Following the Fischer Family

Valentine's Day Sock Hop

2012-02-14T15:17:00.005-06:00

Ashley's kindergarten class had a Valentine's Day Sock Hop today. They had a soda fountain with ice cream sundaes, and their teacher even taught them The Twist, The Jive, and The Mashed Potato! They were too cute! I only wish she had been feeling better. Both of my kids have whatever virus is going around this week.

I made it upstairs for the second half of Nathan's party. I wish I had taken a picture of the side-view of his messy desk. At his parent teacher conference, we discussed one of the areas in which he needs improvement: "organization". His teacher has even asked the girls that sit on either side of him to help him out. That kind of reminded me of Jeff in grad school. ; )

I let him loose with my camera. He took a few good pictures (like the one above of his box), but most of them were of his friends and turned out more like this... ...or this.

Don't Open Until 2021!

2012-02-14T14:31:00.003-06:00

So, I had an idea last summer for Nathan to make a time capsule to be opened in 10 years when he (insert gasp here) graduates from high school. I had this cool container from work, and we filled it with lots of pictures of what we did last spring and summer, some of his drawings, letters from Jeff and me, and few other little trinkets. We finally got around to burying it at Mom and Dad's last weekend. Mom told me that they had hidden a time capsule under the bottom stair when they built our house back in the 80s for us to open after they are gone. Kind of morbid but cool! I'm just glad we know where to look for it.

We also found out about another surprise when we arrived in Lonsdale: Mom and Dad got a new puppy! She's a 6-week-old terrier mix. After much discussion, we named her Daisy. The kids miss her already.

Geocaching with the Krebs

2012-02-05T16:11:00.001-06:00

Cheer Camp 2012

2012-02-04T21:16:00.003-06:00

The Stephens Center at UALR was overtaken tonight by parents and students from our elementary school. The older girls held a mini cheerleading camp for the younger girls this week, and they all performed in the halftime shows at both the men's and women's basketball games. It made for a long night, but they did really well. Here's a shot with Meme at home before the game. Ash with her friend Kendall Waiting for their turn Showtime!Thanks to my father-in-law for taking lots of pictures for us tonight including this great action shot of Ashley's cartwheel. The gymnastics classes are paying off...she nailed it both times!

100th Day of School

2012-01-30T17:25:00.003-06:00

Last year, Nathan really enjoyed dressing up like he was 100 years old for the 100th day of school (see here). This year it was Ashley's turn. She made the cutest little old lady!

Way to Go, Eagles!

2012-01-30T17:18:00.005-06:00

I finally remembered to bring my camera to Nathan's last basketball game of the season. He has played with some of the same boys since kindergarten. This year's team - the Eagles - finished 3-2-1 including a tough loss in the last game of the season. I didn't get any good action shots...except maybe this one of silly little sister trying to steal the attention. ; )

Is it still winter?

2012-01-17T16:23:00.009-06:00

I know it is January, but it has been such a mild winter that it's easy to forget. Nathan actually wore shorts to school today! We've been keeping busy, but no big, blog-worthy events. Everyone is finally back at work and school on a regular basis. We've been playing outside a lot thanks to the nice weather and new, outdoor (thank you, Santa!) Christmas toys.

We have also been partying hard, as usual. ; ) Ashley went to 2 JumpZone parties last week, Nathan had his Accelerated Reader party at school, and they both went to a friend's birthday party on Sunday!

That just about catches us up to date on our happening life in WLR. Now to head out the door and shuttle kids back and forth from basketball and gymnastics...

NYC Shopping Spree

2012-01-14T17:31:00.006-06:00

One afternoon this past fall, Renee called me to let me know that she had entered a contest in Redbook for a free trip to NYC, a new wardrobe, and a closet makeover, AND SHE WON!!! After getting some more details, it was called the "7 Days of Style" and was sponsored by Liz Claiborne and JC Penney. This week, she and Aaron flew to the Big Apple for the shopping spree.

She sent me these pictures today, and I volunteered to post them. I'm sure she will have some great, Renee-like comments about the event. For now, here are the pics. BTW, I love the red coat and the picture of the receipt. That was some serious shopping!

Oh by the way, we went to Disney World.

2012-01-02T18:00:00.008-06:00

This past fall, both of my sisters went to Disney World - together - and couldn't manage a single entry to the blog. Seriously!?! Not one pic? As the self-appointed family historian, I will share some pictures from Amanda's camera with a few of my own captions:

The Stacys were the first to arrive in Orlando.
They waited...
...and waited
...and waited for the Johnsons to arrive, but alas, they were stuck on the plane for 5 hours! Brandon and Mikayla gave up and went to the beach.The next day, they got up early, um...make that 10ish, and went in search of some characters......and boy, did they ever find some!Renee: And just why do they call this the happiest place on earth?
Aaron: Man! It's hot!
Amanda: Brandon, look at the camera!
Aaron: Jeremiah! Micah! Look at the camera!
Renee: I'm going to find some shade and a Diet Coke. Find me when you guys are finished.
Lily: Me too!Brandon: Can you sign this for Papa?

Stacy Party of 6

2012-01-02T17:35:00.004-06:00

Once again, I hijacked Amanda's memory card from her camera when she was home for Christmas. It is the only way any pictures of her kids that she took will end up on the blog, but more on that later. For now, I just wanted to post a couple of pics of them on adoption day.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T16:48:00.005-06:00

We were all trying to fight off a cold the whole week of Christmas, and we made it through the festivites with just a few sniffles (and a lot of Sudafed!) However, the cold won out this weekend. We have spent most of 2012 in the house. The kids have had lots of time to play with their new toys, and the house is almost put back together.

Nathan got a HexBug from the Stanisors. He liked it so much that he used some of his Christmas money to buy the HexBug Habitat. Little sister (who HATES bugs) also likes the HexBugs. Nathan named his "Hexy", so Ashley wanted to get one and name it "Sexy"! (I swear I'm not making this up. The same thing happened with Horny/Corny the Unicorn! See here.) Last night, we tried out Ashley's cupcake maker, a gift from Aunt Debbie. Let me just say that it might be dangerous that we can have fresh baked cupcakes in 5 to 8 minutes. Of course, that does not include prep time or clean up time. Note to self: next time use Pam!

08 and 09

2011-12-29T17:01:00.005-06:00

To officially welcome AJ and Izzy to the family, I got them blue T-shirts like the rest of the crew and inducted them with a hazing ritual: a Fischer family photo shoot. It went as well as could be expected with 9 kids ages 9 and under. The shirts are numbered in birth order, but interestingly over half of the kids numbers are also their birth year (Nate '02, Ashley '06, Lily '07, AJ '08, and Izzy '09).

