Family Visit

Wade's brother and sister-in-law have now officially moved to Tahlequah, OK and so last weekend his parents came in for a visit to see us and them. Tahlequah is a little over an hour away, so they are so much closer now. Last Saturday, Wade and Carson went to help them with their flower beds all day and then came back that night. Unfortunately , the stomach bug visited me and so I didn't go and Callahan stayed here with me too. On Sunday, I felt better so everyone came over for church and lunch and headed out later that day. We are so glad that they are so close...it's so fun that they can run over here or us over there in a day trip! In fact, tomorrow they are coming over for some shopping and dinner...sounds like a great Saturday to me! Wade's parents brought a good family friend with them, Bailey Pike, 12. Bailey is like part of the family to us and we've known her since she was a baby. She lives with her family in Montana, in fact, her dad is who Wade worked for when we lived there in 2004. They are close family friends to Wade's family and so it was an extra treat to see her and catch up. She has grown up!
Above is Wade's brother, Greg, and sister-in-law, Jaren and sweet Ellie Jane - 5 months.

Bailey and Ellie - great smiles!
The cousins giving some lovin'! Carson is kissing Ellie.


Carson just got finished with VBS this week and really enjoyed it and learned a lot I think. We are glad that we have next week though to relax and not have to be somewhere first thing in the morning. We love and soak up our summer break!

Carson's Swim Lessons 2008

Carson just finished his swim lessons and he did so well! We are so proud of him. He absolutely LOVED going and loved his swim teacher "Ms. Kim." This year was such a better experience than last summer. Last year, I took Carson to an athletic club here and it was in a group setting, in a pool that he couldn't touch bottom, so during his time to wait he had to stay standing on a bench that was in the water. Okay, this totally terrified him and he cried every single day at swim lessons and HATED them. This year, I met a kindergarten teacher in a town outside of Fayetteville at a school meeting I had for work. She teaches swim lessons at her home privately in the summer and has for years. She came highly recommended from another SLP at that school. As it turned out, she also goes to our church! Who knew! Carson was not excited about taking swim lessons this summer. Ms. Kim was the difference maker this year along with a pool where he could touch bottom and he was one-on-one with her. I could tell that she was a kindergarten teacher because she talked to Carson that first day like she had known him since he was a baby. She was great and Carson talked to her like he had known her all his life too (which he usually doesn't do with strangers at all). Here is Carson with Ms. Kim. After swim lessons were over the first day, I asked Carson if he liked Ms. Kim and he said "oh yeah, I loooved her!"
She had Carson going under water, jumping in, sitting on the bottom of the pool, and diving for rings on the bottom all on the first day! This was so exciting for us to watch as last year, he was no better (if not worse) at the end of his 6th swim lesson than on his first day.

Here is Carson getting the rings off the bottom. This was his favorite thing to do this year!

Here Carson is about to jump in...
in mid air...
and we're in!

Here is Carson underwater searching for the rings again.
Here is Carson working on his back float. She asked him on his first day if he had ever floated on his back, to which he replied "yes, but I don't very much like to do that." And he was right because last year when they worked with him on this - he about choked the lifeguard working with him in a panic...he hated being on his back. This year, he totally and completely trusted Ms. Kim and really listened to her teaching him what to do with his arms. He never hesitated with her, not once.


And here is Carson going through the ring underwater! We are very proud of our little fish and Carson already can't wait til next year. Maybe Ms. Kim will have a cancellation and we can do another set of lessons this summer. Thank you God for Ms. Kim!

Cal at 20 months

Callahan turned 20 months on Wednesday! He is a happy, silly boy and he loves trains, trucks, balls, going outside, and playing chase with Carson! Here he is to the right sitting in his personalized chair painted by Mimi. He loves to sit in there lately. He also loves to play on the magna doodle and with the train table. He wrestles with Wade and Carson just as if he is as big (if not bigger) than they are. He loves to drink milk and loves fruit snacks! He loves to sleep still - he is the easiest baby to put to sleep and almost begs for his bed. He will point to it at naptime to go to sleep and will nap for 3-4 hours. He will then go to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 no problem and will again give us kisses and then point to his bed. We will say goodnight and leave and he just lays there looking at us sucking his thumb and twirling his hair! It is totally different from Carson, as Carson still doesn't want me to leave at bedtime and would love it if I would lay there until he fell asleep (which sometimes I do b/c I fall asleep too!)

