Wonderful Week Without Work

Week 1 without work has been so enjoyable. Anna is enjoying her time out of Pre-K too. Monday we hung out at home. I did house work, worked on some scrapbooking (still very far behind), Anna played, watched movies and then we went swimming.

Tuesday Anna, Mason and I went to my mom and dad's to visit. I celebrated Father's Day with my daddy. We had a great time visiting with them and Aun'tee. When we got home that afternoon we attempted swimming but it was too hot. The water had warmed so much during the day that it wasn't enjoyable. That swim didn't last long.

Wednesday was more hanging out at home, swimming and worship service that evening.

Thursday we went to town and did our weekly errands. Anna played on the playground at the mall and had a blast with another little girl there. I have to brag on my bargain of the year. JC Penney was having an awesome sale. I found a cute outfit for Mason that was on sale for $1.97 + 20% off that!!! Tax and all it was $1.71!!! I was so excited to get such a great deal!

Friday I actually mowed the yard for the first time since we've lived here (and in all honesty probably the first time in 6 years. I don't think I've mowed since before I was pregnant with Anna. But don't feel too sorry for Kevin because he would rather mow than be in the house watching the kids.) I know it took me twice as long as it takes Kevin, and I ran out of gas right before I finished. I didn't know which gas can was for the mower (there is a can for the mower, one for the chainsaw, one for the weed eater, etc.). I called Kevin and he had taken the mower's gas can to get more gas. So I left the remaining part of the yard for him, plus the weed eating. I don't do weed eating. I know Kevin was nervous about me mowing. At first he told me "no" but finally gave in before he left for work Friday morning. It was cute because he gave me all kinds of advice and tips before leaving (i.e. don't forget to unplug the pool pump and move the cord out of the way). You would think he didn't trust me or something. After mowing Anna and I took another swim, which I needed badly.

Friday evening Anna wanted to pretend she and Mason were camping. I took a sheet and made a "tent" for them. They have had a blast camping in the living room.

My little campers.

Saturday Anna's friend, Brianna, asked her to go to the water park. We met Brianna and her parents for an afternoon of fun. The girls had a great time swimming, splashing and sliding at the water park.

Brianna & Anna

This has been a great week. I've told Kevin that he is going to have a difficult time getting me back to work. I am enjoying life at home

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day- a day to celebrate all the wonderful fathers in the world. Anna and Mason are blessed to have a dad that loves them, cares for them, and is so hands-on. There isn't one parenting duty that Kevin hasn't done. He does diaper changes, baths, teeth brushing, hair combing, dressing, feeding, doctor appointments, daycare drop off, etc., etc. Kevin loves his children and will do whatever they need. He also takes time to play with them and have fun. Most important of all, he is trying to instill in them a love for God and help them grow to be Christians some day. I'm thankful that I married a man that has that desire for his family!

This year Kevin got his Father's Day gift about three weeks early. He has been wanting a new BBQ grill for some time. I knew I couldn't pick out the perfect one but decided to save money for him to buy one. Everything was going great until Memorial Day weekend when he says "I think I'm going to go buy a grill." So the kids and I gave him the grill money early. He was very surprised and happy. However, after giving it to him early, he still hasn't bought the grill! So we could have waited but I didn't know it at the time.

Early Father's Day gift.

Anna and I baked a cake for Father's Day. She enjoyed doing such a big-girl thing and especially since it was a surprise for daddy.

The cake turned out delicious! We are still enjoying it.

Anna loved the sprinkles.

How about a bite?

I'm also thankful for my daddy, Carl. He is a great man. Growing up he was involved in everything I did. He coached my pee-wee basketball team, attended my ballgames in Jr. High, took me fishing, took us on vacations, took me to church and was just involved in my life. Even at 32 years old, he is still there when I need him. He has watched Anna and Mason for me when needed. I know he is always there if I need him. I love my daddy and will be with him on Tuesday to celebrate Father's Day with him.

I am so thankful to God for a wonderful father for my children and a wonderful father for me! Happy Father's Day!

