Memorial Day Weekend...day one

A few months ago I got the idea into my head that we needed to go out of town for Memorial Day weekend.

I looked at several places that were within an easy driving distance (and "easy" might be different for us than for others, we consider anything under 10 hours "easy"...I know, we're insane). And this is where we ended up...

Yep, St. Louis, MO. I had actually never been and obviously, the girls had never been there either. After doing my research, I decided that St. Louis was going to be the most economical vacation and it would offer a lot of good memories for our family.

We left our house Saturday morning, about 10:30 and hit the road.

We drove straight to the arch and stood in a LONG line to go to the restroom...

We didn't take the bucket car to the top (the main reason is because Matthew is not happy with heights) but did walk around the museum under the arch.

Several of the exhibits had motorized robotic "people" discussing the history of St. Louis (I think, honestly I didn't really pay attention to what was being said). The girls were NOT excited about the robots...

I was able to convince Elyn to come and sit with me for a picture in front of the Indian "robots".

Then, we headed outside for some pictures...this one is funny because Elyn had just run up to me to tattle on Nora...who knows why.

Of everything we saw at the arch, the horses were the girls favorites...

And the helicopters leading the tours...

It was dinner time when we left the arch and were heading toward a restaurant that had been recommended to me. I plugged the address into my iPhone and we headed out...only to get lost. Stupid iPhone.

Thankfully the detour wasn't all bad. We ended up at Ted Drewes custard stand, another recommendation. We decided to forgo the actual dinner plans and make the custard a meal. It was delish!

We finally made it to our hotel and hopped in pool (which, honestly, was what the girls were the MOST excited about). No pictures though. Nora is quite the fish! She swam so well and was almost swimming across the length of the pool independently...we are so proud of her!

After a bath and a snack (apparently the custard didn't do a good enough job) we were all ready for bed! We had a big day the next day....the zoo!

completed

Well, the circle is complete.

We sold our house! And we sold it to the "boy" who helped us move in.

It's been a busy week. My mom was here this week and very little time has been spent on the computer. We had a great time visiting...lots of pictures to come.

It's Memorial Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy to spend the weekend with my family.

And I heard the Gary "What you talkin' about Willis" Coleman died today....that's sad.

I promise to show you all pictures of my babies soon.

almost full circle

Maybe I've mentioned we are selling our house? Well, we are.

We've had a few lookers. Two dozen or so. I mentioned that we had an offer that was ridiculous and we immediately rejected it.

Since that insane offer we had another one. And it wasn't too bad...not the best, but not the worst.

Let me back up...

When we moved here we knew two people. Two. That's it. (And Matthew knew both of the people, I only knew one.)

Well, we moved to our house on July 5. Matthew drove the huge U-Haul (with no air conditioner...he got a deal), I drove Matthew's truck and my mom drove my car. All three were packed to the ceiling with stuff.

The 2 people we knew were out of state when we moved here and felt bad about not being able to help us unload. We did not even think twice about them not being available...no big deal. We figured we could unload.

Well, they felt so bad about not being here they called some of their friends. Mr. W and his son arrived at our house bright and early on the 6th to unload our U-Haul.

We had NO IDEA who they were, but they showed up at our house and carried our stuff into our new home. They were great!

Mr. W's son had called one of his friends and asked him to come help unload the U-Haul. He showed up a little bit late, but made it to haul in some of the really heavy pieces. Lucky.

Fast forward 6 years and we know more than 2 people, we still LOVE Mr. W and his son and we are still in the same house.

Okay, back to the original story...are you still reading?...bless you if you are.

Remember how I told you that we had a second offer on our house? Well, the offer was decent, but not good enough that we could accept it right away. We countered and never heard back from the realtor if they accepted or not.

We figured it was a dead end and nothing would come of it.

But then, we heard from our realtor that the couple that made the offer wanted to come back and look again. On Wednesday.

Then, last night (Friday), we got a call from our realtor AGAIN that they wanted to see it AGAIN. We were getting pretty tired of packing up the girls and vacating our house every time someone wanted to look around. We decided, hey, let's just load the girls up in the wagon and walk around the neighborhood.

So, we did. While we were on our walk we saw the couple pulling into our driveway.

And guess who it is?

The BOY who helped us move our stuff into our house 6 years ago (the one who was a little bit late)!!!!!!!!!!

He's all grown up now, ready to buy a house with his fiance.

We haven't heard anything from our realtor, so we think that it truly is a dead end.