Here is Callahan again doing the "fingers in the ears" game he likes to do with us. He thinks that is the funniest thing and cracks himself up with it.

Carson is really into LEGOS these days. He will play with those for half an hour or longer. He still loves NASCAR too. He is really into coloring these days too and is now into making pictures of houses and trees or horses. He just got finished with swim lessons and did GREAT. I will post pics of those very soon!

Carson has guts!

How bad is it when you are disciplining your 5 year old for yelling, screaming, and hitting the door (repeatedly)...he ask in the middle of it for "Candy?" yeah, I thought that too...not a good sign!

Carson's Last T-Ball Game

Last Thursday was Carson's last t-ball game for the season. The team had a pizza party beforehand and then after the game, Carson got his first trophy! He was very proud of it and said it was "golden all over." He really loved t-ball this year and wants to play again next year. It was a lot of fun and he learned about baseball a little more. We are so glad that he had a good experience and liked it so well.

A visit to Fayetteville Fire Station 1

Carson and Callahan were playing last night after bath in their typical post-bath/pre-bedtime attire... Callahan at 19 months (above). Below are pictures of our visit today to the fire station. Some girlfriends of mine from church invited us and some other moms to go to the firestation today with the kids. It was a great idea, FREE, and very educational and fun. The kids seemed to love it! The firemen were wonderful and taught the kids about fire safety, put on the equipment for the kids, gave us a tour of the firestation, let the kids explore and get in the ladder truck, slid down the pole for us, and "Sparky" the Dalmation demonstrated all her tricks on fire safety! We also got a fire badge sticker, coloring book on fire safety, and a fireman's hat! Here is Carson being helped out of the big ladder truck by one of the firemen.
This was the only picture I could get with Callahan actually standing still in one spot, to get him to stand still, look at the camera, and smile all by myself is pretty much impossible these days...so this was as good as it got!
Carson and Callahan with our neighbors, Aidan and Lily, with Sparky the Dalmation and the firelady who did the presentation today.
Carson with some friends in the ladder truck
Carson and the kids getting ready to touch the fireman with all his equipment. They really wanted the kids to be aware of what they looked like so that if the children were trapped in a fire, they wouldn't be scared of the firemen trying to help them.

Above the kids are touching the fireman and his equipment...They got to try to hold his hat and got to see how extremely heavy it all is. The fireman have only 1 minute when the siren sounds to jump up, slide down the pole, put on all their equipment, and jump on the truck!
Carson outside the firestation
The kids learning Stop, Drop, and Roll!
Me and the boys, I don't know why the picture was so dark - it was light in there and I had my flash on...hmm
Carson really enjoyed going to the firestation and if you haven't taken your little one or ones yet, I recommend getting a group together and going. It's a free and educational activity that is so fun for the kids and well worth it! God bless our firemen and women!

Summer Corn & Wal-mart Shareholders Week!

Callahan had his first corn on the cob this week. I usually cut it off for him, but he was having a fit for ours, so we let him have it...he did pretty good with it actually. It was like watching a dog with ham bone. Pretty funny!

Wade took Carson to wal-mart yesterday for a free fair thing they had. This week is the big shareholders meeting here and a whole bunch of hollywood singers have been here in concert. Yesterday at wal-mart, they had all kinds of free food bins, inflatables, assimilated rides, giveaways, race cars, and a monster truck. They didn't get there quite early enough to see it all, as it was getting wrapped up. Carson did love it though and now we know what time to go next year.


This was Carson about to get on the assimilated boat ride. Wade said it was pretty cool and Carson said it was his favorite thing to do. Thank you wally world for entertaining my 5 year old for an hour for FREE today!