Old Pictures

Mark's cousin, Courtney, emailed me these pictures of Mark and his family that she found recently. Mark had never seen this first picture so it thrilled him to get it.
Kamdyn and Cooper both commented on how much hair Papaw Sonny had!
Kam has also started asking questions about her Nana Linda. When Mark was putting her to bed the other night, she began reasoning out the family tree with him. It all started with her wanting to know who was the "big" brother--Mark or Uncle Stephen. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't bother Mark. She seemed to accept the answers though and she's asked more questions since then. We had to laugh after as we discussed thoughts of conversations between Kamdyn and Linda. Kam definitely would have been her princess!!

Belly Laughs

I've been thinking about belly laughs lately. I've heard my kids laughing like this so much lately and I really think it might be the greatest sound I've ever heard! Who doesn't love a good belly laugh?
So this morning when I heard Cooper laughing like this in the backseat, I was determined to get a picture of him. Oh, to be free to laugh and enjoy like a child!

Kam has started making this face lately. I think she must have seen "The Three Stooges" somewhere.... isn't that who does this face? Anyway, she was laughing too.
It's cute, except the other day when she made it at me when she was in trouble. Who am I kidding? It was cute then too! Here's to more belly laughs!!!

Spring Flowers

Oh how I love spring flowers!
I've been playing with the settings on my camera and thought my blooming flowers would be great subjects!
I'm sure in two months they will be dead so I should probably enjoy them now!

Party and Play Date

Yesterday was a busy day! Kamdyn went home after school with her BFF, Bailey, for a play date. She's been telling us all week long she was going to Bailey's and we just kept telling her that she couldn't invite herself over. I'm still pretty certain that she did though! She was so excited and yesterday when we got to school she said, "I'm going to tell Bailey happy play date day!"
Cooper was invited to his friend GK's birthday party at the park after school. According to GK's mom, she loves Cooper! Mark and I knew GK's mom from the old days and she always talks about being worried about Cooper being Mark's son... I always tell her that he is nothing like his daddy!
GK had a "Max and Ruby" party theme and the kids painted flower pots and took them home with a flower inside. Kam tagged along and you know how Kam loves a craft! That new flower is her baby.... she told me last night that she is learning to take care of flowers now. Here she is doing a "skin the cat," which must be something she learned at gymnastics. She wants to do it all the time now. By the way, I want to brush her hair and pull it up so badly every time I see this picture!
Cooper enjoying his cake! Notice the cute flower spoon too... very cute idea! I know he ate at least 3 pieces of pizza and carried it up and down the slide. I really had to watch him with his food. I saw him smelling a whole box of pizza at one point.... I almost died! It's one thing to smell your own food but another to put your nose in everyone else's.... Mark calls him Robert Berone (Everybody Loves Raymond).
After he finished the pizza, he had to tote a water bottle with him up and down the slide... Notice his feet. The boy will not keep shoes on these days. Needless to say, those socks went in the trash as soon as we got home!
Cooper and GK.... isn't this the cutest picture?
We got home about 7:30ish and Kam asked me what was for dinner. Are you kidding me???

TGIF!!!!

Happy Birthday, Bubby!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brian and Kamdyn....
Brian and Braxton.....
Happy birthday!!! Hope your day is as special as you are! We love you!

And, yes, you do rate a blog post!!

Up In Smoke

Up in smoke is what my living room and kitchen were on Saturday morning!!!!
While I was making the bed Saturday morning, the kids came running down the hall screaming there was a bad smell. I could see smoke so I ran to the stove thinking I had left it on and something had gotten near it. Not the case... so I got the kids out the back door and called Mom and Dad. Mark had just left for Hot Springs. I ran back in to look for the cause with no luck. So I ran in again to throw on a shirt (I had my pj's on!) and grab the kids some shoes. While I was doing that, apparently the kids ran back in behind me to grab their Alvin & Brittney chipmunks. We wouldn't want them to burn! Kamdyn was standing outside saying to my Dad, "oh my goodness, what are we going to do?"
Dad threw the power off and checked all the obvious places and couldn't find anything either. The kids and I eventually went to their house because the house had to air out and we hadn't turned the power back on yet. Mark came home shortly after we got there and he and Dad went back down to look. At this point, we're thinking it's electrical.
About 30 minutes later, Mark called me at Mom's and asked if anyone had cooked a biscuit in the microwave to which I responded, "Cooper Ryan." I knew instantly what he had done. When I went to ask the kids if anyone had cooked a biscuit Cooper said, "I did" because "I just wanted it to be hot!"
When I explained that was why the house was smokey and we didn't have a microwave anymore Kam exclaimed, "oh no! What are we going to eat tomorrow?" Heaven forbid we don't have microwave pancakes one morning! My kids would die........
On a side note, Mark tried to cook microwave pancakes in the toaster yesterday morning for the kids. Both of them told me on the way to school their pancakes were cold.... I couldn't help but laugh! We haven't gone to get a new microwave yet and oh, how I miss it! I think I am trying to prove a point by waiting but I'm not sure anyone gets it. Based on the pictures I took of the kids right after Saturday, I know I'm right. I mean... does that little boy look like he cares he almost burnt the house down?????