Expanding the Fischer Family

2011-12-29T16:12:00.005-06:00

It's official! The Fischer Family has now expanded to a party of 17: Mom, Dad, the 3 daughters, the 3 sons-in-law, and now 9 grandkids!! Amanda and Josh have adopted a little boy and a little girl. AJ is 3 1/2, and Izzy just turned 2. They've had them since August, but the adoption was finalized just a few days before Christmas. We got to meet them on our trip to FL in October, but I couldn't blog about them or post any pictures until everything was official.

The whole family came in from FL and PA this week for a slightly belated Christmas celebration. Jeff, Dad, and I scoped the property the day before for a great photo spot, but Monday's rainfall literally dampened our efforts. Here's a pic of the original Fischer five and the best indoor pic that we could get of the whole crew:

I also snapped a few quick pics in the flurry of present opening.
Here's Micah being...well, Micah.Mikayla and her new personalized water bottle. She has trouble finding anything with her name spelled correctly. I ordered this for her since I can totally empathize. ; )The big boys all got swords, and I was under attack!!

Johnson and Johnson carcass transporting

2011-12-26T11:17:00.001-06:00

I'm just saying....thank God for carcai......

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Giga Ball Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:05:00.004-06:00

Santa found his way to our house once again. The kids must have been better this year, because in addition lots of presents, they did not get a warning letter from Santa like they did last year. ; )

The biggest surprise of the day was the Giga Ball! Santa must have spent HOURS blowing this thing up! It is a giant, inflatable ball that you get inside and roll down a hill. Well, actually, it specifically says, "Not for Use on Hills or in Water" on the box, but we will just disregard the first part of that warning.

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-24T19:37:00.003-06:00

Christmas Eve is not always a day off for me. With Christmas being on Sunday this year, I am enjoying a three day weekend. It was so nice to hang out at home for most of the day in my pajamas! And since I'm not on call anymore (a gift in itself), we went to the early Christmas Eve service at church.

Debbie and her family joined us for a rocking worship service in The Edge. We're not usually "Edge people", but it was really good. The kids loved the loud music and the light show! Here's a picture of the Shrewsburys all grown up: Abby (14) and Sean (20).

We do have one Christmas Eve tradition. A few years ago, we started letting the kids open their presents from each other after church. Since they always pick out toys, it gives them a little something to play with while they anxiously await Santa's arrival. This year's gifts were a glow-in-the-dark football for Nate and a new Barbie for Ashley.

Making Christmas cookies

2011-12-23T12:57:00.001-06:00

One of our Christmas traditions is making Christmas candy (chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered peanut butter ritz). This year we made 10 containers for teachers/neighbors/friends. All the kids helped. Even Aaron got in on the action. Micah and J's heads are cut off in their pics, but they helped too!

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Snitch Returns

2011-12-18T16:33:00.003-06:00

Snitch, our Elf of the Shelf, came back the day after Thanksgiving this year which was way too early! For future reference, a week or two before Christmas will be about right. Not only does "Snitch" have to remember to move each night, but "he" also has to remember to deliver the daily notes from Ashley to Santa. And as if "he" doesn't have enough to do, "he" heard about someone else's elf leaving paper snowflakes behind, so "he" had to give that a try too! ; )

We also emailed our letters to Santa this morning (http://www.emailsanta.com/). He replies right away with a personalized letter. My kids both asked for scooters for Christmas. Santa's letter reminded them to always wear their helmets! Jeff will be so proud. Safety first!

Happy Brrrrthday, Jenna!

2011-12-16T21:05:00.002-06:00

We celebrated Jenna S.'s Christmas Eve birthday a little early tonight at the River Market ice skating rink. Super fun party!

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Holiday Partying

2011-12-15T19:22:00.001-06:00

What a busy week of school...and it's only Thursday! It feels like Jeff and I have spent almost as much time at school as the kids. Jeff was the Watchdog Dad on Tuesday, and then he went on the Kindergarten field trip with Ashley today.

This afternoon, we split time between the Holiday Parties for both classrooms. Ashley's class decorated gingerbread houses. I'm pretty sure more icing was licked off their fingers than actually made it on the houses. ; )

The third grades did a little better frosting their cookies.

And since Chick Fil A is one of our school partners, each classroom got a visit from Santa Cow.

Tomorrow, they get to have another pajama day (yea!) and get to watch Polar Express. They're not exactly hitting the books this week, but they are having a lot of fun!

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Trying to Remember December

2011-12-11T19:03:00.007-06:00

Is it already December 11th!?! Where has the month gone? I was politely informed last night by my mother-in-law that I haven't updated the blog in a while. Well, here's what has been going on as recorded in the random pictures on my phone:

List making...

fort building...

boys eating...

girls lounging...

ball playing...

snow falling...

Santa siting...

present wrapping...

and much dining!

S-E-C, S-E-C!

2011-11-20T12:18:00.006-06:00

Wow! What a weekend for college football! Jeff was out of town for a national conference this week, but he got to watch all the big games on TV. Jennifer, Ashley, and I spent Saturday morning doing a little Christmas shopping while Nathan and Will stayed with Tyler.

The girls had lunch at Pei Wei. Jennifer's fortune cookie read something like, "Your luck will change completely today." We all thought that was bad news since our season has been going so well. Ashley tore the fortune up into little pieces and said we should pretend it never happened. ; )

We met up with the boys at War Memorial for a light tailgate.

For the LR games, we have 4 pretty good seats together and 2 more down in the SE corner of the stadium...right by the opposing fans and their band! In spite of the band and the cowbells, Ashley fell asleep in my lap before the first TD was scored. My children are blessed with the ability to fall asleep literally anywhere! (They clearly get that from their father!) She woke up and called the Hogs with her new pompom gloves.

At halftime, we took some empty seats near the rest of our crew (plus the Inmans) and watched the Hogs get their 10th victory of the year. We made it home in time to watch #4 Oregon and #5 Oklahoma both lose.

I don't know what will happen this week for our #3 Hogs, but it's already been a fun season. One last pic...

...my ticket stub from the last time Arkansas beat #1 LSU at home in 2007. I bet they don't eek out another National Championship if we beat them this year. Still keepin' the faith! Go Hogs!

