Joshua's Birthday "Party"

So we had an informal party for Joshua and honestly I am hoping I can get by with that for his birthday. I made a big dinner and then decorated a brownie with frosting and Arkansas football decorations. Josh and his kids were with us and below is a video and pics of the evening.

Joshua is 5 years old today!

So today Joshua turns 5...I can't believe it! He is such a special little boy who makes me laugh and never gives me a dull moment. Our lives would much quieter without him but not near as fun. I played checkers with him last night and he beat me! It was so much fun and I laughed so hard playing with him. (I wanted to post photos from when he was born till now but they are on my other laptop which is not at the house so these will have to do...)

Jessie's 8th Birthday Party

So for Jessie's Birthday Party we had some kids come to the Benton HS Football Practice Field and play flag football along with some cupcakes and lemonade. Below are some pics of the day. My camera was messed up and didn't take many pictures so I didn't get pictures of his cake and blowing out the candles but we got it on video tape. I will try to post some video later.

My Hubby's Birthday

Today is Andy's 30th birthday! I can't believe he is 30! We meet when he was 18 and I was 16...boy time flys! So today he took off work so he could relax and put his feet up. He is currently taking a nap with Noah. I wanted to throw him a big surprise party but he mentioned in passing that he really didn't want a party and I didn't want to do something that he wouldn't want or enjoy so we decided to have a small group go eat. So we are planning on going out to eat with our parents and our friend's Josh & April to Gaucho's, since we liked it so much for my birthday. But we haven't decided on a night yet that well work for everyone. But him getting to stay home and not have to do anything today but relax, play Wii, or play WOW on his computer is all he wants to do anyway.

I want you to know Andy that we love you and hope you have a relaxing 30th B-day and thanks for being such a good daddy and hubby!


Noah and Andy's napping

My Birthday Weekend Sunday

Sunday morning it started raining around 6am but it let up enough for Andy to make us some yummy breakfast burritos....he cooked for me all weekend....so sweet....When we arrived Saturday it was pretty crowded and people where in rafts, kayaks, and canoes all over the river. But since it was cool outside and misting/sprinkling nobody but us went on the 8 mile canoe trip at 9am. Which was nice because we only saw people fishing and a raft full of people from another campsite. It would have been nice if the sun was out and it was a little hotter but it was better having more privacy and it was like we had the whole river to ourselves. So after our canoe trip we packed our stuff and on the way out grabbed so Mexican food from an all you can eat buffet...and Andy made sure he ate his $8 worth...:-) And then we headed to Cabot to pick up our kiddos who at this time were at Andy's parents house...our parents are so great about watching our kids for us overnight and we don't get to do that very often except our parents have watched them 2 weekends in a row....not typical but we are very thankful for them we couldn't ask for better parents and grandparents to our boys. I don't have any pictures of our canoe trip because if we tipped over (which we didn't :-)) then I didn't want to ruin our lose my camera but we saw 4 deer...1 a baby...an otter, baby ducks, and turtles. It is so beautiful up there and especially around the river. We hope we can take the boys for the first time before it gets to cold...we have the camping fever now. Below are pictures we took of the boys wearing a squishy ball that had busted and they put it on their heads Sunday night after we got home.

Jessie being silly...

Joshua being sweet...

