/> SLO in Arkansas: May 2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Wasting The Day Away.....

It's getting hot and what better way to waste the day away than at the lake??!! We celebrated opening weekend of boating season for our family with a quick little get-away to Greers Ferry this past Sunday. We loaded the truck up Saturday night so we would be ready to hit the road as soon as we got home from church. Everything went as planned (surprisingly) and the day was a total success:) This was Jace's maiden voyage out on the water and we were excited to see what he thought of it......check out his big grin in the picture above to see his reaction the whole time:) Once we started moving I propped him up so he could watch the water out the back and he just started squealing and shrieking with delight. It was really cute:)
Here's a picture of the brothers seriously discussing the water with each other:) They were so mesmerized by everything and really had a good time.
A rare shot of the captain of the boat and his lovely assistant! I have to say I am pretty proud of Silas and myself for our boat outing. It is not the easiest feat to launch your boat yourself from a boat ramp, park the truck and trailer, get the guy who parked the truck into the boat, spend the day out on the water, and then get your boat back up on the trailer and out of the water successfully, all while juggling two kids age 2 and under!! We make an excellent team though, and luckily we have had plenty of practice doing all this without kids, so it wasn't too difficult. Just took a little more strategy:)
The water temp was about 78-80 degrees and the outside temp was pushing 90 or low 90's, which made for a perfect lake day. After riding around for a bit we found a quiet cove to anchor in and enjoyed our first swimming of the summer. It was pretty cold, but Jace never even flinched!! He hopped right in and had a blast splashing water all over Silas' face:) Tyson reacted a little more to the cold, but still had fun. I even got in and cooled off a bit. Jace slept while we cruised around after that. This is where Tyson decided he needed to learn to drive the boat (since it will be his one day when he gets older), so up in the driver's seat he went. Silas had fun giving him his first driving lesson and I loved watching my little man take the wheel and drive that thing like he's been doing it is entire life (yes, all two years of it!!). He drove for about 15 minutes and did an excellent job. The only scary moment was when he grabbed the throttle and cranked the sucker forward and we took off flying! Luckily Silas got us slowed back down and it was no big deal. Tyson loved it though:)
He looked cool wearing daddy's sunglasses and driving around. We wrapped up the outing with some Pizza Hut for dinner and then headed home. It was a great day with the family and we are really looking forward to many more fun weekends out on the water this summer.
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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Random

Look at how BIG this little boy is!!! He is 2 years old, and it breaks my heart that he seems so grown up already. Oh my sweet little Tyson, slow down baby, slow down. It doesn't help that he is wearing mostly 4T clothes and I can shop in the little boy section at a lot of stores instead of the baby one.
A random and rare shot of the whole family. Of course someone isn't looking, but that is no surprise there. And yes, Silas has a mohawk:) His hair just does it, so we just roll with it!
Check out what I got in my mailbox in just one day!! I have really enjoyed getting into coupons and have found several wonderful sites that I love in this area. I get to sign up for lots of samples and free things, which I love!! Some days checking the mail is like Christmas!! It doesn't get better than checking the mail and getting a free Dove chocolate bar now does it??! I have found some wonderful products this way that I usually wouldn't try, and it is always nice to have some handy travel size products around the house. And the best part is they usually include extra coupons for the same product. I love it!! My next endeavor will be freezer cooking to see if I can cook ahead meals for the month to save lots of time and money. I will let you know how that goes.
Jace, my sweet Jace. You just need to SLOW down too my son!!! The little booger started crawling a week or two ago, but is not satisfied with it much. He practices free standing all the time now. I will find him next to something, and then he just lets go and stands there for a bit. I actually caught him working on it here. Check out those little toes digging into the carpet for balance:) Anyway, Silas and I were standing in the living room with him this morning and he stood up by the ottoman, let go, stood there for a minute, and then took one step towards me!!! Silas and I both gasped at the same time and I felt my heart stop. Don't you dare try to walk mister!!! I keep reminding you weekly that you are my BABY. I am not ready for two little fellas running around here yet. I am still slowly adjusting to you being mobile at all and following me around the house as it is. You can crab walk as fast as you want up and down the furniture, but goodness you just cannot be trying to walk. It just all goes by so fast.
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Friday, May 07, 2010

Growing Like Weeds!!