Dear Jeff,

2011-11-17T19:16:00.010-06:00

I hope you have enjoyed your week in sunny San Diego. We are all doing fine here. Worn out, but fine. In addition to our usual work/school/activity routine, we also started basketball practice, completed a science project, made two Book Character Day costumes, had the Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast, and more! I know that you have been working on your trip, but I'm pretty sure that I've been working harder here on the home front. So next week, "Tag, you're it!" Mom's off duty!

Your loving wife,

Racheal

P.S. Here's a few photos from our busy week...

11/11/11

2011-11-11T11:30:00.005-06:00

Ten years ago today, Jeff and I were honored to spend Veteran's Day in DC with his parents. I scanned a few old photos from the service that day at the Vietnam Memorial. I wanted to say "thank you" to my father-in-law and all who have served this country and to share the lesser known last verse of the Star Spangled Banner. I think the words are beautiful and especially poignant on this day:

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust;”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Lily's new do......

2011-11-10T09:15:00.001-06:00

Lily has been wanting to get her haircut for months, but I made her wait until after Brandons wedding and family pics. Aaron took her last night, I just couldn't do it.....

I actually really like it!! Much to my surprise.

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Happy Fall, Y'all!

2011-11-05T15:53:00.004-05:00

What a beautiful fall day! Jeff is in Fayetteville for the big game (#7 Arkansas vs. #9 S. Carolina). The kids and I stayed home this weekend for a short visit with the Johnsons who were in town for a wedding.

There are so many things to love about the season, but one of my favorites is fall baking! Right now, my house is filled with the smell of this freshly baked pumpkin bread. Mmm...

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Halloween Haul!

2011-10-31T20:23:00.007-05:00

Our hilly neighborhood is not the best for trick-or-treating, so we walked down to a flatter subdivision to fill our candy bags. Since the weather was so perfect, we probably walked about 2 miles round trip. Ashley was ALL about it: singing, dancing, and running to each house for the first hour or so! She was a Razorback cheerleader, and Nathan (who decided he was getting too old to keep up with her) was Indiana Jones. The satchel made a perfect candy bag, and he filled it up!

Tale of Two Pumpkins

2011-10-30T19:14:00.003-05:00

We carved our pumpkins this afternoon. I helped Ashley make this cute kitty that we traced from a template. Nathan decided to go with a more, umm...freestyle (?) approach with his Jack-o-lantern. Still not really sure what the "L" on the forehead is all about.

Kids with Character

2011-10-30T18:51:00.006-05:00

Friday was the Kids with Character celebration. Ashley got the award for "Responsibility" for her class.

Just as I was walking in, they had a balloon release to celebrate the end of Red Ribbon Week.

Brooke and Ashley on the playground after school. Ashley still loves to play on the monkey bars!

Ole Miss

2011-10-30T18:43:00.003-05:00

A few pics from the boys' trip to Ole Miss. Well, it wasn't technically just the boys. Tyler's sister (Anne) actually went with them. You can read more on her blog post here.

The Birthday that Never Ends

2011-10-30T18:03:00.005-05:00

I know I say this every year, but October is such a busy month for us! The week after we got back from Florida, we went to the State Fair and celebrated Nathan's actual birthday on the 18th. That weekend, Jeff and Nathan took a boys' trip to Oxford, and then we celebrated Nathan's birthday with family on Sunday afternoon. Nate wanted to have a sleepover instead of a big party this year, so we finally worked that in this weekend!

Here's a few random birthday pics. Since we waited so late in the month to have his party, we went with a Halloween theme for #9.

Per Nathan's request, we had "Eyeballs on a Stick" (a.k.a. decorated cake balls) instead of an actual birthday cake. They were quite tasty!

Fort Pickens

2011-10-28T20:45:00.003-05:00

I forgot to post any pictures from Fort Pickens, a Civil War fort on the beach in Pensacola.
We decided that it should have be called "Fort Prick-ens" since the grass was FULL of these nasty sand burrs!

Another Day at the Beach!

2011-10-15T19:13:00.005-05:00

The jellyfish are really bad in the Gulf right now, but the kids made the most of it. A more responsible parent would probably not let their children trap salad plate-sized jellyfish in buckets, but I never claimed to be much of a responsible parent. We escaped with just a few minor brushes with the jellies.

Oh, yeah...they also caught a few dead crabs.

Papa and the girls made a pretty cool sandcastle. Nathan and Mikayla were the bravest of the bunch, but they even got Brandon to venture out pretty far with them one time.

Happy Birthday, B!

2011-10-15T18:57:00.005-05:00

October is the big birthday month for the Fischer Family! (Amanda, Micah, Jeff, Brandon, Nathan, and Josh all celebrate this month!!) Luckily, our visit to Florida coincided with Brandon's 9th birthday, so we celebrated his big day with a party at the park.

Cartwheels in the Sand

2011-10-14T19:12:00.005-05:00

The Stacys moved from Ft. Myers to Pensacola in January, and we thought it was about time for a visit. Since the kids had a couple of days out of school this week, we loaded down the Tahoe and headed south! Sadly, the biggest beach-lover of all, Jeff, had a conference and couldn't make the trip.

I took lots of pictures of Ashley today. It was her second trip to the beach, but the first time she actually enjoyed it. (Flashback here.) Today she was literally head-over-heels for the beach! Her daddy will be so proud!

I decided today that about 80 degrees is perfect beach weather for me. It was warm enough to enjoy it, but not hot at all. We drove way out and pretty much had the beach to ourselves.

The "Pone-kin" Patch

2011-10-07T20:11:00.006-05:00

Today was the Kindergarten field trip to the Pumpkin Patch (pronounced "pone-kin" by Ashley). They went to a different place than they went to last year, so there were sadly no pig races. I think they still had a great time. Ash was so tired that she fell asleep on the bus ride back to school!

I thought this picture was funny. I would probably make that face, too, if there was a goat jumping on the fence behind me. ; )

Happy birthday Micah!

2011-10-07T16:19:00.001-05:00

So Micah wanted to go camping for his birthday so we went to Swallow Falls, MD with The Knights who were in visiting from Washington State. Can't believe Micah is 7!!!

Birthday pancake at the local diner.

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2nd Annual World Cheese Dip Championship

2011-09-24T21:37:00.003-05:00

So, I'm in Starbucks on Friday morning, and the featured article on the cover of a local magazine catches my eye: 2nd Annual World Cheese Dip Championship to be held Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. I flipped to the article and read that they would be showing the Arkansas/Alabama game on the Jumbotron during the competition. All-you-can-eat cheese dip + Razorback football ? I'm there!

