Henry Funny

Dinner time is a battle at our house. Henry wants to be finished pretty quickly after starting to eat. We are concerned that he doesn't really know what "full" means! He never seems to get there. A couple of weeks ago, Henry was eating dinner and wanting to be finished shortly after starting.
I said, "You need to keep in eating because there is too much going on with your plate for you to be finished already!"
His reply, "Nobody's dancing, so this party is over!" I had a hard time keeping a straight face on that one.

First Grade

We officially have a first grader in our house. It is so hard for me to believe!!

Henry really likes school. He tells us his favorite subject is math and this week he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence by his teacher for "Marvelous Mathematician."

Henry told me I could not take any pictures on the first day of school, but I did anyway. His facial expressions tell the story.

I love this picture...little tongue sticking out and all.

We were able to snap a picture of Henry and his classmates doing the pledge before we left. What a sweet picture!!

Nothin' Says Vacation...Like Tulsa

WOW....I am a bad blogger. I have been playing too much Farkle on Facebook to blog - how sad!! Oh well - better late than never. I promise blogger friends, I will try to do better!! I pledge to make blogging more of priority!!

The week before school started back for me Scottie, Henry and I took a little vacation to Tulsa. We had planned to go to the beach at some point, but we bought a couch and really and truly the summer got away from us. I am realizing that we have to plan it or it just won't happen. Summers are busy. Anyway, we had a great time in Tulsa. I had been there with my mom to shop before, but really hadn't been there to just hang out. I thought it was a perfect trip. Scottie sang our theme song the whole time we were there..."Nothin' Says Vacation...Like Tulsa." Ask him to sing it for you - I am sure he will!!

Before we left, I got on the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce website and found a good deal on our hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn at Woodland Hills (right across the street from the mall...woot woot) and took advantage of their Weekend Escape for Family package. We had a nice room with a king sized bed for Scottie and me and a sofa sleeper for Henry. He LOVED it. He thought his bed/couch was magical. With the package, we each got a $5 game card and free game of mini-golf from Incredible Pizza Company (also right by our hotel) and a snack pack which included drinks for all of us, microwave popcorn and candy. It was a great deal!! When we got there we went to Incredible Pizza and played. It was great fun!

The next day we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium. I think I can speak for all of us...it was so cool! Definitely worth seeing.

Scottie and Henry feeding some stingrays.

My favorite part of the Aquarium was the shark tunnel. It was shark week on the Discovery Channel and we watched some of the shows that aired that week from our hotel room. Getting to see them up close was very cool.

Henry and Scottie standing by the World's Largest Fishing Lure. There was a fishing museum in the Aquarium that was also very interesting.

I love how real this picture looks. It's a little disturbing, though.

The last day of our vacation we stopped by the Tulsa Air and Space Museum to check things out. Little did we know it was Oklahoma Defender Days and very crowded. But we got to see some really cool planes.

Henry got to try out being an astronaut!



He also got to experience laying on a bed of nails.

We had a great time even though we didn't go very far from home. Henry's favorite part about it all was the hotel. Every time we went anywhere he asked how long until we went back to our hotel. He loved that they served breakfast in the mornings, the elevator, and he got to be in charge of the room key. It was very exciting to him. We think our next venture may be up to the Embassy Suites in Rogers - just so he can have another experience staying in a hotel!

School has started back and we are very busy. I've been reflecting back over the summer a little bit...here's how I spent mine...
...with my favorite 1st grader. First day pics coming soon.

Things I Learned Today

Here are some things that I learned today...

1. Little guys have bigger eyes than stomachs at a donut shop first thing in the morning. Monitor what they order and say "no."

2. When you take your car to "the shop" they may not get to it for a long, long time.

3. Changing baby hangers for big hangers in your child's closet is heartbreaking. But in a good way.

4. Some women are simply too old (and some too fat) to sport a string bikini in public. Please ladies, let's use discretion and not try to kid ourselves.

5. Reapply sunscreen. Enough said.

6. Staying away from sweets is not so hard. It just requires a little discipline and willpower.

7. My son is thoughtful and generous. He gave me $1.50 from his wallet (his idea) so I could get a drink at the aquatic park today and has told me all evening that I do not have to pay him back. Precious.

8. I love my family and my friends more than I express.

9. Being so sore from working out that it REALLY hurts to laugh is a good thing.

10. I married my soulmate and best friend. He is the absolute best.

Think about your day tomorrow...what did you learn and did it make you better? Today was an ordinary kind of day but I sure learned a lot.

