Are the Terrible Twos Headed Our Way???

Happy Birthday to Grant! He turned two last week. It is really hard to believe that he is growing up so fast. It really does seem like just the other day he was born. I wish there were some way to slow things down a bit.
We celebrated by having Matt's family over for dinner and cake~cakes on his actual birthday. We got him a little barn with some horses and a little cabin/house for the back yard. He just loves to play in things like that. Now Rhett has asked for one too. We are trying to convince him that we really don't need two of those in our yard, and that they can share. We'll see if he drops it. Grant got a Batman car from Mom Tom and Big Mac. He also loves to push cars around. He does the cutest thing with his fingers when you ask him how old he is. He crosses his first two fingers on both hands holds them out to you and says, "two." It is precious.

Just of the 8 of us immediate family on Matt's side, 5 people have their birthdays right here around eachother (Larua and Alex, mother and daughter, on the same day even), so Tommie also has a family birthday dinner for the special birthday people. Then in addition to that we will have the boys birthday party for their friends to come to. We will also have a birthday dinner on Rhett's actual birthday as well. So, as you can tell, we get birthday'd out around this time of year. It's always exciting around here. Here are a couple pics from Grant's birthday.

Soccer Season

Rhett's first soccer season is in full swing. Although we don't "keep score" I can tell you our team is dominating! Matt is coaching Rhett's team this year and is really having fun (and also gaining a newfound respect for my job). Rhett is having a ball going to practices and games. He loves that his dad is the coach. He especially loves drink time! We have a lot of friends on our team this year, which worked out really well. Anyone looking for some good/free entertainment on Saturdays through November let me know and I will get you our schedule. Until then... Go Chargers!

Horsing Around

Every now and then, Mom Tom breaks out the big ones. Grant really likes horses these days, so Mom Tom saddled up the horses and let the kids go for a ride. Both boys had a great time, but Grant was just elated to be riding a horse. Sometimes he wants nothing to do with them, luckily not this day. However, from this day forward, no riding without helmets.

Labor Day Weekend

Sara, my sister, and I decided spur of the moment Saturday morning to load up and go visit our parents over the holiday weekend. For those of you who know me well, you know that there is this place I LOVE, Chet's~Home of the BEST hot dog in the world. If you ever have a hankering to try it out, give me a call. I am up for a road trip. Anyway, I figured if we were going to make it that far with no plan and no one knowing we were coming, we were not going without hot dogs and lots of them. Sara agreed, and off we went. We loaded up our three kids in her mother in-law's mini van and headed that way. We stopped by both of our parents house to surprise them. We sat the kids on the porch, ran around the corner and let them knock on the door. They were so thrilled! They had NO idea we were coming. I am always about surprises, so that was right up my alley. We headed on to Muskogee for our hot dogs. When I told the girl that we had driven 4 hours just to eat there, she couldn't believe me. Aside from the 15 or so hot dogs we ordered she threw a few in for free on top of that. There is only seating for about 5 or 6 in Chets so we have always taken our hot dogs to Honor Heights Park, about a mile away and eaten there our whole lives, so we introduced our children to the experience. I love tradition and this fit right in. We had a blast at the park, but before long it got dark so we were off to our next stop~ Papa's house.

We were there for a short stay. The boys' Gigi and Bobo came and spent the night too. The next day we went for an early morning boat ride. And, off we went again. This time we met Pepaw, Carla, and Lindsey at Creekmore Park in Fort Smith for a picnic lunch and train ride around the park. Or should I say train rides. Each trip (2 times around the park) is 25 cents. I rode once around, but Rhett and Grant got to ride about 6 or 7 times with Pepaw and Carla. It was really a lot of fun!

Gotta Love It!

White River Water Carnival

OK~ So the Water Carnival is one of my favorite things about living in Batesville. From the first year I lived here to present day, I have been to some aspect of the event (river activities, parade, etc...). More recently, like the past 5 years, I have been working with the White River Pageant Association. This was my lucky year-HAHA!!! Somehow, I ended up chairing the WRPA. I leaned a lot on a new great friend of mine, Mark Sparks. But there is just something about being the one ultimately in charge. Especially if the ship is going down. Don't get me wrong, I do love the pageant and when it gets to the week of, I really do enjoy working and watching, but the preparation is unreal. I guess that is true with any production. My main qualm is that people are under the assumption that if they can't or just don't want to complete their duty that the chairman will either find someone to complete the task or do it HERSELF (in my case). Matt has been a trooper through the whole ordeal, although he kept asking where the perks were. This sort of thing is not really his "cup of tea." It's kind of been my tradition to "take off" on Saturday and spend the day with my kids. That was really a lifesaver this year because I don't think I could have done one more consecutive day. So, we went to the parade and down to the river to check out the festivities going on down there. It is kind of a tradition now that we watch the parade at our good friends (watch out, here comes a hyperlink), the Brisseys, so we just spent the entire day with them. The two "queens" are our last years Miss White River and White River's Outstanding Teen, who is now Arkansas' Outstanding Teen. It was a scorcher, but we had fun!

