Caleb's First Camping Trip

Dan and Caleb went on their first camping trip about a week ago. They went to the family farm in Bruno, Arkansas and stayed at Marvin's point, which is named after Dan's grandad who passed away before we got married. We dedicated a huge cross on his favorite part of the farm the summer after his passing and it has now become a great spot to camp!

Dan and Caleb had a wonderful time. Dan told me that Caleb kept saying "This is the best camping trip ever!". They actually slept in Dan's truck...otherwise known as the "Black Bomb" so that they wouldn't be sleeping on the cold floor. They had a campfire before bed and then the next morning they had eggs, bacon and pumkin cookies (that Caleb helped me bake) over the campfire. I am sure there will be many more camping trips for them in the future.

Pumpkin Patch

Jumping on Haybales

Ariel in deep thought about pumpkins
Caleb in deep thought about pumpkins
The crew on the hay ride

Hannah and I looking for the right pumpkin area!

The three of us.

Jumping on hay again!

The girls and their pumpkins

Sweet kids!

What a handsome boy!

About a week and a half ago we went to the McGarrah's Pumpkin Patch in Pea Ridge with our friends Tiffany and Hannah Lee. It was a great place to go to get that perfect pumpkin. The kids actually got to pick out the pumkin themselves and cut it off the vine which was a real treat. We also were able to go on a hayride!

Toddler Toes October 2008

This month we had Toddler Toes at Tricia Griffith's house. She was an awesome host. She had little areas set for all the kids to play in. She had Spaghetti that way colored green in a pot to represent worms, she had rice colored black with candy corns mixed in and the kids used chop sticks to try to get the candy corns out, she also had homemade orange play-doh, a costume area and a pumpkin decorating area. TONS OF FUN! And great company. The kids really enjoyed themselves!

Ariel's Party at the Park

We had a small get together at the park on Ariel's actual birthday (two weeks ago...sorry it has taken so long!) We were going to have the party at one of our favorite parks where we had Caleb's birthday party this year but when we got there, the ground was still really wet and all the sand was wet too. So we moved it to our second favorite park and we had a great time. Ariel's friends came and ate lunch with her and then we all had mini-cupcakes and sang happy birthday to her and let her blow out candles. It was great to have some her friends there to celebrate the day of her birth!

Singing Happy Birthday

Ariel's friends Avery and Ainsley (and Ainsley's mom Mandy)

Sweet Friends..Ariel and Ainsley

Sittin on the slide

Ariel and Mommy

The Birthday Girl with cake on her face

She is getting so big!

New Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks. I am going to try to update what we have done since Ariel's birthday at some point. Until then...enjoy these pics!

Ariel's Birthday (and update on her leg!)

We actually celebrated some of her birthday yesterday because Dan is working tonight but she doesn't know the difference! Last night she helped me bake a cake and make her favorite meal which is spaghetti and meatballs. You can see the remnants of the cake batter on her face here. She devoured the spaghetti and then afterward we had the cake. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she had candles in the shape of a 2. She did really well at blowing them all out but she did have a little help from her brother!

After dinner and cake we opened one present from my Dad and step mom. They went to Alaska a few weeks ago and they were gracious enough to send some souvenirs from their trip along with a cute ski type vest for Ariel and a book. She called the vest a "jacky" (jacket) and loved having it on! She also had the choice between two stuffed animals that they sent, a seal that we named "Harp" because it is a Harp Seal, and a Moose named "Shaggy" because he has shaggy hair. She of course chose the seal and has slept with it (and all of her other gifts!) the past two nights. Thanks Daddy and Les for the wonderful gifts!This morning I let her open another gift since Dan was only going to be home for a short amount of time today. I let her open a doll set that I got her that has snap on clothes and accessories. She has played with that the most today. Then we took Caleb to school. He went on a pumpkin patch field trip today with his class and picked out a cute little pumpkin...he is sleeping with it tonight. You have heard of the story "The Princess and the Pea" well "The Prince and Pumpkin" lives in my house!

Ariel and I then went to church since I am involved in a bible study on Tuesday mornings. After that we had some time to kill since I didn't want to get back out once we got home to go to Ariel's orthopedic appointment, so we went to Chick-fil-a to eat lunch and then went to Lighting Emporium (my old job from 4 years ago) in Springdale to see my old work friends. Then we went to Dilly Dally's and I got her a sweet little Scotty dog and a carrying case to go with it. At that time it was about 1:00. We had her doctors appointment which by the way went wonderful! God is so awesome! She was healed enough to not need a cast and she is able to keep mobile on it as long as she isn't too vigorous. That was TERRIFIC news!

My mom (Grandma) came by around 4:45 this evening and Ariel was still napping. Dan went and got her up and we started opening gifts shortly after. You can see from her expressions below that she loved her gifts. My mom got her a Little Mommy Baby Knows doll from fisher price, Great-Grandmother got her the matching high chair/glider/swing that goes with it, Caleb got her a Mrs. Potato Head (with his own money I might add!) and she got a pack in play and a set of bottles from Dan and I.

She had a great day and I could tell that she felt special all day! Happy Second Birthday my sweet girl!

Two years ago today!

Two years ago today my sweet baby girl was born. You can go here and see her birth story again if you would like. Here are three pictures from the day she was born, she was only 7 hours old.

