Branson

We started our summer with a quick trip to Branson for three nights. We rented a little house that had a pool within walking distance. We spent everyday swimming since the temps were pretty high that week. Both kids are doing great in the water. Laura is a good swimmer and really enjoys being in the water. Grant is fearless. He jumps, dunks, blows bubbles and paddles pretty well (all with his floaties on). I'm so glad both of the kids love swimming so much!

One night we went into town to ride go-karts and they had little rides the kids enjoyed. Since it was the last week of school for most of Missouri schools, there were no crowds. It was great!
Grant was pretty serious about driving his car. I was right beside him and we were dead last to pass the finish line. People were flying by us, but I was scared Grant was gonna fall out. He had a blast!Some sweet man offered to take this picture when we were at Bass Pro.
One morning, we went to Tablerock State Park for a hike. It was hot and Grant needed a lift at the end. We enjoyed looking at the lake. The lake was really high, so were had to stay on the paved path. All of the hiking trails were actually closed.



After our trip to Branson, Jim and I went to Malibu, California. He presented at the Christian Scholars Conference at Pepperdine, and while he was busy with work, I ventured around town in our Grand Marque rental car. I am cheap-just trying to save Harding a few dollars and get the deal which happened to be a very large Grand Marque! I met up with a couple friends some of the days and it was overall a nice relaxing time. I could definitely see myself living in California--the weather is fabulous. This was our view everyday--it can't get much better!

Summer Wrap Up

Finally...a few moments to blog....

Summer is officially over in our house. School started back for Laura on Friday (that post is soon to come). Grant starts MDO on Tuesday and I have one week to finalize my syllabus for the two courses I am teaching this fall.

Here are a few highlights from July.
Laura and her good friend Ann-Clayton having a good old fashion lemonade stand outside of our house. They had two customers---me and a sweet lady passing by who gave them $5! They were pretty thrilled!
Laura took "cheer camp" for a few mornings one week. The last day they did a little program and it was very cute!
We spent the 4th of July in St. Louis with Jim's parents. We went to a carnival and watched the fireworks. Grant would only watch the fireworks with glasses on and in Grandpa's lap. It is funny because if we ask him about the fireworks, he says "loud, glasses, Grandpa hold me".Laura turned "6" on July 22! Wow! Hard to believe my 6 lb 4 oz baby is now in Kindergarten and growing up (and has lost 6 teeth--we foresee braces in our future). We decided to have a smaller birthday celebration this year and just invite one special friend. Her choice was of course Ann-Clayton. We went to Toy Story 3, Build a Bear and then A-C spent the night. It was a fun-filled day for everyone. Laura requested a "Belle" cake this year, so I searched the internet and came up with this cake. She loved it and I was proud of the end result!

A few highlights of Laura at age 6:

Favorite Color - Pink and purple
Favorite Food - dessert
Favorite Book - Laura Ingalls
Favorite Toy - American Girl doll
Favorite Restaurant - Wendy's
Favorite Place to Go - Swimming Pool
Favorite Dessert - everything chocolate
Favorite Movie - Laura Ingalls
Favorite Day of the Week - Sunday because I want to think of God
Favorite People - Ann-Clayton, Kaslynn (cousin), Briley, Mommy, Daddy, Grant

Summer Days

It is beyond hot in Arkansas-uncomfortable, sweltering, and humid. I have a feeling we'll be spending more time inside this summer. This is a rare, but very precious moment of Laura reading to Grant. I just wish they were this sweet ALL of the time because they sure can drive each other crazy!!

Wrapping up the School Year

We are in our second week of summer and so far doing pretty good. Laura and Grant are learning to be around each other more which means more "refereeing" for me.

Right before school was over, Laura lost her other front tooth. She looks so different now and I'm a bit sad to see her smile change. But..she does look pretty cute! Laura had a great year in Pre-K and is more than ready for Kindergarten. I don't regret our decision to let her wait a year before going to school. She is reading quite well and I know will do great come August!

Here is a comparison of the first day of school to the last day of school.

Grant sure has changed a lot! He has more of a big boy look and definitely more hair! He loves to sing right now and certainly talks a lot! His daddy is teaching him all about Star Wars--check out the video below. I still have Laura's recital and a quick trip to Ohio to blog about. I am hopeful to be better about blogging this summer since I am not working.

End of Summer (Part 1)

This has been a busy summer with fun memories. Here is quick recap of some highlights that I haven't blogged about for those of you who are interested.

Jim's parents along with Jim's sister, Aunt Jeanne, came the weekend before Laura's birthday. We spent one day at Heber Springs lake enjoying the awesome weather. It was a perfect temperature with no humidity! We enjoyed our nights outside grilling and playing baseball. Grant returned to St. Louis for 5 nights with the Grandma and Grandpa. I didn't think I'd be able to survive without Grant at home, but I managed to really get a lot done and enjoy some one on one time with Laura.
My parents came for Laura's birthday and took her on a special trip to Mountain View, Arkansas. Laura had a really good time with her Meme and Don-Don. I'm pretty sure she got about anything she requested! On their last night, they attended a folk music show where Laura went up on stage with a clogger to show of her clogging moves and the waltz! The girl can really dance pretty good! This is definitely a trait she did NOT inherit from her daddy! My parents have the pictures from this weekend and I'll need to upload the ones of Laura on stage!!