Noahness....his nickname

My Birthday Weekend Saturday

So on Friday night when we were driving to Gaucho's I mentioned to Andy that I had 2 guesses on what he had planned and he told me to tell him but he wasn't going to tell me if I was right or wrong. So I told him that I thought at first he was going to take me to Branson and then go eat at Lambert's but when he said we would probably spend around $200 I thought we are going camping/canoeing instead....after I told him this he was really quiet and said that I had guessed it and I said which one and he said both...he was going to take me camping at the Spring River and we go canoeing Saturday afternoon and then get up after breakfast on Sunday and go shopping in Branson and then go eat at Lambert's before we headed home....so I was excited...(side note: we used to go camping a lot when we where dating but hadn't gone in 5 years and I really enjoy it and love to canoe/kayak.) So after dinner and putt putt we went home and got up early Saturday morning so we could get our camping stuff together which he bought me a new, big tent and a battery powered ceiling fan that has a light on it that you hang from your tent...so cool I didn't even know they made anything like that and I am big on sleeping with the fan on at night. So on the way to the Spring River we stopped at Walmart in Cabot and the meat market. And when we were fixing to get back on the road I mentioned, "Don't we head toward Searcy to get to the Spring River?" He said no that we needed to head toward Harrison so I said Okay but was thinking that it has been 5 years but I thought we drove on the highway for a bit before it was more back roads, which going to Harrison is all back roads...so we get to Harrison 2 1/2 hours later and stop to eat and I ask him how much farther so he gets his iphone out and looks it up and from the look on his face it wasn't good. We were on the other side of north Arkansas then were we needed to be so it was another 2 hours to get to the Spring River. He didn't look it up before we left and bless his heart he really thought that Branson and the Spring River where close to each other and we could do both. Since, we had our camping stuff packed and food in the cooler, we decided to go ahead and go to the Spring River so we could get setup before dark and cook the steaks he bought for us....even though we were only 30 minutes or more from Branson. So we got to the Spring River around 3:45 and got our campsite set up and Andy made dinner for us and we sat by the campfire and watched the river and had some s'mores! :-) Below are pictures of our trip from Harrison to Mammoth Springs and of our campsite...

This is the view of our drive from Harrison to Mammoth Springs it was sooooooo pretty!

Here is a closer view...

A view of our campsite...

Andy making our dinner....and it was SOOOO good...

A bad picture of me....I think I was eating my yummy steak and potatos...

Our little campfire...



It sprinkled some and later there was a fog over the river...

My Birthday Weekend Friday Night

So in my "Surprise" post I mentioned Andy had plans for me this weekend for my birthday. He had called me back later that day and told me to not try and figure out what we where doing and said that he would pack me...so I knew we would be going on an overnight trip. So we had plans to go to dinner at Gaucho's with our friends Josh and April who recently moved here from OKC for their son Seth's 1 year b-day and my b-day on Friday night. And all of our parents joined us along with our kids and a friend of Josh's family Katie...my son Jessie wasn't able to come with us. Andy also told me that he had plans for me after we had dinner with our family and friends and that he had arranged for our kids to go home with my mom. Below are pictures of Friday night and Gaucho's is awesome...if you don't know, it has 5 different kinds of meats cooked 13-15 different ways....not sure on that number and they walk around with meat on the skewers and slice off as much meat as you want and they keep coming until you flip your flag from green to red....

So here is Josh helping Seth open his present since Seth was more interested in the rib bone he was gnawing on...

He got a little thomas the train toy and that is April's mom talking to him...

This is everyone at the table...

Andy and I smiling but ready to pop we ate so much...

Josh and April

We couldn't get Noah to smile he kept making funny faces...

We finally got him to smile...

My mom with Joshua who is chewing on 1 of the 5 different meats available...

Andy's parents...

Josh's parents with his daughter Harmony who wasn't up to getting her picture taking :-)

Andy's plans for after dinner where to take me to Cold Stone for some ice cream...which we didn't do I was to full and Josh and April and brought cheesecake and chocolate cake to the restaurant. So his next plan was to take me putt putt golfing so this is Andy's pic from there my picture didn't turn out so good :-(

Surprise

So I just called Andy to see if he had plans for tonight...that I was thinking of grilling hamburgers/hot dogs tonight and inviting our friends Josh and April to come eat and he said that was fine that he didn't have any plans. So he asked me if I have plans for this weekend and I said, "no" and he said, "YOU DO NOW." And I said, "I DO!!!!.....oh I do have to pick Jessie up from his dad's Saturday" and he said, "No you don't I already took care of it." I said, "YOU DID!" I would like to add that Sunday is my 28th birthday....so when Andy says that I have plans this weekend well all I can say is that I am stoked...I don't care what his plans are....I am just ecstatic that he has taking time to plan something!....especially since he is SOOOOOOOO busy at work.

Bayliss's 5th Birthday Party

My nephew Bayliss had his 5th birthday party tonight at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot. Where the kids went swimming and had pizza and cupcakes. Here are a few photos from the party.



Bayliss blowing out his candles on his Indiana Jones cake....



Andy with Noah



Andy and Noah saying mmmmm



Andy and Joshua