Gettin' a Little Crafty

So I've been trying to be a better mommy while the girls and I have days that we are home all morning. One thing I have been so reluctant to do with them is crafts. I hate crafts. They're messy. They're time consuming (the setup and cleanup parts). And, I am so not creative. I'm not a crafty momma. Anyway, I've decided to try to die to my own selfish wants/needs/desires/_____ fill in the blank. Yesterday we tried painting. Yeah, I hated it. But we painted for 30 minutes, that's a long craft, right? One child was really into it and the other was hungry. I'll let you decide who was who by the pics! I promise to continue doing crafts, but I don't promise to enjoy it. 😄

Just for you Aunt Su Su

Aunt Susie, this video is for you!  She was sitting on my lap and I told her who we were going to see on Saturday.  When I said we would see Aunt Su Su, Sarah replied, "Su Su, cute!"  I tried to get her to say it again on video but couldn't.  Either way, she gives you a kiss and then shows you her little Minnie.  :)  Love you Aunt Susie!

Bentonville

We live in such a neat little community. Everything is so new and cutting edge around here, it's wonderful! Remember when I talked about the splash pad we went to this summer? Well, in the winter it becomes an ice skating rink! Awesome! Every Saturday night they also show a movie on a giant blow up screen. We met the Kirby's there this evening and enjoyed a great night! We drank hot chocolate, watched the skaters, watched the movie and even got candy necklaces, remember those?! We love Bentonville!

18 Months!

I skipped the 15 month post but here is the 18 month update! Sweet little Liney is not actually little!  I have thought, all this time, that she was on the smaller side.  Turns out, she is in the 95th percentile for height and 50th for weight.  My little girl isn't so little!  :(  Here are some facts and stats on my favorite 1 year old!

-34 inches tall, 24 pounds

-Has so many words!  Way more than SJ at this age.  I assume that's normal!

-Throws fits with the best of them!  When she is about to throw one, she slowly lays down on the floor then turns on the screaming and water works.  It's quite funny but also needs to soon have consequences.  

-She is content to play alone but loves to be anywhere SJ is.  She adores her big sister!

-I think she really likes being the center of attention.  She will dance and sing on command and is so proud to entertain.

-Quite the monkey!  She loves to climb.  The doctor said she is her own biggest threat.  

-Sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes about a 2 hour nap.

-Her best friend is her little sock monkey that she sleeps with.  Thanks to Sarah Crawford for that first birthday gift.  It's so random that it became her "lovie" but she sure won't go far without it!

-Seems to love mommy and daddy equally, no favorite yet. 

-Still sucks her index and middle finger to soothe herself.  I know I should stop her but I want her to stay my baby and it's sweet, ha!  Probably not a good enough excuse!

-Always knows when a babysitter arrives, must be that toddler intuition.

-Her nickname from SJ is "Liney Cat".  I love it!

 I had just asked her to give me her fingers...see that little smile underneath?! 

 Here she's saying "cheeeese!"

  

Nashville

Daniel always plans an almost week-long hunting trip to Kansas the week after Thanksgiving. This year our friends, The Lutzs have moved to Nashville. So instead of staying home all week by myself with the girls I decided to jump in the car and go visit Leslie. I was so nervous about a 550 mile road trip alone with the girls but they did AWESOME! We stopped two times on the way there. Did you catch that? We only stopped TWICE! Like I said, they were awesome! Our second stop was at Bass Pro in Memphis. I thought it would be nice to run around in there for a few minutes. They loved it. We also had their pic taken with Santa. They did not love that. I still can't stop laughing.

We arrived in Nashville around 7:45 that evening and my girls and Leslie's kids jumped right into playing with each other without missing a beat. Such a sweet sight to see!  Leslie is also so good at jumping right into projects with the kids.  I'm so lousy at crafts so it was nice to see her do them and how laid back she was.  I aspire to be more like that!  Thanks, Leslie!

Painting Christmas trees!

Painting herself...

The three girls helping Leslie with breakfast.

Thursday was lounge around the house day. We also ate lunch at a yummy Mexican place near Leslie's house. Speaking of house, their new house is gorgeous. Absolutely stunning! Friday we met Gigi, Leslie's mom, at the zoo and enjoyed a beautiful weather day and seeing the animals. Fred made us a wonderful steak dinner that night then Leslie and I met up with her sister in downtown Nashville for a drink, some live music and a little dancing. So fun!

Caroline sitting on Sarah's lap checking out the elephants.  

Stylish Emma got to switch car seats with SJ and ride along with Auntie Kari!

Caroline viewing the elephants.

Sweet SJ and the elephants.  She LOVED seeing the animals!

Feeding the birds.

Downtown Nashville with Lauren and Leslie!

