Cute kids everywhere!!

Tuesday was a day full of fun and kiddos! Leslie is out of town, so the girls and I went and picked Blaire up and brought her back to our house for the day. She is so good and such a doll! I miss those baby days.... just not enough to have another one! Then in the afternoon, Jill and Lauren came over to swim. It was a great afternoon of relaxing and NOT thinking about the stress to come in just a few short weeks once school starts. After they had left, Seth, Joy and Oliver came by for an evening swim. Oliver liked the water for a while, but he really enjoyed the ride on Scott's new mower. Hey - maybe if we started charging a small fee for rides on the mower, we could get it paid off a whole lot faster! Now, there's an idea!

Time for a new post

but don't get too excited because this one is about a rat. The girls and I had planned on getting in the pool Saturday, but quickly changed our minds when we saw this big nasty thing swimming around. Does it get any worse than a rodent doing the breaststroke right outside your window?? Plus, Scott went on a 75 mile bike ride (yes, you read that correctly) and was gone for almost 6 hours. When he called, he told me to "just get a Wal-Mart sack"..... and that's where I cut him off. Not in this lifetime!! So, we patiently waited until Saturday afternoon when the pool was rodent-free to swim. And have swam every single day this week. It's definitely summertime in Arkansas!
In other news, we met Leslie and the girls at Jason's Deli yesterday for lunch. If you haven't been, you're missing out! It was fantastic - I can't wait to go back this weekend!!

What's been goin' on

We've been busy the past few days, but I like it like that! We went to Silver Dollar City on Thursday with Jill and Lauren. It was a great day to go - overcast most of the day and not too crowded. We've been twice this year, so I guess we've justified getting the season passes!

I don't know exactly what this was called, but I would not call it a "ride". It was more like a "work". You had to pull yourself all the way up to the top, and then you got to slide back down. Payton did her best to help, but we're gonna have to get her in the gym before we go back and try that again....
The bunny that kept pooping on Payton (3 times to be exact). At least they only shoot pellets....
Oh look - it's a picture of Payton sleeping! This was 4th of July morning on our way to El Dorado.
Scott and Oliver doing the guy thing and shooting hoops!

Going for a ride around the house. This is one of the kids' favorite things to do at Papa & M'laines. The all-time favorite - sparklers! You have to get closer than that, Paty!
Our friends Leslie, Paige, Ryan, and Blaire came over yesterday for lunch and a swim, even though Leslie and I were the only ones in the pool most of the time. Here are the girls having a picnic snack in the garage.
And Leslie & cutie-patootie Blaire in the pool.
Then today, my uncle Henry and aunt Pam brought their grandsons over for a visit. Corey and Christian live in NC, and we hadn't seen them in a year and a half. They all had so much fun! We'll have to get them together again soon - and longer next time!

Kansas City: Our mini-vacation

Since Scott and I are going on an adults-only cruise later this summer with Chad & Leslie, we thought we'd plan a trip not too far from home to get away with the girls for a little bit. We heard about this fantastic resort in Kansas City called Great Wolf Lodge. The rooms are all designed for kids with either a cabin, a tent, or a cave in the corner of the room just for them. We got one with a tent, and it had bunk-beds and their own TV. They thought it was super cool! But, the best part of the whole place is the massive indoor water park. It has 5 water slides, a lazy river, and several play areas. We all had a fabulous time!
They also had an outdoor pool and play area. We stayed outside most of the day on Wednesday because the weather was just perfect!
You can barely see the girls in this picture, but they're behind the waterfall. There's a bucket way up close to the ceiling that fills up with 1,000 gallons of water and dumps it every 5 minutes.

Weeeeeeee!! The blue slide was our favorite....
But, yellow was pretty cool, too, because most of the time you're in total darkness.
Before we left, I searched the internet to try and find a fun place to eat on Wednesday night since it was Payton's birthday. I found a place called T-Rex that was supposed to be close to our resort, and boy was it ever! It was in this huge shopping center right next door. It's the only restaurant of it's kind in the U.S., and it had robotic dinosaurs, several fish tanks, and meteor showers every 30 minutes (it got dark and loud, but nothing ever fell from the ceiling...). I had read that people go there more for the atmosphere than for the food, but I had to say - we chowed down that night! At one point, Holland even said, "Goodness mom". You know I ate a lot if she made that comment about me! Then we secretly told them it was Payton's birthday, and they brought out an ice cream sundae and sang Happy Birthday to her. I think it's one she'll remember....

