Playing a little catch-up... (May)

ROUND TWO:

May is just flying by around here!!! Does anyone else think so?! Geeesh!

After a very full April (including a great wk. in Tulsa w/ family...see upcoming post), we started off May just as busy of course!

All of the ladies on my Mom's side of the family (minus Nana) met up in TX during the first wknd. of May. We spent the wknd. hanging out @ Steph/Aaron's friends' awesome lakehouse, cooked meals together, made a shopping trip to Canton (World's largest craft fair/flea market) 2 days in a row, and even attended Steph/Aaron's church Sun. morning b/f returning home soon after. It was a fast and furious wknd., but we always have such a good time together ~ just the girls! : ) The kids did SO good @ Canton despite the extremely hot and humid temperatures both days and lack of naps. We were so thankful and appreciative!







We spent our first full free wknd. (during the students' week of final exams) in Branson just the 4 of us. And, it just happened to be Mother's Day wknd. too! We had been desiring some family time for so long and it was much-needed. The weather was beautiful! It was a little chilly each day, but sunny. We never actually got hot, even @ Silver Dollar City that Sat. for several hours. Saturday was actually just cool enough that we didn't even desire to do anything water-related.
We spent the wknd. sleeping in a little, eating out @ a couple restaurants, treating the kids (and ourselves) to a little ice cream in the evening, spending the day @ SDC (which was PACKED due to several lg. groups that were there...but still a lot of fun), and just playing w/ the kids back @ the hotel. We also ate a Mother's Day brunch together @ our favorite (IHOP) and fit in a tiny bit of shopping b/f heading back home to see some family b/f church. The wknd. FLEW by, and we hope we get a chance to do it again!

Some of the pictures from SDC are a little special b/c Kennedy branched out and rode a couple new rides that she didn't want to ride last time we were there. Thanks to her Daddy who pushed her to "try new things" and "conquer her fear"...she was braver than her Momma needless to say. : ) Now there isn't a single (child) ride that she won't ride there, which makes for a full day! The big, tall swings scared her to death once they got in line to ride them. But after many tears and some hilarious nervous laughter...she did it! And loved it for that matter! We were so proud of her and notified several family members right after she did it who were thrilled as well.
Will got such a kick out of watching her wave to him from the rides, and even got to ride 1 ride w/ me and Lil' Miss! We couldn't believe it! He was a little hesitant when we would move up and down @ first, but he eventually didn't want to get off! Lil' Man also loved waving to the train anytime it passed by during the day as well. : )

The pictures involving Will wearing a cowboy hat were taken in Joe's Crab Shack downtown @ The Landing. We ate dinner there after SDC and celebrated an early birthday for Will w/ the waiters and waitresses there. He kept looking around like, "What in the world is going on?" It was hilarious! But, rest assured that he loved every second of everyone singing to him and even clapped after it was all over. Ha, ha!

It was a great, GREAT wknd.!

P.S. ~ We would have obviously loved to spend all day Sun. w/ our beautiful Mothers as well. But, it certainly was special spending this Mother's Day just the 4 of us, now that I'm a Mother to two wonderful blessings. We are MORE than blessed to be surrounded and constantly encouraged by such genuine, nurturing, determined, loving Moms. They do so much for our family and are such incredible examples of what a Godly woman/wife/Mother/Grandmother looks like. Thank you God for our wonderful Mothers! We couldn't ask for anything more! And thank you for all of the Moms in our life (Mothers/Grandmothers/Aunts/friends' Moms/etc.).


















The rest of May has been spent doing a little "shopping",... (ha, ha)




...a little "organizing",...




...a little goofing off,...




...and even a little peek-a-boo. : )





And of course, we've had a BIG 1st birthday for a certain lil' man to prepare for and celebrate around here too!!! Too fun!!! (B-day post coming soon)

Playing a little catch-up... (April)

WOW! WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN?

