Foshe Family

Baby Alive

2012-01-25T19:24:00.000-06:00

Jordan has really enjoyed her "baby that eats, drinks and poops" as she calls it :)

She is SUCH a little mama!!

Warm Weather!

2012-01-25T19:16:00.000-06:00

So far this Janurary we've had some CRAZY warm weather...like near 70! Its been SOO nice but a little strange and I'm really scared about what February may hold for us weather wise...ha!

But we have been taking advantage of the warmer days.

The kids (BJ included) spent some time out on the trampoline a few days ago and I got some fun pictures of them playing together! I love that he loves to get rowdy with them!!

Friends

2012-01-25T19:08:00.000-06:00

I've falled behind yet again, but here are some cute pictures of our friends Briley and Deacon that we had a play date with just before we headed back to school after the Christmas break. We hung out at Fun City and had a blast!!

Bella

2012-01-16T19:32:00.000-06:00

I'm a sucker!!

We got this little thing a week ago and we're all pretty smitten with her, but especially Jordan!!

She's pretty cute!!!

Scooters

2012-01-07T08:40:00.000-06:00

Along with riding her bike, Jordan enjoys riding her scooter also--this scooter used to be her uncle Kyles :) Her bff Brooklyn got a scooter for Christmas, so they enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather yesturday after school and rode some together in the neighbors driveway.

I love these girls and hope they stay friends forever...even if they do fight like sisters.

Winter Bike Ride

2012-01-05T20:43:00.000-06:00

Jordan and I braved the cold weather yesturday (our last day of Winter break) for a quick bike ride. Jordan LOVES to ride bikes and asks FREQUENTLY to ride hers, with no regard for the weather.

So, we bundled up and hit the road and it was brisk!

We had fun--I love bike riding with my family!

Snowmen

2012-01-04T19:47:00.000-06:00

Jordan pretty much begs me on a daily basis to do some sort of "craft" with her. I thought I could whip something up pretty quick from my craft cabinet and came up with a snowman--and the kids loved it.

I used rolls of ribbon as templates for the circles, let the kids pick their own ribbon for scarves, and their own sticks for hands, and I had some orange foam that I cut for the noses. I think they turned out cute. Jordan later water color painted hers and it looks really pretty, but I haven't taken a picture of that yet.

Do you see the irony of her making a snowman in her bathing suit :)

No more pictures mom!!!

cute boy!

Showing off his cute snowman!

They were pretty into me taking their pictures so I took advantage! :)

We also had a little kit for this little guy and Jordan had fun making it too!

Photo Project & {New Years}

2012-01-03T14:44:00.003-06:00

I've really debated again and again over if and what photo project I wanted to commit to for this year. I toyed with attempting another Project 365 (even tho I failed last years). I also considered doing a P52 (a photo a week), or a "Month at a Glance" project where I do a layout using photos from each month.

I've finally decided to do none of these---mostly because I'm pretty sure I don't have time to do what I really want to do with any of them, and I know there will be days or weeks or months when I'm busier than usual and things fall behind and I don't want the stress of that.

So, instead, I'm just gonna committ to blog more regularly, this is the best record I have anyway, so I'm just going to be more intentional about photographing our life and blogging about it.

One day this blog will be a series of printed books--which is the same thing I'd do with any photo project I did, so this is just the easiest, lowest pressure method and I'm going with it!

For New Years Eve we went to a get together at an old friend of mine's house. There were a few families there and pretty much everyone had kids so we had lots of kid friendly activities for them to keep busy & have fun. They put a black light in the garage (dark) and taped white butcher paper to the floor and gave the kids a bunch of bright colored highlights and let them draw--they had so much fun!! They also got to decorate cookies & cupcakes!

Geneva also made a really fun photo backdrop for couples/families to take photos--I love they turned out.

Me & Geneva (or Joneena as H calls her)

The girls...Geneva, Holly & Me, friends since HS!

Our cute family :)

love this boy

I made him kiss me on camera! Haha! :)

Our good friends the Tomlinsons :)

Just before midnight, we put H in his jammies so he could fall asleep on the way home...both kids did great and made it to midnight--they had a blast playing with the other kids!

Here is to having a more updated blog :) Happy 2012!

2011 Year in Review

2012-01-01T11:20:00.000-06:00

Its time for my annual year in review for the blog :)

I have done this for several years now, and you can see 2010 here, 2009 here and 2008 here. Its so crazy how fast time is flying by us. It makes me desperate to enjoy every second with my family because I know I'm gonna blink and the kids will be grown and I will be wishing I had taken more time. That's my only real resolution this year, to spend more time with my family--less time working and trying hard not to take on a lot of extra projects that keep me away from my family.

Okay, so here's 2011 :)

In January I set out to do Project 365 (a photo a day), I had BIG plans for this project, and enjoyed it tremendously, I even set out to do layouts of each week, that I intended to bind into a nice book at the end of the year. It went great through May 31st. Then I fell off the wagon and didn't keep it up. I took on too much last year and it kept me from doing some things I wanted to, this was one of those things. I'm still considering which project I'm gonna try this year, but I think I will attempt a photo project of some sort. Hopefully I will do better this year!

In February we got LOTS of snow days and we saw a record amount of snow in NWA. It was crazy and fun!! Although, I'm hoping for less snow days this year!!

In March, the hubs turned 30 and we celebrated with a fun party with our family and friends!

In April, Jordan played her first sport--SOCCER. It was a BLAST to watch her!!

In May, we enjoyed Spring with LOTS of bike riding!!

In June, we went on a fun camping trip with some of our friends. It was hot, so we spent a lot of time in the pool, but we had a blast and look forward to LOTS more camping trips this year!

In July, we got $10 tix to White Water and took a day trip there and had a blast with the kiddos!!

