SWEET SIXTEEN !!

Lindsey, Mark's niece will turn 16 on the 19th. We had a family party on Sunday to celebrate. After church we went to Harding and had lunch, cake and presents. It was good to be together.

Pretty in Pink: Claire (8), Lindsey(16), Anna Kate(6) and Mia(1)

Lindsey is the oldest with a 7 1/2 year gap between her and Blake and Claire. So we will have to wait a while until the next 16th. Then it will be double! OUCH!!

A picture with the boys too: Blake, Claire, Lindsey, Anna Kate, Jackson and Mia

Pa & Grammy with the birthday girl.

Texas... Summer 2008 continued...

Okay sorry for the long first post. The next day we left with my parents and Cody, Larisa, Sydnie and Clay for a weekend in Dallas. We went to Six Flags and to the Ft. Worth Stockyards and Rodeo. It was alot of fun and the kids loved it. Here are the pictures of the week-end.

Nana and the grandkids at the entrance to Six Flags

Blake and Claire in the bumper cars

All five: Claire, Clay, Anna Kate, Sydnie & Blake (the one on the end is not ours) going up, up and away. This one was alot of fun for them. It's like the child's version of the Superman ride.

Sydnie and Anna Kate on Sydnie's first roller coaster. (and the chose the first car!)

There they go.

Cody and Clay in the last car. Look at little Clay's hands up in the air. I AM A BIG BOY, DAD!! (Clay is only 3)

Claire cooling off & taking a break

Claire and Daffy Duck

Anna Kate, Sydnie and Clay with Porky Pig

Grandaddy and Clay riding the Batwing.

Grandaddy and Clay at the rodeo. Clay is Grandaddy's boy

Grandaddy & Nana with the grandkids at the stockyards

This was an awesome spray park just down the road from Mom and Dad's neighborhood. It also has a regular park with it. How much fun!! We need one of these in Searcy.

After a fun weekend in Dallas, a day at the spray park and catching up with my grandparents and some aunts and uncles we came home. The return trip was less dramatic and uneventful thank goodness.

Texas... Summer 2008

Okay, so I had good intentions about updating the blog... but life happens and summers are so busy!! We had a very eventful trip to my parents house in Tyler this year. Mark could not go so it was just me and the kids. No big deal, I've been traveling by myself with the kids since Blake and Claire were about 8 months old (and that was from Memphis) anyway.... We left Searcy after lunch and were doing great, we stopped in Texarkana and got a snack and then about an hour later Claire starts this whimper... it only means one thing "I'm about to be sick!" So I pull over in an old parking lot and she throws up. Okay, get her cleaned up with the last big of a napkin and water that I have and on we go. 20 minutes later here she goes again... this time on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Okay, no napkins, no water "Blake take the pillow case of off her pillow", get her cleaned up and here we go. We stop in the next small town to go to bathroom and wash her face get a bottle of water so we can proceed. Only 45 minutes until we are at my mom's house. I'm feeling pretty good at this point, we come into the Tyler city limits, I'm can see light at the end of the tunnel and the whimper starts again. I pull over this time but there is no room for me to get out and go around on the other side of the car. The brush is too high. So being the good brother he his, Blake holds her hair as she stands on the running board and takes care of business. All better... I put the Suburban in gear and we go no where. Wait a minute, what is going on... I step on the gas and my wheels are turning and we are going no where. We are stuck! I'm so close, it's been a LONG... afternoon and we are stuck in mud???? I call my mom and ask her to call my brother, a DPS (state police) officer to come get me or my uncle (manages a body shop). Of course neither one of them answer the phone. Eventually with the help of 3 strangers and 20 minutes of the pushing we finally get out. Thank you , thank you , thank you... Now let's get to Nana's. It's 5 o'clock traffic time we are traveling around the loop in Tyler at a snail's pace but I'm only 10 minutes from Mom's house when, oh no... crash... yes we rear ended a van. Could this trip get any worse? It was a chain reaction with me being the last car. Myself and the car I hit were the only ones that stopped and pulled over and luckily there was no damage to her van. Thank you , Lord!! I don't think I could have taken much more. She didn't want to call the cops, said good-bye and we finally made it to Mom's. The rest of the trip in the next post.