Memorial day madness!

Ok, not really madness, but I could probably call my current life an everyday madness with these two silly kiddos running around with a batman cape and a princess crown. You would think Kennedy would be the one wearing the crown and not the cape, but on this day, and on many others, it's the other way around...madness to most, but to me it's just my life! And i wouldn't have it any other way. ;)

Between learning the not-so- simple-concept of peeing in the potty, playing candyland, dancing, enduring a summer cold and having tea parties, I was ready to get out of the house and enjoy the holiday weekend festivities. Potty training is officially over and I can't believe it only took 4 days. Now, in those four days of constant attention on kennedy, it tested my patience, pride, and personality! But now she is so proud and loves to tell everyone how she got her poo poo prize, the crown that is found on someone's head throughout the day in our household.

Our weekend kicked off with spending some time with my sister in law and her family. They celebrated the birthday of her little miracle baby who was born 9 weeks prematurely this time last year. It's amazing that he is doing wonderful and is healthy as can be. I look forward to many more holidays with our kids playing together.

Sunday we went over to our friend's, Becky and Hunter Smith, house to have some major water party fun. They had a pool, two water slides, slip and slide, dirt pit and tramopline. Basically a kid heaven and a great time was had by all!! We were all exhausted and bedtime came early and easy!

Our attempt to get all the kids in one of the slides!

Monday, we were lazy most of the morning before heading over the Drewett's house around lunch time. I have been wanting to try out their new pool since it was built last fall. It has a major tunnel slide that has two turns in it and drops you into the pool from their upper deck (which you walk up two flights of stairs to reach it). I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it. We swam all day and the kids did awesome. I am simply amazed with Landon's ability to hold his breath and swim all day in the deep water without a floating device. Now, it took me going down the slide with him about 3 times before doing it by himself (it was fast and I understood his reservations!). Kennedy on the other hand didn't even bat an eye. She hopped on that thing all by herself after one ride with me....i was nervous with her going by herself, but it didn't last long.

They also had a diving board and that was a huge hit by kids and adults! Kennedy watched some of the older girls swimming and doing flips off the diving board and she wanted to do them too. She went off backwards on the diving board a couple of times before she hit her check on the board. Scared us at first when she hit, but fortunately, it was just a nasty scrape. Six hours in the pool and with no naps, we all were exhausted! We are so blessed to have such great friends to spend holidays with!

The sweet Drewett boys who were awesome with our kids. If you look close you can see K's scrape on her face.

Kennedy with Lilly Adcox..she loved Lilly's princess dive sticks! If anyone seeing these in a store, please pick some up for me!! It was ariel, cinderella and one more (i don't know all their names!!!! lol)

Tuesday night we had our end of the year party with our t-ball team at the Toma Lodge pool. I love all this swimming to keep these kids active and sleeping good at night!! We had such great coaches and parents on our team and we really enjoy spending time with each other. Big thanks to Coach Hunter and Trotter for all of their help this season!

Landon with his two T-ball coaches

Beach with the Beck's

I am about a week behind on my posts since we have been busy with summer colds which started with Kennedy on our way back home from the beach on Sunday. She ran fever the entire way home and I didn't realize it until halfway home. :( I should have known since she was on and off napping and not saying too much. But, I have to admit that it was by far the easiest trip home since she was so quiet! No one else has ran fever, but we all still have the coughs and sniffles.

This past week has also been busy with potty training and walt disney world planning. After day 5 of potty training, I think we have mastered it! I am crossing my fingers and see if today was just a fluke. We spent 6 hours swimming today and she came out of the water many times to let me know she had to go, so I am feeling good about it today. And this is after she went #2 all by herself this morning without even telling me!

I will be posting our Memorial Day weekend pics as soon as i get my camera back. We left it today at our friends house. This is probably good so i can post pics from our May beach trip which i still haven't done!

We spent over a week at the condo right when school let out. Our former babysitter, Lindsey, who now lives in Little Rock, was able to make one last trip with us before she enters the 'real world' with a 'real job'. She brought a friend with her and they were fantastic helpers who my kids LOVE!!