And I'm sad about it. I wish we had our house "for sale by owner" so that we didn't have to worry about realtor fees and all that. And then our price would be Just Right for the new couple.

So, it was almost a very fun story to tell everyone.

I hope they find the perfect home for their new life...and if they need help moving in, we'll show up.

But just a little bit late and help with the heavy pieces.

strawberry fields

It is berry pickin' time again!

The girls and I went and picked berries with our friend, Jasmine, last September (raspberries). Jasmine sent me a text a few weeks ago and said that it was now time to fill our freezer full of strawberries!

It has been raining here for the past 200 years, so we were unsure what the ground would be like...I was prepared and had the girls wear their rainboots. Thankfully the ground wasn't that saturated and we had a nearly mudless adventure.

Our friend, Danielle, also came along to pick some berries....here are all the kids.

Sydney and Elyn "helping" Jasmine.

Nice shot of Nora, I know. She was my little helper. She filled up an entire pint all by herself.

"What are we going to do with all of these berries Mom? I don't know if we can fit any more in our crate."

"I'll solve that, I'll just eat the ones that are spilling out of the top."

It was a fun day picking strawberries! We can't wait to enjoy the fruits of our labor (I know, sorry).

Next year, I'll be a basketcase

The girls 2009-2010 school year is over...sigh.

Next year, when Nora graduates from pre-school, I might need some physical support to hold me me up from all the crying that I will be doing.

The year has FLOWN by and the girls have loved every single second. I am so thankful for their teachers and for the little school they have attended.

Here are the girls last August (I had to take these pictures from my blog post that I did last August because, remember, I lost all of my 2009 pictures...I'm sick again just thinking about it.):

Nora looks the same to me, but Elyn, well, she looks like a 3rd grader now compared to what she looked like in August. She has gotten so much more the past 9 months. (and that's what I meant to write...so much MORE...so much more of everything!)

Here she is Monday, on her last day of school...she loved school!

Elyn and Ms. Julie and Ms. Lee:

Here is Nora, today, on her last day. It was "water" day at the pre school and she got to wear a swimsuit and a cover-up.

Nora and Ms. Michelle:

Nora and Ms. Beth:

Nora has learned so much this year! She knows all of her letters and nearly all of the sounds (I should assess her on that tonight). She can count pretty high but messes up on a few. She is coloring machine and is really starting to draw some rather detailed pictures. She has learned important life lessons like, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit"...that's my favorite.

I am excited about our summer together and dread next year...Nora's last year before kindergarten.

being American

the girls and i went and voted in the primary election today. i LOVE to vote! i love so many things about it:
-i love that we get little stickers that say "I Voted" to wear
-i love that ALL of the people running the election are over 60
-i love the electronic voting system
-i love that i have to sign my name in order to vote...and i get to see everyone elses signatures too
-i love that i GET to vote

it does make me sad that so many people DON'T vote. the girls and i pulled up to the polling place at noon. i was a little nervous driving there that we would have to wait in a long line.

nope. we walked right in. in and out in 5 minutes.

i'm not very "political". honestly, i didn't know most of the names on the ballot. but voting...well, it's something so many take for granted. voting is an honor that so many fought so hard for so long ago.

so, if you didn't go out and vote today, i encourage you to vote next time your poll place is open.

lee greenwood says it best...i'm proud to be an american!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy, busy weekend. We left Friday afternoon, after Matthew got home from school and headed for Little Rock to spend the night with Brian, Julia and Noah. We didn't have to stop once the entire time there...we deserve a high five for that!

Friday night we just ate and hung out. We watched some recorded episodes of "The Marriage Ref". That is a funny, funny show. We kept trying to figure out what our "thing" was that would warrant us appearing on the show.

Saturday morning, after getting up and dressed, we headed out for a playground. Thankfully, the rain held off and we were able to enjoy the great outdoors.

We went to a church near Brian and Julia's house. They have an incredible play structure for the kids. Nora told me at least 5 times after we left that she had a great time playing.

There was a huge slide that we all went down...we only got pictures of adults going down though. (At one point we did get all 7 of us in a chain to go down the slide...it was comical!)

The main reason we went to Little Rock was to attend Matthew's cousin's (Dan) wedding. It was today, at Camp Tahkodah. We decided to get there early and enjoy camp before the wedding started.

After lunch and a change of clothes, we walked down to the creek (or the "concrete" as Nora called it) and let the kids play in the sand.

