Life with my sister

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 ...

I just love this song. It makes me cry when I listen to it. Always has, always will. It reminds me of my bestest friend in the whole wide world and the bond we share. We were inseparable growing up and in college. Where she was, I was and vice versa. We were rarely apart. I love that girl with a fierce love that cannot be explained with words. She is the truest friend I have on this earth and I could never thank God enough for the meaningful and funny memories we share. Moving away from her 10 years ago to start a new direction in life was tough stuff. I love that our bond has not changed through the course of time and I trust it never will. We are stuck like crazy glue! Melissa and I met in Little Rock this past weekend and had a fun sleepover, eating frenzy and shopping fest. We never do anything like this anymore and I thought it was high time to kick the fun into gear. She is a mama to 3 precious boys and with me having Henry and living in a different town we don't make time f...

Friday afternoon Henry and I headed about an hour outside of town to one of Randall's plots so he could ride the combine with his daddy. Henry did not pose for this picture. It just happened. He was watching his Daddy out in the field and looked back at me to tell me "Daddy work". When we got there Henry ran in the corn yelling "Daddy's corn" over and over. It was the cutest thing. His daddy made a pass up to the front of the field and picked up Henry soon after we arrived. Henry was eager and excited to get on Daddy's "tractor". We tried to correct him but when we said "combine" Henry said "crouton" (he loves croutons!). This is a research combine if you are wondering what in the world kind of combine this is. It is very specialized and records data as the corn is cut/shelled. I just love my boys. They live for each other. It is the sweetest thing. I don't know who was more excited...Randall or Henry. Randall loves be...

Mama had all her babies at her house this past weekend and she loved it. Jules and I took the trek west without our hubbies in tow. It was fun to have girl time and to have the kids play with each other for a few days...or should I say it was fun for Henry. The Fab 4 were so gracious to entertain that sweet boy of ours! This makes coming "home" even sweeter. Melissa is my BFF, if you are not familiar with her from previous posts. We have been friends since I was 4. Besides my sister, she is the friend I have had the longest in life, and she is my best friend. She had baby Luke 4 months after I had Henry and she has 2 other cute boys, Drew and Grant. Luke and Henry are going to be a pair! Henry calls him "Wookie" and all week he has said "Wookie house". Sweet little angel wants to go back. Melissa and I got to spend time together 3 times n 1 day. I loved it. Going downtown is always so much fun. We grew up in Fort Smith. If you do not know what makes Fort S...

I don't know about you but the last few days have been bus-y. WIth the pool closed it seems like I have a jillion things to do. Friday night I went to a dinner for Pastor's wives in our association (the local area of Baptist churches). It was such fun. The food was good and those women are funny! I have a heart for ministers' wives. They are such fun women and so often misunderstood. Please remember to pray for your ministers' wives. They are the heart and soul of your minister! Saturday was a women's conference that I help with. This year my friend, Melinda Bunyard spoke. I just love her and listening to her teach. It was a great conference. I ran home after it was over and went to the pool with my family. And then we ate out. Could there be a better Saturday?? If there is a women's conference (and you are a woman) in your area, go. GO! Even if you don't know the speaker. As long as it is a reputable church putting it on, GO! You will love the tim...

This weekend I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my friend Sandy in my home with a few other girls. Sandy and I met when I moved to town through the newcomers club. Sara (standing next to me) is also a friend from that club and my running buddy. The other two girls were church friends of Sandy's that joined Sara and me in hosting the shower. We had a great time getting to know each other and showering our sweet friend. Our shower table turned out so pretty. I made the cake and did the decor. The other hostesses did the rest of the food and punch. The baby's room is green and pink so we tried to match it! The baby's last name is also Green, so using green was great fun. I made the cake. A 4 layer strawberry cake with buttercream icing. It was so much fun to make. I have not had that much fun decorating a cake in a very long time. I prepared in advance to make it and had no other irons in the fire. It made all the difference in the world! I loved listening to my ...