My friend, Jana, was down there on a girls trip and I talked her into joining our family the last minute. The only thing was she had to convince her mom to drive all three of her boys down!! She is definitely super mom for doing it!! Landon was pumped to have a buddy to play with and they were a fun group to be around. They stayed a few days until they had to get back to Ruston. In the meantime, Lance came back down for the weekend and it was nice to be able to spend some fun quality time with just our family. The weather was absolutely perfect and the kids spent more time in the ocean this time around. The outdoor pool was still a little cool, so not much time was spent in there.

We couldn't find Kennedy and Bailey jack and this is where they were. Kennedy was reading him a book!

Peyton and Landon on boogie boards

Jumping off the sand 'wall' that was built up

Last week of school

This last week has been so fun!! I couldn’t have asked for a better Mother’s Day on Sunday. Lunch was spent with Lance’s parents and dinner (in Minden at the Crawfish Hole) was spent with my parents along with Kip and his finance. Kennedy had some sort of stomach bug so we kept her home from church and surprisingly, no one else has gotten it! But it was a perfect weekend and it was nice to be home for a change.

This week, I have milked every last second of Mother’s Day Out because I know it’s the last week of it until next fall. Then the nights were filled with two t-ball games, visits from my parents, church choir program, girls’ night out and now, tomorrow, we are headed back to the beach! I have to give a huge shout out (even though he doesn’t read this) to my dad for picking up and bringing over a refrigerator from Bossier for us to use in our garage. Our spare one went out over the winter and I know we will need it for the summer while we are playing outside. You gotta love some facebook…found me a free fridge with one post! People are so giving!

Anyway, here are some pictures from this past week. Hope everyone is enjoying this summer-like weather!

Landon's tee ball games (and Kennedy trying to get into the action)

Temple choir program

Last day of school with their teachers

Easter, finally!

Update on sweet Harper (I know Mandy is so grateful for all the prayers): After two weeks in the ICU, she finally came home last night. She is doing so much better and I know they are all glad to be home after such a scare! It definitely made me hug on my kids a little more every day!!

This Easter was such an amazing adventure for us!! I loved that we were able to go down to the condo and do something different this year...it will be one to remember. My parents were able to join us and I think they were glad to be able to slow down and relax. With the four of us watching the kids, everyone got some down time.

Easter morning, it was fun watching the kids look for easter eggs inside the condo and play with their new goodies. We tried making a beach side service, but we moved along too slow to do it. But we were able to go to the Hangout for brunch and enjoy their Easter activities for the kids. I have heard lots about the Hangout, but have never been. It's a great set up and there are things to do for all ages! Here are some pictures for that morning:

Landon finding the Golden egg

Finally get a decent family picture and it's a little bright...need to do some photoshop i guess!

I was shocked that Kennedy wasn't scared of the easter bunny...just the opposite in fact! She kept following him around every chance she got!

This was a huge foam bath that all the kids got to play in...they loved it and I was amazed by all the foam!!! Some of the kids you couldn't even see!!

On that Tuesday after Easter, my parents took the kids back to Ruston (lance had to leave monday night) so I could join up with some girlfriends for our annual beach trip to Blue Mountain, FL. The past three years we have always gone on Mother's Day weekend, but we decided to switch things up this year. I was glad to already be down there so I wouldn't have to make the drive again. It was great to have some girl time, shop, and be lazy! Although, I was sad to miss Landon's first t-ball game. :( But i know there will be PLENTY more! We decided to go ahead and play this year and it's been really cute! He loves it...that makes it all worth while.

We have one more week of Mother's day out and then its summer time! I don't plan on putting the kids in the summer program because we are just gone too much and have too much going on. We did the same thing last summer it worked out great.

Prayers please

I find myself checking the blogs but I am no where close to updating ours. I just can't bring myself to talk about what our family has been doing knowing that a super dear friend of mine is suffering right now. Instead, I am constantly checking her blog for updates. Her 5 year old little girl has been in the hospital for almost a week battling for her life because of a horrible case of pneumonia and still isn't out of the woods yet. You can hear their story on her blog HERE and get updates. Please, please say a quick word of prayer for a most precious little girl, Harper, and her parents, Nick and Mandy (Arnold) Cauley.

