an effort to get the netting down its body.
 

Finally it was free!  Rob let it go under the fence.
 

A few weekends ago, the weather was too perfect to not go camping.  It was over Memorial Day weekend, and so we packed up all the gear and went out to the middle of the Ouachita National Forest.  Rob looked up a lot of maps, and then found a shelter that we could hike to that was about a mile and a half or so from the road.  We started out in great spirits.


I probably carried too much weight on my back, but Rob's pack was incredibly heavy so I couldn't complain.

 

When we arrived to our shelter area, we were very surprised to see someone had beat us there!  Two guys were in the middle of a 100 mile backpacking excursion, and just so happened to be there!  It was actually a blessing, as they had a campfire going and we were arriving at dark.  Everyone was hungry, so we were able to quickly set up our tent and get the food cooking.  There were a lot of ticks on the trail, but the kids were champs when we pulled them off.  Rob, Max and Kate all slept really well.  I hardly slept a wink, and I paid for it on Saturday.

Here we are getting breakfast going.

Kate and me!

 

Max and Rob eating breakfast.
 

I brought glitter glue and markers for the kids to decorate rocks.  It was a big hit!
 

 

Kate's grumpy face!  It made me laugh. 

She couldn't hold a frown for long.
 

 Max attempting a grumpy face.

 

In the morning, we took a short hike to find a watchtower.  We were instructed, by Rob, to wait here while he searched for it.  He only found the foundation.

 

to be continued...

Look Closely...

 

April

Rob has been wanting camping gear for some time, and once he finally bought it he couldn't wait to try it out.  We set the tent up in the backyard for a "practice run" with the kids.  They had a great time helping.

 

 

We let them have treats, and we played Uno before bed.

They were snug as a bug in a rug!

We decided to put paver stones around some of our trees.  It was quite a labor intensive project.  This ring is by far the smallest, so we don't have any flowers around this tree.

With the "forest" behind our fence, we have been getting a lot of roots in our yard.  Rob took it into his own hands to do something about them.

Kate was not as excited about playing in the dirt.  She made us pretty pictures instead.

Max found a worm and named her "Mrs. Beth" after our local librarian.

He was thrilled to use his hoe to get rid of the tree shoots.

We also found a caterpillar!  So exciting!

 

We have heard about Petit Jean State Park, but had not made it out there until a couple weeks ago.  We went with a bunch of friends.  It was really beautiful.

Max and Kate found some silk worms on the hike.

The final destination on the hike is this stunning waterfall.  Here is the Graham family.

Some of the kids (and Sam) went behind the waterfall.  All of the mothers about had a heart attack watching the boys scramble along the slippery rock at high speeds.

The kids were not wanting to pose for a picture.  At least this photo captures personality!

It really was pretty to watch.

Hartzell family.

McMurry family.

We love having so many good friends in Little Rock.