Our Pool

I really love summer. I love getting to sleep in, hanging around the house and just having few responsibilities. But, I get a little bored during the summer. I definitely love my job and miss my friends at school during the summer. I will be ready when school starts back....and I think Henry will be, too. He loves school and is so excited about the 1st grade!

One of my favorite things about summer is our pool. We are so fortunate to have a small, inground pool in our backyard and we use it all the time! Henry is a great swimmer.

Our lab, Maggie, loves to swim, too. She is Henry's swimming buddy! She is a true retriever and will wear us out wanting us to throw things into the pool for her to get.

We had a youth girls' fellowship at our house a couple of weeks ago. The girls swam and we cooked hot dogs on the grill. It was a great time. After swimming we all went to the youth building to watch a movie. It was a fun night!

Carrie and Janet came over early for a little extra swim time.

Kelli and Pam surveying the pool.

Maggie had to be chained up that night so she wouldn't bug everybody. She got to show off her tricks once everyone was finished swimming.

Kelsy and Stephanie on Henry's swingset.

Eating on the patio. It was a really fun night. I hope we can do it again next year!!

4th of July

Summer is going by fast - no doubt about it! But I am enjoying it so much. 4th of July was a blast. Mom and Dad came over for lunch. We had decided several days before to grill and swim, doesn't everybody grill out on the 4th?? It seems to be the American way! Who knew it would thunderstorm most of the day. Anyway, we managed.

Henry was my helper in the kitchen (sort of). He loves to wear a chef hat and his "Grill Master Junior" apron whenever he works in the kitchen!

Henry and mom stirring the brownie batter. Dessert was brownies with homemade vanilla ice cream and homemade hot fudge sauce. Yes, I do know how to cook a little for all you doubters. Everything turned out so delicious in spite of the rain! Later that evening, we all went over to the high school/admin parking lot for the annual Farmington Fest. It's a celebration with food, music and fireworks show after dark. Such fun!

Henry and my dad at Farmington Fest.

Henry sitting with Caden and Riley Champagne at the Fest.

Our worship band from church played. Here's me at the keyboard. It was great fun!

I like this shot because you can see everybody in the band.

We had to delay our family fireworks until the 5th because we were up so late on the 4th watching the amazing Farmington show. We did a few things in the backyard with mom and dad, Carrie, Andy and Laura, but saved the good stuff for the next night. At dark we loaded up the fam (including Maggie, our lab) and headed to the church parking lot for our fireworks. Carrie, Andy and Laura joined us along with Justin and his girlfriend. It was a hoot. I am truly surprised that nobody lost a limb that night!

I have to admit - I love fireworks. I have fond memories of getting fireworks and sparklers each year and setting them off with my parents and brother outside of our house. Believe it or not, this isn't all that we had. Scottie and Henry made a stop at the local grocery store and picked up a few more! We had a great time setting them all off.

Super Summer Arkansas

Wow. The last couple of weeks have been a blur! We have been in Arkadelphia on the campus of our alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University, for Super Summer Arkansas. For those of you who may not know what Super Summer is, it is a camp sponsored by the Arkansas Baptist Convention. I think Super Summer has been around for about 25 years now. Scottie and I both attended as campers when we were in high school, were staffers in college, and now Scottie is on the Steering Committe responsible for planning the camp and served as chairman this year. It was a very exciting week!! My camera decided to crap out this week and has decided to work now that we are home, so I didn't get but a couple of pictures of the stage area. In addition to serving as chairman, Scottie was also stage manager and designed and built the stage.

The stage looked incredible. Scottie did an amazing job!! The band for the week was Two Empty Chairs and the speaker was Runks Runkles. Both were fabulous. What impressed me most about them was that they invested time in the students all week. They ate every meal in the cafeteria with the kids, they were on the recreation field and they took the time to really listen to the students. To me, that is what camp is all about. Too many times the speaker or band members think they are a big deal and don't spend the time getting to know people. But this year was different and so, so good. I am so glad I got to be part of the week. Here is the only other picture I was able to take from the backstage area where Scottie worked all week.

Before we left for camp my brother came to visit from California. It was his high school reunion in Fort Smith while he was here, but we were able to spend some time together. We really enjoyed spending time with "Uncle Brad!"
Now that we are home, I hope to be better about updating my blog! Keep reading!