Fun at the Water Park!

Today, we were blessed to get to meet up with one of my friends I have know since 7th grade. Rachel and her 2 adorable kids, Meredith and Russ, met us in Arkadelphia where they have a small, very kid-friendly water park. Rachel and I had a good time catching up as it has been many, many years since we've seen each other. We both agreed that we love the blog world because it was easier to talk after keeping up with each other by reading our blogs.
Here is Russ, who loved going down the slide on his belly:
He is a cute little dare devil who wanted to do everything!
Madeline has really learned to swim this summer and felt very grown up because she could have a little more freedom as a result. This back shot makes her look so grown up!
Meredith was great in the water too. I thought she looked like such a pro in her swim shirt and goggles!
Madeline and Meredith got along right away and had a good time playing together.
Will really splashed around and enjoyed the day a lot!
The frog slide was a big hit with all of the kids. I love how the camera caught all of the water drops!
The park was so perfect! It even had some shaded areas that were still in the water. We had not been there in 2 years but definitely need to come back more often!
Thanks Lipsey family for meeting us! It was such a wonderful day!

Happy 4th of July (a day early)

Before I get to the 4th of July activities, I thought I would share some of the things we have been up to this week.
We were blessed to have 2 play dates with our good friends Haley and Ashlyn. They both happen to be the same ages as both of my children, so they get along great and have so much fun! Madeline and Haley never get together without spending some time playing dress-up!

Ashlyn got in on the action too and made a great Wonder Woman!
In other news, we were officially opened as a foster care home on Tuesday. We haven't gotten a call yet but will be excited to welcome a little visitor into our home when we do! With all of the talk of getting a foster child, Madeline and Will have been practicing their baby care (sorry for the blurriness of these few pictures. I am still getting used to my camera).
Are you as worried as I am about Will being in charge of a stroller? I think I will stay in control of this particular chore:)
Madeline took the liner out of her baby carrier and created sort of a sling to carry her baby around.

Today, we went to our town's annual 4th of July carnival. Madeline spent the night with her Nana and Pawpaw so she could have extra time with her cousin Emma while she was visiting them, so Will had Nathan and I all to himself. We started with a tour through the car show. Will enjoyed seeing them a lot more than last year. He is such a boy!I like the background of this picture and the look of pure concentration as Will takes everything in:

They had a little section with games for kids. Will's favorite was definitely this bubble pool with wands that made huge bubbles. I think he would have stayed at this one for several hours!

There was also a bean bag toss where kids were supposed to stand behind a line to throw. Apparently, Will did not agree with the placement of the line and found his own way to be successful at this game.

Then, it was on to face painting. Last year, he was not interested at all. This year, he was still a little shy and apprehensive (as he is with almost anything new) but willing to cooperate with some help from Daddy.

Here is the finished product and also my favorite picture taken with my new camera!

Just as we were getting a little too hot and had seen everything there was to see, my parents showed up with Madeline and Emma. So, we stayed for a little while longer and did some shopping. There were lots of cute booths with fun bows, shirts, and dresses. I got Madeline some really cute stuff. I will try to take pictures and post them later. I love homemade/etsy stuff!
Here are Madeline and Emma:

They also played all of the games and had their faces painted too. They went with a much more simple design: just a star!

I love how serious and involved Madeline looked while getting her face painted as opposed to Will who looked like he was being mildly tortured:) It's amazing how different they are!

This is my second favorite picture so far. It's not as artistic looking as the one of Will but I just think Madeline looks so beautiful! I just love those blue eyes and sweet smile!


Tomorrow, we plan to go to a BBQ at a friend's house and maybe see if there is a fireworks display to watch. I don't think I'm really ready to get some small fireworks of our own but Nathan is trying to change my mind! I hope everyone else has a great 4th. God has truly blessed America!

I can't believe June is almost over!

This post is a big gathering of pictures from this month. As a teacher, I think of time in certain increments. The 2 months I have off in the summer represent a special part of my year where I get to enjoy being a SAHM. I love being a teacher and know that it is God's plan for me at this time but I am so blessed to have this time with my kids.

June 2010 will probably go down as the "Potty Training" month. We used the 3 day method and by the time we hit Day 4, things were looking really great. But, after 3 days of success, Will decided he was done with it. We have spent the last several weeks trying different ways to encourage him to try again and are making progress. As a result of this, we have stayed home a lot more than we usually do during this month. This is also in part due to the crazy hot weather we have been having. At one point, I got in my car and it said it was 114 degrees outside!