We also got some pictures...

Then we headed to the gym to play.

Then, it was time for the wedding. I don't typically take pictures DURING a wedding, but couldn't resist during this one. It was beautiful and I wanted to be able to remember it. I turned my flash off so I wouldn't be a distraction though.

Dan giving his mom a hug after walking her to her seat.

Nora was so excited to see the "wedding girl" (bride). She kept asking me where she was. When we all stood up when Rachel walked in, Nora got a little panicked because she couldn't see. Her daddy came to the rescue...

Blurry...no flash...the bride and groom...

This was our bench...lots of toys for Noah (and Elyn). It's hard keeping the little ones focused on the main event.

So beautiful!

The reception was neat. Instead of traditional wedding cake, banana pudding and brownies were served. I could have eaten 6 servings of banana pudding...so good!

Before we left, the girls took a ride on the rope swing...

It was a fun weekend with family. Congratulations Daniel and Rachel! We were honored to be a part of your special day...we pray God's richest blessing on your marriage!

random thoughts

• next week is the last week of Mother's Day Out.  this has been a great year for the girls, they love their school and their friends!
• i am glad that things are going to slow down some after next week, it will be nice to not have to rush out the door by EIGHT FORTY-FIVE two days a week (what in the world am i going to do when school starts before 9am...i don't even want to think about having to set my alarm).
• nora is NOT excited about dancing in her dance recital.  she has told me numerous times that she does not want to dance on stage in front of other people.  i have told her that is fine, she doesn't have to dance, she can just stand there...but she IS going to be on stage.
• she has already told me that she wants to do gymnastics next year.  and elyn does too.  although, nora told her she can't do gymnastics because she has to do ballet first...apparently that is a criteria.
• we had an offer on our house today!  a RIDICULOUS offer.  we rejected it immediately.  it's so frustrating.  this couple came to see our house 3 times (which means they must really, really like it)...THREE TIMES.  our realtor called matthew today to tell him the super lame offer and was annoyed himself.  i guess the couple thought we were desperate.  we're not.  and we're not stupid either.
• we're going to a wedding tomorrow.  it's matthew's cousin's wedding.  he's getting married where matthew and i did, nearly 7 years ago.  we're pretty excited about being at camp.
• speaking of our wedding...we've been married almost 7 years.  it really has been my favorite seven years of my life.  i still look at him and can't believe he is my husband...i'm so lucky!
• nora and elyn were telling me the other day that we need a little brother in our family.  i told them that they needed to ask God for a baby brother and maybe He would let it happen.  nora thought about it for a second and said, "okay, well we also need to ask God for a baby sister and a bigger brother."  woah there kiddo....let's not get carried away.
• do you watch Private Practice?  well, i do and i like it quite a bit...i think it has gotten a lot better over time.  anyway, this past thursday was the season finale and i bawled like a baby during it.  it was one of the saddest shows i have seen in a very long time.

those are my random thoughts on this saturday night.  happy weekending.

elyn elyn bo bellen

Oh Elyn Ann Henderson...you are so funny and keep us on our toes, constantly!

Today we went to drop Nora off at school and her teacher told us to stick around because they were going to have a "Rodeo Parade". We sat in the miniature chairs and waited for the parade of cowboys and cowgirls...you were so excited.

Except when the parade was over, you cried and threw a mini fit and said, "I want to stay with my sister!" While the sentence that you said was sweet, the fit that you threw (while arching your body and screaming) was not so sweet.

A few nights ago Ellie and Warren came over to play while Mr. Jeff and Mrs. Danielle went to a meeting. You loved playing with Warren, especially pushing him around in your baby stroller. You both laughed so hard the whole time!

A few weeks ago, we went to eat with some friends..out to eat. You were allowed to dress yourself (Nora was NEVER allowed to do this at your age!) and this is what you picked...

Elyn, you tire me out every single day...EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. When we put you in your room for time-out, you sometimes throw things at the door because you are so mad at us. When you do that you definitely get a spanking...but those don't seem to stop you. Spankings do NOTHING to deter your actions. You are strong willed with a capital S. And it is tiring. I'm looking forward to the day all this disciplining and re-directing pays off.

You are also so funny and you make us laugh so hard. Last night, after a hard day, you redeemed yourself by putting your baby on the floor and rolling a ball back and forth between the two of you. It was sweet.

I love our Thursdays, the day we "hang out". Next Thursday is the last one...I'll plan something special, just for us.