Life Changes

This week was definitely about change for our family. However change can be a good thing. Thursday was my last day of work. I truly believe losing my job may be a blessing in disguise. I have been miserable in my work environment for a while. I loved my job duties but the negative, dishonest and sometimes unethical environment made it horrible. (Let me clarify that this does not apply to the whole organization. The organization as a whole is wonderful. However it only takes one or two people to make a department less than desirable. But let me also say there are many great people at the organization too! I left having so many supporters and friends. I'm so lucky to have so many people willing to serve as a work reference for me. From this experience I've learned how many people like me and think I did a great job. I'm trying to hang on to the positive instead of the negative.) Kevin says he can already tell a difference in me and how I'm much more relaxed. He can be such a great husband! He told me this past week that he wants me to take the summer off and enjoy it with Anna. Then once she starts to school in August I can begin my job search. Wasn't that sweet??!!! I told him that I'd still have my eyes open this summer for possibilities just in case the right job came along. But in the meantime I'm going to take it easy and enjoy the summer with Anna and Mason. I'm so excited!!!

Another change this week came on Friday. It was Anna's last day at DI. She has been attending DI for three years exactly. (She started in June 2006 after staying with Mrs. Bev after her birth.) She took popsicles to share with her friends, and her teacher brought doughnuts. I guess I hadn't expected leaving to be so hard. When I picked her up early Friday afternoon, her afternoon teacher said "Oh, you're early! I thought I had all day with her!" We gathered her things and left gifts in her closest friends' cubbies. When it came time to hug Zoey good-bye, Zoey started crying. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. The teacher was tearing up too. She told me that Anna's morning teacher cried when telling Anna good-bye. Anna was just fine and asked me "why are you upset?" When we got outside in the truck, Anna said "I've got on Zoey's flip-flops!" They had switched flip-flops for the day so I had to go back in and trade out with Zoey. I promised her that we would get together some this summer. Later in the afternoon Zoey's mom called and said the teacher had told her what happened when Anna left. She said we would definitely get together this summer.

It's amazing the friendships that Anna and I both made from her attending DI. I know that she is more than prepared for Kindergarten and will enjoy the break before school starts. Her morning teacher had written this note on her daily sheet "I'm so sad it's her last day! She has been a wonderful student! It has been a blessing to have her in my class, and I will miss her a lot! She's got a bright, beautiful future ahead of her and I have no doubt she will do great things in life." Wow, does that ever make Kevin and me proud!

First day at DI- June 2006

Last day at DI- June 2009

Mason will continue to be at DI. He will stay home many days with Anna and me, but we didn't want to lose his spot at DI. If we gave it up, we probably couldn't get him back in once I go back to work. Plus I don't want to go through the adapting to daycare again! We need to keep him in the routine! He still has difficulity when I drop him off. Kevin normally takes him and he does great. When I take him it's usually horrible. Just this week I dropped him off one morning and it was awful. When I opened the door to his room he fell down on his bottom and started crying. I left him screaming with the teacher. She said "he doesn't do this with his dad." When I walked by the director's office she asked "Is that Mason?" I said "yeah, he's doing the 'make mom feel guilty act'!" So he definitely needs to stay familiar with DI.

(Wearing Anna's former Barney houseshoes- given to her by none other than the Schandevels.)

This afternoon we took our first swim of the year. Everyone had a great time. Mason was a little unsure at first but once he got adjusted to the water he didn't want to quit. I finally had to make him get out and go inside for a nap.

Awww, summertime!!

Fun With Family

Last Sunday Kevin's brother (Rick) and his girls (Holly & Lauren) came to visit from Texas. We had a great week with them. Sunday evening after worship service we went to Mimi's house to visit with them. Then Monday afternoon after work and school/daycare, we went to Mimi's house again. Anna spent the night with them and played on Tuesday. On Tuesday they drove to Missouri to visit some family and planned to go fishing. It rained about the time they arrived so they didn't get to fish. The three girls were more than a little disappointed! However when they brought Anna home the fun started.

First they rode 4-wheelers.

