Welcome to Summer!!

Our summer got off with a bang. School was out only two days before we headed to Branson with Mark's parents and sister's family. We spent an entire week shopping, swimming, eating and of course going to Silver Dollar City. My kids have never been to another amusement park so they are perfectly content with the rides at SDC and loved every minute of it. We were blessed enough to get season passes this year so they are already wanting to know when we are going back. With gas prices who knows??? We returned from Branson late on Saturday and bright and early Monday morning Blake and Claire went to Harding's Baseball and Basketball camps. (last week) So everyday last week Anna Kate and I dropped Blake and Claire off at Harding around 8:30, ran errands and picked them up by 12:00. We would come home exhausted, eat lunch and crash until Blake's baseball games at night. It was a crazy week. So this week we are chillin'!! We've stayed in pj's until noon 2 out of 3 days, had friends come over yesterday for a play date and are basically relaxing. I'm trying to catch up on blogging, scrapbooking and organizing my house. Since we moved in last summer right before I had surgery alot of things were never put in the right spot. So my mission this summer is to work on the house. Here are a few pictures from the month of May and the beginning of our summer. Now that I'm at home I'm hoping to post more often and keep in touch.

Blake before his first baseball gameClaire, Mia and Anna Kate at Mia's 1st birthday party

Anna Kate at her kindergarten end of school program

Blake, Anna Kate and Claire at the program. Blake had a ballgame before the program.

Claire, Anna Kate and Blake at the entrance of Silver Dollar City

Anna Kate, Jackson, Blake Mark & Claire waiting to go in to SDC

Mark and Claire: one of my favorite pictures!!

Mia ready to roll

Anna Kate and Jackson- AK is a mother hen when Jackson is around

Anna Kate and Claire on the flooded mine

Claire and Blake in a friendly game of checkers out the ice cream parlor at SDC

The last day of basketball and baseball camps.

WE ARE STILL HERE!!

Easter 2008

Playing in the Snow at Grammy's

Sorry for the long lapse in blogging. This has been a very hard winter and beginning of spring for me. Not for anyone else in the house but for the MOM. I have been sick since Christmas. I had a severe case of pink eye that last 10 days and turned into a sinus infection and ear infection, then a stomach virus, the flu, sinus stuff and then shingles. All the while trying to work, keep up with the kids and the house. I've been trying to chill out on things I can do nothing about and learn to live with whatever gets done. I'll try to fill you in on the 4-5 months.


Mark: Mark began working in Little Rock at Altell in December. He really likes the company and the people he works with but no so fond of the drive everyday. He is also selling insurance and loves helping people in this way.


Cristy: Besides being sick forEVER, I've been teaching school (ready for that to be over) and am looking for new opportunites for next fall. I have a couple of possiblities but am spending time praying that God leads me where he wants me. Other than work, I had a great spring EBay and consignment season. The best ever. If you know me very well you know how much I love when this time rolls around each spring and fall. I love making money on my kids clothes and being able to clothe them the way I like for much less. This year I made $1,000 between consigning and Ebay. I love it!! I will admit it is getting more expensive to buy their clothes since they are getting into bigger sizes.


Blake: Mark picked the kids up from school one day and Blake's teacher said he was having trouble seeing the board. I took him to the eye doctor, he put the letters up and asked him if he could see line 2 or 3, Blake hesitated for a while and then the Dr. asked if he could see the first letter, Blake exclaimed an E!! The poor boy has been blind. He is near-sighted and has an astigmatism (Anna Kate is far sighted with an astigmatism). Once we got his glasses, he just kept going on and on about how clear everything was and how he could read the signs on stores, poor baby. He is still doing great in school. He and Claire both LOVE to read. He is also playing baseball for the first time this spring. They have had 2 practices and games should start in a couple of weeks. He's excited and so are we. He has never shown any interest in sports so we are interested to see how he likes it.