After looking at the website (http://www.cheesedip.net/), I learned that the original championship event was held at Dickey Stephens Park last year. They had such an unbelievable turnout, that they changed the venue, doubled the amount of cheese dip, and found corporate sponsors to provide the chips. Now I'm not so sure about their claim that Arkansas is "the epicenter of the cheese dip culinary world", but we had a good time at the festival.

We went around to the different booths sampling the entries (both professional and amateur), let the kids run around on the field and play in some bouncy houses, and then settled in to watch the painful first half of the game. We also witnessed the cheese dip eating contest at halftime. It was both impressive and disgusting (but mostly disgusting) to watch people try to consume 5 lbs. of cheese dip in 5 minutes!

We headed home before the second half, and both kids were already asking if we can go back next year!

Ten mile

2011-09-24T13:15:00.001-05:00

I was in hot springs this weekend and saw this....

Many good memories here! Apparently the building was filled with asbestos and had to be torn down. Good visual reminder that the church is not the building it's the people!'

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Rainbow Toast

2011-09-24T10:23:00.003-05:00

Some of the Kindergarten classes made Rainbow Toast yesterday. Ashley was eager to try it again at home, so we had scrambled eggs and Rainbow Toast for breakfast.

Step 1 - Mix powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl to paint-like consistency.

Step 2 - Add a few drops of food coloring and mix. Using color coordinated bowls is optional. ; )

Step 3 - Paint bread.

Step 4 - Toast and enjoy!

Rainy Day in Fayetteville

2011-09-17T13:46:00.001-05:00

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Razorbacks Remember

2011-09-11T20:47:00.005-05:00

LITTLE ROCK - War Memorial Stadium was a striking scene of red, white and blue on Saturday night for the Arkansas-New Mexico football game as just more than 52,000 fans joined the Razorbacks on the 10th anniversary weekend of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 to pay tribute to those who were lost and those who continue to serve and protect our nation.

Pregame Prep

2011-09-10T08:22:00.008-05:00

Tailgating is hard work! I realized last week that I was not in mid-season form. Everything turned out great, but I was just worn out by game day! I decided to pace myself this week with the pregame prep and (for some reason) to blog about it.

WEDNESDAY: Finalizing menu, grocery shopping, and start working on Razorback candies.

I bought this candy mold online. It was cute and easy to use, but it only makes 12 at a time. So now I'm thinking, "Why did I only buy one?!" Speaking of cute, here's my sous chef /taste-tester helping out in the kitchen.

THURSDAY: In a word, BACON!

One should probably be ashamed of using this much bacon to prepare two side dishes, however, I'm not. Last week's game day fare was pretty healthy (Strawberry Spinach Salad with Baked Chicken - perfect for the 90+ degree day!) I was accused of putting our tailgaters on a diet, so this week you better BYO Lipitor! We're having BBQ today, so I'm making Baked Bean Quintet (with lots of bacon) and Baked Potato Salad (with even more bacon). This brings up the age-old controversy: is it sacrilege to eat pork before a Razorback game?

FRIDAY: Making the Cake

As soon as I saw the Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake on the cover of this month's Southern Living, I new that I would have to make it. It has a lot of ingredients, but wasn't that challenging to make. I would recommend boiling the icing a little longer than 1 minute as mine turned out a little thin. I also decreased the cinnamon to about 1 1/2 teaspoons just because I wanted to. I'll let you know how it turns out...

SATURDAY: Game On!

Obviously if I have time this morning to blog about cooking, my game day prep is pretty low key. Now it's time to pack it all up and head to War Memorial!

Hot One on the Hill!

2011-09-05T09:47:00.005-05:00

We drove up 540 on Saturday morning for the opening game of the 2011-12 season. The calendar said it was September, but it was still HOT! Jeff, Tyler, Nathan, and Will went to the game while Jennifer and I took the little ones back to the condo. We're planning to take all of them to the first LR game, so I'm really hoping that the forecast holds out. Channel 7 is predicting a high of 83 on Saturday (fingers crossed!)

Open House

2011-09-05T09:24:00.002-05:00

What a busy week! While the Johnson kids just started school this week, we finished week three and have already had our Open House, first PTA meeting, and completed our first fundraiser!

The Apple Junkies Don't Fall Far from the Tree

2011-08-27T22:08:00.001-05:00

The highly anticipated opening of the Apple store in WLR was today! Though we did not camp out or fight the early morning crowds to get a free T-shirt, we did make it a family event this evening. Ashley made a friend in this sales guy who was impressed with her mad iPhone skills. We all enjoyed playing with the gadgets and taking funny PhotoBooth pictures. Apple is definitely doing their part to stimulate the local economy! Now if we can just get Macy's...

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Wet and Wild Weekend

2011-08-21T16:50:00.006-05:00

What's better than having your own pool? Having friends with pools! Well, maybe it's not better, but it's lots of fun and much less work. We were invited over for swimming and dinner with friends on both Friday and Saturday nights. (Thanks again!) No pics from Friday night at the Collins' house, but here are two from Saturday night at the Shroyer's: first the boys and then the little sisters.

First Day of School!

2011-08-15T16:28:00.006-05:00

6:00am came early today...way too early! While I've not had as much time off as everyone else in my household this summer, at least I've only been responsible for getting myself ready and out the door on time in the mornings. Not so today! Since the tardy bell rings at 7:40am, we all had to rise and shine. (Well, at least "rise" - not a whole lot of "shine" going on that early!)

My 1/2 grown little man started 3rd grade today. He has a teacher who is new to the school and a just couple of friends in his class. He seems excited, and we're hoping for a good year. He didn't really want us to walk him to class today, but I insisted.

Ashley started Kindergarten today! Since she has already been through Pre-K at the same school, starting "real" school was far less traumatic on Jeff and me that when Nathan started Kindergarten. Here she is with her adorable teacher both wearing her new favorite color - purple! Ashley's best school friend, Brooke, is sadly not in her class this year, but she does have several of her other Pre-K friends and lots of Fellowship kids in with her.

Two Rivers Park

2011-08-14T20:09:00.001-05:00

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So Long Summer!

2011-08-14T19:44:00.003-05:00

Trying to pack as much fun into our summer as possible, we brought 4 extra boys home with us for a sleepover after "Meet Your Teacher Night" on Thursday. Jeff did the grocery shopping beforehand so the menu consisted of healthy treats such as Bagel Bites, tater tots, and mini corndogs. There were lots of light saber battles and, thankfully, no injuries!

On Saturday night, Ashley had a friend over for their own sleepover. Good times! Now it's time to get the house cleaned, the laundry finished, and get back into the school day routine. I'm worn out just thinking about it...