T-Ball Time

Cooper had his first t-ball practice a few weeks ago and the first game is tonight. Should be interesting and entertaining, to say the least!
Kam was adamant that she did not want to play t-ball when we signed Cooper up; however, she changed her mind once they started practicing. So far, so good.....
Our neighbor, Kenzie, did not want to get out on the field to practice because Kam was sitting in the bleachers playing her DS. Now that Kam's playing, she's out on the field though. However, these two girls have picked a lot of flowers during practices!!!!
And I almost forgot......... at one practice the coach picked Cooper up at the end and shook him sideways.... you know what happened next, I'm sure. His pants fell down!!!

I'm anxious to see how tonight goes. I'm still not sure Cooper gets the concept of playing another team and Kamdyn keeps asking me what "against" means. Should be fun! Go Caney Kids!!!

Spring Break (one month later!)

I forgot (seems to be a pattern that I'm noticing!) to post spring break pictures... No, we didn't go to the beach or Disney World, but we did have a great time! Jodie and the girls, Tara, Jamie, and Aidan came down to stay at Donna's and we had such a great week. The kids had sleepovers and just played, played, played...

Brides of Frankenstein, maybe?
I'm not sure what kind of dress-up this is.... those are skirts on their heads.... and I thought we'd never get the pink makeup off their faces or out of their hair!
Trying to get Cooper down for a "makover"....
Based on the pictures above, would you let these girls do your makeup???

This reminds me of something Cooper said the other day.... Kam and our neighbor were putting on makeup and he came to me and said, "I don't want to be pinkalicious. I just stay whitealicious!" I know what he meant now!
Aidan brought his dirt bike and Jamie brought his T-Rex and the kids had a blast. Jamie made multiple trips to the mountains taking the kids riding. He told me that at one point when he went to cross some fairly deep water Kam said, "uh, Jamie, I think I'm gonna have to get up front with you!"
On Friday, we grilled and roasted marshmallows to celebrate Kylie's birthday. Roasting marshmallows is becoming a family tradition for us.... Aunt Donna even bought us all our own forked sticks (I know that's not what you call them!).... Believe it or not, no one got burned or stabbed with one! Don't you love Kam's otufit, particularly the headband?
Madison decided to initiate a race to burn off some energy for the kids.... I'm not sure it worked.
Cooper fell...
Kam showing her stuff! We had such a great week hanging with the cousins.... looking very forward to doing it again this summer!

Trash To Treasure...

Jodie bought this chair for Kylie's room when we went to War Eagle in October. Isn't it so cool?
A few years ago she bought a desk for $10 at a yard sale that we've been talking about painting for Kylie's room as well.... it's just taken us a little while to decide what to do with it.

The chair became the inspiration and we finally tackled the desk during spring break....
Isn't it great? In this picture, the desk has not been sprayed yet so the color is a little matte. Jodie has promised to send me a pic after it is sprayed and put in Kylie's room.

She also got new bedding and painted her walls that we coordinated it all to go with.... It was my first time to ever paint furniture and I have to say that I loved it! I'm now in the market for an old headboard for Kam's room that I can paint and do something funky with!

Easter 2010

I know I'm about 2 weeks late on this but I want to get it on here so I can remember Easter 2010.

The "Easter Bunny" dropped off presents for the kids at Mom's house on Saturday night. The Alvin and Brittney Build-A-Bear's were quite a hit! I knew they had sound, but I told Mom when Kam was opening that if Brittney played "All the Single Ladies" that I would die. Guess what? She did!!! Surprisingly, though, I haven't heard it as much as I would have thought!
We dyed Easter eggs later that night. Don't you love that I'm using my ironing board as a side table!? And, for the record, dying Easter eggs is the only time that I ever use my teacups!
The next morning the kids woke up to eggs in the yard... Kam picked them up in her pj's and rollers!
The kids thought this was so cool.... then an hour later Brian came over and proclaimed that the Easter bunny had dropped eggs off in the yard. He didn't know that I had already taken care of that! Kamdyn said, "the Easter bunny came twice!"
I tried to get the kids to pose for a pic before church started.... Kamdyn was totally into it, as you can tell. Cooper...not so much.
I love to hear the kids sing! They did an awesome job! Just wish that microphone wasn't in front of Coop's face.
After church I attempted again to get a decent picture of the kids together. Kam wasn't having any of it!
I told them to hug and then Bro. Ro jumped in the picture....
Brooke finally got this good one of them smiling and looking the same way.
I'm posting this picture only for memories' sake....
I have several comments about the above picture of myself: 1. When did my hair get so dark? I hardly recognize myself! 2. My dress was too big! 3. It's definitely time to begin tanning, and 4. I need to lose some weight! Seriously!!

The cousins.... well, not all of them, but most of them.
The babies -- Grace, Campbell, and Kason.......My Uncle Ronnie said, "are the kids getting smaller or are the bows getting bigger?"
After lunch someone shouted that the Easter Bunny was there to visit. Kylie ran around the corner and then came back and said, "Seriously, he's really here!" I think she thought, "yeah, right. I've heard that one today already."
The girls with the Easter Bunny...
I should've paid closer attention to this.....
Or this might not have happened! It's not the first time it's happened recently, either!Campbell Grace....
This is what I call Cooper's "chipmunk" face....
Kam and Papaw....
We had so much fun on Easter afternoon and I could post 100 more pictures (but I won't bore ya!).... It was a great day to count our blessings and celebrate the Risen Savior!!!!