Happy Birthday Caroline!

Caroline turned 2 on June 2nd! What a quick two years it has been! We have been so blessed by this little fireball. She loves to cuddle, eat (any item that's not food as well!), play outside, read books, watch tv, and do anything big sister does. I'm pretty sure she has no idea she's younger than SJ. 

If you have spent any amount of time around Liney, you have probably heard her crazy loud tantrum scream. The other day I downloaded an app that records how many decibels any sound is. Well, she registered just under 105 db...a little less than a jackhammer. Ha! Clearly this was un-scientific but still...she's LOUD.  Speaking of tantrums, though, I have been able to stop her by sticking her in her crib and telling her to come out when she calms down. It works! She'll stay 5-10 minutes most times and comes out happy as can be. My eardrums appreciate it! 

This summer holds a lot of change for our Liney-cat. We'll begin potty training at some point. She already takes her diaper off as soon as she pees and brings it to me. Oh joy. She will also move to a big girl bed...this was the absolute worst transition with Sarah so I hope it can't be any worse than that. As soon as our contract with our realtor is over we'll move the girls bedrooms around. I'm planning to move them into the same room. I'm sure this will be a tough transition as well but once we get it figured out I think it will be so fun for them! 

A few other notes about C: I can't remember her weight/height but I know she is 50th/85th percentiles respectively. She also had a two year shot at her last checkup...not a single tear. She barely even flinched! The only tears were from SJ, who was mad because she couldn't also get a shot! Ha! She still sucks her index and middle fingers and cannot go to bed without monkey and "bankie." 

Oh sweet Liney, how we love you. You are such a joy to dad and me! We hope and pray for you to love Jesus and trust Him always. You are my favorite 2 year old in the whole world! I can't wait to see how you grow over the next year. I know you will meet and conquer these transitions like a champ and I'm excited to cheer you on! Love you baby girl! 

Gulf Shores 2013 Part 1

Just a sneak peek of some of our pictures! 

College Reunion 2013

Our 2nd annual college reunion was a blast this year. We met up with 4 other couples at Beaver Lake a couple weekends ago. I love this sweet time together. We eat, relax, eat, laugh, eat, reminisce, and (my favorite part) have a share/prayer time the last night. Last year we prayed for four of the families to become pregnant. This year we rejoiced with one another as all four were either (very) pregnant or already cuddling their newborn. How cool is that?! Praise The Lord! 

Our weekend!

We had such a fabulous weekend! It all started Thursday with a trip to Crystal Bridges for a ton of children's events followed by a long nap them cupcakes with the Walkers. So much fun!

We went back to Crystal Bridges on Friday night with the Woodys and Kirbys (why didn't we take pictures of ourselves?!) to view the Norman Rockwell exhibit. It was awesome! I just love living in Bentonville! We then headed to our wonderful square and ate dinner at Table Mesa. Good food, great friends and wonderful conversations, all without children. What a rare treat!!!

Saturday we hurriedly cleaned our house to show it at noon. The realtor showed up with clients at 11:30...while we were still there. How embarrassing! We quickly left and went to meet Ree and Papa for some shopping and lunch. We then came home and relaxed for a few hours before a babysitter came to keep the girls while all the adults went out for dinner, again, back at the square. This time we ate at Flying Fish, yum! We then walked around the square and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

Mother's Day included church, lunch at a new Mexican restaurant and a loooong nap for me! Ahhhh, I just love these kinds of weekends! Now for some pics!

Camping!

Oh how we love to camp! We headed to our favorite campground, Beaver Lake Dam, the last weekend in April with the Smiths and Woodys. On the negative side, it rained all Friday and most of Saturday. On the plus side, the Smiths have a camper and they were so nice to open it up to all of us! We always give one meal to each family so that you only prepare and clean once. I love that! The kids had their own little bunk room with a tv and the adults hung out in the living/kitchen area most of the time. As bad as the weather was, we still had a wonderful relaxing time! Thanks to the Smiths for the dry sleeping arrangements! I'm ready to go back!

Tulsa Trip!

The weekend of April 20th we traveled to Tulsa. Kati had asked me to keep Carter and Keeli for the weekend and my BFF since junior high, Himali, was having an engagement party! We also stopped by Josh and Lindsey's new house to celebrate with them!

Saturday morning we took all 4 kids to Bass Pro to walk around and see the animals. Then we stopped in Chuy's Mexican Restaurant for lunch. The kids were all great at the restaurant and I was so glad. We got a few stares as we walked in toting 4 kids all 3 and under. Eh, we didn't care!

Saturday night was Himali's party. She is Indian and so is her fiancé so this was a traditional engagement celebration. She looked gorgeous and it was so nice to finally meet Niloy. I can't wait for their wedding in September!

Trip to Clinton!

The first weekend in April was opening weekend of turkey season. Hunting turkey is one of Daniel's favorites! We headed over to the Roushes house in Clinton so Daniel could hook up with Rusty, Michael, and Adam for a little guys' get together. Chandra was so gracious to open up her house to Shelly, Mendy and me along with our 6 kids. Chandra and rusty have three of their own so we packed 4 moms and 9 kids (all 5 years old and under) into one house! Thankfully we had beautiful weather and spent a ton of our time outside. Along with playing outside comes lots of sweat and dirt. We figured out around 6 on Saturday night that the hot water tank had stopped working. Awesome! Ha! We started boiling pots of hot water, just like the good old days, so we could give the little people baths. Us mamas just braved it and took cold showers. Ouch! We all had good laughs over it! Add that to our little bit of hysteria from refereeing 9 kids all day and I think we would have made great mental hospital patients! We had so much fun, though!

Thanks for a great time, Chandra! Oh, and the boys were 3 out of 4 for killing turkeys. Good for them. Ha!