Life with my sister

I decided late Friday night to run the Elvis 5K at Graceland. It is the 35th anniversary of his death this week. If you have ever lived in Memphis or if you are a diehard Elvis fan you know that it is big deal and all the crazies come out to weep and celebrate. I ran this race 5 years ago when I was still living there and loved it, so when my daddy called me last night and mentioned it was this morning and he was going, I knew I had to do it! Luckily we had no plans for today and my hunky hubs is used to my spur of the moment ideas. We left the house at 5:30 this morning and headed for Graceland. Poor Henry was not happy to wake up that early and head out, but he perked up pretty quick. I was there and registered by 7. We were able to walk up to the house and around the grave for a little while. We have seen it a gillion times, but it is always fun to see it again and watch people's reactions. People still cry...it shouldn't make me laugh, but it does. I ra...

This past weekend we went fishing to begin our April birthday celebrations. If you are new around here, Anna will be 8 on the 20 th and David and Daniel will be 11 on the 24 th . We celebrate birthdays for days!!! Samuel was at a D-Now weekend, so Stephen and I took Daniel, David and Anna to Heber Springs to trout fish. I have never been fishing before. I actually got my first fishing license right before we headed out of town. I wasn't real excited about going, but the kids could hardly wait! Daniel caught the first fish and Anna soon followed. By the end of the day the 5 of us had caught 23 rainbow trout. I was so excited. Everyone got their limit but me, but I didn't mind. The kids had such a great time. Our feet were covered in mud, many of us had fallen down because of it but it didn't dampen our spirits one bit. We had a great time! Now to celebrate with cake, ice cream and presents for the rest of the month! Julie

Planting season has started for our little Daddy so this past weekend Henry and I flew solo. We loved the sunshine days and took advantage of the pollen-filled air. Henry ate his supper Friday night on his new picnic table. He was yelling "more mama!" because he was out of his beloved chicken nuggets. Saturday was St. Patrick's Day so we had to pose in his Henry shamrock shirt, of course. This is my 3rd St Patty picture of him in this same spot. I was going to post all 3 pics together but they are on my old computer and I am too lazy to walk upstairs and get them off that one and put them on my laptop...just imagine or go back on the blog and look! Randall has never been at home on March 17th since Henry was born...I realized that Saturday and thought it was sort of funny. Planting season always starts at this time. Saturday after we ran our errands we ventured back outside. I put a pair of flip flops on Henry. He had never had a flip flop on nor had anything between his ...

Grocery shopping sometimes becomes a necessary evil for me on the weekends. Lately it has become an outing for us because of Henry's love for the red car. Our Kroger has red, blue and green car carts. He only likes red. My fear of arriving to only blue car carts haunts me, so sometimes I leave him with his Daddy during nap time and champion the shopping trip alone. Kroger is our place. He begs for Kroger. I took him to Harp's one week recently and they only had green car carts and he refused to get in one and instead laid down in the regular cart on top of the groceries out of protest. We quickly returned to Kroger. It is frustrating and cute. Last week I ran into a sweet friend and she shared a little cookie and balloon secret. Thanks to her, this past weekend's Kroger trip was an event. We scored a red car cart, so it started out super. It got even better when we got to the bakery and got Henry's complimentary iced sugar cookie. He was sweet and told the lady "...

I was asked to participate in Wanna Dance this year. It is a fundraising event for the Woman's Discovery Center here in Jonesboro. I was asked when I moved to town in 2008 but the job I was in dictated my every move and they would not allow me to represent them in this event, so I had to bow out. I love that I now have my life back and can represent my company in such a fun event for a great cause. They team up 16 women and 16 men in the community who can potentially raise a good amount of money. The winner is not who dances the best, but who raises the most. As the website and Facebook page gets up and running, I will share the links so you can see what it is all about and donate! My partner is Barry. He works at our local Chamber. He is a hoot and a half. We are gonna have some serious fun I am afraid! This is Barry and me together at our planning lunch. We met with our dance instructor Libii. We are going to mimic our dance after the video below. We will of course modify it quit...

Henry is having a big time today passing these cute cards out with little polka dot mustache cookies by The Cookie Lady, Amy C from the "Wild west town of Fort Smith, Arkansas" (Did anyone else see the Olympics ticket article circulating online...the description of my hometown made me laugh out loud). Henry better not get rejected today! I think with a mustache as cute as his and with these yummy cookies, he is sure to have a pocket full of Valentines before the day is over! Abby

Saturday morning we went on a breakfast date to Chick with Piper and Amie. Henry could not have been any happier to have Piper, chicken and hashbrowns . The playground was just the cherry on top. I love visiting with Amie and I do love some chicken, so we were both happy. Henry loved watching Piper go up and down the slide. He only went up once and that is because I went up with him. That child is a mess! He just cheers for Piper from the safety of the ground. He loves her. Amie had to go up and tend to the lovebirds once or twice. They are so much fun. I just love Piper and Henry...and Amie! Sunday we did church and lunch at Zaxby's as we always do. It is sort of funny that when we load Henry in the truck after church he always says "I want bies "(aka -French fries)...he knows. I will say that this Sunday I asked him what he learned about in Sunday School and he yelled with a grin "Jesus" Randall and I beamed all the way to Zaxby's . Nothing is finer than ...

Henry loves a bath. He goes bonkers when he hears "bath" so we have to spell it when talking about it unless it is time. He will sprint to the back of the house when he hears "bath" while laughing, squealing and yelling "Baftub...I want baftub!" Have I ever told you how much I love this little fella?! I love this baby boy to pieces. He can be so ornery at times and push all my mama buttons, but I love him for it. These past few days it has been just the two of us. His Daddy went on a hunting trip and I was home with a stomach bug. Julie's dynamic duo shared the germ with ole Aunt Abby. Thanks, guys! Henry was so sweet and cooperative with his sick little mama. He has not gotten sick and I am so thankful.... and still crossing my fingers! He was sweet to sit still with me while I felt so bad. At one point he looked at me, patted me on the arm and said, "Mama a good boy!"and leaned in and kissed my cheek. Melt.my.heart! I don't care how bad...

Henry is gearing up for the Cotton Bowl tonight. He wore his Arkansas shirt to school today and went with a lot of team spirit. I am sporting my Arkansas hoodie and ready to get home tonight and watch the game. We are first delivering a meal to some friends in our SS class who had a baby. I am sure they will enjoy BBQ while they watch the game with their new little guy. Cheer on the Hogs with us tonight...Henry would be so thankful! Abby P.S. My den is super dark so most all my videos have bad lighting because the den is where we live, for the most part. Excuse the lighting and enjoy!

Henry turned 2 last week and we celebrated with all his friends on Sesame Street. I bought these fun cupcakes at a local grocery store to take to his school on his birthday. He was so excited to see them. He dove right in and took Big Bird's head off. His friends were yelling "Elmo". It was a fun mess and everyone had fun celebrating with our Birthday boy at school. The day after his birthday we had his party. I worked on it for a few months. I love party planning. I may not be a polished pro, but I enjoy it and that is what matters. I love that Henry is covering up his 2 on his shirt. I purchased a Sesame Street shirt so I would also be in theme. Randall declined to participate. His party was a Sesame Street party, of course. We had it at our church in the old fellowship hall and rented a toddler bounce house. It was loads of fun. Since " monker " and Elmo are his favorite characters on Sesame Street I made only their faces on the cupcakes. They were fun and me...