Proud to Be...

We are soo proud to be an American family living with such freedoms and blessings. This weekend was all about sharing and celebrating. It began Tuesday night with Connor and I making "star" cookies. I am pleased to announce Connor can do almost every step of cookie making except the oven!! He dumped ingredients, mixed, rolled, patted, and cut which is usually his regular routine. This time I let him try the spatula!!! He loved scooping them up and sliding them off -and I must say he did a mighty fine job. They all still looked like stars!!

Grandparents came in Thursday night...both sets!I don't this this has happened it such a long time!! Brad had church softball games so we all ( Connor, Grandpa, Grandmomma, D and Laura)went to eat Mexican and then back home to "play" a little. Connor bounced from person to person. Fully soo excited and overwhelmed to have soo much attention!

Friday morning we were up and headed to the zoo. Both sets of grandparents have not been to the zoo with Connor in...well...too long. It was a little warm and some of the animals-polar bears- were not out and it did make it a little dissappointing. But Connor has fun at the zoo everytime we go no matter what!

Friday night we grilled out and ate a third of July feast!! There was a kiddie table this time and Connor was taught his first table manners game of "piggies" I do believe Laura struggled in this game...it may have been her first time too.

Connor LOVED the homemade ice cream but mainly the strawberries in it!!!

Saturday is was more family fun...girls shopping, boys playing and grilling, more eating and then the all American game of BASEBALL!! For the past several years we have made it tradition to go to the Redbirds game.It is GREAT fun and the fireworks are fabulous...I recommend it for anyone who needs a place for family fun on the fourth!

Jake and Connor shared an American little debbie cake.

Big Bob shared his chilli chees dog with Connor...only the cheese really.Grandpa shared his peanuts. PEANUTS!!

OUR FATHER!!!

When we drove in from Little Rock Father's Day, we all took naps immediately. Yes, even I who quite never naps rested my little tired head on my pillow!

When we woke up we had planned to take Daddy to play "golf". Connor has been asking to go play golf with Daddy for a while now. Since the heat is a factor in this outing we adventured out to the Incredible Pizza Company where you can play indoors!It is truly against all that is in my, because it is like a "Chuck E Cheese"-which is passionately not one of my favorite places in the world and we have never taken Connor to such a place before. BUT it is Father's Day and it is extremely hot outside!What were we to do?!?!

It was quite the perfect fun for us...we ate in a room that was showing Thomas the Train on the Big screen and the golf tournament on the little screen on the side...my boys ate in heaven!! By the way Connor ate no "pizzi" but feasted on corn, broccoli and fruit. He tried a cool slushie drink too.

We did play puttputt where our Daddy of the Day had 2 holes in ones out of 9 holes! Watch out Big Phil! Connor pitched a fit when it was time to go play something else. He did quickly take to the other games like bowling, basketball, skeet ball, the bonking the head on the sharks.

We did "make" him ride the go carts-he and Brad rode in the Home Depot car (quite fitting).He did cry most of the time. But of course he liked it when it was all over (and would love to ride again).Being Father's Day I did slow up right at the finish line and let them win the 1st place ribbon!

It was hard to get him to leave. We had to use our tickets to pick out a new "friend", Tyrone, a little blue slinky and an elephant pencil topper!?! I was just glad he didn't pick out a BALL!! We ended our time with ice cream...CHOCOLATE for the boys, of course!
It was a real fun time for all. Brad was a proud dad who got to have a lot of fun with his son-playing!I am soo thankful and blessed to have a wonderful husband who is the best daddy! It is truly wonderful to see him grow into such an amazing father to Connor. Connor calls him his "best buddie". They continue to grow closer each day. Connor LOVES his daddy. I love how Brad protects, teaches, guides,disciplines,wrestles, plays, reads and is such a great example for his son. Connor is a "little Brad" and I am soo proud that one day he will grow into a "Big Brad".It is already soo neat to see all the things they have in common and share as just "father and son".
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY B-RAD! You're the BEST!!

Father's Day weekend in Little Rock

We travelled to Little Rock Friday afternoon. Tasha is VERY close to having our first cousin...and she is not travelling now. We got to their new house and met up with them and Grandmomma and Grandpa. We went downtown Little Rock to eat at a Pizza Place and then to a baseball game.

We all enjoyed the game inspite of the heat.

Connor got a real special treat when he and Brad got to run the bases after the game-on the "real field, momma" "you see me run?" It was quite cute!

We all enjoyed hanging out at Matt and Tasha's house. Saturday evening we drove over to Hot Springs to eat at the famous "Cajun Boiler". We all stuffed our tummies full of shrimp and crawfish!

We returned home where the boys finally beat the girls in our notorious game of "Jocker"

We got up Sunday morning and ate brunch at a cute yummy cafe..."Mimi's Cafe" Then all headed home.

Children's Museum

We came home from our Brownsville visit Tuesday evening...then Wednesday our other "Grandparents" came in for a visit at our house! Connor has been begging to go to the zoo. And while it is one of our favorite places and our grandparents have never been...the temperatures are just not cooperating for a visit to the zoo. So, we made out way to the Children's Museum together for lots of FUN together!The two grocery shoppers had a blast doing what they do best...SHOP! But it did end up quite eventful when a little boy wanted to take over connor's buggie before he had checked out?!?! It got very interesting and my "watching- hand off" mommy became defensive mommy to the rescue! The other mother's approach was quite interesting to say the least!??!

Connor's favorite spot this time seemed to be the RIVER...we spent a lot of time fishing!??!

Mimi's and Big Bob's

Connor and I visited Brownsville for several days...We had such a nice visit. It's been a while since we've been able to go and play with them. The whole family was there for the weekend.It was soo fun to have EVERYBODY together. We all had a fun-filled family time. My Dad's church was hosting a concert by Wes Hampton on Saturday night. Wes sings in the Gaither Vocal Band. He is one year younger than I and we grew up together. It was soo AWESOME to hear him and spend some time with him. He is AMAZING!












We made 2 trips to our favorite place in Brownsville...DAIRY QUEEN!!

Connor made buddies with a new friend...Callie. She is the music ministers daughter. They certainly enjoyed their dipped cones-all by themselves with NO help!

We also visited the Brownsville "Donald's"... of which Connor loved the playground and got quite adventourous on his own. He tends to be like his cautious father. But he was climbing and sliding higher than usual!!


While at Mimi and Big Bob's house several storms and bad weather came through. One night we were without electricity for several hours. I really don't think Connor knew the difference but certainly enjoyed it. He learned all about flashlights. We played outside in the puddles and rain since it was actually cooler outside than inside. He loved jumping and kicking and catching rain in his mouth. Then to clean up we had to take a quick bath in the sink where we could see...he thought that was funny!! We then told stories and read books by flashlight until he drifted off to sleep...luckily the electricity came back on around 9:30 pm. We definitely "made some memories"

Sprinkler Park

We had a church playdate at the Collierville Sprinkler Park- which is such a FABULOUS place if you've never been!! Connor loves it and it was our first visit this summer...we must get back out there!! Connor LOVES the water...I just wasn't too good at snapping pics of him this time-I was busy playing, too!

Connor enjoyed playing with his friend Brac...they were quite the badmitting buddies and even enjoyed a rare treat of a succer...I just hate suckers, but when you're already hot, wet, and sticky-why not!?!?