In August, Jordan started Pre-K at my school! I can't believe that she'll start KINDERGARTEN this year...seriously insane I tell you!! She is LOVING school though!! So thankful!

In September, we had our 2nd year of Square Dancing and the kids did great and had a blast!! We can't wait for this year!

In October, my babies turned 3 & 5. We had a fun swim party with some of our friends!

In November, Grandma got to come eat Thanksgiving lunch with Jordan at school. Since Jordan started school, she misses her days with Grandma tremendously. When we're on a break at school, the first thing she does is set up a sleep over with Grandma!

And lastly, in December, we enjoyed lots of sweet time with our family for the Holiday. We have had a great year and we hope you have too!!

We are looking forward to everything that is in store for us in 2012. BJ will finish his Junior year this Spring and begin Student teaching in the Fall and he can't wait! We are looking forward to lots more family time and swimming and camping this Spring and Summer--its gonna be a great year!!

May God Bless you and your families this year & always!!

Silver Dollar City

2011-12-31T15:26:00.000-06:00

We were blessed again this year, due to our amazing friends, with free passes to SDC and we had a blast!

I didn't take nearly the pictures that I took last year, but we had fun. We went with our neighbor friends and the kids had the best time riding rides.

Last year we spent more time at shows because Hayden was pretty little for rides & J wasn't that interested in them....but this year that's all they wanted to do, so that's what we did :)

Hayden is hard to see, but he is there next to daddy!

Posing for mama, she didn't want to ride the swings.

She did want to ride the elephants and had a blast!

Our friends Brook & Aaron

Brylei Bear :)

flying high on the elephants!

Hayden took a turn!

Okay, so J is not super adventurous, Hayden is our thrill seeker. But J wanted tor ride this--I think because her friend Brylei was going to, and she actually got on!! I had bets she would chicken out, but she didn't, she rode it and she had a blast! She is in the rear car.

I absolutely LOVE that I caught this shot....look at that face! HaHa!!!

and last but not least, the teacups!!

We had another fun time at SDC and we hope to go back in the Spring when the weather allows us to spend more time riding rides...our kids are at such a fun age for that now.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years Eve!!

Christmas with the Foshes

2011-12-30T09:23:00.001-06:00

We had another wonderful Christmas this year! We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends, I just can't say this enough.

The kids had a very memorable Christmas this year and got everything they wanted (spoiled!). The grandparents were generous as usual and we enjoyed LOTS of extended time with our families.

On Christmas Eve we spent the day and evening at Nana & Grandads.

Jordan & Nana made chocolate covered pretzels and Jordan had a blast!!!

she has really been into wearing her makeup lately, check out her eye shadow :)

busy at work

SO Handsome!

The kids also enjoyed spending some extra time with their Uncle Kyle....they adore him.

Present time :)

Hayden snagged Nana's ipad and started watching a movie (all on his own) the boy is smart!

We had Christmas morning at our house.....the kids couldn't wait to see what Santa brought. Jordan wanted an "eating, pooping, drinking baby doll" & a Jesse Doll, Hayden wanted a Buzz & Woody doll. Santa delivered half of each of their wishes.....Jordan was desperate to have the baby doll, but we knew Grandma had gotten it. We thought she'd be so disappointed when it wasn't there, but she was really okay about it...we were very proud of her. She was happy with her Jesse doll and Hayden was elated with his Woody doll.

checking out the goods :)

making sure Santa drank his milk and ate his cookies!

emptying the stockings

so excited!

this little stocking stuffer may have made him the happiest, ha!

best friends!

haha :)

She is just a tad obsessed with Justin Bieber :)

And this little boy LOVES angry birds, its quite comical his love for them actually :)

She could only be this excited about a Justin Bieber TOOTHBRUSH!

She has been asking for a pillow pet for MONTHS....she knew we got Hayden one because it was going to be from her...before Christmas she never asked about her getting one, but after Hayden opened his pillow pet she goes "why did Hayden get a pillow pet and I didn't?" I said, well, because you got other stuff. She then opened hers and was excited! She has slept with it every night since and lays on it to watch TV...she wasn't kidding when she said she wanted one!

They got these little super hero sets in their stockings.....they want to tie blankets and towels around their necks all the time to play super heros and when I saw these at Walmart for a few bucks, I knew they had to have them....they have gotten a lot of play out of them already!

After we cleaned up the mess at our house (ok, we really didn't clean it up, we left it), we headed over to Mema& Papa's to have Christmas with BJ's family. We made Jordan wait long enough and then we let her open her "eating, pooping, drinking baby doll" and she was beside herself!!

Hayden got some great stuff too!

This golf game is probably his favorite, he hasn't stopped playing it....literally. He tried to sleep with it the other night, ha!

He also got this pretty sweet bowling game that has been enjoyed by all!!

We had a great Christmas, the presents were fun, but what we enjoyed most was the time we spent with our families. I hope you all got to spend time with those you love this Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas {2011 Card}

2011-12-29T23:26:00.001-06:00

I kept it simple this year, mostly due to very limited funds alloted to spend on Christmas cards this year, but I LOVE the way my 4x8 photo card turned out.....

I planned to do non-traditional colors when I planned our attire for our Fall family pictures and I'm THRILLED with the way they looked on my card :)

It took me FOREVER to do the "subway art," but I really wanted something funky & cool and I'm happy I took the time on it. I love Christmas cards!

Merry Christmas from the Foshe Family :)

Santa Visit

2011-12-24T08:21:00.000-06:00

We headed out to see Santa yesturday....nothing like waiting till the last minute ;)

We were unsure if Hayden was going to sit in his lap this year or not...you just never know about that boy. Last year, we didn't force him and he opted for a high five and no lap or picture, and the year before....well the year before looked like this--

So it was a toss up....I was pretty certain he would sit in his lap---and BJ was pretty sure he wouldn't. My only concern was keeping him happy in the line, because I think that's where we loose him...he gets antsy waiting and gets cranky and then he's done.

