Missing Summer Already

Just had to say it. Missing summer. :( I am usually ready for school to start and to get back into a routine each fall. But I wasn't this year. 

Maybe it's because we had a really short summer this year.  (Only 9 weeks)

Maybe it's because Lance took off every Friday in July and we had some great family time. 

Maybe it's because summer is lazy and I love not having to worry about bedtimes and setting alarms.

Maybe it's because Emma is so grown up this year and life is getting easier as the kids get older.

And maybe it's because I realized this summer just how fast they are growing up.  Luke turned 9.  I've had him 1/2 as long as I'm going to have him. Only 9 more years, then he's gone. :(

I miss summer.  I'm ready for Christmas Break already. :)

Happy Birthday Emma! (and Me!)

Happy Birthday to my sweet, funny, smart, happy, adorable, blessing from God, Emma! You are such a great addition to this family, and I can't imagine life without you.  You are such a talker and impress everyone you meet.  You talk like a 6 year old.  You are so mature, yet you are hysterical!  You understand how to make a joke and you laugh at everything.  Your sister's and brother think you hung the moon, and you keep right up with them and everything they do. It's just going to be me and you at home now for a couple of years while the big kids are in school.  I can't wait to see what fun we are going to have this year!  I'm so proud to share my birthday with you, and more proud of the sweet little girl that you are!

We had Emma's party last night and some of our dearest friends came.  Everyone had fun.  Emma is truly a blessing.  I heard multiple people say last night that they just love Emma and think she is amazing.  Made a Momma proud.  She had the BEST time opening her presents.  One of my friends said we could win America's Funniest Videos. :)

She pick a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme party months ago.  We went to buy the party supplies on Thursday and she was adamant that it was all Mickey, not Minnie!  I had to convince her to buy some Minnie supplies since she was a girl.  :)

I think she had more fun than anyone at the party.  And that makes me happy!

My Mom took her around lunchtime so I could get ready for the party.  They went to Chick fil A for lunch then ran a couple errands.  Then my sweet mom picked up the big kids and kept them all until the party.  I love you Mom!

The Birthday Girl and Mom on their adventure

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

The cake

One of the few Minnie things I had to make her buy :)

goodie cups

Ready to open presents! (Isn't she adorable?!?!)

Soooo excited!

Precious girl

Blowing out the candles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA! I love you!!

First Day of School

I have a 4th grader, a 1st grader and Hope is in KINDERGARTEN!!! How is that?!?! It was a crazy thing to go on a 10 day vacation and get back the day before schools starts, but it was worth it. :)

Hope has been so excited to start kindergarten. I just can't believe she's gone. :( It's going to be so weird to go from 4 to 1 during the days.  What are Emma and I going to do??? (When I asked her that when we were camping she said, "Play in my room.") :)

Here they are. Bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go!

My big Kindergartner!

Ready for 4th grade

And 1st grade

Emma is ready to go! ha!

Gonna MISS them!

Mrs. Wallace's class

Ms. Lybeck's class

Hurry Daddy, I'm late!

Our annual "1st day of school dinner at Shogun's" :)

Buffalo Vacation 2011

We had the best camping trip last week! It has been sooo hot this summer with a record breaking heat wave.  We were really worried that we would be miserable camping for 9 days, but it turned out great.  The Lord really blessed us.  The first few days were hot, but we escaped to the river to cool down.  By Tues, it cooled off and we had the best weather the rest of the week.  It was amazing!  We even got cold once when we were in the river. Our good friends the Wades and Maiers joined us on Tues and Wed and we all had so much fun the rest of the week.

Home Sweet Home

Here are the highlights...

• Emma floating on her back in the river
• Hope riding her bike with no training wheels
• Catching tadpoles in the river for HOURS!
• Sara and Luke digging a hole in the river bottom
• Heading to the shower house and Emma trying to claw her way back into the camper when she saw the raccoons. And Hope and Sara screaming like someone was being murdered! ha!



They came every night!

• The kids jogging with me and Hope hanging in until the end
• Luke realizing there is no Santa :(
• Sara breaking her collar bone :(
• The raccoons coming into camp while we were eating



Luke navigating the rapids

• The swimming hole in Cotter
• Playing kickball as a family
• The rain storms
• The blow guns Lance made out of bamboo
• Luke's doing ninja training with all the other kids
• Lance's "hot tub" and rapids chute

• Diving for shells
• The Great Raccoon Hunt of 2011



The Raccoon trap



The hunters! Ha! (and they were air soft guns. no animal harmed!)



Our best Charlie's Angels pose



Realy roughing it with their recliners!

• Raccoons eating all of the Maier's food
• Storm forcing us to eat in the camper. 14 people!
• Sara diving for shells and then throwing them back in the water for Hope so she could find some :)
• Emma looking at me and saying "Momma, this is a great picnic" while we were eating down at the river
• Luke and Lance working on Luke's Weblos badges
• Hope getting her first loose tooth
• Hope's excitement when she caught a tadpole and dove for shells
  
  

  

  digging for treasure



Father/Son baseball



Couldn't find Emma. Looked in the camper and there she was!