Uncle Rick & Lauren (on the left); Anna & Holly (on the right)

To everyone's surprise and delight, Mimi rode with Anna! You could hear her laughing and screeching as Anna took her down a large hill. It was GREAT!

(Something we never expected to see!!!)

Then they fished in our pond.

"Uncle Rick, what's in here?"

"Whoa, I'm not touching that fish!"

Lauren caught two bass and Rick caught one. Poor Holly didn't catch anything. I really wanted her to get a fish.

This was Anna's first fishing experience. She did less fishing and more 4-wheeler riding.

Lauren helping Anna.

Anna loved for Lauren & Holly to put her hair in pig tails. What a cutie!

Thursday morning Kevin, Rick, Holly and Lauren took off to Hardy to go canoeing down Spring River. It was the girls first canoe trip. It sounds like everyone had a great time.

Thursday evening we all went out to eat at Ron's Catfish. (We had to eat fish out since the 3 small bass that they caught weren't enough!) Afterward we visited at Mimi's since Holly, Lauren and Rick were leaving Friday morning.

Anna, Mason, Holly & Lauren

Anna, Mason, Holly, Mimi & Lauren

Anna and Mason enjoyed playing with their cousins so much! Anna wanted them to stay longer and even said that she wished they lived here. She is ready for next summer when they come back again!! Maybe we can go to visit them sometime too.

Water Play

Ready for water play!

This week was the start of water play for Anna at DI. Her water play day is on Thursday. She had a great time and can't wait for Thursday of this week. She loves the water! We put up our swimming pool yesterday afternoon. She cannot wait for the water to warm up enough to swim.

Mason continues to tickle us daily. His favorite thing recently is to wear Anna's hot pink cowboy boots around the house. They look really great when he's only wearing a t-shirt and diaper! This afternoon he was wearing them while dancing to Anna's Hannah Montana CD. Kevin commented that they were going to need some male bonding time!

Riding horses.

Anna is so excited that her cousins, Holly and Lauren, are coming up from Texas this week to Mimi's house. They should be here later this afternoon. She can't wait to spend time with them.

This week is my last week of work. I was notified last Monday that I had two weeks left to work. It's a long story that ended in me being treated unfairly. But I firmly believe that God has a plan and everything will turn out okay. In the meantime, I'll get to spend some extra time with Anna before she starts Kindergarten in August. I have a feeling that we will be doing a lot of swimming!

Our 9th Anniversary

Nine years ago today Kevin and I said "I do."

Then Kevin kissed the bride.

Our Story:

Kevin and I met and started dating in April 1998. I guess you could say it was by chance that we met, but actually I think God put me in the right place at the right time. At the time, my brother and I lived in the same apartment complex. I had something that my mom had asked me to give to Scott. One evening I walked over to his apartment to give him whatever it was and Kevin happened to be there. We soon started dating and here we are 11 years after meeting and 9 years of marriage!

Kevin proposed on February 16, 2000. We were married on June 10, 2000. Needless to say, February to June was very busy with wedding planning and preparing to move. Our first home together was in the same apartment complex where I already lived in Jonesboro. We just moved to another apartment (on the ground floor). We only lived in the apartment for about 5 months when we moved to Paragould. Kevin had accepted a job in Corning so we needed to split the driving distance to work (him to Corning and me to Jonesboro). We lived in that house a lot longer than we ever planned. We finally moved to our current place in January 2007 (a few months before Mason was born). Now we are preparing for the biggest project of all- building a house. We just have to get our nerve up and take the plunge!

Having children (Anna & Mason) is our greatest accomplishment as a couple. God blessed us with two amazing kids! We are so proud of them and wonder what we did before they came along. We must have been bored out of our minds and didn't even know it. Unfortuately having children didn't come as easily as expected. We had two miscarriages and lots of tears (for me anyway) before we were blessed with Anna & Mason. They say hindsight is 20/20 and that is so true. Looking back I see that everything happened as God had planned. But at the time it was the most difficult thing I had ever endured. Sometimes I think of how life would have been different if I hadn't miscarried but then I would never have had my precious Anna and Mason. They mean everything to me and Kevin!

