Big Girl Earrings

Tonight Renee, Lily, Ashley, and I had a Girls' Night Out. We went to dinner, did a little shopping, and got Lily's ears pierced. Ashley said that she didn't want to have her ears pierced before we went tonight, and after watching Lily, she really doesn't want to have hers done! Lily only cried for a couple of minutes afterwards. (The lollipop helped!)

The Last T-Ball Game

Nathan had his last T-Ball game tonight. The YMCA league is for 4, 5, and 6 year olds, so if he still wants to play next year, we will move on to a different baseball league. Technically, Ashley would be old enough to play next year. She will have just turned 4, so we will probably wait another year.

The Johnson kids made it into town today, so I got eye patches and bandannas for them to wear in support of the Pirates.

Lily and Ashley are just about the same size now. Lily will be 2 in a couple of weeks.

After the game, the team went to Larry's Pizza for food, fun, and trophy presentations. I guess Nathan didn't get the message to make a silly face for this pic. He just wanted to show off his trophy.

Hog Wild!

The interstate (I-430) was closed this morning due to an overturned pig trailer! It has created massive gridlock for the Monday morning commuters. Jeff had to find an alternate route to Conway because of all the northbound traffic. (I did not take this picture. It was on the Channel 11 website.)

Cool as a Cucumber

Granny and Papa Fischer called yesterday and said that they had enough ripe cucumbers for all the kids to pick. So, we went by their house and did a little gardening on our way to Nathan's T-Ball game last night.

Following Fischer tradition, all the kids wanted to sit at the bar and have some graham crackers before we left. (Mikayla and Ashley also ate their freshly-picked cucumbers.) However, I think this is the first time in my life that I ever remember using disposable cups!

Dear Amanda:

Amanda,

I thought I would let you know what your kids have been up to since you left them in Arkansas for two weeks. I picked them up from Ernest and Donna on Sunday. I asked them what they did while they were with them and all they talked about was going to church twice and to Chuck E. Cheese's. You'll be thrilled to know that you left some unmentionables -- well, actually just an unmentionable ;) -- at your mother-in-law's house. Josh also left a blue, button-up shirt.

We all spent the night with Mom and Dad. We went down to the river and then grilled hot dogs later that evening. On Monday, Mom and I took the kids down to this new "park" in Malvern. It turned out to be just a picnic area, boat ramp, and some trails that went dangerously close to the Ouachita River. The sign said "Whitewater Park", and they meant it!

We let the kids play in the little pool (to the right in the top picture), but made them put on life jackets to climb on the rocks and play near the edge of the river. I was seriously afraid that someone would be washed down the river and had formulated a rescue plan that involved me running down the trail to the launch area downstream to try to catch the drifter! We would like to come back on a float trip to this area. I think it would be really fun in a canoe.

After that, we went to lunch at McDonald's and then briefly went by Babe's work to let her see the kids for a minute. We were all worn out and enjoyed a quiet ride back to Lonsdale.

City Reach 09 has arrived

Washington has been invaded!! yesterday over 250 teenagers and sponsors came to Washington for City Reach 09. This year they even brought shirts for my kids (thanks John Yoho). We are looking forward to an insanely busy week. I am in charge of feeding over 350 people lunch for four days. Aaron is in charge of basically making sure everything runs smoothly. Ralph and Saundra are here. He is helping with construction. Jon and Mandi and MB are here with their youth group. It's awesome to have so many people here from around the country to help us reach our city.

The Joy of a Box

Jeff and Wayne are installing my new dishwasher today. The delivery guy asked if we wanted to keep the box. Obviously, he didn't have little kids. The box is the best part!

The Zac Morris Phone Lives!

Jeff's former co-workers at Easter Seals made endless fun of his crappy, old phone and dubbed it the "Zac Morris Phone". I cracked up when I saw this picture on Yahoo today:

Weekend Wrap-up

We had no big plans for the weekend, but I was on call, so we stayed close to home. On Friday night, we grilled some steaks and enjoyed the mild temperatures and low humidity outside.

We spent most of Saturday downtown. I think I could write an article on all the cheap, family-friendly activities to do in downtown LR. First, we went to the farmer's market and picked up some produce, and then we went to the AGFC Nature Center. It's free, so you can take a quick tour and then move right along without feeling like you have to stay a long time to get your money's worth. There's a simulated Trapper's Cabin, so you can feel just like you're in Dad's shed (minus the stench) in the heart of the city.

Next we walked to the Clinton Library but did not go in. I would like to take Nathan back sometime this summer while they have the space exhibit, but I didn't think Ashley was up for it. I took Nate's picture in front of this tree and told him that I wanted to come back in 10 years and see how much they had both grown.