The luckiest kid..

2011-08-13T11:39:00.001-05:00

So yesterday me and J were shopping at wal-Mart and he found a Disney gift card laying there. It said it had $200 on it. I told him it was probably an empty card that someone was keeping for a souvenir and not to get his hopes up.

So when we got online to check the balance we couldn't believe that it actually had $200 on it!!!!!! We called wal-mart to see if anybody had reported it lost and they hadn't. I told the manager that if no one called by the end of the day I was going to let J keep it. No one ever called so they got to go on a shopping spree!!! They had so much fun!!

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Location:Sherman Ave,Washington,United States

Phineas and Ferb Party

2011-08-06T07:57:00.003-05:00

The kids had kind of been off of their Phineas and Ferb obsession throughout the school year, but this summer, it's been full blown P&F mania! Last night was the premier of the "Phineas and Ferb The Movie" so we had our own little watch party. The menu included P&F Sandwiches from a recipe that I found here, Platypus Punch, and a huge Perry the Platypus dessert. (It's amazing what you can do with some blue food coloring, a really sharp knife, and a touch of neurosis!)

J's first tattoo

2011-08-05T18:38:00.001-05:00

Don't worry, it's Henna!!

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Micah lost his first tooth finally!!

2011-08-05T12:21:00.001-05:00

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Lily got feathers!!

2011-08-05T12:20:00.001-05:00

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Finally got my meatballs!!!

2011-08-05T12:18:00.001-05:00

Any guesses where I am? I've waited 5 years for these meatballs. They were good but the mashed potatoes were amazing!!

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Heat Advisory

2011-08-03T19:50:00.003-05:00

I have tried not to complain too much about the triple digit temps, but when the color-coded weather map goes beyond orange/red to pink/white you know it's REALLY hot!!!

UPDATE: It actually reached 114 degrees on Wednesday in Little Rock!!! That's an all-time record high!!!

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South Carolina with Marco

2011-08-02T10:24:00.001-05:00

So J is in S. Carolina with his friend Marco for eight days!!! It's his first big trip without his family. So far so good, but it's only day 3.....

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H-O-T Springs

2011-07-31T16:51:00.008-05:00

Camp Aunt Debbie concluded on Friday with a trip to Magic Springs. Since we were meeting in Hot Springs to pick-up the kids, we decided to stay for the weekend. Of course it was 100+ degrees, so we tried to stay out of the heat as much as possible. After a big breakfast and long swim in the hotel pool, we tried out the new (or at least new to us) T-Rex Indoor Jurassic Golf. It was all in black light, had realistic looking and sounding dinosaurs, and was blessedly air conditioned! It was very cool, and Nathan's already talking about having his next birthday party there.

Afterward, we stopped for a treat at Holy Cow Creamery before heading to see the Paynes.
Jared runs cross country at school and has been wanting to do another 5k to motivated again. Jeff, Wayne, John, and Jared's friend Thad decided to run and/or walk with him. Like I said, it was ridculously hot, and we are just glad they all finished without having to call an ambulance!

A New Chapter...

2011-07-27T17:36:00.002-05:00

Since I graduated in 2000, I have been working as a home health/hospice pharmacist. It is a unique, multidisciplinary specialty, and I have joked that surely I have earned an honorary "R.N." after my name as well! I have spent the last 7 years at I Care of Arkansas, and for about a year, we have been working on some side projects that have really taken off on their own. I can finally announce that as of today, I Care merged with another local competitor. As of tomorrow, I will be working exclusively for Sterile Compounding of America. It is both exciting and scary to venture away from what I know. It felt almost like I was giving away one of my children today as I turned over my charts to the other company. I have taken care of some of these patients for years!

I am ready for a change though. Eleven years of being on-call has been more than enough! Even though it was rewarding to help people get home from the hospital and to provide comfort to the terminally ill, I will not miss compounding morphine for a new hospice patient at 3:00am or missing church and family events because somebody needed I.V. antibiotics. I will not miss always having a contingency plan "in case Mommy gets called in". I will also not miss the red scrubs! ; )

I have worked with some great people over the years and will miss a few of them dearly. I'm sure that I will continue to talk to them through the transition, and it has already been requested that I continue making my famous carrot cake for their birthdays. So here's to a new chapter, and whatever it brings...

Camp Aunt Debbie

2011-07-27T16:51:00.003-05:00

The 2nd Annual Camp Aunt Debbie is being held this week. Our kids (and cousin Jenna) are spending the whole week with Jeff's sister. In Debbie's words, it gives us a break from them and them a break from us! She started this last year as a way to help us with the kids in the summer. Also, since her kids are grown and nearly grown, it gives her the chance to use her skills as a children's party/camp planner to the fullest! (Remember Nathan's Survivor Birthday Party?)

Here's a copy of today's schedule of events and some pics from Debbie:

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast:Pancakes
Get cabin picked up
Go to the Rivermarket and play in the park area and the water area. (Please mark some old clothes for me so if they get ruined it is not a big deal.)
Change clothes and go to the Game and Fish commission museum.
Lunch in LR: Pizza
Go play in the tubes at Rock Creek
Home and movie/rest time
Craft: Stepping Stone
Free play
Dinner: Mexican night! Tacos, chips and dip, rice and we will try cheese quesadillas
Flashlight Fun
Free Play
Baths
Bed / Lights out

Pop goes the birdie

2011-07-27T11:43:00.001-05:00

So about a month it two ago J got a parakeet. He loved it! So Micah and Lily wanted one. They each got one so we had three parakeets!!! They are surprisingly quiet. They live in J's room, in their cage.

One day I was downstairs on the phone and lily had gotten her bird out to play with it. It bit her and her natural reflex kicked in, she squeezed the bird and pop went the birdie :( she came downstairs crying "my birdie is dead" so now were down to two birds, and it's a constant fight because there are more kids than birds!! So what do I do? Should I let Lily have another chance or is she just too young???????

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Montour Trail

2011-07-20T16:30:00.001-05:00

So My friend Jenna and I have been walking the past two weeks. We usually go at night around 9 after the kids go to bed, but today we took the kids to the Montour Trail near Pittsburgh. It's really flat and it has this really cool old tunnel to go through. The kids liked it until they got tired :). Today I remembered why we walk at night with no kids!!!!!!!