As much as I hated to hit the road, I decided that early Saturday would be the best time to head out. We had to miss Emma's birthday party, bummer! The drive home was not nearly as smooth as the drive there but that's okay. We made it to Alma, AR for dinner. I just couldn't drive any longer and needed to stop. Apparently, SJ needed to stop and take care of business too. While we were waiting for our meal she sneaked to the other side of the table, told me poo poo and proceeded to pull her pants down (thankfully she did not "go" right there!). I did not realize what she had done until the waitress rushed over and told me she had her pants down. Sure enough, when I walked around the table, there was a full moon for all to see. Oh. My. So humiliating! Yet, so funny! We got home around 8 and the girls were beyond giddy to be out of the car. I was too!  Thank you Lutzs for a great time! Can't wait to come back!

Carrie Underwood Concert

Betsy and I finally got to go see our home state hero, Carrie Underwood.  Okay, hero may be a strong term, but we are pretty darn proud that she is from Oklahoma!  We ordered our tickets way back in May and had to wait SIX months for this concert.  Our seats were amazing and she put on a fabulous show!  Thanks, Betsy, for a great night!

Thanksgiving #3

Our third and final dinner was in Tannehill, Oklahoma at my Aunt Paula's new house.  It is just gorgeous, I wish she would come decorate mine!  And, my dad built it...we have some talent in the family if I do say so myself.  Unfortunately, I don't think I snapped any pictures of the house.  I've become a slacker in the picture department lately.  I did make sure to get some pictures of my great grandmother with me and the girls.  She is 101 and still sharp as a tack, love getting to spend time with her and the family.  Thanks, Aunt Paula for hosting a wonderful dinner...and to Uncle Roger for taking my "squatchy" husband hunting for three days!  :)

Can you believe this is the girls' great-great-grandmother?! Wow!

 My dad, Sarah, Grandma Tat and Aunt Paula.

Thanksgiving #2

We hosted our SEVENTH annual Thanksgiving dinner for friends this year.  We missed several veterans due to sickness this year but had several rookies show up.  Sadly, I didn't take a single picture of the attendees.  Sad!  We had 26 adults, 20 eating age children and 5 babies this year.   As always, we just love having everyone in our home.  I think SJ and C were loving the extra playmates as well.  Here are the only pictures I took...

The prep...

 The food!

Thanks to Amy for sharing this picture of a few of the kiddos this year!

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

On Saturday Nov. 17th, we traveled to Scipio, Oklahoma to have a big Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side of the family.  I always enjoy seeing the family and I love that everyone comes even from way down in Texas!  This year I had an idea to get some family pictures because we never do a BIG family pic.  I'm sad that a few weren't able to join us because of work or other family obligations but still glad we got this one.

 Here is just our individual family...missing Keeli and Darin.  

 And, the classic "aunts" picture.  Beautiful ladies!

Unkey Dee

Oh the things toddlers say! Daniel taught Sarah to say, "uncle" when he is harassing her or wrestling and what not. Well, she also calls her Uncle Darin, "Unkey Dee." The other day we kept telling her to say uncle when she wanted us to stop what we were doing to her. To our amusement she kept saying, "Unkey Dee!". I finally caught it on video. Love!

Photo booth fun.

We stopped at the mall food court for lunch the other day and the kids piled in this tiny photo booth. They put a dollar in and we then realized it needed four more! (Rip off.) They reeeeally wanted their picture taken so I grabbed my phone and started snapping away. They loved it!

Kansas City

A weekend or two ago we headed up to Kansas City to visit some friends from college. We headed out Friday evening and drove to Jacob and Dondee's house where we were treated to a wonderful steak dinner! The next morning we woke up and started planning our big RV trip to Manhattan to see out OSU Cowboys take on the Kansas State Wildcats. Seven of us piled in the RV and left around 1. We had a wonderful babysitter come sit for us from 1 PM to 1 AM! Unfortunately we lost the game but the fellowship, RV ride and tailgating were worth the drive!

On Sunday we went to Shawn and Ashley's house. The boys cooked us an amazing brunch. Then, Ashley took me to the West Bottoms, a really neat flea market. Not just a flea market though, it had tons of repurposed furniture and handmade products. Ashley and one of her friends have a booth in one of the stores there with some really neat items! we then headed back and D and I loaded up and drove home.

Thank you Eberharts an Campbells for such a fun weekend!

Favorite Europe Pics

Aachen Cathedral

 Monschau, the Eureka Springs of Germany?

 View of Monschau from highway up in mountains

 Bike ride with Laura and Dathan

 Bradley in Maastricht, Netherlands

 Maastricht crossing the river.

 Cologne Cathedral

 Another view of the Cologne Cathedral, wish that scaffolding wasn't there!

 There's a neat tradition here of coming here with your love (or anyone you love, I guess) and putting a lock on the rails crossing the Rhein River.  There were millions of locks across this bridge!

 The windmill in Breberen.  

 The Gangelt Cathedral (Laura's village)

 Cheesy Face!

 Small castle in The Netherlands.

 This is the only picture we have together from the entire trip!  Behind us is the European Union Parliament, headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

 Super wide street.  No lanes.  Crazy drivers!

 Cool square in Brussels.

 Same square at night.