Happy Holidays 2011

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  We were able to see almost every family member over the past week. We enjoyed Christmas morning at our house then we loaded up for the LA tour.  Last night I was going through the aftermath and was amazed how blessed our children are.  Not just from the gifts but from the large number of people who love them and want to contribute to their holiday. I'll put a gallery up soon.  Until then, I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year. Cheers.

p.s. If you want a little holiday game, click the picture above for a larger view and try to find Noah.

Fresh air

On Sunday we had to take Finley back to her mom. We met in Clarksville and made the switch. Afterwards we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. There was a trail head we noticed so we decided to have an impromptu picnic. It really was a pretty day, so we decided to explore the paved part of the trail.

I'm sharing this story for two reasons. First I wanted to share this picture of Campbell with her 'walking stick' because it was pretty cute. Second was a pretty funny story crom the hime.

We are far from tree huggers but we've always told Noah not to kill bugs and such for no reason. All creatures great and small, yada yada yada. We leave animals in their habitat unless a spider is dumb enough to come in the house then it's survival of the fittest vs my size 13.

On this day, Noah yelled at his mom to stop in the middle of the walk. She complied and he rescued a grasshopper that somehow avoided the stroller and her feet. He was amazed the bug survived and he showed it to Campbell who dutifully bent over to inspect it. He shared with Cam his entire knowledge of grasshoppers and then told the little guy to "hop off the sidewalk before you get hurt." Right on cue Campbell swung her walking stick overhead with both hands and with truly amazing accuracy smashed the grasshopper into a dozen or so grisly pieces. It was the first time (I'm sure not the last) I had to restrain Noah from attacking his little sister.

Campbell's 1st party for her 2nd birthday

I know that is a weird title, but I couldn't figure out a way to say it shorter and not be confusing.  Campbell's birthday this year falls on Thanksgiving Day.  That created a whole world of logistics problems for the family so we decided to have 2 parties.  1 in Springdale and 1 in ElDorado.  Yesterday was the Springdale party.  She had a lot of fun.  I'm still not sure she knew the party was for her but she loved the party just the same.  

I started culling pictures to post but honestly, this one here sums up the whole thing. After the party in ElDorado I'll make a gallery combining the two parties.  Happy Birthday to my little girl!

Mamaw and Papaw for the Weekend

We had a really nice weekend with Mamaw and Papaw coming to visit.  They did the usual.  Pancakes at McDonald's to start the day. Happy Meals at lunch. Then they play wherever the kid's want.  On Saturday, Jenna and I took advantage of them and took off to Tulsa for the night. We went to the Heritage Beer Festival while the kids went to the Drive-Thru-Safari in Gentry. Win-win all the way around :)

Gallery and slideshow up now.

 

Hippos and T-Rexes and 4 Loco, oh my!

We had an awesome trip to St. Louis last weekend. The DiCarlos played perfect hosts. We spent the whole weekend either shuttling the kids to something cool or hanging on their deck and just enjoying the company. Our families click well with the kids getting along and laid back parenting. I did a fair job of hanging with Nick, but the trip home had me regretting the Four Loco and seeing the other side of 1AM three nights in a row.

I uploaded a gallery above. It's mostly the kids at the Magic House, Zoo, and the Science Center.  


Cousins

Jana came to visit last weekend with Noah and I'm always amazed at the love they share. They have their own secret language like siblings. Campbell is crazy about her too. She followed Jana around and always wanted to sit by her. Jana will always be the 'cool' older cousin she compares herself to. I wish they they were able to see each other more. I can see the 16, 13, and 10 year old texting Jon Isaac and Malia how embarrassing their parents are.

Cam's 1st movie

Friday afternoon was light for me, so I snagged my little girl for a lunch date. Jenna was thinking of taking Noah to a movie so I checked times for her and noticed Winnie the Pooh was opening today and 1 started in 30 minutes right next to us so....

She did pretty good.  She giggled when Pooh was 'rumbly in his tumbly.' I noticed she stopped giggling about 40 minutes in so I checked on her and she was fast asleep.  She spent the last hour with her head on my shoulder snoozing away.  It was the best movie I've seen in a long time.

 

Happy Father's Day 2011

A guy and I were talking last week.  He and his wife are starting to think about kid's and he asked me how great it was.  My only response was it is everything you can imagine but this is not the week to ask because everyday I come home, Noah has paint on his hands.  He won't tell me what it's from, only 'it's a secret.' Finally, this morning I was given the fruits of his labor.  A blue box he painted for me. Inside was written, "I love you because..." and a bunch of notes.  Jenna swears he came up them all without prompting.  I also got a new apron with a new moniker that was pretty clever. Highlight of the day was hitting golf balls in the yard beside the trampoline while the kids jumped with a sprinkler on.  Noah singing with VBS at church was cool too.  All around great day.

Happy day to all the father's out there, especially my own.  I love you man.  Can't wait to tee it up soon.