Life with my sister

We took a little tubing trip down the Spring River with our friends last weekend. We were so appreciative to have Nana and Papa (Randall's parents) keep Henry for the weekend. The other couples also had their children with grandparents. It is nice to have a break now and again and I know the grandparents love having the little people. Emily and James sporting their redneck attire for the day. Emily is the definition of girlie girl. She cracked me up wearing a Nascar t-shirt she had fringed and James was sporting a cutoff pearl snap button up with purple swim trunks. Within 5 minutes of being in Hardy, Emily had gotten 2 compliments on her shirt. I am still laughing about it. She was so proud. Sarah and David all cute and preppy, even on the Spring River. They even matched each other. These boys deserve a medal for putting up with us crazy girls. They are all 3 so accepting of the stunts we pull and they agree to do  most anything we cook up. They are seriously all rea...

 I decided to sneak up on Henry at school during water play last Friday morning, while on my way to the doctor, just a few blocks from his school. He loves Friday mornings at school during the summer because of water play and his Monkeynastix class we enrolled him in.  So much for sneaking...he saw me and this is what I caused. Poor thing. I had also locked my keys, purse and phone in my truck and had to walk to the doctor with my camera and daycare security key in my hand. I was really winning as a mother, I tell ya! Our little daddy brought me keys and all was right with the world...except Henry saw his daddy drop the keys off at daycare and cried like a fat child. Poor Henry. Baths are a favorite at our house. Henry likes them because it means fun times, and we like them because it means Henry won't be stinky or sticky anymore. This little buddy gets SO dirty! It is unreal. He is all boy.  We are learning to potty this summer. I am not stressing myself...

Henry and I are riding solo this week. Randall is in Indiana. When Henry asked me where his daddy was I  said "Indiana". Henry then looked at me with wonder and said "Daddy in den with Nana?!" I laughed outloud when I realized what "Indiana" sounded like to him. Oh, to be 2! We decided to make some summer cupcakes for our supper playdate with Barrett tonight and to have some to take to our friends Quinn, Eli and Lily this week. Henry had fun sitting up on the counter and eating Lifesavers gummies while I did all the work.  Henry only stuck his finger in one of the cupcakes. I covered it up with icing and it was as good as new. The graham crackers are the beach and the blue icing is the water. I wanted the Teddy Grahams to go in the Lifesavers so it looked like they were in the tube, but the hole was too small and I was not in any mood to cut them apart and put them back together or stretch them to make them work. I had a 2 year old on the counter...

Two years ago Daniel fell off of the top of a chair, hit the dining room table and did this to his arm. It was the culmination to a week of doctor visits, Daniel had mono, Anna had double ear infections in both ears, and dentist visits. Stephen had been out of town to spend time with his family and officiate the funeral for a dear family friend of theirs. It had been that kind of week. Daniel had to have surgery to fix his arm but no pins or rods had to be put in. We went to Baptist Hospital in Little Rock and I was so impressed with the care Daniel received. We were in and out of the hospital in four hours This was Daniel as we left the hospital. He was such a trooper with his cast on. It was a hot summer, we went to camp and swam and he never complained. I know it was itchy and hot and sweaty but never did he say an unkind word or whine about how awful his situation was. I was so proud of him then, and I'm so proud of his now.  Julie

CK showing Henry how to jump on his bed. BAD CK! He now gets spanked for it. Poor Henry.   "Snips, snails and puppy dog tails. That is what little boys are made of." My Henry is ALL boy. He is a real live definition of little boy. It makes me so proud. I love how his knees are always scrapped, and he often has dirt under his toenails. I love that sweaty headed boy and all his dirty, loud discoveries. He is active, healthy and developing just as God intended. Henry looks more excited than Piper about being a princess. She knows it is hard work! I also adore that he enjoys putting on the princess dresses and playing dress up at school. He loves playing with his little girl friends and experiencing all the things that make them squeal. He is exploring and learning about the world and how it works. It doesn't alarm me or make me worry. It makes me smile. Let them be little and learn. I bet he will be a stylish, helpful little husband to one of these little girls on...

We've been blessed this week to have a mission team from Hattiesburg, Ms with us. They led block parties and backyard Bible clubs for us twice a day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They were a great group of people and did a great job of getting the word out about Delta Church, but more importantly they shared the love of the Lord with complete strangers. Yesterday we had a catfish dinner for them. My job was to get coleslaw and ice. So into Brookshires I go. While shopping I called my dad and returned a call to Stephen. I finished my phone call with Stephen in the checkout line, while I got my money out I placed my phone under the credit card machine. I paid, picked up the ice and headed to the van. I noticed that I didn't have my phone, so I put the groceries in the van and headed back in the store. My phone was gone. Gone! I left and delivered the coleslaw and ice and went back to the store to find my phone. The girl at the customer service counter was so helpful, she pul...

