The Last Arkansas Post

All of the kiddos ready for church. I love taking pictures before church, everyone always looks so nice.

April and SaraBeth.

Waiting for lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Addie was 'playing' checkers with a little boy. It almost came to blows.

Our last sunset at the "Farm"

These two girls are just so sweet.

I LOVE Addie's expression in this picture. I feel like I can hear her laughing.

I'm not sure you had more fun throwing rocks into the lake.

April and her little man, Nathan.

Ben did NOT want to leave. He was completely happy standing there throwing rock after rock into the water.

We had such a wonderful time in Arkansas, thank you Landes family for a great time!

Happy New Year with Fireworks!

We rang in the new year with fireworks. The girls were a little unsure about the fireworks at first.

They started to get a little more brave with the sparklers. The first time Matt lit one for her she dropped it, oops!

Ben loved his sparkler.

All three of the big kids having fun.

Bennett really enjoyed his s'more, can you tell?

Addie enjoyed her s'more too.

Matt and April enjoying some quiet time around the fire.

Addie and April hanging out around the fire.

The biggest kids had a lot of fun with the fireworks too.

We picked out the tank for Jon, this thing was hilarious.

Rowdy was not a fan of the fireworks.

Arkansas, the shopping trip

I had posted about my Arkansas Shopping trip on my shop blog. Here is the picture of all my finds for the day.

The whole shopping day was so much fun, and I got some great pictures of our adventures. The boys stayed home for a nap and April, SaraBeth, Addie and I headed out on Saturday after lunch.

As we were driving April said that we were going to drive by some zebras and camels. I didn't believe her until we drove right past this exotic animal farm with zebras and camels. Addie was so excited to see the zebras, one of her favorite movies right now is Racing Stripes.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from the thrift stores we went to, I was too busy shopping with my arms full of goodies. I did pull the camera out when we headed to the grocery store, and yes I felt like a tourist. These carts took me back to my childhood. I don't think I had seen one since I was a kid. The girls loved riding on the bottom of the cart.

I love their sparkly shoes.

I don't think I have ever seen so much variety or so much supply for chitlins before.

The big debate the whole weekend was who got to ride in which car seat. There was the big girl booster seat and there was the baby car seat. This picture shows how happy SaraBeth was that she got the booster seat.

This picture shows that Addie was unhappy with her car seat. They did switch back and forth when we would stop, but that did not make them any happier when it was their turn to sit in the baby car seat.

Our next stop for a Sonic Happy Hour treat did help improve everyone's mood over all.

Addie having her first Sonic treat, it was a strawberry slushy.

SaraBeth with her strawberry slushy, and of course the girls were happy to watch BOZ on the way home.

They both crashed pretty hard on the 45 minute trip home, you don't get anywhere quick when you live out in the country.

The new sign was finished and hanging up.

Matt and his kiddos headed down to see the sunset.

Nathan, the little man and his boots.

Ben was ready to ride.

More pictures to come!

Arkansas Part One

I realize this post is long overdue. I had every intention of getting this post up earlier, but as many of you know I ended up with some stomach pains that put me in the hospital. I am doing much better now. Unfortunately they haven't figured out what happened, but I am doing my best to regain my strength and get back to normal. So here is the first installment from our trip to Arkansas, there will be a few more posts over the next couple of days. I hope you are all having a great new year so far.

Over the New Year weekend holiday we loaded up the van and drove to Arkansas to visit our friends, Matt, April, SaraBeth and Nathan. Addie and SB were best friends when they lived here in Houston and she was so excited to get to play with her friend.

Addie jumped right in playing dress up.

Garrett got in some snuggle time with April.

Ben found the "Shooter Gun" and didn't let go the whole weekend.

These girls had so much fun playing together.

The boys were so funny to watch together. Ben would pick on Nathan and then Nathan would pick on Garrett.

Garrett wanted to be like Nathan, this was Rett's first time brushing his teeth and he had so much fun.
Nathan is such a sweet little boy.
The girls were all ready to go outside and play, pom poms and all.
They have a few cats and Garrett loved them all, they didn't all love him though.
The boys playing in the truck.
Garrett looks like a natural on the tractor.
Nathan taking a little break from playing.
This is their dog, Rowdy. He is such a sweet dog, our kids loved him.
Nathan and Matt
Ben in little boy heaven, on a real tractor.
Addie wanted a turn too, but Ben didn't want to move.
Ben was not very good at sharing, he kept trying to nudge Nathan out of the way.
SB and Addie hanging out on the tractor together.
We finally got Ben out of the drivers seat and he had to check out everything else.
Garrett took his turn to kick the tires.
Nathan stopped for a quick pudding snack.
Matt put Jon to work painting a sign for the property.
To get around the farm we used a golf cart. Garrett loved when he got to have the golf cart all to himself.
Nathan exploring an old barn.
Ben exploring the barn too.
Trying to get a picture of all the kids, but the sun was too bright and there were too many cool things to look at.
It was so peaceful.
Garrett loved the tractors almost as much as Ben.
I loved this beautiful old barn.
This is how we got around the farm, Addie and SB rode on the back inside the straps for the golf bags.

We went exploring and found these old cow bones.
It was a neat lesson to explain to the kids about the bones.
More peaceful countryside.
Addie loved riding around the farm and exploring.