Here is a look at Kevin and I in our younger years....the dating phase of our life!

Celebrating my brother, Scott's, college graduation.

Our first jack-o-lantern.

Kevin's dog had puppies and we kept two of them. The one of Kevin's lap was my puppy, Bandit. The other puppy was Kevin's pick, Macie. This was at Craighead Forrest Park where we took them to play. They loved the ducks at the lake. We gave Macie away after we were married (and still regret it to this day but it was the right choice at the time). We had Bandit until he died last year.

Kevin bought my first horse for me. His registered name was Hug Me Hollywood but we called him Huggy. We was a great horse. He died in 2003 (a few months before Anna was born). We still miss him because he was perfect for me. Our favorite story of Huggy occured on a day when Kevin & I were riding horses in the fields around our old house. We came up on a huge mud puddle and Kevin rode his horse through it. So then Huggy and I start through the muddy mess. Right in the middle of the mud hole Huggy stopped. I thought he had hurt his leg or foot because I couldn't get him to go forward. Oh no, he wasn't hurt, he just wanted a mud bath! He started to lay down so I jumped off and then he proceeded to roll in the mud and water with my beautiful saddle on him!! He was covered in mud, as was I, so that ended our horse ride and we had to go home and wash everyone and everything. He was also famous for eating hotdog buns. We used to go to our friends house and roping arena almost every Friday night. If someone came near Huggy with a hotdog, he would try to eat it. He sat and ate my hotdog buns many times. He was some horse!

I thank God for giving me a loving, supporting, encouraging and Christian husband. God knew what he was doing when I walked to my brother's apartment that evening and met Kevin. I never dreamed that I was going there to meet my future husband and my future children's daddy.

Weekend Activities

Saturday morning was VBS. This year it was called SMAK (Saturday Morning Activities for Kids). The theme was Facing Your Giants (fears). We had a good attendance. All the kids wrote their fears on a card and then attached it to a balloon. Then we did a balloon release turning all the fears over to God. It was really neat. Anna's fears were "the dark, spiders and bugs". I didn't see Mason's card so I don't know what his fear was. If I got to pick what I think his fear is, it would be the word "no".

Saturday evening we took the kids to see the movie "Up". It was a cute movie and so fitting after having a balloon release at VBS that morning. We were tickled that the momma bird's name was Kevin. How cute is that? I was so proud of Mason's behavior at the movie. It was the best he has ever done at a movie. There were several scenes in the movie that showed some mean dogs. He didn't like that at all and would turn and bury his face in my shoulder. I felt sorry for him. But other than the mean dogs he seemed to enjoy himself.

This afternoon flew by. We had our weekly Pizza Inn lunch after morning worship services and came home for a few hours. Kevin had to be back at church for a 4:00 meeting. The kids and I dropped him off and ran to Walmart. After his meeting we picked him up and headed to a local park. Timmy and Debby had invited us to their congregation's picnic and evening worship service. They had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. After eating there was an abbreviated worship service and then play time. Anna & Mason enjoyed sliding and swinging. Well, Anna enjoyed the swinging. This is what Mason thought of it...

Makes me wonder if he's had a bad experience with the swings at daycare! I didn't know he hated swinging.


There was one other tragic event to the evening. Anna dropped her ball in the lake/pond and it floated out of reach (and then across the lake). She came to us crying so hard that we didn't know what had happened. To our relief it was just a lost ball! But to her it was the end of the world. We finally settled her down with the promise of a new ball. We even stopped at Walmart on the way home and bought two balls. A large, pink ball for Anna and a smaller, blue ball for Mason. That seemed to ease everyone's concern for the lost green ball! Mason was so funny telling us about the lost ball. At one point he said "geese eat the ball". He thought the geese on the lake/pond might eat the lost ball.

Even with the ball accident we all had a great time. We are so glad that Tim & Debby invited us again this year.