 Marmie came to visit us over the past weekend. Henry was so excited to see her and show her all his tricks. I think Marmie was just as excited. We took him to Hobby Lobby to get the things to make a super Henry cape...and stickers! The boy loves a sticker.   Marmie got out my machine and went to work on our little buddy's cape. She made Samuel one when he was little. I remembered it and wanted one for Henry. He loves Super Grover so I thought he would love a super Henry cape. He loves pretending to be super Henry!  I made the H on wearable vinyl with the Cricut. It was a Sesame Street font and so cute.   Here is Super Henry! He may be the cutest super baby boy EVER! Thank you Marmie! Abby

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! I love my sister. I guess you already knew that though. I love how she is always there for me when a good  melt down is in full swing. I have them a lot, believe it or not (so does Henry. He loves his Juju). I don't care if she is in a room full of people, teaching school or preparing dinner for her family...she stops and makes it all better. Man, I love her! Her kind tone, truthful words and love are a soothing balm to my breaking or heavy heart. When I hurt she hurts. I have made her shed many tears for me in my short adult life. I hate it, but I love it at the same time. I love that she loves me that much. She has sometimes cried for my pains more than me. I know this is so cliche, but her love is a fierce love. She fights for those she loves. I love that about her. ...

We live in the delta and have  great respect for the Mighty Mississippi and all it stands for in our area of the world. Minneapolis has more bridges across the Mississippi River than any other community, including suspension, stone arch, steel truss, and concrete-arch bridges. It's also the site of the first bridge across the Mississippi. Henry is sitting at the site of that first bridge.  Henry and Randall are standing in front of the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.  The large bridge behind us is the one that was built to replace the bridge that collapsed in August 2007 during rush hour. I remember that day and the sights on the evening news. So sad and so scary. 9 people died. We had such a fun time exploring the mill city area of Minneapolis. We decided to get even more involved in the culture of Minneapolis and head to a Twins game. This was Randall and Henry's first major league baseball game. As a teenager I went to see the Cubs,...

One night this past week my friend Emily and I decided to join our friend Sarah for a run in the park instead of running in the neighborhood. We don't usually run with Sarah. She is fast. We are not. It was an instant decision, no planning, just hopped in the car and headed there instead of stepping out out in the neighborhood, as we usually do. The state park is right across from my house and has a nice trail around a large pond. There is one way in and one way out. It is a forest of trees and has a lot of access roads to the pond with picnic areas and a few playgrounds tucked away throughout the park. It is a great park but not really a place a woman wants to go run or walk alone, though I have been guilty of it. Sarah ran off from us right as we started while carrying her mace. Emily and I just always trust our loud mouths and the power of 2 will scare off any attackers. I must say this park is safe and I have never heard of anyone being attacked, abducted or killed. It is j...

 Well, it looks as if I've loaded the pictures I wanted to share with you backwards so I guess I'll tell about our last few days backwards! The kids and I went to my dad's house for a couple of days this week. We don't see each other very often, so we headed over for a quick visit. On our way back we stopped by Mack's in Stuttgart. It's world renown, but we bought nothing. Prior to stopping there we made our second stop at Craig's BBQ in DeValls Bluff. OMWord! That is one good bbq sandwich.  We had big plans for Thursday that just might have included fishing and a certain coach's pond. But, God saw fit to answer the prayers of many southern farmers and it rained. And rained. So we headed to the mall. We shopped and shopped and bought nothing. Not. A. Thing. Until we came upon this little bouncy business. I think it's called the Jumping Spider. All the kids did it, but this picture of Samuel is my favorite. His hair makes me laugh. It used to do ...

We left the Grand View Lodge in Nisswa and headed to the Twin Cities. We stopped in Rogers to shop the outlet malls for a bit and found some of Henry's best buddies in a fire truck. While heading toward Maple Grove for an overnight stay there, our GPS took us on a back road that brought us by Henry's Woods. We were so mad at the GPS until this discovery! It was so fun. We stayed in Maple Grove. We ate and shopped at some great places. Henry loved staying at the Holiday Inn there because they had an indoor waterpark. It was a winner. . We made our journey into Minneapolis the next morning. I love how Peanuts is all over this city. The airport, downtown, the mall, etc. Randall and I love to take photos with random things while traveling. This was one of many we took on this trip. I could do a whole post of  random photos, but I will refrain from it! We lived it up at the Mall of America and Ikea. We spent 2 days at the Mall of America and we visited Ikea tw...