We took a quick trip to Branson over the weekend. We are becoming really good at the 24-hour trip! Stephen's parents met us up there. We made use of our Silver Dollar City season passes and our refillable mugs and had a great time! It is such a great amusement park. Very family friendly and not afraid to share the Gospel of Christ. You just have to love a place like that. I forgot my camera. I took one picture of the kids with my phone but I took it in the hotel, not real exciting. And it was without Samuel. Samuel was with the Puppet team from church in Memphis. They did a couple of puppet shows and hung out around Memphis for the weekend. When we were leaving Branson Saturday afternoon, Stephen's parents decided to take the twins home with them, so Anna was an only child for a bit over the weekend. And believe it or not, she didn't love it. She really missed her "boys". I guess I spoil her so much she didn't feel any extra treatment with them gone! HA! So...

Yay! Marmie came to see us over the weekend. "Marms" got here in time to go with me to pick up Henry Friday afternoon. He had not seen her in a terribly long time, yet when he saw her at his door he smiled and reached for her. It was the sweetest thing. He loved Showing "Marms" all his tricks and toys. She took pictures of everything he did. I stole most of these off her camera. She is truly a grandma! Henry loved playing in Marmie's room (our guest room) because he is rarely invited in that room for play. He is a mess and she is a mess for encouraging it! We spent a lot of our weekend swinging this little turkey! He loves his tree swing in the front yard and would stay in it all day if it were allowed. We had so much fun with Marmie and loved every minute of our visit. This was a shot Marmie took of Henry eating his kids chicken strips, fries and bbq beans at Couch's BBQ...."nothing fancy, just good food!" Abby

My sweet Mama came to see us this weekend. I was so glad. Henry was so happy to have his Marmie at his house to play with him, despite his Croup. She and Henry have a special little bond. Marmie and Henry became fast buddies the night he came home from the hospital. I promise you that child remembers! He had not seen Mama in two months and it was a sight to see how he melted right into her. He is not normally that way with people he does not have constant contact with. I love it! I also have to say that "Nana" is one of his few words. Nana is in-love with it, of course. He is making the sound and not actually calling her name. We will pretend though....we will pretend, Nana! :) Henry is a blessed little boy to have such sweet Godly women in his life who make a point to bond with him. It makes his Mama smile. Henry has been giving his Mama a time this weekend! He is SO Croupy, still! We had to go back to the doctor today and have a chest x-ray and get blood work done. He also...

Henry got to see his Marmie at Juju's house. We went to celebrate 3 birthdays. Henry went to his first birthday party too! Juju was so excited to see Henry. These two are quite the pair. Uncle Stephen is quite smitten with our boy too. Anna celebrated her 6 th birthday. This is possibly the saddest looking cake I have ever made, but she was super excited about it and that is all that really matters I reckon. David & Daniel turned 9 and had a Game Day party. I purchased their cookie cakes this year. A baseball and a basketball. They think I made them. I had Kroger leave the store stickers off of the trays. I am crafty like that. Julie and I have agreed to lie to the kids in order to make us look good and " auntly " no matter what. Having them think we are super women is just too cool and there is really no need to burst their little bubbles. The boys came up with the idea that the boy with the most cookie cake left got a whip cream pie in his face. David lost a...

I'm back! And we had such a great time. We ate at El Chico(a long time fave of ours), Bonefish Grill (on a recomendation from Abby) and Mimi's Cafe. All were so very good. We shopped and spent money. But bought almost nothing full price. I think I was the only one that bought something not on sale. Cindy found flip-flops for the kids at Target for 25 cents. Can you believe that? 25 cents! What a deal! We laughed and laughed. And we slept! Until 8:30! It felt great. Abby called me on Thursday (we talk just about everyday) and asked what our plans were for the weekend. I told her I hadn't talked to Cindy all week so I wasn't sure what our plans were. Abby said we were weird. I don't think of us as weird really. We have been friends since we were 15 (25 years!), we have talked until late hours, double dated, traveled together and enjoyed countless hours on the telephone. We know each other. We don't have to talk all the time, or see each other often. We...