BEFORE

AFTER

I figured, as hot as it is outside, now was as good a time as any to try it. Although some of you really thought they needed a good haircut, I just can't get used to it. It is growing back out.

It's (past) Time for the Fair

I say past time because the fair was actually last week, but I am just now getting around to posting about it. We went with some friends of ours and I am so glad we did because Rhett really had a good time getting to ride the rides with one of his best buddies. We walked around and saw all of the animals and then went on to the rides. Both boys loved everything the got on. While we were there, we ran into another family who also go to Mrs. Linda's with our boys. Their little girl and Rhett are absolutely in love. We call this a picture of their first car date. Did you know there was such a thing as a wheat funnel cake? I didn't either and I don't recommend it.

We're Baaaaack

We have returned from our vacay in the great town on Branson, Missouri.

We really didn't have much down time to relax, but we did have a good time, with more than enough excitement thrown in.

The first night we were there, we went down to The Landing, which is an outdoor mall with restaurants, a water fountain and light show, and a few sidewalk vendors.

Rhett made his first Build a Bear. It is a dog, whose name WAS JoJo. Between the time we made the birth certificate and got to the register his name was changed to Bear. His name has since changed to Spiderman Dog, since the clothes we bought for him are a Spiderman costume.

The next day, we got up and went to Silver Dollar City with Laura and Alex. Rhett rode lots of rides and Grant was even able to ride several things (we even snuck him on one ride-don't worry, he was not in danger at any time).

When we got home from SDC we went down to the indoor pool so the kids could swim. The floor was tile and what do you know?????? One of my kids fell and got hurt. Grant was just standing there when his feet slipped out from under him and he fell face first onto the tile floor. His front bottom two teeth when all the way through his lip and one of his front top teeth was chipped pretty bad. We were on our way to the ER when we called ahead to see what, if anything they could do for him. They said since he was so small that they would not stitch it and that we should just keep ice on it and get the swelling down and get it to stop. It is healing quite nicely, but I will be taking him to see about getting his tooth filed and evened out a bit. Good thing we know a good dentist!

For the remainder of the trip, Grant couldn't eat much. His poor lip was so swollen. The next night we went to eat at Red Lobster and we got Grant a smoothie. He loved it! He also at a bowl of applesauce. I guess the soft/cold felt good on his lip. Poor Big Mac got stuck at the end of the table between all the kids. At least he was in the shade, which was more than we can say for all the rest of us.

After dinner we went to see Noah, which was great. A little long-but good. The kids really liked all the animals and that Big Mac is such a sucker. They all went down at intermission and came back with the biggest, furriest animals for sale in the gift shop (plus, drinks for all). Oh, and Matt got in trouble for putting the boys up on the lion.

On Thursday, before we left, we had to go ride go carts. I guess it is a McDonald thing. Matt and Laura have a little friendly competition with their kids. I guess I will have to get involved when Grant is old enough to ride. Look out! Grant and I will be on your tail.

Thanks Mom Tom and Big Mac for the wonderful trip! We had a GREAT time! And thanks for the Krispy Kreme Donuts. They really hit the spot!

To Sustain Till the 4th

I will be out of the blog world until the 4th. I thought I would give you a little bit to hold you over until our return. Mitzi, hold that baby boy in till I get back. Everyone else, blog away, so I have lots to read when I get back. I know I will be having withdrawls.

Grant loves playing with the Mr. Potato Head stuff. We have acquired a very large amount of it. Matt and I got them the first kit, their babysitter got them some more for their birthdays, my mom got them a NYC kit when she went their on a trip and somehow we have extra pieces galore. These glasses are Grant's favorite accessory and he really likes to wear them.

Kid's got some MAD soccer skills. And he looks good too. Need I say more...