Castleman time!!

Last Tuesday one of Anna Kate's best friends Katie Castleman whose mom happens to be one of my best friends (Teresa) came for a visit. They also brought along younger brother Micah. They stayed for 6 night and just left this morning. Everyone had a great time, mainly playing outside and playing dress up. If you kept up with my blog from the beginning you'll remember seeing Katie on one of the first entries as Anna Kate's first sleep over. The girls have been tight since they were two years old. They moved to South Carolina 3 years ago but we have managed to get them together at least once a year since. The moms are hoping this will be a relationship that will last for a lifetime. If it doesn't it won't be for lack of trying. The first night they got here the girls decided they would pretend they were sisters the whole week. They did a great job sleeping in Anna Kate's bed, whispering late into the night and sharing lots of secrets. Teresa and only wished we could hear what they were saying.

Here they are last year ages 4 1/2.
Here they are this week 5 1/2. Katie still has those fingers when she's tired.

Blake and Claire escaping from the younger ones.

Bestest of friends!!!

Baby brother Micah age 1 1/2 and a very, very, very busy little man.

This week we saw lots of animals in the Farley yard. One morning we looked out and watched two deer for about 30 minutes. They got really close and the kids loved watching them. The next we looked out a saw a wild turkey and then Saturday we found a turtle. They kids loved playing with the turtle.
Nose to Nose... Come out and play Mr. Turtle.

My nature lover Claire of course has to pick up every animal she can get her hands on. She wanted to keep it but we finally convinced her to put the poor turtle out of its misery and let go near the trees. I'm sure that turtle ran the race of his life.

Ready for church.
Sunday night we had the Wyatt's come over and grilled burgers and dogs for Todd's birthday. This is Katie, Lainey and Anna Kate. Lainey and Landon are our 3 year old twin friends.
The kids lined up on the porch eating their ice cream cake.

Happy Birthday Mr. Todd!!

Landon riding his tricycle.

Mr. Todd and Micah

Parting is such sweet sorrow!!! They truly are great friends and love being together and hating saying good-bye. We were very blessed with cool weather, lots of sunny days and plenty of dress up clothes to go around. We can't wait until September when they come back for a long weekend. Thanks Teresa for all the great food and cleaning my house. We love the Castlemans!

Fourth of July Pics

The fourth of July was my first real outing with friends since surgery. We ate lunch at Mark's parents with the Scott, Ashley, Damien and Megan and Chris, Paula, Jackson and Mia. After coming home for a nap we went to the Traughbers for dinner with the rest of our group that meets on Sunday nights. We did the last year so it maybe becoming a tradition. The kids had a great time playing until we went to Harding for the fireworks.

Here are the two newest Farley cousins. Mia (left) and Megan(right) are 10 days apart. Anna Kate is so excited about TWO babies to play with at Grammy's house.

The kids loved playing at Tod and Jan's house and kept themselves pretty occupied waiting on fireworks.

Here is Anna Kate and Conner a year later. They are still the best of friends. We'll see what happens this fall when the go to kindergarten at seperate schools.

Ms. Jan always has the coolest stuff. Both years she brought the glow stick necklaces and bracelets for all the kids to have while watching the fireworks. Our small group isn't that small we have 15 kids between us all and one on the way.

Here are Blake and Claire watching the fireworks. We are still amazed how good of friends they are. They love being together and love being twins. They usually team up when we're in a group. I hope they always stay as close as they are now.

Here is the wild and crazy bunch. We had one couple of out of town and a few running around but this is as close as it gets with 15 kids 7 years old and younger.

Summertime!!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I had surgery the second week of June and am just now coming back into the land of the living. I still have a couple more weeks of the official recovery time but am feeling better. I thought I would post some random pictures taken at the beginning of the summer and catch everyone up.

Blake is getting lessons in mowing the yard. Now that we have 2 acre yard we more than eager for him to be big enough to help. It still maybe a couple of years away but he loves riding with dad.


Claire and new cousin Mia. Claire has never been our "baby" child but she does love Mia and pays her alot more attention than I would have every thought.