I am usually a mother who likes her kids to look put together and neat but all of this staying home has made me more relaxed about their attire, producing some interesting looks:

Here is Will in his new-found treasure: some hand-me-down cowboy boots from our friend Jack.

We are not really country people but I will say that nothing says "I am an Arkansan," like a little boy wearing a Razorback T-shirt, Lightning McQueen underwear, and cowboy boots:)
Madeline prefers to stay in her P.J.'s as long as possible in the morning. Today, she decided to add a backpack and skates.
Last Tuesday, I took Will for his milk allergy food trial in Little Rock and we had to make arrangements for Madeline because the appointment was so early and Nathan still had to teach summer school. Our good friend Mrs. Rhonda came to the rescue and invited her to sleep over that night with her daughter Lynley. Madeline was so excited and proud! She did well but told us she missed us some:) Here she is getting ready to leave with her overnight bag. Can anyone tell me how it is possible that I have a daughter old enough to go to a sleepover:)
Here she is with her friend Lynley the week before when she and her sister, Kelsey, came over to our house for the morning. I feel so blessed that Madeline has made so many good friends who we enjoy spending time with!
Will had a good time playing with Kelsey that day as well. Unfortunately, later that week, he did not pass his food trial, so no milk for another year:( At least he passed the egg trial in May.

Have I mentioned how hot it is in South Arkansas right now? About the only way we can stand being outside for any length of time is to be in the water! Madeline and Will don't mind:)

Sorry if the post seems choppy. It would probably be easier to do posts more often:) In other news, after praying for a year since Nathan changed his mind about being foster parents, he has decided to try one placement. After going through all the steps last year, Nathan started to have doubts about whether we would be a good foster family because we both work. So, we decided to wait to be opened. I was sad about this decision because I truly believe that it is a calling for me. I just kept praying for Nathan's heart to change or for me to find peace about his decision. Amazingly, out of the blue, we were called by DHS to see if we would reconsider and God helped everything to fall into place so easily. We hope to be officially opened in the next few days which will hopefully be followed by a child being placed in our home very soon! God never ceases to amaze me with His grace and plans for our family!

More Potty Training Info.

We have made it to Day 4 of potty training. As you can see, Will thought it was pretty funny at this point. Day 1 resulted in 12 pairs of underwear used, Day 2 used 10 pairs, and finally, Day 3 used only 4 pairs. He has had one accident this morning but he did ask to go, he just didn't make it in time. It has required so much patience and was very different than my experience with Madeline who took the lead more with her training. I know that we are no where near claiming to be potty trained, but each time he had a success yesterday, he asked to go instead of us just taking him. We are feeling like we can take him out of the house for short outings or errands and it helps my sanity to know we can get out of the house! Will likes that too. I am so proud of all the progress he has made and am hopeful that it will continue and improve daily.

During the "Great Clean out" last week, we started to decorate our playroom. One of our purchases was a new bed for Molly and Chloe. They are getting older and prefer to spend a lot of their day lounging around, so they were very pleased with the purchase.
We also ordered beanbags for Madeline and Will to use when watching movies or reading books. We used Walmart's Site to Store free shipping and they are coming one at a time for some reason:( We got Will's blue one yesterday and he was very generous in sharing the excitement with his sister.

I am really enjoying having all this time to post. I hope everyone is enjoying getting a chance to catch up with our family.
By the way, I wrote about Nathan being up for an award and he did in fact win! It was so exciting and he really deserved it!

Lazy Summer Days!

