Spring Break Begins!

We are going on a spring break trip this year! Just Jared and me, that is. The kids are at my parents house this week and we are off on a much-needed vacation. We chose New Orleans for some reason. I've never been so I am so very excited! We don't really have a schedule per se but we have several things in mind to do. My plan is to post every night when we come in from the day. Knowing me, it won't happen that way but I have to have goals.

Today, we got a late start. Jared had to go in to work since he had a board meeting to attend this afternoon. I took the kids to Batesville and dropped them off at my parents house. We left Little Rock around 5:30. Our plan was to drive all the way to Hammond, LA and spend the night in a cheap hotel. "Why Hammond?" you might ask. You won't believe this but there is a golf course here that Jared has wanted to play at for some time.(For those of you that care, it's a David Toms course.) About an hour into our trip, Jared suggested that I use his phone to book us a room for the night. 45!! minutes later we had a room reserved at the Best Western Inn and Suites in Hammond. Just by booking the room ahead of time on Expedia.com, we saved $30! True story. We finally arrived at 12:30 a.m., only to find out that they "had" to bump us up to a suite because all the regular rooms were taken. So, we paid $59+tax for a suite! I'd say it was a pretty good start to our trip.

Jared is heading out before 8 o'clock in the morning to go play golf and I have between now and then to decide if I'm going to go with him to ride in the cart and take pictures OR take him to the course and come back to the hotel and hang out for 3 hours till he's done.(I spotted a TJ Maxx across the street from our hotel on the way in!) Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what I decided to do and what fun we had when we arrived in New Orleans!

After All, We're Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Thanks to Aunt Callie for the cute St. Patrick's Day shirts. The kids normally wear uniforms to school but I knew if they didn't wear their shirts today, it wouldn't be any fun. So I let them wear them with their khakis. I didn't get a call from the school to come get them or make them change so they got to be festive and wear green. We are Irish, you know.

Life

Is it March already? It seems like just yesterday I was posting about the snow! Where does the time go? Life is nothing but a whirlwind.
I am no longer employed at Pleasant Valley Day School, which is a HUGE blessing. I was only working Tues/Thurs from 8-2 but apparently my tolerance to stress is very, very low. My body didn't respond so well and I ended up on some medicine for anxiety. I resisted the medicine for several months, thinking I could overcome the problem myself. I finally resorted to the medicine after I realized I couldn't do it on my own. I feel tons better and am already weaning myself off the meds after only a month. As I said before, I also quit my job, which is what pushed me over the edge, in my opinion. That whole ordeal just confirms my decision to never go into the education field. For now I am keeping an 8 week-old three days a week. I love being at home every day again. I don't get a shower and get dressed until the baby and Chase are both napping at noon. My laundry is kept up with(mostly) and my house is slightly cleaner. The most important part is I am HAPPIER! Life is good. I thank God daily when I wake up happy in the morning(after coffee). We still have a crazy family schedule and life isn't always ideal but it's good because God blesses us EVERY DAY.

We've had a few big events in the last two months a some small developments too. No, I am not pregnant. Avery had a daddy/daughter dance at school in February. Oh she was so excited for days! She was a little put out that we didn't go pick out a new dress but her excitement for the big event superseded her disappointment over no new dress. She picked out Jared's tie and I straightened her hair with my CHI. It was a BIG deal.

Jared got her a wrist corsage and a single rose before they went. It was so precious.







Just Monday Hunter and Jared celebrated their birthdays. Hunter turned 8 and Jared, 31. I told Hunter, just as I told Avery for her birthday, that they could pick any restaurant they wanted to for their birthday dinner. Avery chose The Purple Cow for hers-AWESOME for everybody. Hunter, on the other hand, chose Play Time Pizza. Bleh! A promise is a promise so we went to Play Time Pizza for dinner Sunday night. Food-awful. Games-Chuck E. Cheese-like. The kids all had fun so and that was the ultimate goal. I guess we can sacrifice one night a year.

Happy Birthday, Boys!

Real Snow (for Arkansas)

We got some snow! Good snow that when it fell was so soft and fluffy! I can't remember the last time it snowed such perfect snowflakes. I didn't even know we were supposed to get any snow and then I woke up to the sound of sleet on my window at 2:30 a.m. and remembered that Buck was still outside! Aahhh! I jumped up and put him out in the garage and went back to bed. When I awoke at 6:45 to get the kids up, I looked outside and saw the snow/ice. It snowed all day long! HUGE, beautiful flakes. The neighbors were out by 9 and we were all bundled up and out by 10. There were about 4 families at one time out in our cul-de-sac, throwing snowballs at each other and making a snowman. Jared and I were also opening our mouths and trying to catch the flakes in them. We stayed out for about 2 hours and had lots of fun. I think Jared and I were the last ones inside, actually.