After a busy end to the semester on campus + a thing called L-I-F-E happening week after week...blogging had to be put on the back-burner for a while. I apologize. So, here's an update on what April brought for our family... May is next!

The Fayetteville Square Farmer's Market started back up, and we got up one Sat. to see everything that's already blooming/growing/etc. The kids definitely enjoyed "people watching" as well as all of the music being played around the square. It was a beautiful Saturday and we will certainly be visiting it again once there are more fresh vegetables available.





We have LOVED visiting the park already (esp. Lake Fayetteville - which is so close to us) on the pretty days too! Kennedy and Will enjoy swinging now so much and can't get enough of it sometimes. Plus, we look fwd. to anytime we're able to fly Kennedy's new kite that she received for her 3rd birthday (thanks Aunt Stephy/Uncle Aaron/Ayan/Lyla)!








April also brought Will's 1st Easter and the wonderful celebration of Christ's resurrection. It was one of the most beautiful Easter Sundays I ever remember, when SUCH gorgeous weather + temperatures! The kids enjoyed their Easter basket goodies (even though Will wasn't awake until right b/f church and saw his later in the day).
After the morning service and welcoming several visitors, we spent the special day out in Huntsville w/ Patrick's family as well as several of our college students who remained in town over Easter wknd. My mother-in-law was so sweet to host everyone, even though it was a little different than our traditional family afternoon together. We all had so much fun and there is NOTHING like seeing 6 of our close college students "join the family" for the day and help hide Easter eggs for the cousins + a couple of other little family-friends! We hope they enjoyed their Easter afternoon w/ the family as much as they seemed to. : ) And of course...Will slept through it all. Ha, ha! Gotta love those l-o-n-g Sun. afternoon naps!

Beautiful memories...






















April also brought the return of Intramural softball @ the U of A. Several students formed an MBSF team again this year and both kids had a BLAST cheering them on each wk. on campus! We had an awesome group this yr. that played, and even a few visitors that got to know the group the those few weeks.





Kennedy and I were able to spend some Mother-daughter time together one morning as Daddy and Will hung out while Daddy worked from home. We tried out the 'JumpZone' in Bentonville for the first time, and had endless fun climbing on and sliding down all of the huge inflatables. It was intended as a play date, but when no one else was able to show that day...we made a date out of it! She soaked up every minute of it of course. And she even made a little friend while were there.
We WILL be going back FOR SURE!

We also got to see some really great friends, the Kennedy's, last month. We looked SO fwd. to it for so long, b/c of our busy schedules. And we can't wait to see each other again! Their sweet daughter, Anniston, is not much younger than Will. She had a fun day herself visiting the park and getting to experience several of her "firsts"! We had a picnic @ the park, played w/ the kids on the playground, went back to our house so all of the kiddos could get a much-needed nap (while Lindsey Kennedy/I and Nick/Patrick switched off getting out of the house for a tiny bit). Then after the kids got all rested up, we headed back to the park to push them in the swings for a little bit. Fun, fun day! We were so thankful that they drove up for the day to meet up!













I helped host 2 great showers, a baby shower and a bridal shower. Josh and Dana (young couple, friends from church) are welcoming Miss Jewel Ada into their family this wk. And, Brittany and Doug (2 of our close, faithful students in MBSF) are getting married @ the end of May. They received lots of goodies @ their showers, and they were fun to be a part of too. (In my defense in the first hostess picture...I was wearing my mission trip shirt b/c MBSF was leading worship the morning of the shower, and I didn't have time to change). : )









We spent a wknd. camping and floating on the Buffalo River @ the end of April w/ 15 of the college students. It was by far the most rain I've EVER seen or experienced while camping, but we all made the most of it and had a ton of fun!







Another awesome part of April was our week-long trip "home" to Tulsa w/ family! It passed WAY too fast and we didn't get to see even half of the people we would have like to see...but it was still a great week! I'll post some pictures soon from our busy wk., b/c there are SO MANY to go through still. : )