Last week, Madeline and Will spent time at Granny's house in Conway. I used the week without kids to completely clean out and and get our house organized while Nathan painted the playroom and did a few other projects around the house and outside.
Now that they are back, we decided to conquer our next big project, potty training Will. We are using a version of the 3 day method because he is almost 3 and has shown no interest or readiness at all. We decided to just go for it now that we are on summer vacation and can be more devoted to it than his preschool was.
Here he is on day one with his big boy underwear on. He picked out 2 packages at Walmart and was very excited about them. I know a lot of methods say to go bare-bottom at home, but Will does not easily adjust to change, so we thought it would be better to start with what he would need to wear right away rather than have him get used to not wearing anything and then expect him to understand how to handle underwear.
Day 1 started with him holding it for several hours and having a lot of fear about going on the potty. By the end of the day, he was more comfortable and even went a few times. We did go through 12 pairs of underwear but it was worth it to see him start to understand.
Day one also involved some jealousy from this girl who said Will was getting all the attention. Such drama! We explained to her that she had our undivided attention when she was training and tried to let her do special projects and help with the process. Unfortunately, sometimes her version of helping is a little too bossy for Will. Here she is after asking why I only took a picture of Will that morning. She wanted to world to see her with her banana:)
Today is Day 2 and it has gone okay. We've had some successes and still a lot of accidents. He has had some BM in the potty and he even told us the 2nd time before he started. It is frustrating for us today because it feels like it has been one step forward only to take one step backward 10 min. later. He never goes to the potty or tries to pull his underwear down to do it himself but he will tell us sometimes when he needs to go and we can help him. I know we just have to keep going and not let the frustration get to us. Will still thinks it's pretty funny a lot of the time though:)

I know one day, I'll look back and remember how funny it all was but tonight, I am just tired and worried that we won't see more progress tomorrow. If anyone has any good advice or tricks that might help, just let me know.

Memorial Day Fun!

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Conway with Nathan's family. It started off really well when we spent a few hours at Children's finding out that Will is no longer allergic to eggs! He is now getting used to eating things like scrambled eggs, mayonnaise, and certain pasta dishes.

Then, in honor of the holiday and Poppa Henry's 60th birthday, we had a huge BBQ with family and friends. To entertain the kids, Uncle Jason brought a slip-and-slide. After working out some problems like going off the side and sliding on the wrong side, Cousin Neill and Madeline were experts!

Will didn't want to slide at first and just had a great time running through the part that shot up water to keep the slide wet.
Madeline took a break from sliding to strike a diva pose for the camera.
After they were done, we all hung out and enjoyed getting to visit with family. We even met some new family members. Here is Natalie who Madeline enjoyed playing with.
Here is brave Neill with his sword looking very tough:)
Carly was a big help in keeping all the younger kids occupied so the adults could relax and visit. Here she is entertaining them with sidewalk chalk.
Here is Aunt Jennifer and Katelyn with their sweet dog Chloe.
Jay enjoyed some time playing with his DS in the shade of the umbrella.
I was too busy eating amazing BBQ later to remember to take any more pictures but let me just tell you that the food was awesome and everyone had more than enough to enjoy and take home later. Thanks Henry family for the great time!

Can you tell I'm starting my summer break?

Now, I finally have time to write a post. Also, now we have our camera problems behind us and have started taking more pictures!
It would be a little hard to catch up on everything we have been up to but here are a few more recent pictures.
What has Madeline been up to? She is playing T-ball for the first time!
She loves to hit the ball but is not so into the fielding aspect of the game. She doesn't play around in the field, but she doesn't go after any balls either:) But she does a great job of looking really cute in that uniform!

2 weeks ago, she had her second dance/gym recital. Here she is in the beginning pose of her tap dance, Pinkawonderous.

Her ballet dance was beautiful. It was a song about candles in the window that I think is on the Home Alone sound track. She amazes me with how graceful she is!

They even danced with little candles at one point, too cute!

I did not get a great gymnastics picture as I am still trying to learn to take action photos. But she did a standing back bend on her own and a front walkover. She has learned a lot for a 5 year old!

Will has been busy finishing up his time in the 2 year old preschool class. He is talking up a storm and getting over some of the things he has been so cautious about, like climbing stairs.

He is also getting really good at looking cute and mischievous all at the same time:)

Here is his more serious pose where his sweet cheeks and big brown eyes melt me:)

He is really getting into trains and keeps several set up at all times in his room.

He is also an avid "reader". His recent favorites are David books and Little Critter books.

We had to read this one several times a day until Nathan and I had it memorized and so did he!

Nathan and I go for our last day of school tomorrow, a teacher work day. I am busy moving classrooms because I am moving to kindergarten. I am very excited! Nathan is a little nervous about tomorrow because we have our end of year assembly where they announce the winners of the Teacher of Excellence Awards. It is only his 3rd year of teaching and he is one of 3 finalists for 5th through 8th grade in our whole district. I am so proud whether he wins or not!

Hopefully I can better document our summer fun now that all the camera kinks are worked out. Thanks for not giving up on me!