We are now on Day 3 of no school. The snow is lingering outside but isn't fluffy and soft anymore because it's been sunny but right at freezing during the day. It melts but then at night it freezes up again. My house is a mess and Chase and I have worn our pj's for 2 days now.(We changed our pj's at night after our shower) At least we had bread and milk in the house.

It's Been Awhile

I told you so! To all 2 of you followers, I told you from the start that I would not be a good blogger. We're a busy family for sure but that doesn't mean I haven't had ANY free time to update this blog. When I do have free time, I have to choose what I want to do the most. I guess it's obvious where the blog falls in that category. However, this is Day 3! of no school due to snow/ice so I have some time on my hands.

We did celebrate Christmas. I now have pictures on my computer to prove it. We were home on Christmas morning and that was so fun! We finally got loaded up around 3 p.m. on Christmas day to head to Memphis. We stayed there for a few days and had 3 different gift exchanges! I'm pretty sure this was the last Christmas Hunter really believed in Santa. He didn't talk much about him and he told me that there were some girls in his class at school who thought their parents were the ones who ate the cookies and milk left for Santa. I acted totally shocked. I only said, "Man, I hope they still get presents for Christmas." I'm sure next year, 3rd grade, his eyes will be opened to the truth. The kids had a great Christmas though. Santa brought Hunter a Razor Spark scooter and a new Mongoose helmet. Avery got a new bike and a helmet and Chase got a Radio Flyer scooter and a helmet. Let me explain why they all got helmets, besides the fact that they're supposed to wear them. At Hunter's 7 year checkup, which was about 6 months late, his pediatrician asked him if he wore a helmet when he rode his bike. Now, when he said no, who was the little "talking to" directed toward actually? Us, right!She lectured him on the safety of riding with a helmet on to protect his head and that he shouldn't ride anything without one. Ugh. Overprotectiveness at it's finest. I'm all for safety and all but geez, kids have to get some injuries along the way right? Also I, for one, couldn't imagine riding a bike or a scooter with a helmet on. I think it would be very uncomfortable and distracting, which could ultimately cause a wreck in and of itself. Whatever. They have helmets now so next time the doctor asks if they have helmets to wear they can say yes.

Finally

I've been wanting to get some pictures of the family and just haven't had the time to do it. I really wanted to take some when the leaves were at their peak but that really didn't seem to happen here this year. I don't know if it was because we got so much rain or what but I was a little disappointed in their showing this year. That's neither here nor there. We went to mom and dad's last weekend for mom's 60th birthday and the weather Sunday was absolutely gorgeous! There weren't anymore trees that had colorful leaves on them but I thought the landscape itself was a beautiful backdrop. I was pretty certain that out of 35 acres I would be able to find SOMEWHERE to take some good pictures. Obviously we couldn't get everyone to smile at the same time. Who does? I'm just happy we got all of us in the same picture. My dad just got a tractor last week and he wanted a picture of us sitting on it.:)

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone and what kind of mother would I be if I didn't put some pics of my kids in their costumes on my blog??!! I told Jared around the beginning of September, when I started seeing costumes at the stores, that I wanted to get the kids costumes early this year so we wouldn't have to just settle for what was left in the stores the week of. Where are we the Tuesday night before Halloween? In the seasonal aisle at Walmart looking for costumes. Since Chase isn't old enough to understand that he gets to choose what he wants to dress up as, his costume was decided for him. We had a clown costume from when Aunt Callie was little(probably 4 or 5) that fit him nicely. Avery wanted to be Barbie so I thought I could appease her by suggesting that we put make-up on her and she could wear some clothes she already had. We did buy her a long, blond wig and some fake fingernails. She was thrilled. Hunter was the choosy one. He wanted to be a ninja but 4 days before Halloween, you usually don't get the costume you want. After much deliberation he decided to be an "army guy". I just assumed he would want the camo face paint to go with it but no. He doesn't like paint on his face. So, his costume was kind of lame but he was happy and he got candy so all was well. (Except that I had to take Avery to the after hours childrens clinic on Saturday morning. She had strep throat.) After a HUGE penicillin shot in the leg, she was good. We already have next year's costumes too! After church on Sunday, we ate at Jason's Deli and went to the Halloween Express store in the same parking lot and got next year's costumes for 1/2 off! Woo Hoo!