We had to be checked out of our room by 11 on Thursday, so I went to the fitness center and ran for a while, then came back to the room and took a shower and got ready. Scott and Holland wanted to hang out by the pool for a while, so Payton and I thought we'd drive over to the awesome shopping center and do some shopping. Sidebar: Running works completely different muscles than any other type of exercise known to man. And since I had also ran the day before, I had sore muscles in places I'd only heard about once upon a time in one of my Anatomy classes. Needless to say, we didn't shop. We found a movie theater and sat and watched Kung Fu Panda. I had already gotten tickets for an exhibit called Bodies Revealed for later that afternoon, so I somehow mustered the strength and we went to that. It was totally worth it! All kinds of real human bodies and body parts on display. But, of course not everyone appreciated it as much as I did. At one point, Payton made the comment: "I'm gonna have trouble sleeping tonight". It really wasn't that bad. It was a great learning experience for them (even though it was more for me than anyone else). Then we asked one of the locals where we should go for the best BBQ in KC, and she said, "Have I got a place for you!". She sent us to Jack Stack's, and it was out of this world! We were so glad we had asked!

We found our way back to the awesome shopping center on Friday and found some great deals (not really, but we like to tell ourselves that...), then ate at Cheeseburger Paradise. Yummy!! On Friday night, we went to see the Royals play the Cardinals. It was fun, mostly because we really didn't care who won the game (The Royals did, if you care. Sorry Brandi!). We were worried about the weather because they kept saying on the news that the storms were supposed to hit around 7 - the same time the game was scheduled to start, but they held off until we got in the car after the game was over.
Payton & Scott sharing popcorn. Look at how dark the sky is! Then we left the game and got lost in KC at 10:30 at night, but that's all I'm gonna say about that. We are safe at home now, and that's all that matters, right?? All in all, it was a fun family trip, and we've all come away with great memories!

Happy Birthday, Payton!!

Yes, I know that this is one day early, but we're leaving this afternoon for Payton's surprise birthday trip and won't be back until Saturday. I'll take lots of pictures of our adventures and post them once we get back!

Payton - You are my Godsend. Even though you may not have been "planned", you have been the greatest surprise of my life, and God knew that I needed you. You have the most wonderful spirit - kind, gentle, loving, and always enthusiastic. But more than anything else, you are the most passionate person I know. No matter what the task or challenge might be, you will give it your all and nothing less. I absolutely love that about you. Everyday is so much sweeter when you're around. I've smiled and laughed more in the 8 years that you've been with me than I ever did before. You are God's reward. I must have done something right to be blessed with such a beautiful soul that I get to call my child. You are light and laughter and joy all together in one little person. You are, and will always be, my baby. I love you.

Then & Now

It's been almost 12 years since Scott and I got married. I searched through my photo albums the other day and found this picture. The precious flower girl is my then 9-year-old cousin, Leah. There was never any question who would be the flower girl in our wedding because we were very close growing up despite the 11 year age difference. Now, fast-forward to yesterday.....

The bride in the picture is Leah, and the junior bridesmaids are my girls. What an honor it was for them to get to be a part of her special day. Now I'd like to make time stand still because I don't even want to begin to think about their wedding days....

"Can _______ spend the night??"

I guarantee - if I had a dollar for every time I've been asked this question this summer, I'd be one rich chick right now! And the sad thing is they haven't even been out of school for 3 full weeks yet! So, on Monday I let them each invite a friend over to spend the night. Holland called Marley, and Payton called Cecily. I will have to say that my girls have both picked such good girls to be friends with. I couldn't have picked any better myself. They spent all of Tuesday morning playing out back with a couple of frogs they found in the pool (I feel the same way about frogs as I do about snakes - gross!). Then I took them ice skating. For 4 girls to be so extremely excited about it, they didn't last very long - 30 minutes and they were done. I don't blame them, though. Who wants to be where it's 30 degrees when you can be where it's 80?? So, it was back to the house for pizza and swimming. Good friends and good times!!