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Friends of the Garden 3rd Annual Butterfly Festival

2011-07-18T08:43:00.005-05:00

We happened to go to another festival while on our trip to Springfield: Friends of the Garden 3rd Annual Butterfly Festival which is according to ilove.springfieldmo.org "one of Springfield's most popular events". Really? I find that hard to believe. We saw pretty much everything in about an hour. I will cut them some slack because it is only the 3rd annual event. I'm sure it takes a while for these things to really get established.

I think it has potential to be a good festival at some point. It is held at a nice park with a permanent Butterfly House on the grounds. They carried the butterfly/caterpillar theme throughout the event and had lots of hands-on activities for the kids. Another plus - they sold the best strawberry lemonade I've ever tasted. The worst part of the festival was the heat! Usually it's a little cooler in Springfield than it is in LR but not this weekend. It was hot!

The kids' favorite part of the festival was this giant, inflatable caterpillar called the "Kiddie-pillar". We adults couldn't decide which was more disturbing: the entrance or the exit!

Summertime in Springfield

2011-07-18T07:44:00.008-05:00

We spent the weekend visiting Brooke, Blaine, and the girls on what was disputably our 8th to 10th trip to Springfield. ; ) We spent Saturday hanging out at the house and playing on everything in the backyard - swings, trampoline, water balloons, and the inaugural run on a Slip 'n' Slide that didn't so much slip or slide. After dinner, we moved on to the front yard to try out the tree house that Blaine and Riley have been fixing up. I don't know who has been enjoying it more - Blaine or Riley!We spent the rest of the evening reliving past adventures, planning future ones, and watching one of Jeff's favorite 80s movies "Gremlins." (We put the kids to bed before they turned evil. The Gremlins I mean, not the kids.)

Happy Birthday, Lily!

2011-07-09T16:23:00.002-05:00

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LYLAS!

2011-07-08T22:42:00.007-05:00

Nathan spent the night with a friend Friday night, so we invited Lydia over to our house for a girls' night in. They had a giggle-making, cookie-eating, bubble-splashing good time! Saturday morning, we went to Firefly Studios to paint some tiles that will be placed in the Founder's Garden at our school. Those girls were painting machines! We finished over 50 tiles!

Afterward, we met up with the rest of the Krebs family and hung out together for most of the day. Still yet, Ashley did not have enough Lydia-time and cried when it was time for us to go home. I think she would move in with them if she could! She considers herself an honorary Krebs girl. I guess it's kind of like how Mandi was an honorary Fischer girl in our house growing up. : )

Quick Trip to the Rock

2011-07-08T22:16:00.004-05:00

Jennifer and the boys made a quick trip to the Rock this week, and we crammed a lot into just over 24 hours. We started with an evening at Wild River Country. This was Will's first trip to a water park, and he loved it! (Evan was a little more timid.) Ashley and the older boys went on every slide in the park in about an hour and a half.

The next day, we played in the tubes at Rock Creek and had lunch at Purple Cow before ending the day with a trip to the Climbing Center. Whew!

Tyler has been out of town for a couple of weeks, so the boys were in need of some major rough-housing time with Jeff (a.k.a. "Bowser"). Will and Evan were "Mario" and "Luigi"; Nathan was "Blue Toad", and Ash was "Princess Peach". Good times!

Happy 3rd of July!

2011-07-04T09:42:00.006-05:00

Though highly out of character, Jeff actually encourages the use of explosives around children. After taking the kids swimming and out for ice cream yesterday, Cool Uncle Jeff took the boys to the fireworks stand. They showed up at Mom and Dad's with a huge haul!He even showed Ashley how to light the fireworks......and (most importantly) how to run away!

Water Balloon Fight!

2011-07-04T09:10:00.006-05:00

How long does it take to fill 100 water balloons? 20 minutes or more.
How long does it take to bust 100 water balloons? 2 minutes or less.

Amanda and the kids have been home this week. When they came over Saturday afternoon, Brandon brought a package of water balloons. We did this a few weeks ago with the Johnson kids, and I filled and tied all the balloons myself. This time, I enlisted some helpers. Amanda and I took turns filling, and we taught the older 3 how to tie them. (Ashley couldn't quite get the hang of it.)

Downtown Saturday

2011-07-04T08:50:00.001-05:00

Since I was on call, we stayed close to home this weekend. We haven't spent any Saturday mornings downtown in a while, so we visited some of our favorite spots:

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Purple Hull Pea Festival and World Championship Rotary Tiller Race

2011-06-25T19:35:00.006-05:00

Now for the real reason we went to South Arkansas - Emerson's 22nd Annual Purple Hull Pea Festival and World Championship Rotary Tiller Race. (Pause for mockery.)

Jeff and I proudly embrace our Southern heritage and have decided to impress this upon our children by dragging them to some of the crazy celebrations around the state. I'm pretty sure they will hate us for it later. I first heard of the Purple Hull Pea Festival last year. Considering my love of both legumes and fairs, I thought it would be the perfect combination. Throw in some rednecks racing their farming implements, and I was sold!

Everybody say "Peas"!

The tiller race was just as hot, dusty, and delightfully tacky as I thought it would be. There was quite a turnout, and KATV was actually broadcasting from Emerson this morning.

It was really funny and something everyone should do once in their lifetime - emphasis on the once. We couldn't leave with out buying a P-shirt. I just don't know why it wasn't purple?

Ashley posed for a picture with one of the "Tiller Girls" who with her Daisy Dukes, sash, and boots is probably her new idol.

Nathan got in some climbing on the portable rock wall.

While everyone else enjoyed fair-style food like corndogs and lemonade, I waited in line in the cafeteria for a the purple hull pea plate lunch. Six dollars got you peas, cornbread, peach cobbler, and sweet tea. Yum! I even got the kids to try the peas. They were not fans but at least they tried something new. I don't know which festival we will try to attend next - the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival or maybe the Hope Watermelon Festival - but I'm pretty sure it will involve some kind of food.

Boomtown or Bust!

2011-06-25T18:35:00.007-05:00

For some time now, Jeff has wanted to make a trip to South Arkansas. Our last trip to El Dorado was in 2007, so it's been awhile since he got back to his roots. We started the trip early Friday morning in an attempt to make it to his favorite doughnut shop - Spudnuts - for breakfast. We cruised down Hwy. 167 tuning in to Mix 96! as soon as we were in range and made it in time to grab the last few chocolate iced. We stayed downtown at Union Square Guest Quarters. It's kind of like a bed and breakfast, so we were a little concerned that it wouldn't be kid-friendly. Jeff called to make our reservations, and the lady was very accommodating and gave us a huge suite! We spent the afternoon walking around downtown. There were a few updates since our last visit including some new shops, restaurants, and these big pieces of oil drilling equipment made into statues all around the Square. We also stopped for some pictures at these classic ElDo photo ops:Flashback to 2007:

More than anything else, we ate a lot on this trip! Shortly after Spudnuts, we had lunch at Minute Man. That evening we went on a driving tour of some of Jeff's old hangouts: his old house, Norphlet High (well, actually K-12 in adjacent buildings), the plant farm where he used to work and more while hearing stories about the local residents.