The wait in line this year was pretty short and we kept them happy with our phones :)

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas EVE everyone!!!

{More Wedding Pics}

2011-12-11T09:46:00.000-06:00

I wanted to get these posted so I'd have them on here....these are from the photographer.

hahaha!

LOVE this one!

Decorating the Tree :)

2011-12-03T21:07:00.000-06:00

I am not really into the Christmas spirit this year, so far, but we did drag out the tree and the decorations. I can always count on my husband to jump start that part of the Holidays...the man is a stickler for Christmas decorations. He hung the lights on the house a couple days ago and he got out all the indoor decor last night.

I will say that one of my favorite parts of Christmas is having kids to watch experience the magic of it all. Christmas is such a magical time for them. I love doing Christmas crafts, a gingerbread house, and decorating the tree with them.

This year they both really enjoyed decorating the tree--and I'm happy we have an "old school" tree with mis matched ornaments (all that are super important to us). We get the kids an ornament each year, and we also get each other one, and my parents get the kids an ornament every year as well--so we have a nice collection going :)

Anyway, I decided to try out some new settings on the camera to capture the tree decorating and was pretty happy with the results. The settings make the tree lights look SOO bright and magical :)

We had fun--enjoy.

and this one was my favorite from the night :)

Tis the Season

2011-11-26T19:02:00.000-06:00

You can tell I'm on a break from work with the influx of blogging, ha!

Thanksgiving break is dwindling down and it has been just wonderful. I've really enjoyed having the week at home with my entire family. BJ has been on a break from school as well so we've had lots of family time.

You can tell we've played hard just by looking at my messy house! I've tried to work as little as possible through the break and I think I've succeeded! :)

I haven't really written much about what has been going on in our lives, just been updating with photos, which is what I do best, but I feel like I should give a more complete update while I can.

Jordan is really starting to enjoy school. It was a rough start, to say the least, but I think she's finally adjusted. I under estimated what a transition it would be for her. I honestly thought she'd just love it and there wouldn't be any issues. I was dead wrong. I knew that it would be much different than spending her day with her grandma, but she is so eager to learn and loves being around other children and I really thought she would be a natural. And she is now, but it was rough for the first several weeks of school, there were lots of tears, on both our parts.

In a way, I think having her at my school has been more difficult on her, because she knows I'm nearby. She still acts a little hesitant when I leave her in the mornings and there are days when I get there to pick her up that she is watching for me and waiting, but those are fewer than they were. She has slowly adjusted and I think she finally really loves school. Of course, we'll see how Monday goes after being gone from school for a week ;)

Hayden is loving his grandma time and is just the same joy he always is. I am constantly bragging on how sweet he is. He definetely got his sweet nature and disposition from his daddy. He's a very loving compasionate little boy.

BJ is really thriving in school this semester. He began his final two years this Fall, the 2 year intensive education program. This semester has been very demanding. He quit working to focus on his 16 hours of course work, including MANY observation hours in local elementary schools. He works as a substitute teacher when his schedule allows him to, which is not often.

He will likely finish with all As and we're very proud of him. He is really enjoying the classes and the group of students he is going through with. He will be applying for his internship next week and he is beyond excited to be in the role of student teacher next year.

Its been incredibly difficult having him in school full time, but we know its neccessary and we know it will pay off very soon. And, we have lots of help and support from our families...we'd never be able to do it without their help.

I'm still loving my job and I'm still learning a lot. I work with a great group of people though and I'm excited to get up and go to work everyday--so thankful for that!

I'll leave you with some random photos of the kiddos :)

still so thankful for their friendship

beauty

love this face...he is so precious to me

he still loves to play with my phone....he cracks up at talking Ben :)

We made some Turkey Day crafts/coloring sheets while we were off this week...fun stuff!

her creations

Hayden wrote his name on the back of his Turkey

Hayden's hand & foot Turkey

Its been a great week and I hope you were surrounded with family this week as well!! Lots of Love!

Lately...

2011-11-25T21:41:00.002-06:00

Jordan drew this picture of a "karate girl" for one of her taekwondo instructors :)

pretty cute

Grandma got to come & have Thanksgiving lunch with Jordan at school & Jordan was elated!!!

Jordan got to ride in the parade for the lighting of the ozarks on the town square--she LOVES parades!

lining up

riding in the parade :)

Me & Hayden watching the parade---he loves parades too and waves at EVERYONE!

We had a great Thanksgiving with our family & are very thankful this year for all our blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

HaHa--Jordan and I tried something with her hair that I learned about on Pinterest---put little braids all over and the flat iron the braids for a quick crimp--it worked, kinda :)

We made a quick visit to the town square again to look at the lights, we'll visit many times before the end of the year--its one of our favorite things about our town!

They even got to ride the ponies--and they LOVED it!!

Christmas is in the air now that Thanksgiving is officially behind us and we're gearing up to put the tree up tomorrow :) Can't wait!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thankful :)

2011-11-24T09:47:00.000-06:00

We have tons to be thankful for today & everyday! We are very blessed indeed!

We are all healthy, we have a roof over our heads, food in our tummies and the love of family & friends surrounding us.

Life is not always easy, but I would be hard pressed to find something that was really worth complaining about.

I'm most thankful for my family today--I am overwhelmed with the blessings God has given me.

Wedding Bells....

2011-11-22T15:48:00.000-06:00

My brother in law (BJ's brother) got married last month and it was a beautiful (but chilly) Fall wedding on the UofA campus. I hardly took any pictures, because I was busy with the kiddos, but I snapped a couple.