First beach trip of 2011

I looked at the weather forecast for Orange Beach and it was calling my name!! With the weather warming up and seeing everyone's spring break beach pictures, it really made me miss the beach. I really didn't want to take the kids down by myself so I looked into flying my 15 year old cousin, Caitlin, in from Dallas to join us. Since she is being home schooled, she was able to come and was super excited about seeing the Gulf Coast for the very first time. I just picked her up from the monroe airport on our way out to the beach. I think my kids were extremely excited about seeing her since we haven't seen her in a couple of months. And Kennedy LOVES some Caitlin!

We left last Thursday knowing that Lance will join us late Saturday night and having no idea when we will return home. Having Caitlin with us allows us to be flexible since she was going to stay the week with us no matter where we were. It will probably be Wednesday so we can get ready for a dinner party at our house Friday night and then to Dallas on Saturday for the Kenny Chesney concert and to take Caitlin home.

The first three days at the beach there was fog ALL DAY LONG! It was really weird and I had never seen anything like it. But it was still plenty warm (actually looking back at it, it made it so more pleasant!) and didn't keep anyone from playing on the beach. You may be able to see it on one of the pictures.

I was glad the kids picked up where they left off last Fall with their swimming. They were great. The water was too cold at the outdoor pool, but we were able to spend some time in the indoor pool. I can tell they have both grown a lot and Landon seems stronger. Kennedy loved to finally be able to touch the bottom.

Looking at the calendar this month, we may be spending more time at the beach this month than at home. We come back again next week for Easter weekend with my parents for a really long weekend. It should be fun egg hunting in the sand and condo! And then the following week it will be my annual girls trip to the beach in the Seaside area (i am hoping i can stay down here while everyone goes back and then i meet up with my girls!!).

here are a few candid shots of the week!

kennedy wanted to get buried over and over!

Landon admiring this man's pet snake. L had no fear and K didn't want to get near it!

landon explaining what pets he wants but him mom won't let him. This man was so nice to listen to him ramble on!

You can really see the fog in this picture of landon

just a shot that i took right before we left the house

Spring Break Week

The weather wasn't as near as warm as it was last week, but it was still nice enough to enjoy our spring break! Lance was gone three nights this week and I will be glad we he makes it back home late tonight. I need a break from play fighting with Landon and pretending to be a dog with Kennedy! But I have loved how kennedy's imagination has kicked in this past month. I love the conversations she has with her toys.

With the rain and colder weather in the beginning of the week, I was able to clean out closets of clothes and even toys. Love being organized!! I'm sure it won't last too long, but everything is in it's place now.

Tuesday the kids had a blast at a the jungle gym for a birthday party for Kennedy's best little buddy from school, Jack Robbins. They are too cute together. Thursday was a FULL day as we spent our day in Shreveport while i did a basketball lesson and then took kids to Chick fil A for lunch (Holly, if you read this, I loved seeing your mom and sweet Bailey!!! super cute!). And then to Brownlee park and I was able to spend the day with my sorority Big Sis, Kerri Tynes, and her kids. Then it was back to ruston to have dinner and playdate at Nancy's house (both hubby's were out of town). We had a blast playing different games with the kids.

Today we had a perfect day at the zoo with Nancy Hunt and Holly James. The kids were so cute and the weather was warmer and couldn't have been better. The kids were so excited that they just about ran through the entire park. I didn't mind...I was able to be back home in time for naps!

This is Kennedy's face watching the tiger swim

Landon and Ava watching the tiger

Finally the alligators!!

For those who have been to the Monroe zoo, you know that peacocks roam freely throughout and I thought it was pretty special that we were able to see all the feathers

We laughed so hard as the kids tried to act like flamingos!

Zoo picnic!

I think this weekend will be great weather and I love so glad! It will be filled with a soccer game, Spring football game and birthday parties. Hmmm, I think I need to throw in a date night..I need some one on one time with my man!