our little mermaid

This was Presley's first year to do solo swimming lessons. The first class was a little rough, but once she trusted to the teacher not to dunk her or let her go under, she started doing really well. It's a two week class and she is having such a great time doing her kicks and scoops. She loves being in the water and she even managed to get up the courage to go down the big blue slide!

The long, scary climb...

This is where I thought she was going to back out!

a day for dad

Mom and I went to take our yearly pictures with this kids, so I thought I could get a few good pictures for myself for Father's Day. Landon was D-O-N-E with behaving for the camera but here's what I got...

 

Jon was on call Saturday and several things spilled over into Sunday so we didn't actually get to see him until around 3pm on Father's Day. We showered him with tons of homemade gifts and then went over to Grammy and PawPaw's house for dinner. We aren't used to being home for these minor holidays so it was a real treat getting to show some extra attention to the dads in our lives.

 

 

I saw this on Pinterest and seeing as my dad asked for something "perishable" for Father's Day, this was PERFECT!

 

 

Presley helped me make this special book for Jon.

It included a drawing of Presley and Jon and a cute "all about my dad" questionnaire.

 

turtles, tunes, and tubs

There is a large amount of green space behind our house, as well as a creak. These two things bring lots of little creatures into our back yard. There are several rabbits that sneak between our fence slats to see if the grass is truly greener, one night Jon found this guy making his way across the back yard. Presley finally talked herself into touching it's shell but Landon kept his distance.

 

Jon's celebrated a birthday on May 31. He was out of town the weekend of his birthday so we didn't get to do much celebrating. We snapped a picture of this just before the clouds opened up to dump over 4 inches of rain on us.

We finally arranged a playdate with some good friends from church only to get rained out. We relocated to their house and this is where Landon and Zoey wanted to play.

flags, festivals and family time

I feel like I am playing catch-up with sharing all the fun things we have been up to. During Memorial weekend, Riverfest comes to town. It's a 3-day celebration with tons of music, vendors, food and great fun. I remember going to Riverfest as a kid and you know how mushy I get about taking my kids to the things I experienced while growing up in Arkansas. It was a fabulous weekend. Jon and I got in two date nights to stay out and listen to a few of our favorite country artists, and kids got to go on Saturday morning for some outdoor fun. It's events like this that make me so appreciative of being back in Little Rock and surrounded by family.  

Mother's Day.

Helping put out the flags at church for Memorial Day.

Look at how cool he looks!

Covered in nacho cheese sauce.

 Trying out cotton candy for the first time.

Presley informed me that next time she wants hers on a stick like they do at the baseball game.

Well, aren't we picky!

 

 

shhh, what's the sound?

That would be the sound of silence. After a two week break from school, the kids are back in summer "school" which means I finally have time to accomplish the millions of things on my to-do list. When I first signed them up for the Tuesday - Thursday program, I felt a little guilty, but after two weeks at home with both of them, I was counting down the hours until it was time for them to start. It's

H-A-R-D to entertain kids all day, every day. We did get to do lots of fun things during our time together and with a few days off each week, there will be plenty of time to have lots more summer fun.

One of the fun things we got to do was visit a strawberry patch. One of my favorite things about summer is farmers markets and all the fresh fruit and veggie offerings. I have been looking for a place to pick strawberries for quite some time. A friend of mine finally found one so we loaded up the car for a 40 minute drive and a day full of fun. The berries were great! They were really pretty and super delicious. Presley loves strawberries but Landon doesn't really like them. That is, until he had them straight off the vine. He couldn't get enough. I was worried that the less-than-friendly lady supervising the picking was going to get on to us but she let him be. I managed to control myself and only come home with a little more than a pound of berries. My eyes are always bigger than my fridge space and recipe collection when it comes to you-pick places.

 

 

 

picture post

 

 Looking quite angelic.

Jon's cousin got married last weekend and Presley was beyond excited about going and seeing the "princess". It was a miserably hot evening for an all outdoor wedding but the kids had a great time running around. Presley will be talking about the candy bar and carriage rides for weeks to come.

MAYhem

I can't believe it's May. Take that back, I can't believe it's May 16!! We have been so busy lately. I see a trend in my latest blog postings...an apology for how long it's been since my last post, and a statement of how busy we've been...but really, between Teacher Appreciation, Nurse Appreciation, Mother's Day, the last day of school for the kids, Jon & I's 9th anniversary, it REALLY has been a busy month. The weather has been all over the place this month but it looks like we are finally seeing consistently warmer days. The kids finish up school this week and are out for 2 weeks before starting a summer program at the same school they attend during the school year. I was a little worried about Presley transitioning into 5-days a week this fall when she starts pre-K 4, and quite frankly, it's a lot of pressure to entertain kids everyday when they, and you, are used to them going to school a few days each week. We don't have a lot on tap for the summer besides summer "school". I hope to find both kids some kind of swimming lesson and there are tons of great outdoor, summer activities all over central Arkansas that will fill in the gaps. Here's to our first summer in two years without a move on our schedule!!

I have been trying to get pictures loaded onto this post for 2 days and can't figure out what's wrong, so I apologize for the size of the pictures and those that are going out of the margins.

Taking it back to blond for the summer.

Landon is doing this new "move" where he makes this face and flexes his arm muscles so hard that he starts to shake. It's hard to describe and best witnessed in person but I thought it was a cute picture none-the-less.

I finally found some time to get in my sewing room to make these for a friend at church expecting a little girl this summer.

Teacher appreciation gifts.

A gift for Jon's nurse for Nurse Appreciation.

Mother's Day 2013.

There's a really neat spray park in Little Rock that I am sure we will be visiting a lot. The water was pretty cold, but the kids still had a great time.

End-of-the year teacher gifts.

I think the gifts for a 9 year anniversary are willow & leather but mama got some stainless steel.

So excited about my (our) new grill!

Jon definitely earned extra credit by getting a cake from the bakery that made our wedding cake.