The kids, especially Hayden had a BLAST dancing and he just had to dance with just about everyone...sweet boy!!!

grandma and the girls

Jordan & Haddie

Mema and Papa <3

dancing with Grandpa!

Jordan danced too!

dancing with the groom!

with Nana

bride & groom

my sweet parents :)

Halloween 2011

2011-11-20T21:59:00.000-06:00

We had a great Halloween this year, Hayden dressed as a Pirate and Jordan dressed as Rapunzel. They had a great time and we trick or treated for the longest we have yet! I guess the older they get, the longer they're able to do that :)

I usually try to get some good pictures of them in their Halloween costumes and they let me get some great ones this year....

Playing at the Park!

2011-11-12T18:21:00.000-06:00

We had some beautiful days a few weeks ago and we took advantage by visiting the park! What kid doesn't love the park?!

Even though we live in a small town, we have two great parks, and one is not as heavily visited, and so often times we're the only ones there!

The kids had fun and even daddy got in on some of the fun!

Bowling :)

2011-11-09T19:19:00.000-06:00

We went bowling with our friends a few weeks ago...and had a blast!! We should really do this more often, is a great way to have fun and its pretty inexpensive as well!

Birthday Party {3 and 5 years old!}

2011-11-09T06:39:00.000-06:00

I'm really working hard to get back to blogging on a regular basis.....I have a love hate relationship with my blog. I hate trying to find the time to blog but love having the record....LOVE having it. I refer back to my blog often to recall certain things and if I didn't blog about it, chances are, I wouldn't remember it. So I'm trying!!

We had the kids' 3rd and 5th birthday party a few weeks ago!! This was the most disorganized birthday party I've ever planned, but this momma has been busy! It was still a great party and the kids had a blast. I really wanted them to have a pool party...obviously indoors since its October. I got a great deal on the campus pool, since BJ is a student and we booked the party!!

If you read my blog in the summer, you know my kids are little fish, so they loved this idea. They had a blast too--hated to get out of the pool!!

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I got some cute ones....

Taekwando

2011-11-08T08:59:00.000-06:00

Someone gave us a months free of taekwando and we thought it would be fun for J to try....well it turns out, she LOVES it!!!

She is having a blast & learning so much!!
These are all from my phone, but you get the idea :)

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

iPhone randomness

2011-11-06T20:50:00.002-06:00

her glasses & satchel she found at the goodwill :)

pedi time!

Jordan loves to draw.

love this face

Hayden with his self haircut & uncle Tony

I thought she was sleeping and I snapped this and then saw she wasn't, ha!

gma Jordan

cousins

silly boy

friends

Jordan & her best pal Jake

Ha ha!

Aaarrggg Matey!

ready for class!

Jordan drew all of our outlines one day....ha!

Bike Rides

pretending they're at the beach :)

He still lovs to pretend he is sleeping!

my cute kitty

awe! @ Tony's wedding.

look at that cute beard!

Happy Halloween!

pre-K takes it out of her!

Taekwando is exhausting!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Boots & Braids 2011

2011-09-25T19:55:00.000-05:00

Our 2nd year of square dance came and went earlier this month...and the group did SOO great! We were SO proud of them! Here are a "few" pictures from the weekend :)

Jordan & her partner Bryson

presh!

Ava & Beau

love this pose!

Brooklyn & Landon

again, love :)

Hannah & Cooper

sooo cute!

Cooper

the group...some of them look like their in pain...aka, Jordan!

@ the Parade

it was a bright morning for the parade :)

ready to throw their candy!

We are already looking forward to next year, new dresses & lots of time with our friends!! We have such a great group of kids & parents!

A Month...

2011-09-18T22:10:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to a regular blogging routine. It seems like life just keeps getting more and more busy. I hope to get back to taking more pictures of my family with my real camera after this Fall photography season is over.

I'm closing my photography business, so hopefully I'll have a little more time in my life :)

I thought I'd post some pictures from the last month.

Nothing exciting has gone on, just working, going to school (J & BJ) and going to g'mas (H). The Iphone is still my main source of picture taking, so I'll have another iphone post soon :)

We did have our 2nd year of Square Dancing this year--super fun & exciting. The kids did great and we can't wait till next year!!

Brooklyn turned 5 and we enjoyed her birthday party at a local jump play place and we've been enjoying the cooler weather and our family bike rides.

The Foshe Family knows how to live it up ;) ha!

Jordan LOVES her uncle Kyle!

thank you Kohls for making this girl's day!

me and my sweet sweet mama. <3 her!

we love our boy!

OH & Jordan mastered riding her bike without training wheels!! Thanks to her grandma! We're so proud of her!! Makes bike riding even more fun now!

he hates it when he gets stuck!

I love this boy and his cheesey smile! ;)

Fun times :)

Square Dance will have it's own post, maybe tomorrow, hahahaha :)

Hope you're all doing wonderfully!!

First Day of School!

2011-08-18T20:34:00.001-05:00

I honestly can't believe I am typing the words "first day of school." Oh how fast the years pass.

Jordan started Pre-K at my school this week.....which is a blessing but still unbelievable.

She had a great first day. She's had a pretty good week too. Today (day 4) was sort of rough....I ate lunch with her and she started crying because she didn't want me to leave. Then I realized she felt a little warm and she had a low grade temp...so I went ahead and took her home, I could tell she did not feel well.

Tonight she is complaining of a sore throat, so I'm hoping she is not sick!

At any rate---here's some photos from the event!

I can't believe my girl is at SCHOOL!!!!!

Summer through the iphone :)

2011-08-14T05:54:00.004-05:00

It has become my #1 way to take pictures, which I really didn't think would happen, but it has. Its just so darn handy!

In no particular order...

I turned 29 (no, really!) this summer....

More time with our best friends!

The girl loves to fly!