We concluded our tour with a drive way out of town to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant - the original Abe's Old Feed House. Besides a church and a cemetary, it's the only thing around for 15 or 20 miles. It is a mostly seafood buffet that is only open for dinner on Thursday-Saturday nights and draws a big crowd. It should really be against the law to have this much fried food on one table. Nathan and Jeff both tried the froglegs and agreed that it "tastes like chicken"!

Grant's Farm

2011-06-23T12:36:00.005-05:00

We wrapped up our trip with a visit to Grant's Farm. We petted the Clydesdales, fed the baby goats, and watched/participated in some animal shows. Jeremiah was chosen out of the audience to participate in the "Animal Encounters" show where a live rat ran across his arms in the Rat Race. Nathan was picked to help brush the elephant's teeth in the "Elephant Education" show. He loved getting up close to an African elephant, but the most entertaining moment of the trip for all of the kids was watching the elephant peeing and pooping before the show started!

Touring Cardinal Stadium

2011-06-23T11:52:00.004-05:00

No trip to St. Louis would be complete without seeing the Cardinals. We didn't really want to try to make it through 9 innings with all the kids. (Can you imagine how much we would have spent at the concession stand?!) Instead, Josh got tickets for us to tour the stadium.

Another one out...Papa makes a great resting spot!

St. Louis Zoo

2011-06-23T11:39:00.005-05:00

I thought it would be fun to get matching shirts made for the kids for our trip. With so many of them running around, it made for an easy way to keep up with them. I've learned a thing or two from watching the Duggars! However, our group was more like the Duggars' rowdy cousins. On Day 2, we had planned to get up early and go to the St. Louis Zoo. After a slight rain delay, we made our way with 6 of the 7 cousins. (Jeremiah was sick, so he stayed at the hotel with Renee.) Flamingos!

Everyone LOVED the hippo exhibit!

Fisch and Papa took the girls to ride the carousel while the rest of us went to the hands-on sting ray and shark exhibit. Very cool!

Lily was worn out!

Meet Me in St. Louis

2011-06-23T11:17:00.006-05:00

The ABA Meeting was in St. Louis this year. Since both the Johnson and Stacy families were going to be within driving distance, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go as well. We tried to cram as much as possible into 3 days with 7 kids.

The first night, we went to the Arch. Before going to the top, we made a quick trip through the museum below. This was Dad's first trip to St. Louis, and he loved all of the historical stuff. He could have been Lewis or Clark! He went back later (without the kids!) and read nearly every plaque on every exhibit.

Serious Family Time

2011-06-23T10:52:00.002-05:00

I have not updated "Following the Fischer Family" lately because I've been so busy actually following the Fischer family! Seriously, I've been working the calendar overtime just to keep up with everybody! The Johnsons were in Oklahoma for a week then at City Reach in Fayetteville after that. Renee and the kids (and later Aaron) made their way to central Arkansas for a few days, and then we all travelled north to St. Louis where we met up with the Stacys. Whew! I'm worn out just summarizing it!

In addition to hanging out with our immediate family, we had two different family reunions this month. First we went to one for the Taylor side of the family (Mom's family) in Paron.

The following Saturday, we went to the Fischer Reunion at Lake DeGray.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-23T10:24:00.004-05:00

Lake Winona

2011-06-10T21:49:00.001-05:00

After dinner tonight, Jeff wanted to go for a drive. The kids were content watching a movie, so we drove all the way to Lake Winona. We got there right at sunset. We had just enough time for a few pushes on the swings and a quick trip across the bridge over the spillway. It made me think of the old Taylor Family Reunions. I told the kids that I played on those same swings when I was a little girl to which Nathan replied, "Those must be some really old swings!"

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All Aboard!

2011-06-10T21:38:00.001-05:00

If anyone has a train lover in the family, you should try All Aboard restaurant on Cantrell. I thought that the food was kind of pricey for the quality, but it is delivered to your table on an electric train on suspended on tracks. Pretty cool!

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Kids with Character

2011-06-09T10:35:00.004-05:00

One more post about the school year...

Both kids were named "Kids with Character" this school year. Ashley got her award for "Honesty" earlier in the fall. Nate was kind of bummed because he didn't get one all year long. Finally in May, he got the award for "Citizenship". They said at the awards ceremony that the "Citizenship" awards went to kids that showed all of the good characteristics (Honesty, Loyalty, Courtesy, etc.), and he felt validated. ; )

Photos by Tammy Belin Photography

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Last Day of School

2011-06-08T21:11:00.004-05:00

Last Day of School

First Day of School

Well...actually tomorrow is the last day of school, but today was our last day to go. It's only a 1/2 day tomorrow anyway, and they already got report cards and yearbooks today. Some friends invited us over for an end of the year pool party. They all had so much fun, and my kids are worn out!

It's Summertime!

2011-06-08T20:45:00.006-05:00

Even though the calendar says that summer starts in 2 weeks, I beg to differ. It is summertime in Arkansas! It's been in the 90s for over a week, and we've been swimming every week since Mother's Day. We've also been playing in the sprinklers and trying to grow a little garden again (if we can keep the dog out!) Jeff is embarrassed by my posting any pictures of our sad backyard right now. Between everything that the dog has dug up and the torrential rains we had this spring, it is in very bad shape. We tried to re-seed, but it all washed away. It looks like sodding the backyard might be in our future...

A couple of other random pics - Nathan's summer 'do and Ashley at Abby's horse show last weekend:

Semi-Annual Memorial Day Float Trip

2011-06-08T20:38:00.002-05:00

Now that we've gone on a float trip on Memorial Day a couple of times, Nathan thinks that it is an annual tradition. This year, we stayed closer to home and went on a short float on the Little Maumelle River. We took Lucy again (she's grown a lot since this time last year!), so it was my full-time job to make sure that she didn't flip the canoe!

Field Day

2011-05-27T20:25:00.001-05:00

I had to work all day, so I missed the 1st Annual Field Day. Jeff - who still has some free time on his hands - stayed up there ALL day! He texted me these pictures throughout the day. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, and the kids were worn out!

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It's Been a Good Year!