Since Grant was already in St. Louis, Jim and I enjoyed two days with no kids at our house. We cleaned and organized closets, talked, went out to dinner and just enjoyed a quiet house for a couple of days. It was nice. The picture pretty much sums up Laura. She is wearing sponge rollers (b'day present) and her hair looks soo cute with the curls. That will have to be another post!
While my parents were in town, we went to Heifer International in Little Rock. It was educational and I learned some news ways to be more "green". We also headed over to the Peabody Hotel to watch the march of the ducks.
We also rented a pontoon boat for a day at the lake. The weather looked promising, a friend was watching Grant, and our lunch was packed. We enjoyed about an hour of jumping off the boat, swimming and eating. Jim, our captain, decided it was time to try a little fishing, so we head over to a spot on the bank. The anchor is down and about that time a very fast approaching thunderstorm moves into the lake. We quickly decide it is best to get to a safe place, but our anchor is stuck. After many attempts to pull the anchor, we cut it off and try to race out the storm. Unfortunately the pontoon boat is not that fast, so the storm is upon us and we are getting drenched with flashes of lightning and thunder all around. Laura was a bit scared (as was me and my mom). We made it to the marina in time to get to our car before the next storm rolled in. Luckily the boat rental did not charge us for the lost anchor since we were caught in the storm. It was fun nonetheless and hopefully Laura will still get in a boat after that experience!! Of course I forgot my camera, so I'll have to get those pictures as well from my mom's camera.

Lastly, I took Grant to get his first haircut. If you notice from the above picture with Jim's dad, Grant is sporting a pretty good mullet! He did great for his cut and now looks more and more like a little boy. (sigh)
We are in the middle of home improvement in our kitchen. Well, Jim is in the middle of it!! Stay tuned for before and after pictures...

Vacation Highlights

A couple weeks ago, we headed to Houston and Austin, Texas, to visit with the family. We spent 4 nights in Austin where we saw my brother and his family. It was a fun time having all the cousins together! My parents rented a "lake" house meaning it was near Lake Travis not on the lake. Instead of the lake, it did have a fantastic pool which we used everyday all day long!

My brother and his daughter Reve' share the same birthday, so we celebrated that occasion together.

The cousins playing duck duck goose.

A picture of ALL the cousins! We LOVED that Joe (the oldest one) joined us in Austin for the fun. He is a blast to be around. We teased him that his was the "manny" for the kiddos.

Lots and Lots of swimming

Laura absolutely loves to swim. And after this second round of swim lessons, she is officially swimming using her arms and everything. I think swim team is in our future.....

Grant on the other hand is still not sure of the water. He likes it, but he prefers to be like his sister and not use floaties.

Swimming, Softball & Mosquito Bites

Laura is into her second week of swim lessons and loving every minute of it. She wakes up every day asking when we get to go to lessons. She is not afraid to jump in the water from the side or diving board. Since I'm a big fan of swimming, I'm glad Laura is enjoying the water so much. I have been teaching swim lessons while Laura is in the water, so I'm also having a good time!!
We signed Laura up for a 4 day softball camp that started on Monday. I was a bit worried that it might not go over that well for her as she has never played before and the girl doesn't like to get hot and sweaty. But, we thought it would be good for her to try out a team sport and sweat a bit! She has done really well being the youngest at the camp and she was delighted to find two other little friends there as well.


The kids are definitely enjoying more time with Jim since he has been more free to be at home. Hide and seek, chase, playing outside and reading books have been the favorite activities with Daddy! It is nice to have him home more, although, it is probably a good thing he is teaching in the month of July. Jim gets a little stir crazy if he doesn't have enough "stuff" going on!
Grant is up to the usual....being a stinker! He is cutting about 4 molars which has him fussy some days, but overall, he is a happy camper. He loves being outside, getting dirty and playing with balls. Unfortunately, he has sensitive skin which has caused him to have allergic reactions to grass and mosquito bites. Last week, his eye was swollen shut from a bug bite and he had huge welts on his legs. The doctor said it is something he will outgrow, but in the meantime, this is what he looks like on occasion:::

The Start of Summer

I'm working on my blog layout, so it will be "under construction" until I have enough time to get it completed.

Last week, Jim went on a fishing trip with his dad for three days. I was worried about being alone with the kids for so long, but we did great. Laura and I had a slumber party each night so I had a warm body in bed with me. We stayed pretty busy playing in the sprinkler, going to the park and seeing the motorcycle entry at the Special Olympics. That was really neat. I love this picture of Laura and Grant waiting by the window for Jim to return.


Laura finished up school last week. It was a great year for her with a lot of maturity gained. I'm proud of her academic accomplishments as well as developmental growth. She went from crying her eyes out when we dropped her off to entering school with a skip in her step. We decided to delay Kindergarten one more year due to her late summer birthday and other reasons, so she'll go to Pre-K again next year on Tuesday and Thursday.

First day of school picture

Last day of school pictureThe past two weeks we have enjoyed watching our caterpillars grow into butterflies! Laura especially loved watching them form into cocoons and coming out a butterfly. We fed them sugar water for a few days and released them this morning. I think we'll order the caterpillars again later this summer. Goodbye ButterfliesGrant was only interested in getting in and out of his car while we released the butterflies!