I realize she has outgrown this outfit, but she insists on dressing up in it still :)

Cherry Berry!!!!

a perk of having close friends as neighbors: we often share dinner with one another :)

note their "war paint" aka, wet chalk :)

This is a new little restaurant in our town and J loves to sit at the bar!

Got to spend some time with my sweet friends!

J and I had a girls night and used our free chips and queso at Chilis :) We love girls nights!!!

H loves to play with my camera on my phone :) :) :)

He is also REALLY into reading books right now, which I love!!

FISH--

She loves her goggles!!

We got to kitty sit Julio twice this summer!!

AND Hayden is POTTY TRAINED!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOOO no more diapers!!!

they decided they needed to pray before eating cake and ice cream on my birthday :)

My poor hubs had his wisdom teeth removed, but he did great!!!

Jordan learned that she LOVES yards sales this summer---this was her favorite find!! $3, SCORE!!

So there ya have it, summer by the iphone.
btw, the iphone is like, my new best friend. changed. my. life.
Hope you're all doing well!!

1 down, lots more to go!!

2011-08-13T06:17:00.002-05:00

Well, my first summer break is over. School starts Monday. I am pretty ready--I'm gonna miss being lazy and having all day to do what I want, but I'm ready to get back into a routine and my kids really need it, ha!

Jordan is starting pre-k and I'm beyond excited for her, she is about to bust at the seams with excitement! Its gonna be really fun for her! I'm taking it really well, I think, because she is going to my school. I don't know why, but I think that makes a big difference. Its kind of crazy to think that she is old enough to be in pre-k, and it feels more like kindergarten because its at a real elementary school, but I'll survive. Ha!

So, I really started slacking in July on the photo taking, I just got lazy I guess. It got hot...really hot. We had several days of 110 degree weather and it was just too hot to do much of anything, even swim! So I'm blaming the heat. I do need to wrap up our summer, which isn't much. We pretty much took it easy the rest of the summer. With the extreme heat, I didn't get everything on the Summer To Do list accomplished, but we still had a blast!!

I'm really looking forward to all the future summers our family will have together--we are so blessed!

So, to wrap up--

Jordan had to have some dental work done in July (ack!) but she did SOOO great!!! I was so very proud of her, it was so painless and she was just the best patient ever!! The laughing gas and getting to watched Tangled while the whole thing was going on, helped a lot too! :-)

We did do some swimming in July, just not as much :)

This summer has been really fun for Jordan because her to best friends moved back in next door and since they've been back, she has pretty much not separated from them, they literally have spent 8 hours a day playing together and its just been really fun for all of us to see them all together again. Hayden has enjoyed it also!!

Another thing that slowed my picture taking this summer was the introduction of the iphone---I pretty much use it as my camera now, so next post is going to be my iphone picture clean up, ha!!

Hope you all enjoyed your summer as much as we did!! I'm so thankful to be able to spend this time with my family, I feel so blessed!!

Have a great weekend!

White Water Trip

2011-08-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

I scored some $10 tickets to White Water if you went after 6pm (open till 10pm), so we loaded up and made the trip around the first of July. We were so excited and the kids had sooo much fun!! We didn't think we'd stay till 10, but the kids were great and we ended up staying the entire 4 hours. We went the first Friday night they were open till 10, so I think that helped, because there was not that many people there!

It was really fun and not too hot because it was so late, we had the best time!!!

we went down the big slide together....it was hysterical!!

We had the best time!!! We love summer!!

Coming to an end....

2011-07-30T17:32:00.001-05:00

If you can't tell by my lack of posting, we've been having a GREAT summer!! Sadly, its coming to an end. We've got 2 weeks and then its back to school!

But I'm excited for school to start back, it will be my first start to the school year at my school, Jordan gets to go with me and BJ is begining a new part of his education and I'm excited for all of us.

Hayden? Well, he gets to have his Grandma ALL to himself!! Which I know he will enjoy. I know he'll miss Jordan and it will take some getting used to, but I think he'll really love not having to compete for his Grandma's attention! :-)

So, I thought I'd better get caught up on our summer---we didn't do all the things on our list, but we still had a wonderful time and I'm looking forward to MANY more summers with my family!! God is SO good!

I know you're SHOCKED, but we've been doing MORE swimming!! Jordan had 2 weeks of Swim lessons in mid June and she's halfway through another 2 week session right now. She has done SOO good with the lessons and hasn't used her arm floaties at all since she had her first lesson. She adores swimming and I'm so glad she is learning early. I can't wait for Hayden to do lessons next year!! He will love them too!

Jordan at the end of her level 1 class with her teacher!

We love it when we get to swim with our friends!!

BJ took the kids to the 4th of July parade for the Rodeo and they had a blast!! I had J pose for some pictures before they left---seriously worried about her when she gets to be a teenager! :)

they always love the parade!!

We've had fun, more updates later!!

Jordan's in a magazine!!

2011-07-18T07:33:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was on facebook and Celebrate Magazine was asking people to submit their "Summer Viewpoint" photos for a chance to have them published in the magazine.

I hardly ever submit photos to contests of any kind, mostly because I usually have a difficult time narrowing down the photo to submit, but when I saw this I knew the exact photo I wanted to submit. I thought the chances of them picking it were pretty slim, but apparently I was wrong.

They didn't notify me that they were going to publish it, a friend of mine saw it in the magazine while sitting in a doctors office!! I'm so glad she told me or I would have never known!!

Here's the magazine page--I thought it was pretty neat!!

Snow Cones

2011-07-17T07:20:00.000-05:00

Snow Cones=Summer!!!

We LOOOOVE us some snow cones....we have some great stands in our local area and we have our favorite that we frequent!!

Here are some pictures from our first snow cones of the summer (several weeks ago), we've had MANY more since these!!