Playing in the sand



Having fun!



The easy life!



Love Dixon!

  



The whole crew!



Crazy faces!



All the kids



And the parents



The Moms



LOVE this! ha!



Poor baby. It's been a long week.

Emma's Prayer

Tonight it was just the girls and I.  Lance was on call and had to go in to the hospital, and Luke went to a VBS at a different church with a couple friends of his.  We sat down to a dinner of hot dogs and cantaloupe :) and Emma asked if she could say the prayer.  I said sure and this is what she said...

"Dear God.  Thank you for this blessing.  Thank you for the hot dog and cantaloupe and thank you for Momma taking us to Vacation Bible School today.  Amen." 

Melt. My. Heart.  :)

Summer Fun!

I was feeling a little like a horrible mom this past week.  Just stressed with housework, yelling at the kids too much this week, and wondering if I'm screwing up my kids' childhoods!  I know that most all moms feel like that at times, but when you are in that funk, it's hard to not think that every one else around you has it all together and you are a loser.  :)  Lance pulled me into a hug and said, "Honey, you're a great mom.  Sometimes, too great a mom."  I pulled back from him and gave him the most confused look.  He explained that I have been so concerned about doing all the fun things of summer to the detriment of my sanity and our house! Ha! The house isn't a disaster, but it is definitely taking a back seat to a fun summer.  At that moment, I realized that I didn't care.  I wish it was not as cluttered as it is, but I'm making memories with my kids!  And this is such a short summer, I want to make the most of it.  :)

So, continuing with all things fun...last night we took the kids to a drive in movie!  A double feature!  I really didn't care at all that it meant a late night.  I told Lance today, that I live under so much stress for 9 1/2 months of the year worrying about bedtimes, that I'm not going to do that during the summer.  So we loaded up the truck with an air mattress, cooler of drinks, snacks and camp chairs and had a blast!  I told the kids before we got there that I wasn't going to promise that we would stay for both movies.  We would have to see how everyone was doing.  And at intermission at 10:30, they were great, so we stayed!  Ha!  Emma is the only one that fell asleep.  And the air mattress was the bomb!  We blew it up and put it in the back of the truck with blankets and pillows and the kids loved it.  Luke announced that we had to do that more often.  :) 

We all slept in this morning.  Praise the Lord!  We ate a very late breakfast/early lunch, did chores at the farm, then headed to Tulsa for the afternoon.  We went to the aquarium.  We were there at the perfect time.  The otter did not stop swimming while we were there, one of the beavers came out and swam around, 2 divers were in the huge fish tank cleaning and playing with all the kids through the glass, we petted the sharks and stingrays at their last open time and there weren't a whole lot of people with us!

Then a moment of sadness.  Let's all take a minute to mourn.  Casa Bonita in Tulsa has closed.  :(  Ha!  That is the restaurant that we ALWAYS eat at when we go to Tulsa.  The kids absolutely love it.  And Lance and I like it, too.  We actually used to eat at the one in Little Rock before we ever had kids.  When we got there and saw it was closed, I got a little emotional.  :)  We will have fond memories of Casa Bonita!

After driving around trying to find another fun place to eat, we ended up at Pancho's.  We'd never heard of it, but when we got in, we discovered that it's a lot like Casa Bonita!  Not the same atmosphere, but the food is very similar, all you can eat, great dessert bar!, and it was cheaper than Casa Bonita! :)  The kids have decided it's their new favorite restaurant! 

And the best thing about the weekend, it's just Friday!  We still have 2 MORE DAYS!  Woopie!!

Weekend Recap

Happy (day late) 4th of July! So, let's get the negative right out there so we can move on.  This weekend was my family reunion.  We took the camper.  The air went out.  Again.

Lance and I were sooooo mad.  It just got out of the shop from when it went out on Memorial Day weekend.  And it's a BRAND NEW CAMPER!!!  Argh!  It's back in the shop right now, and hopefully we'll be done with it.

Now, the good stuff!  :)

My family reunion has happened every 4th of July for the past 40+ years.  I can probably count on 1 hand how many times I've missed it in my life.  2 years ago we took our camper and stayed a couple of days.  The kids LOVED it!  Last year, Lance was on call, so the kids and I just drove over for the day.  But this year we were able to take the camper again.  It is such a great weekend of memory making.  The frustrating thing is, I didn't get a single picture!  We were so busy having fun and visiting, I never got my camera out!

Here's what I want to remember about this year...

• Luke swimming 75% of the time we were there!
• Emma playing on the swingset and sliding down the slide
• Hope swinging on her own for hours
• Sara going off the rope swing
• Playing cards til 1 o'clock in the morning
• Luke helping other kids get on the rope swing
• Emma wanting to go off the rope swing sooooo badly!
• Sara helping me set up the camper (putting away the food and make the beds)
• visiting with my cousins in the river
• Hope going off the rope swing after I bribed her with lipstick! :)

I love how my family has kept this tradition going for soooo many years!  And I love that my kids are making the SAME memories that I made growing up.  The river hasn't changed in all those years.  I can't wait to do it all again next year!