2011-05-24T17:12:00.003-05:00

The inaugural class at Ashley's school had their Pre-K Promotion this morning. Her teacher warned us that we would need tissues to get through it. I did rather well through the cute songs, the other teachers speeches, and the terrific slide show. But when Ms. Jefferson struggled through her tears to make the closing remarks and announced them as the Class of 2024, there was hardly a dry eye in the room.

As an end-of-the-year present, I had Ms. Jefferson's classroom blog and photos that I had taken this year printed into a book on Blurb. She loved it! I had a copy made for myself and then sent the link to other parents so they could order one if they wanted a copy.

Undefeated!

2011-05-24T17:06:00.003-05:00

Nathan's last soccer game of the year got cancelled because of all the rain Friday night. Though he really wanted to play, the consolation is that they finished the season undefeated! The team had a celebration at Larry's Pizza on Sunday night. Jeff gave them personalized medals and said something special about each one. Afterward, we joined hundreds of other soccer players at Fellowship for the official Upward celebration.

Lily and Blackie

2011-05-23T11:36:00.002-05:00

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Blue and Gold

2011-05-22T08:50:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday night, Nathan's Cub Scout pack had their Blue and Gold Banquet at the Surf Shack at church (hence the background). They celebrated the end of the year and advanced to the Cub Scout rank of "Bear".

Friday Night with the Nieces and Nephew

2011-05-20T22:57:00.003-05:00

Jared, Abby, and Jenna are hanging out at our house tonight. After a nutritious dinner of pizza and chocolate chip cookies, all of the kids got in our newly redecorated Hidey Hole. After that, we tried to get the younger ones to watch a movie while Jeff & I taught Abby & Jared how to play spades. They were really good at it, and Jared had amazing beginner's luck! We also played some rousing games of Monkey in the Middle and Hide & Seek, and then Jeff tried to teach them the cup game. Good times!

Please Use Other Door

2011-05-20T18:42:00.008-05:00

Spring is here, and the birds have made themselves at home again! This year, they made a nest in the hanging basket on the front door. We've been busy with our own little projects around here. On Wednesday night, I helped Nathan with his first diorama and made Ashley a costume for Nursery Rhyme Day. Neither was very elaborate, but they were good enough. Whoever invented sticky-backed felt was a genius!
It seems like everything for the kids' school has really hit this month. Jeff and I are both spending a lot of time there for different special events. Thankfully, he is on his break before the summer term starts and has been able to really put in some hours as an elementary school volunteer.

Josh, Amanda, and their kids were in town briefly this week, and we saw them last night. I brought my camera but didn't take any good pictures of the kids this visit. I did, however, take a picture of this delicious blueberry pie that Amanda made.

Before we sliced it...

About 5 minutes later...

Yeah, it was that good!

M-O-T-H-E-R

2011-05-07T07:38:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I attended the Mother's Day Tea at Ashley's preschool. They have been working for a couple of weeks on the program which lasted all of about 6 minutes. The class made a cookbook featuring "recipes" that the kids wrote about the foods that their moms make for them. While those kinds of gifts are priceless, there's always that moment of panic when you're thinking, "Oh no! What did my kid say?" Much to my relief, Ashley's recipe was how to cook rice (her favorite food). Many of the other recipes described how to make chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and even cereal! Too funny!

Here's another revealing moment...the kids drew portraits of their mothers. Can you guess which one is me? The one on the top row with the orange hair. Really? I'm going to have to talk my hairstylist about that one!

Down by the River

2011-05-06T22:40:00.006-05:00

Jeff and Nate are camping with some friends tonight at Maumelle Park. Ashley and I went by for dinner and S'mores, but came back home before bedtime. I just can't get excited about sleeping in a tent when my bed is only 10 minutes away! The boys love it though, and little sister is wondering when it is going to be her turn.

Ashley's footwear choice: Style over substance!

You can just barely make out what's left of the marina in the background. Huge pieces of it broke loose during last week's flooding and were floating down the Arkansas River.

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More Soccer Pics

2011-05-01T08:36:00.004-05:00

Last year, I failed to post any pictures from Nathan's soccer games until the season was almost over. I'm making up for it this season though, and what a good season they are having! The Cowboys are 5-0 with only three games left to play. The age group that Nate plays in is 1st/2nd grade. It helps that most of the team played together last year, and they are mostly all second graders. Jeff and Chad are coaching again and doing a great job. And while I'm bragging, I want to mention that Nathan has been a scoring machine! He has scored at least once in 4 of 5 games, and yesterday he got 3 goals!!!

One more thing that has been vastly different this year is the weather. In spite of all the storms we've had here this spring, we haven't had to reschedule a game yet. It's been cold, warm, windy (see pictures above), and overcast, but so far, no rain!

400 pounds of sand!!!

2011-04-30T14:07:00.001-05:00

400 lbs. Of sand was just added to the Johnson Family sandbox!! It's really messy and no matter how we try to wash off on the backporch before they come in, the sand still seems to get all on the floors!!! But it's worth it....it will provide hours if entertainment for the kids this summer!

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Happy Easter!

2011-04-30T10:15:00.001-05:00

Someone said this pic perfectly depicts the kids personalities: J-always smiling, Micah-funny, Lily-rotten!!

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My favorite bday present...

2011-04-30T10:12:00.001-05:00

From my PA sister, Jenna who really knows the "true me"

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Welcome to Miami!

2011-04-28T16:01:00.001-05:00

When I get home tomorrow night, I will have travelled about 5,000 miles in the last two weeks! Whew! No wonder I'm worn out. If you follow this blog, you've undoubtedly seen the well-documented coverage of Renee's and my trip to NYC. This week I'm making a whirlwind trip to Miami. It's not as glamorous as it sounds. I just got here this afternoon, will spend all day tomorrow in a meeting, and fly back tomorrow night. However, I am going to go sit outside by the pool and palm trees and pretend that I'm really in Florida for a little while.

For those who don't know, Amanda and family moved from Fort Myers to Pensacola recently. (And why would you know? She didn't tell anyone!!) I sent her a text after I landed that said, "How is it possible that I'm in the same state as you and further from you than when I was in LR?". Crazy! Well, so long from Cuba...er, Miami!

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Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T16:37:00.008-05:00

Happy Easter to everyone! Ashley asked me yesterday which is the most special day: Christmas or Easter? Tough question from a 5 year old! I told her that while Christmas is a wonderful day, that it wouldn't mean anything to us unless Christ rose again on Easter. I don't know if she understood the answer, but I'm glad she is thinking about it.