:-)

Camping!

2011-07-02T23:43:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted, but LOVING this summer!!

We have been SOOO busy having such fun times!!

Oh, where do I begin?! A couple of weekends ago, we went on a weekend camping trip with some of our awesome friends! We have kids basically the same age, so we knew they'd have fun, and boy did they!

We had fun too--it was very hot, but we survived and had a great time!! We're planning a Fall camping trip when it cools off!!

Here are some pictures from our camping adventure!

We had so much fun and can't wait to go again!!

Wooooo Pig Soooooie!!!!

2011-07-01T11:06:00.001-05:00

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Blog from the iPhone ;)

2011-06-28T16:03:00.001-05:00

Testing this cool tool out!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Having a Blast!

2011-06-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

We are having a BLAST this summer!! Today was my offical last day of work and I am PUMPED to get this summer partay started! ;-)

One night last week while hubs was at class the kids asked if we could go down and play in the creek---so I thought why not! Our pool was temporarily down, so they wanted to play in the water!

They had fun and I had fun watching them have fun--they are such a joy to me. I'm pretty sure they'd both be happy to throw rocks in the water all day if I let them :)

We also went to a little pool party at one of our friends house a couple weeks ago to celebrate the end of the school year, it was fun and the kids had a blast!!! (but I did not take enough pictures, I was too busy talking! ha!)

The kids have been having a blast playing outside together--they get along most of the time ;)

This is just sort of random, but I snapped this picture of BJ and Hayden the other night...they were just having the best time talking to each other :) He is SUCH a good daddy!!

We also got to babysit for a friend of ours recently, and Jordan was in baby heaven, the girl LOVES babies :) This baby, was SUCH a good baby, she was a JOY to babysit!!

THEN we got to go see my little brother play baseball at BAUM Stadium--cool uh!! He was playing "up" to the varsity team as a relief pitcher, it was fun to see him on that big field! The kids had fun & they did great!! They even made a new friend that they played with :)

We are just having so much fun this summer!!! Much more photos and fun to come :) Hope you're having a blast too!! :-)

Jordan, J, J-Babe, Bear....

2011-06-21T08:46:00.000-05:00

Those are all the names we call Jordan by--J, J-Babe, and I call her Bear a lot. J just happened pretty naturally when she was a baby--then it was "Baby J" and then it became J....and at some point BJ started calling her J-Babe. I started calling her Bear maybe sometime around the time she was 2 years old.

We used to watch a LOT of little bear together and I started calling her my little bear and then the Bear part just sort of stuck.

She has a lot of nicknames, which I think is cute :)

Jordan will be FIVE years old in less than four months and that is pretty much unbelieveable to me. FIVE?? Five whole years since I first became a mom--seems like she should still be a baby.

I know time will only go by faster, as it has every year since I became a mother.

Jordan will be entering Pre-K in August, at MY SCHOOL!!! We are all really excited that she gets to attend with me, she's super excited and I know she will just LOVE school. Her one request was that she have a pink lunchbox...so I found the PERFECT lunch box and ordered it!

I know we'll be doing a lot more school shopping as August gets closer and I can't wait! Its going to be so fun having her at my school!!

Jordan played soccer in the Spring but decided she does not want to play in the Fall and instead has requested to begin gymnastics again so we'll be looking at getting her back into that.

She's about to do her 2nd year of Square Dancing and we're really excited about that!!

She is just such a fun kid to be around--I swear she is 15 some days. She is a very strong willed, intelligent child and sometimes I wonder what she'll grow up to become.

She has pretty consistantly told us she wants to be a "baby nurse" or a "baby doctor." Recently she changed it to "baby doctor," because "the nurses have to give the shots to the babies and the doctors don't...and I don't want to give shots to babies because they cry."

She LOVES LOVES LOVES babies, so I can TOTALLY she her doing this--but who knows :)

She's been saying some really comical things lately that I wanted to record---

One morning I was sitting at the table with her and Hayden and we were eating cereal...I looked at them and said "How did I make such pretty babies?" Jordan replied and said "Uh.....YOU didn't...God did and Jesus helped." I about died! She's so right though!!

One afternoon during Sonic's Happy Hour, we got the kids slushies. Jordan decided to try the orange flavor for the first time....as she was drinking it she goes "this is SOOO good...its like a celebration floating around in my mouth! " I again, about died, she is so funny!!

Jordan LOVES donuts, I mean, like LOVES them. She is always wanting to go "get donuts" on the weekends, and we live about 20-30 min from the closest donut shop, so we rarely do this. But a couple of weeks ago a new little place opened up in our town who does donuts in the mornings! Jordan was SOO excited and couldn't wait till Saturday when we could go!! She got a "pink" (Strawberry) donut and enjoyed it very much and now asks to go all the time!!

Last month, she asked me if I had Justin Bieber's phone number, so she could call him! (she's really 15 I tell ya!)

She is a mess, and I love every piece of her!!

Yes, we swim A LOT!

2011-06-20T22:32:00.001-05:00

Its true, its something our whole family loves to do--my children adore the water and I'm so thankful for that!

Its the whole reason I took the plunge last year and bought my handy dandy water camera---that I still ADORE. There are so many fun pictures of my kids and our family in the water that I would be missing if I didn't have it--its truly one of my most favorite purchases ever.

So, here are some MORE swimming pictures ;)

BJ is still facinated by the fact that the camera goes UNDER water ;)

awe!!!!!

he is such a good daddy to these kiddos!

he plays with them constantly!

love her.

the whole family!!! :-)

fishy

fun!!

even I find the underwater pictures fun ;)

Yay for summer and swimming pools to keep us cool!! It got HOT really fast this summer!! Hope you're all staying nice and cool!! Go swimming! ;)

Getting Summer Started!!