Claire loves to skate. She and Blake went to a birthday party at the skating rink right before my surgery. Claire roller skates at home but Blake never had. Mark took them but the pictures of Blake on skates were all blurry. When I'm completely healed we'll all have to take off for an afternoon at the skating rink.

This Karsen "the birthday girl" whose party was at the skating rink. Blake, Claire and Karsen were in the same kindergarten class when we moved back to Searcy and are the best of friends.

The White County Library had a Star Wars day and Mark took the kids to see what it was all about. Most of it was pretty hokey they said but the storm trooper was cool.

Meet the newest Farley...Lucy. After my surgery I was laying on the couch and saw this cat out in our front yard. Everytime I would go out she would run between my feet and be so sweet. We decided a cat would be a pretty good pet to have to help keep mice, snakes and other critters away since we live out in the country. The kids love her. We laughed and said we would have gotten a cat a long time ago if we knew it would occupy Anna Kate as much as it has. We don't think she's quite a year old and is very sweet with the kids. This morning she had a bird for breakfast which was quite an education for my kids. Cats are such low maintenance...my kind of pet.

Claire and her Prince!!

Tonight we were sitting in the living room visiting with Mark's sister Paula and her husband Chris when Blake and Anna Kate came busting through the door saying Claire had caught a frog. Ironically, Claire was wearing her Cinderella dress running outside trying to catch frogs. Very typical. She is all girl but loves bugs, animals of all kinds and being outside. Very much an adventurer. I felt so sorry for the frog. After about 30 minutes of torture (for the frog I'm sure) she finally let it go. I put her to bed with her beaming and can't wait till tomorrow to go find more. I asked her if she tried to kiss it and to see if it turned into a prince, especially since she was wearing her princess dress. She said "Mom, that only happens in cartoons!" Silly me.

Here's a picture of Baby Mia, Paula and Chris's newest addition.

Silver Dollar City!!

This past weekend we went to Branson and Silver Dollar City with Mark's parents. We left on Saturday morning, got their by lunch, ate and then shopped till we dropped on Saturday. Sunday morning we went to church, ate lunch and then headed to Silver Dollar City for the rest of the day. This was the kids first time at an amusement park and they had a blast. On Sunday we rode rides while Pa stood in line for a coveted seat at a Ricky Skaggs concert for later that night. The concert was awesome. This was also the kids first ever concert. They loved it. The bottom fell out of the sky while we were sitting waiting for the concert but it cleared up and saw a great show. The kids have already asked if we can go see Ricky again next year.

We went back the next day for more fun and rides. Claire is our theme park junkie. She loved the roller coasters and couldn't get enough. Blake was a little unsure about the roller coasters but loved everything else. Silver Dollar City is a great family friendly park and their were so many things the kids could do. Here a few pictures from the weekend.

"Daddy, I love this place!"



Claire can't wait to get on the next ride!Daddy and Anna Kate on the little roller coaster. She loved it.

The flying Dumbo
Claire taking a break
There is a petting zoo part to the park and Anna Kate decided to get down on the rabbit's level to pet it. She didn't realize she was laying in rabbit poop and was just a little embarrassed when she stood up. Oh well.
"How do they do that?"

Thanks Grammy and Pa for a great time!!!

End of School!!!

It's that time of the year again. For me it means typing, giving and grading finals, averaging grades and packing up a classroom. For my kids, it's end of the years field trips, field days, honors programs and lots of playing with friends on the playground. All three kids were excited about all of the last week festivies but did not want to leave school and their friends. They all three had great years and we couldn't have asked for better teachers for each child. Blake and Claire both made the all A honor roll for the entire year!! Here are a few pictures from the last week.

This is Blake running through the obstacle course. Ooops I missed his head!
This was a hula hoop relay.
Claire at the beginning of the obstacle course.
The tug-a-war is the huge ending event at Sidney Deener of their field day. Claire's class won the first two rounds but lost in the finals. Her hands were so sore after it was all over.

Blake taking a break during the tug-a-war.

Here a few random pictures: Here is Claire climbing a tree in our front yard. From the last few pictures, can you tell which child is the athletic, determined child????

Ryan McGaha, Anna Kate, Claire, Blake and Conner McGaha enjoying a cookie on our front porch swing.