First Day of School for Jocelyn

Can you believe it is that time of year again... YAY school !! This year Jocelyn started the second grade. She was really excited because several of her friends from first grade are in her class. We went to back to school night the night before and saw her teacher and classroom. She found her desk and all the fun books she will get to read this year. We walked to school and I told her I would pick her up after as Ethan had his Kindergarten Assessment right before school was out.

Here is my Little Princess all ready for school.

UPDATE: She had a great first day. She likes her teacher and had tons of fun playing with friends at recess. She also went to art which is one of her favorite subjects so that was just icing on the cake.

Ethan starts Kindergarten on the 30th, can't wait for him. He is going to love it!

H O M E !!!

GOOD BYE !!!

Naturally it seems that when you are getting ready to pack up and leave for a long trip something always goes wrong... for us it was Misha needing staples in her paw a few days before and then Ethan coming down with a random bug the day before. No worries though we were prepared and brought along a puke bucket; No, honestly he was feeling much better the day we packed up the Suburban. We tried to be more strategic this time and left Saturday night when Dave got off work so that we could drive a few hours and our kids could possibly sleep. It worked for the most part we drove from Little Rock, AR to Oklahoma City, OK which was about a 5 hr drive so we got into our "oh, so fabulous" room at around 2am. We had a interesting nights sleep with children who had received their second wind, and woke up the next morning at around 8am.

Day 2 was a doozie, we planned to drive from Oklahoma City, OK to Moab, UT making for one long day and a couple short days. The thought process was it would be easier on the kids; I think it was in the end. Anyways it was a very long Sunday but the kids and the dog were great. We arrived in Moab around 11am MT and being the genius I am did not schedule a room as I thought "honestly, how busy can Moab be on a Sunday night". Major flawed thinking on my part... after 5 hotels shutting us down either for no vacancy or no pets we decided to bite the bullet and go to the pricier hotels. Luckily, we got a great room on our first try. We stayed at the Comfort Inn and surprisingly the price wasn't hideous. They had amazing beds and after a long day of traveling we all just laid in bed and unwound before turning out the lights.

HELLO!!

Day3 was awesome because we were literally only 5 hours from home so we got up and everyone showered, grabbed a quick bite from the free continetal breakfast and we were off. On the way home we made a few necessary stops before arriving in Nibley at around 2pm. Now that's the time of day to get home. Dave's parents came over to visit with us and brought us dinner which was so yummy and so thoughtful as cooking was the last thing on my mind. My mom also showed up a little later to get in her much needed grand baby fix and help me out for the week. After everything winded down we attempted to get to be early as Dave had to catch his plane back to Arkansas the next morning at 5:30am.

We are so glad to be home but so grateful for the wonderful summer we had to spend together as a complete family. Now we are just cheering Dave on to reach his Goals and hopefully come home the end of September.

Trip to Missouri

Since we were within a few hours of my family in Missouri it seemed a bit ridiculous not to drive up and visit, the last time we were there Jocelyn had just turned 1 yrs old. We planned a fun family Sunday with Aunt Patty & Uncle Tim, Grandpa Thomas & Kathy, Aunt Alicia, Brandon and his kiddos,and Breanna and her family. The Mabe family are the Owners of the First Show on Branson, The Baldknobbers. Its a great show and I am so bummed that we didn't have enough time to go and see it, especailly now that tons of my family preform in it. Next time for sure.

Our drive up was great and it was so fun to drive through such familiar areas. We got to my Aunt Patty's around noon. We visited for awhile and enjoyed some lunch with them. My Cousins kids and are kids got along famously and had a blast playing and tearing up my Aunt's house. Around 3ish we said our goodbyes as we wanted to take the kids to see some sites in Missouri.

We drove down towards the Branson area and took the kids to the Talking Rocks Caverns. I remember going to these caves when I was younger and thought it would be fun for the kids. Other than being a little nervous about the height on the way down into the cave Jocelyn enjoyed it. Ethan was in little boy heaven and thought everything was just the coolest thing he had ever seen. Caitlyn did not enjoy being held by daddy the entire time but did seem to enjoy the atmosphere and Preston was just along for the free ride. After the caves our kiddos were completely done so we hopped into the car and headed home.

Other than a few whines and complaints about the long drive it was a wonderful day spent enjoying the area and spending time with family.

Jocelyn turns 7 years old

Usually for birthdays I am completely on top of things and make sure there are plenty of batteries in the camera for pictures. This time I dropped the ball big time, not only did I not have any batteries for the camera but my phone wasn't even charged up so I only managed a few less than fabulous pictures.. so my apologies.

Since Jo was away from the majority of her friends for her birthday we wanted her to extra special. We all got up super early and went to IHOP which is becoming a birthday tradition amongst our kids. In a fun coincidence our good friends the Connellys just happen to be going out to breakfast too so Jo got to eat with her friend Ali. After a yummy breakfast we took Jo to Walmart so she could go pick out her present from daddy. We spent the rest of the day playing at the pool and hanging out with friends.

Again, just like Preston we planned a birthday party for her on Sunday so that Daddy could be there to celebrate. Sunday was a blast we had cake and ice cream. The kids played freeze dance, hot & cold, and a few other games they made up. Jocelyn was completely spoiled by friends yet again and had a wonderful birthday.

It seems so crazy to me that she is now 7 years old, she is such a wonderful big sister and is an amazing helper. She amazes me each day by how much she is growing up and becoming such a beautiful young lady. Her favorite things are barbies and playing mommy. She loves strawberry milk, hard boiled eggs and chips & salsa. She is reading like a champ and getting very good at math. We are so grateful that she came into our lives!

My Baby Turned 1!!

So my itty bitty baby turned one years old. I swear each time the first year goes by so much faster. Since Preston's birthday fell on a Wednesday we had a small family celebration minus Dave and then planned a big one for the following Sunday. Preston was in a great mood and super excited to try his hand at a cupcake for the first time. As you can tell from the pics he wasn't to sure about it, but ended up loving it. He is a joy in our life. The kids adore him and he makes me smile everyday. He hasn't really developed any new tricks other than he has ditched baby food and formula and now eats what we eat and drinks milk. Still working on vocabulary and walking but he is doing great!

So we had a Family & Friends birthday party for Preston on Sunday and I pretty much forgot all about pictures. I am sorry we had fun hanging out with our friends and getting the kids all sugared up. Preston received some great gifts from our friends. He really loved the walker the Force's bought him. We got awesome video of his first test run with it.