Monday, July 7, 2008

Milestones

We're back! I just needed to pat myself on the back for being gone for 10 days with my kiddos. We all survived and had a wonderful time. After getting a chest xray and a good report from Ty's doctor, we headed off to Arkansas. By we, I mean Emily, Ty, and me. By ourselves. In the car. From Temple, TX to Searcy, AR.

I normally try not to write fragments, but I wanted you to understand the drama in the above statement.

We stayed there for 7 days visiting with my 2 sisters and 1 brother, their spouses, and most importantly, my niece and nephew. And Grammy was there visiting as well! On our way home, we stopped in Allen at Dee's sister's house. Dee met up with us at that point, and we enjoyed being with his side of the family over the 4th weekend.

Did I mention I got to meet, hold, and squeeze my scrumptious new baby niece for the first time?

One major milestone that was met were my adorable children visiting the Harding campus. It was actually Emily's 2nd time on campus, but the 1st time, it was too cold for us to go out and explore. She was also 9 months old then. Emily and Ty did something very important while on campus. And no, I do not mean that they declared a major (although Emily did say that she was going to go to college to learn how to be a princess). They got to play on the "front lawn" and swing in the Harding swings. Em called them the "little white swings." Ty simply enjoyed the wide open spaces as well as the vast array of sticks and leaves that were perfect toys. I never realized until last week that my children are deprived of such joys being that we live in a relatively new subdivision where the trees are too young to drop sticks in the grass!

I should also mention that one afternoon we took Carter to McDonald's for the first time. This just so happened to be the McDonald's where I worked my senior year. Ah, the memories... He also took a bunch of steps to none other than his good ole Aunt Melissa! At that moment, it was the most he had taken in a row, but I am sure he has surpassed that by now.

So, like I said, we saw many milestones while we were in Searcy-Land. Wanna see some pics?

Here is the future princess-ology student enjoying the "little white swing."


And don't let stick boy fool you; he enjoyed swinging as well.


So this is my favorite picture in the world right now. LOVE him!


Grammy and baby Claira are enjoying some swing time, too!


It was not easy to take a picture of Grammy with a baby and 3 wiggly ones.


This was Emily's first ride in a golf cart. Her Mama's never even ridden in a golf cart. I am surprised that this phone isn't permanently fused to my bro's ear. He is the director of Uplift at Harding, so he has been eating, breathing, and sleeping Uplift for the past few weeks.


I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so here are 2 of Ty and Carter on the swing.




The boys are playing in the toddler area of McDonald's. I should mention that my sister and I like to torture the boys by dressing them similarly. They were supposed to be born about 5 days apart, but it ended up being more like 5 weeks since Ty was early and Carter was late. They matched at least 3 times besides the similar clothes they are wearing here. They're going to kill us when they're older :-)


This is Carter staring at all of the big kids playing on the slides. Isn't he adorable?


There is so much more I could say about our trip. There are many more amazing photos. And I haven't even talked about our time with Dee's family yet. I wonder if I will be able to get caught up on everything before we leave for our cruise...

By the way, Ty does still have pneumonia. He is much better, and the chest xray showed a 40% reduction in the amount of "gunk" in his right lung. And that was in just one week. He no longer as any restrictions on activities, so my life is easier now that we can go swimming, go to the park, etc. We don't have to go back until after the cruise unless his symptoms worsen.

That's finally all, folks. Thanks for reading!

5 comments:

Dawn said...

Awwww...those were so cute. Sniff...Harding... I can't wait to take my kiddos there for Spring Sing. Once Braden is just a little older and Easter isn't such a big deal.

The pictures were precious. Love all of those babies. Did you get baby fever again?? :-)

Okay, we had slumber party last night with the kids, so I have a very important show I must go watch now... The Bachelor. I'll call you later!

L- Dawn

Collin and Christy said...

love the pictures!! sooooo glad you got to come up for a visit! :)

Amanda said...

Aww, what sweet pictures! I love that Emily wants to go to college to be a princess. Go girl! Glad you survived. I totally understand the drama in driving to Arkansas by yourself with 2 little kiddos!!! You are pretty amazing!

Angela said...

Hey girl- wow, the memories...Harding land, the swings, and who could forget good ole McDonalds!!! I had forgotten about that!! We won't tell our kids some of our stories ;p Your pics are awesome!!! Sooo glad Em and Ty got to visit a piece of your college life and of course see family! I adore the photo of your mom with the kids- too too cute! Miss you!!

kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor said...

I applaud you-- you are so brave for driving that far with the kids! I am so glad you had such a great time. Loved the pics.