Timmy, Anna, Debby & Mason

Stuck in a Creek

We had a nice, normal week until Friday afternoon. We all loaded up for a fun 4-wheeler ride. We took a new route and ended up finding a pig-trail that led to a creek. At the entry point of the creek it was mostly dry (sand and rocks) with water occasionally on the side. We drove a little ways down the creek until we came to a point where water covered the whole creek bottom. Where we stopped was sandy so we got off to let the kids play in the sand. There was some shallow water nearby so Anna & I waded in it since we had on flip flops. Mason was having a ball throwing rocks into the water. We were playing and having a great time when Kevin decided to drive off in the deeper water. Not such a great idea!! Long story short...he got STUCK!

I'm thinking WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO DO???? We were over 5 miles from our house, on a rural county road with the nearest house being close to a mile away and had two kids with us. Fortunately I had grabbed my cell phone as I left the house and threw it in the 4-wheelers compartment. (I don't always take it but try to on our longer trips. I always think that if we have a flat or trouble that we could call for help. I never imagined it would come in handy in this situation.) Kevin made several calls and couldn't get ahold of anyone. He left messages and kept trying more people. Finally the kids and I walked out of the creek and down the pig-trail to the gravel road. I was hoping someone (nice, not a serial killer) would drive by and stop to help. At some point I even suggested calling 911. They could send a sheriff or deputy out to help. Finally about 20 minutes after leaving a message one of Kevin's friends called back. He so graciously agreed to come help and brought a tractor with him. Another friend called and came with his 4-wheeler. One friend's wife came and brought something for us to drink. (Mason really appreciated the drink!) She offered to take the kids and me home but I declined since the tractor had arrived and the 4-wheeler was on it's way. I assumed they would pull us out and we would be on our way home. So she went on to her son's baseball pictures. Why did I assume??

Plan A

We headed back into the creek with our friend's 4-wheeler. The guys got the 4-wheeler chained to the front of ours and proceeded to pull it out. Our 4-wheeler didn't budge! Then they repositioned and tried pulling ours from behind. However, this placed our friend's 4-wheeler on unstable sand and he started to get stuck. So they unhooked the chain and thankfully he got out.

Plan B

Our friend that brought the tractor drove it down to the creek. He was backing it towards our 4-wheeler when its tires started spinning and sinking. My heart just about stopped. It was bad enough having our 4-wheeler stuck in the creek. I couldn't imagine how we would get a TRACTOR out of the creek! I was praying that God would get that tractor back on stable ground. Thankfully he was able to get the tractor back on the trail without getting stuck. Now what?? By now Anna was upset and crying. She wanted the 4-wheeler out and to go home. To be honest, I could have cried too. The fun had ended long ago.

Plan C

One guy knew a guy that had a 4-wheeler with a winch on it. He decided to go get that 4-wheeler. Thankfully he had to drive right by our house to get it, so he took me and the kids home. (We started our ride at 5:00. It was 7:00 when we got home and they were starving.) Since I was at home, the rest of the story is what I've been told.

Kevin and the friend that stayed behind dug sand out from around the tires of our 4-wheeler. The other guy returned with the winch. The hooked the winch to our 4-wheeler and chained the back of the other 4-wheeler to a tree to keep it from moving and sinking.

Plan C worked!! They were able to get our 4-wheeler unstuck.

I love this picture. The guy on the left looks to me like he's thinking "now, how will I get out of here?!"

I need to make note that the wife (Angela) came back by after baseball pictures with more drinks. She used her camera phone to take these pictures for me. I am so grateful to her for being so thoughtful! I can pull these pictures up at any time to remind Kevin of his bad decision!! (Just kidding.) I don't know what we would have done without Jason and Matt's help.

Friday afternoon was a good lesson on how wonderful it is to have great friends. They came to our rescue even though they had other plans for the evening. Jason was supposed to go to ball pictures with his family. Matt had got home early and was washing his truck. But they both stopped what they were doing and came to help. It reminds me of the Tracy Lawrence song "You Find Out Who Your Friends Are". We will forever be grateful and thankful to Jason, Matt and Angela!!

I asked Anna this morning if she wanted to go ride 4-wheelers in the creek. She immediatley replied with a clear "NO!"