2011-06-19T10:31:00.001-05:00

We got summer started officially over Memorial Day weekend, we started playing in the water and started getting the pool ready! WHOOT!!!

My kids LOVE the water like nothing else--they are serious FISH!

Here are some cute pictures of them getting summer started off right!!

I just LOVE these little fish--they make Summer SO much more fun!

We plan on swimming, A LOT this summer! :) Hope you do too!

Bike Riding

2011-06-15T20:37:00.003-05:00

We love to bike ride---especially the kids. We got H a bike a couple months back and he mastered it last month and he loves to pedal it!!

Jordans bike is broke right now, so she's been riding this bike that someone got for Hayden that he has to grow into....they also really like their scooters---Hayden has his own, a red one, but he prefers Jordan's pink one most of the time, ha!!

I have decided not to try to edit every posts pictures--its just too time consuming and I want these things recorded so they might not all look the best but they're here :)

oooppps

awe!!

beauty

cutest thing ever.

sibling love

Hayden took this from the bike trailer before one of our family rides ;)

family ride :)

Summer To Do List :)

2011-06-14T15:34:00.003-05:00

I was blog surfing the other day and read a post a mama did about summer.

She wrote about wanting to make sure her kiddos have an {intentional summer}.

"An {intentional summer} just means that you plan for things. You make fun things happen."

Since this is my FIRST summer to have off since I started my new awesome, family friendly job--I'm making all kinds of plans!!

I'm really a homebody and I love to be home--and in the past its been such a chore to take my kids anywhere, and some days, lets face it, it still is. BUT, they're at great ages right now to be able to hop in the car and go somewhere without a TON of preparation, so we plan on doing lots of fun stuff this summer.

Jordan and I were talking about what we wanted to be sure to do this summer and we ended up making a list--so fun!

Here's what on our list: in no particular order.

Go to the Splash Park in a nearby town
Summer Movie Series ($2!!)
Gator Golf
Fun City (she said no chuck e. cheese, bc she is scared of him)
Drive in Movies
Go Fishing
Get pedicure (just the girls)
Go Camping
Gentry Safari Zoo
Go to the Farmers Market
Go to the Rodeo & Parade
Sq. Dance at the Clothesline Fair
Go to the Wash Co. Fair
Swim lessons for Jordan
Go Swimming, A LOT
Play in the creek
Visit different parks in our area
Go on a picnic
Visit the Library
Have a water baloon fight
Visit the Air Museum
Ride the Train
Go to Eureka Springs

The list will be ever growing, I'm sure :) But we're super excited!! We're actually going camping this weekend with some freinds of ours, so that will be great fun!!

And just to add some photos--I took the kids out for a impromtu mini photo session last night when we got home and got a couple cute ones ;)

Yay for SUMMER!!!

Spring Soccer

2011-06-13T20:44:00.004-05:00

So I'm a little late in posting this, but I'm telling you I get so caught up in p365 that I forget to post other stuff, but I'm trying!

This was Jordan's first year to play soccer, she played what they call "First Touch" soccer, which is really just soccer lessons. They teach them the fundamentals and then let them srimmage a little each time. It was fun and she got a taste of playing sports. She really enjoyed it but I'm not sure if she wants to play again or not.

It was really fun for us to have her in her first "organized sport."
Anyway, here's some photos of her playing--I had a great time watching her!!

My Grandfather--a WWII POW

2011-06-09T16:37:00.002-05:00

I uploaded these photos to facebook on Memorial Day but thought they deserved a blog post as well.

My grandfather was a SSGT in the US ARMY AIR FORCE and served in WWII. He was captured and was a POW for a period of time. I have a few pieces of memorabilia from this time/event.

The first is a newpaper clipping with his photo....I think he looks a little like Clark Gable.....

its very old

This is a photo of my grandmother--his wife. I knew my grandmother as a young child, but I never knew my grandfather. He passed before I was born. I loved this lady--Jordan is named after her. Jordan was her maiden name.

She was so beautiful!

Next is a letter that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother just before he was captured. The postmark on this letter is April 20th, 1944, the very day he went missing.

I love this letter SO much.

April 15, 1944--"Somewhere in England"

They were SO in love!!!

" I could never in a million years tell you how much I love you and miss you but maybe some day you will know. I hope so. For I will never be completely happy while the biggest part of my life is missing and with all my heart I hope that this dam war will soon end for this is only one thing that would make me completely happy again and that is to be coming home to you...."

I love this tiny little piece of my family history that I have....its very special to me!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Almost halway!

2011-06-08T20:14:00.000-05:00

Oh Lawdy!! I'm almost halfway through this project 365---and this is what I have decided:

I will most likely not be doing this again next year. What I will do next year is a "month at a glance" and each month look back at the photos I took, pick the best/favorite ones and showcase those in a layout that will be a book. That's my plan...this photo a day thing--way harder than I thought, ha!

At any rate, I'm almost halfway through the year---I caught up to June this week so here's what we've been up to :)

18 years

2011-06-07T18:56:00.002-05:00

When I think about how long I've known Claudia, I literally have to count over and over again because it does NOT seem possible that I'm old enough to have known someone for 18 years--but its true. I was in the 5th grade when I met Claudia. She was in 4th. We lived in Little Rock on Pecan Street and there was one house in between our houses. Her house was RIGHT next to my school. We did not go to school together, however....she went to a private Catholic school and I went to the public magnet school in LR.

At the time, I thought we could not have been more different. At time time, I felt much different than her. But if Claudia is one thing, its SUPER social and she was very nice to me from the day we met. I actually don't even remember how we met, but I assume we met in the neighborhood....while outside playing.