My Birthday

I had a great day today. Since Dan was up until 1:00 delivering pizzas and didn't get in bed until a little after 2:00, I got up with Ariel at 6:45 this morning and then Caleb got up shortly after. I made apple cinnamon and banana muffins for breakfast and watched cartoons and played play-doh with the kids. Dan gave me a nice bundle of beautiful orange daisies and a sweet card. I received several phone calls from my mom, dad and Dan's mom and I even had one sweet friend call and sing to me on my voicemail!!

My friend Mandy offered to keep the kids for Dan and I so that we could go to lunch since he is working this evening (thanks again Mandy!!!). We went to Johnny Corino's and I got the Skilletini with alfredo sauce, a house salad, and a small piece of cheese cake. It was yummy! When we were finished eating, we went and picked up the kids. We brought Ariel (and Dan) home to take a nap, and then Caleb and I went shopping together.

I got over $100 to spend on clothes so I took my sweet boy with me since I don't get much alone time with him these days. He was such a good boy. He told me I looked beautiful and wished me Happy Birthday at least a dozen times...he knows already how win a woman's heart...WATCH OUT GIRLS!! I ended up getting two pairs of jeans and 7 nice shirts all for $106!! Not too bad considering this will get me through the whole winter season. I was in need of pants pretty bad. Since I am now almost in my pre-pregnancy size I was out of stylish jeans to wear. This time last year when I bought jeans I was 12 pounds heavier than I am now and two sizes larger. Makes shopping more fun when you are able to buy smaller jeans than what you did last year.

This evening I didn't do much. I cleaned the house a bit since we have group tomorrow evening. I took some clothes to a friend who in return gave me a WONDERFUL birthday present, I returned some movies to Redbox at Wal-Mart with my kids in their pj's, and I bought a Dr. Pepper while I was there...I get excited about DP here lately since I don't have them very often. I then came home and put the kids to bed, ate a bowl of cereal and I am about to watch some movies that I have recorded...Chicago and The Notebook. Dan should be home around midnight or later.

I had a great day. Thanks to all of you for making this day special!

Caleb's Chapel devotion October 1, 2008

Each Wednesday at school Caleb has Chapel with Pastor Loy. Yesterday their devotion was on "Mittens and Gloves". Pastor Loy sent home a sheet of paper that explains what he taught them. This is what he wrote...

Since today was the first day of October and in this month, some people start wearing gloves, today for our chapel devotion, the students and I talked about mittens and gloves. We discussed how mittens and gloves can keep our hands warm. They can be very pretty and soft. They can also help us do certain things- like work gloves or baseball gloves or batting gloves or doctor's gloves.

I brought one of my puppets, Adam, with me. When I put my hand inside Adam's head, it fir like a glove. And then my hand could make Adam's mouth open and close and look like he was talking. In Ecclesiates 9:10, God tells us, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." The jobs we do later in life may find our hands in many different kinds of gloves, but whatever we are doing, we should do with an attitude of following God and helping other people.

They ended with a prayer thanking God for our hands and asking God to help us always to use our hands to do good things and help other people.

Improvising

Since we aren't able to see the Dr. until Tuesday, I went out and bought an ace bandage and a tube sock that had the little individual toes in it. I cut the toes of the sock off and then tucked the end of the sock under her foot and the ace bandage. We call it her special sock. She still fusses at it but I am in hopes that it will keep her from being on it too much.

Hurt Foot?

UPDATE #2....I got a call from the orthopedic surgeon and I have an appointment for Ariel next Tuesday at 1:30. That is her birthday and I am sad for her. I am also a little upset at myself for not taking her in sooner but I know that I can't do anything about it now. Until then there isn't much that I can do. It will be 15 days since her injury by the time I see the orthopedist and I am not sure what he will say. I am heading to Wal-Mart to get an ace bandage so that I can put it on her leg so that MAYBE she will stay off of it as much as possible. I will let you all know how she is doing in a few days.


UPDATE.....Still no word from the Dr. I called about 30 min ago and left a message with the receptionist to have the Dr. call when she gets in. Ariel is still in pain and is not walking on it much at all today.


Last Monday I took the kids to the neighborhood park down the street. I went down a slide with Ariel and she got her foot caught in between my leg and the side of the slide. She screamed in pain. I kept my eye on it throughout the evening and tried to put ice on it. I gave her Motrin every 4 hours and when that wore off she would definitely let me know that she was in pain. Well, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week passed and she didn't get off the couch or the bed at all. Wednesday evening she started to crawl around a bit but was still not able to walk. I made an appointment to take her in to see the Dr. and to get an x-ray on Thursday morning but when she got up that morning she was walking on it and wasn't in any pain at all. So, I didn't take her in. All weekend long she hobbled on her left foot with no Motrin at all and she didn't complain too much.

Today she wasn't able to walk on it much and when she did she was kinda fussy and cranky so I decided I better go ahead and take her in since it has been 9 days with not much improvement. They took an x-ray and the nurse just called me. She has what is called a toddler fracture in her tibia (shin bone). So it wasn't her foot after all!

The nurse said that she has sent the x-rays to an orthopedic surgeon for him to look at. I should get a call within the next few hours. Not sure at this point if she will need a cast. I would like to think that she wouldn't need one since she is at least walking on it but I am not the doctor and I would rather get a cast so that it won't affect her walking. I will update when I know something.