We walked over to the new Heifer Project Global Village where they were having the Grand Opening. (Which also had free admission and lots of activities going on all weekend.)

Then we walked (yes, we got lots of exercise!) back to the Flying Fish for lunch. Ashley spent most of the walk back - and part of lunch - asleep in her stroller. After we were fed and rested, we took the kids to play in the sprinklers at Peabody Park. Even though the water was freezing, I think they could have stayed there all day.

Lastly, we had the Stacys and the Woodards (that still sounds weird) over for lunch today. The Stacys were in the state for Josh's cousin's wedding, so we saw them briefly today. Stephanie and Isaac came over with little Piper. We all enjoyed meeting her, especially Ashley. I cannot say that the feeling was mutual for Piper. Each time Ashley held her for a picture, she started crying. Brandon and KK are going to be here for a couple of weeks, so I'm sure there will be pics of them to follow.

I'm a big kid now!

I know it seemed impossible, but where-the-heck-are-we-a has managed to find her way through the Charlotte airport all by herself! I'm am sitting at my gate waiting to board. flying with no kids (and no husband) is nice and relaxing so I thought i would take the chance to catch up on reading the blog.

Mission Accomplished

Those of you who know me well know that I hate to be late for anything. Sadly, my punctuality is inversely proportional to the number of years I have been married to Jeff Adams.

That being said, I am pleased to report that we made it on time to kindergarten every day this year! That's right, no tardies! And considering that the tardy bell rings at 7:40 a.m., I think that is quite an accomplishment.

Busy,busy,busy

It's that tme of year again for soccer. Micah has waited patiently for two years to be old enough to play and he is so excited. Lily was pretty excited too. Although she did not know what soccer was, she insisted on putting on shin guards and cleats. Too cute!! Before we know it she will be old enough to play.

The boys took swim lessons for the first time in May. I know they are a little behind compared to their cousins, but I wanted to wait until Micah was old enough for them to do lessons together. On the last day of lessons they were all allowed to jump off the diving board (if they wanted to) As you can see, only one of mine took the challenge. Micah jumped off the little diving board and the big diving board. We were so proud.

I have a good excuse this time....

Okay girls-I know I pledged to be a more consistent blogger and have not kept my promise, but I have a good excuse this time......We changed internet carriers and I've been without for a while. So with that being said I have a lot of pictures to post. I'm bout to get my blog on.........

"The days are long, but the years are short"

I can't remember who first said that to me, but it is kind of my mantra. That being said, I cannot believe that kindergarten is almost over! It seems like only a couple of months ago that I was lamenting sending my baby off to school, and now his last day is tomorrow. I got some pictures from the school year sent home in his backpack today. It is funny that in so many pictures that we have taken this year Nathan is wearing his blue Fulbright shirt, and I'm in my red scrubs. On the days that Ashley wore her green 2nd Pres shirt, we looked like a bunch of Crayolas!

Here's Nate with his two best buddies from this year - Carter and Luke. They had their on group of kindergartners called "The Boys Team" that included these three, about 4 other boys, and one girl named Chloe. It has been a great year, and I can only hope that 1st grade will be as good.

Lake Sylvia

I had some of my teenager girls from church at the house Saturday night for their End of the Year sleepover. This means that Jeff and the kids got the boot. Mom and Dad were camping on Lake Sylvia, so they spent the night with them - Jeff in 1 tent and the other 4 in another!

Dino Dash

I was prepared to really get my blog on yesterday, but our power went out. (Dump truck + telephone pole = 7 hours with no electricity.) So, let me try this again...

Here are few pictures from the Dino Dash on Saturday. It was a 5k run and 1k walk/run. Jonathan asked us to join the Arkansas Johnsons for the race, but Mary Beth got a stomach virus and Mandi had to stay home with her.

Nathan was excited about running in a real race. According to Jeff, he ran/jogged the whole 1k. I wouldn't know, because I was lagging behind with Ashley on my shoulders. She did not enjoy it at all. However, they both enjoyed the Popsicles at the finish line!

Fishing at John Boyd's Pond

Wayne retired in February, so he's got a lot of time on his hands these days. He loves to fish, so we invited him to go fishing at John Boyd's pond one afternoon last week. Nathan is really starting to enjoy fishing as well. He's really good at casting, but I still spent most of my time getting his line untangled. That's fine by me though. I'm not really into fishing (especially the putting-the-worm-on-the-hook part), but it was fun to watch everybody else.

Nathan caught a small crappie and big catfish. After that, he was done, so he and I walked home and picked blackberries along the way.