Over time we became best friends--we looked a lot alike back then and people thought we were sisters and sometimes twins....her mom became a 2nd mother to me and she got a kick out of people thinking we were sisters and often bought us matching clothes--it was really fun. I specifically remember a pair of green plain high top converse type shoes--and a silky floral SHORT set.....that I believe we wore for Easter.

I went to church with her, her mom and her brother and really just fell in love with all of them.

Interestingly enough, we only lived nearby each other for maybe 2 years--I was in 7th grade when we moved back to NWA. It was the first time I remember being REALLY sad. I was devestated to be moving away from my first best friend. As a 7th grader, I thought there was really no way we'd remain friends.

E mail wasn't super popular yet, so we vowed to write each other letters. And we did...for MANY years---and I still have all the ones I got from her. We wrote well into high school, and we visited here and there when our families could arrange it and I traveled to LR to see her graduate high school. It was after that when we sort of lost touch for a few years. Neither of us really know why, it just happened and I guess I sort of expected it to for so long, but I thought of her and her mom frequently and when BJ and I were compiling our guest list---I knew I had to send them an invitation.

We had been so out of touch I did not even have a current address for her--so I googled her mom and sent the invitation to the address I found---and it wasn't them but it was a relative and they got the invite to them--and they came!

It was a very sweet reunion and it was very special for me to have them there! And that began our relationship again--and we've been in great contact pretty much ever since.

A lot has happened in our lives in 18 years and I know a lot more will, but we'll always be friends, this much I know. If we've survived this long, we got this, right?!

Several months ago, Claudia got married to a great guy who serves in the Navy--and her took her all the way to Virginia. She is pregnant with her 2nd baby and got to come home for a shower last month and I made the day trip to LR to see her while I could! It was a fun time and I'm so happy I got to be there.

Our girls are the same age and they also adore each other and I hope they're as good of friends and their mamas are!

Anyway, heres some photos from our time :)

More P365 :-)

2011-05-09T22:06:00.000-05:00

I was home sick today with some stomach bug that hit me last night at around 1am....and continued on through most of today....I wasn't at work, but I had to be home....so in between being sick I was catching up on "the project." I literally almost quit this week.

When I have had a day or two when I hadn't snapped a picture, I usually just found one from around the same time and tried to "fill in." So today when I sat down and realized I had missed a day or two...I decided for some of those I could use them for extra journaling.....so that will help me not feel so stressed about when I miss a day. I'll prob still fill in some days but for the most part I am following the rules and taking a photo each day.... :)

Here is a big fat catch up post....

Backyard Camping...

2011-05-09T15:04:00.000-05:00

Playing catch up, as usual, but I never blogged this and I wanted to be sure I had it recorded :)

Back over Spring Break, after our mini getaway to Branson, we decided to camp out in the backyard. It was really fun, but the wind was really strong and it was keeping me awake, so I came in the house and brought Hayden with me....but he had already fallen asleep. The kids did great--they loved it!!!! We love to camp but haven't done it a whole lot since Hayden came along, we've been waiting until he was old enough to make it a little easier and I think this will be the summer!!

Yay!!

Trip to the Dentist :)

2011-05-01T14:04:00.000-05:00

We have an AWESOME pediatric dental clinic in our area and it is the coolest thing ever!!

Of course, lots of HOGS :)

Movie theatre!! HELLO--who cares how long your wait is when your kids can have all this fun!!

this is inside the movie theatre

They have a huge fish tank with all the fish from Finding Nemo in it...ALL of them....it was pretty cool!!

this was back in the exam area--super fun stuff!

They really try to make the kids feel at home and very comfortable!! One the forms I filled out it asked if they had any nicknames, I put 'J' for Jordan and when they called us, they called for "J and Hayden." It was neat! Then they had this written on the board in their exam area---its the little things!!

Jordan did so great!!! They have a TV above them and they get to wear headphones to listen--she was watching Tangled!!

It took Hayden a minute, but once he realized he could watch TV, he did great!! Jordan was holding his hand, such a sweet sister!!!

Then Jordan had to get back up so they could look at something and Hayden held her hand!! They are SOO sweet to each other sometimes!!

posing!!

The kids had a GREAT first dentist experience!! Hayden was cavity free and his name will be published in the newspaper for that!! Jordan wasn't so lucky and has a couple of cavities that we have to go back to have work done on in July....but if she doesn't have any new ones in July, she'll get her name in the paper too!

They had fun and I'm so glad we have started this early in their lives!

Haircut!!

2011-04-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

My prayers have been answered!! We FINALLY got this really neat Kids haircut place in our area!! I was SUPER pumped when I heard about it.

Hayden has always hated haircuts....and it has always been a struggle to get his haircut. We always put it off and wait as long as possible, just because its so hard! And he never ends up with a great one, because of the fit he throws!

So when I heard we were getting one I couldn't wait to go...so we went a couple Saturdays ago and Hayden did SOOOO great!!! He LOVED sitting in the airplane....it was such a great experience!!

They have all kinds of things for the kids--while you wait, a train table....which H loved.

Also a shot of the back of his hair, and how badly he needed it cut!! :)

CHOOO CHOOOOOOO

They have this great playroom. I didn't get a picture of it, but the have TVs throughout the whole place playing kids movies.....when we were it was one of the Toy Stories....fun stuff!

I fell in LOVE with this....I am going to have a friend re-create it!! SOOO presh!!!

I should have taken pictures of the other "seats," but I didn't...they had about four things to choose from, Hayden choose the airplane. Our lady said it is the most popular one for boys!

He did soooo good!!!!

He was watching the TV here....so many things to keep them occupied while they are cutting!

Checking himself out in the mirror :)

Can't forget big Sis :)

posing after the haircut!! It looks so much better!!!

SUCH a big boy!! I swear he looks 10 in this picture!!!!

The place is called Pigtails & Crewcuts and if you had kids, I suggest you check them out!!!