My boys are growing up so fast and they just won't stop. They are a constant mess, and I love it! They are loud, destroy my house, and eat everything in sight, and I wouldn't have it any other way:) God sure knew what he was doing when he gave me these precious crazy little blessings:)
We attempted a little photo shoot this morning while they were still clean:) I managed to get a few shots of them looking, but they are not very cooperative when it comes to cameras. Jace is huge. He is stout and stocky just like Tyson, but bigger than his brother was at this age. The kid just turned 8 months and is in all of Tyson's old 12 month clothes already. He has been crawling the past week or two, but is showing more interest in trying to walk than crawl. He cruises around the furniture all day long and is getting pretty good at letting go and just standing there on his own for a while. He is starting to "walk" with us holding onto his hands too, which he wouldn't do just a few weeks ago. Slow down Jace, slow down!! You are my BABY. I can't have you doing these big boy things just yet. Mama isn't ready to let you be this independent so soon.
Ahhh, the sweet brothers. Jace looks huge here too!! Check out that full belly from his big breakfast:) At least Tyson held onto him this time and didn't drop him on the floor. I think Jace was nervous nonetheless!!
Looking all sweet and innocent here, but don't let that fool you:) Well, they are sweet, but not that innocent!! Anyway, they are doing great. Tyson wraps up his last few weeks of Mother's Day Out on the 20th and will have a break for the summer. I decided to keep him at home over the summer and send them both on Thursdays in the fall. We are hoping to fill our days with swimming, play dates, a trip to the zoo, the water park, story time at the library, and a few weekends at the lake. Tyson seriously asks if we can "take the boat to the water" multiple times daily, so hopefully we will get out there soon. I can't wait to introduce Jace to the joys of boating and let Tyson have some more fun out on the tube:)
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Nashville....pre flood

I am so thankful we headed to Nashville the weekend before it flooded. Although we did drive the entire way there in a monsoon, we made the trip safely and got in a good but quick visit with my family. I am so sad by all the pictures I have seen of the flood waters there in town from the past weekend. So many things have been ruined or majorly damaged, and I know it will take a long time for the city to recover from this. We are keeping family and friends and the whole area in our prayers as they work to weather this storm and get back to some kind of normalcy.
Just wanted to post a few quick pictures from our time there while I can. The boys had a ball visiting with their TN cousins and I always love catching up with my family when I can. My brother-in-law Ted ran the Nashville marathon while they were in town, which is awesome. Ted...you are my hero!!! Sweet Caroline is so pregnant and getting ready to have baby #2 here in the next few weeks. We are all very excited to find out who has been baking for the past 9 months:) Jace got some good loving from his G-Daddy while we were there, and Tyson stuffed his face with crackers with cousin Jude most of the afternoon:)
These boys are eaters!!!
One last quick shot of my sweet sister Renee and two of her girls, plus Silas, Jace and Tyson in the corner!! I didn't get that many pictures while we were there, so I tried to post the ones with the most people in them!!! My grandparents were also there from Florida, and my Uncle stopped by for dinner as well. We had a full house to say the least:) Our family is growing so fast and I am thankful for the moments, however brief they are at times, that we can all cram under one roof and be together:)
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Monday, May 03, 2010

Prepare to be Amazed!!!

So we are super close to having the master bathroom finished and I couldn't be more thrilled! Here are a couple of the nasty BEFORE pictures for your enjoyment. I still cringe when I look at them:)
We took it down to the studs in the walls, cinder blocks and pipes in the ceiling. There was even dirt on the floor of the shower since it is in the basement!! It has been torn up for so long that I forgot what it looks like with things in there:)
The shower was TINY, which was one of the biggest reasons for this remodel in the first place. It had a nasty accordion plastic door and barely any room to move in. Just wait til you see the new shower!!!
The tile was falling off of the walls in places anyway so it was pretty easy to rip down for the most part. We were super good and fast at the demolition.....totally slow at putting the new stuff back in.....but it is so worth it now:) We are wrapping up the finishing touches this week hopefully and will get pictures up soon. Just wanted to post the before pictures now so you can fully appreciate the transformation:)
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