Uncle Time and Blake four-wheelin' in the snow

Claire: Loving to read is an understatement for this child. Punishment for her is grounding her from her books. She loves the Beverly Cleary books, the Box Car Children, American Girl books, mysteries, just about anything. She also played basketball this winter and was really pretty good. She had never played before but picked it up pretty easily. In the last game she scored 12-14 points (1/2 of the team's total) and was really good on defense. We always felt sorry for the girl who she guarded because she stuck to them like glue and stayed in their face. She loves school and has a best little girl friend named Mezthely. They are so cute together. Mezthely is teaching Claire Spanish and they try to expand their English vocabulary with big words like famished and devour, etc... It so funny. Their teacher loves it. I hope they can stay good friends. Mezthely's mom does not speak English well and at times makes our communication kind of hard. But it is getting better and they are such sweet friends.

Scarlett Leckie, Claire, and Maggie Collins

(Maggie's mom Beth Howard Collins and I were good friends in college and she was even a bridesmaid in our wedding. How fun for our girls to play B-ball together)

Claire and Mezthely

While I was typing this blog I looked outside and was this: Claire sitting under her favorite tree drawing. I love living in the country and her love of the outdoors. She has always wanted to be outside exploring or just sitting under a tree.

Anna Kate: DRAMA QUEEN!!! Would anyone have guessed??? She doesn't stop talking unless she is asleep and everything is in extremes. She wears me out but is absolutely hysterical. Lots of tears can be shed in a day over such things as her wardrobe, her hair, not wanting to wear her glasses because she's not as cute... real important things. She is beginning to have a hard time being the one left behind. Blake and Claire are still really close and like to do 8 year old things and sometimes that doesn't include little sis. Up till this year, they all pretty much did the same stuff but we've seen a bigger divide this year. She is so ready to read. She gets Claire's books and pretends to read. Which drives Claire crazy. "Mom you know she's really NOT reading that!" Anna Kate rebuffs "Yes I am, you just can hear me, its all in my mind!" I'm sure it is. That is my goal this summer is to have her reading well. She's doing great on her sight words and can read simple sentences, just not what Blake and Clarie are reading. It's so hard being the baby. I keep telling her one day she'll be glad she's the youngest.. but for now it's no fun.

This shows you a little of her crazy personality. She and Blake are more alike than any other combination of the three. And boy do they fight. But they are also the funniest, the talkers and the dramatic. Claire's too self concious to be too crazy.

Hunting egss on Easter. She is really sweet and tenderhearted and still has to climb in my lap every night before bedtime and cuddle. Can't imagine life without her.

Consider yourself caught up for now. I'm sure with the end of school and baseball starting up there will be more activities and hopefully more time for mom to blog. Until then..... Have a great day from the Farley's!!

This week we have had many laughs at Anna Kate's expense. I just had to share. Anyone who knows her well knows she asks tons of questions. Well, this week she experienced her first funeral home experience. Actually, she's been a couple of times before, but she was under two both times so she doesn't remember. Anyway, one of Mark's uncles died on Sunday morning. We only went to visitation on Tuesday night, not to the funeral. So here it goes.

We got to the funeral home and all the little ones were hanging in a foyer with couches reading books and playing except Anna Kate. She kept looking into the chapel where most of the family was sitting around talking. She came up to me several times and told me she wanted to go in there and look around. I told her I would go with her in a minute. ( I was the bouncer for the little kids at the moment). So a few minutes later she couldn't wait any longer, I passed my duties off to the next aunt and proceeded to take her to the front. There was a small group of people I did not know standing in front of the casket so I asked Anna Kate if she would like to look at all the pretty flowers. "Sure," she said reluctantly. As I pointed out all the flowers she kept looking over her shoulder to the casket. Soon as the group left, I took a deep breath and took her to look. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "See he looks like he is sleeping. Has a soft blanket and pillow to lay on, but remember he's really not in there he's in heaven"
AK: "Yea," looking very intently. "Why are his hands like that?"
Me: "That's just where they laid them."
AK: "I don't like it when people die. It makes me sad"
Me: "I know but that is how God made us. . . to die and then we get to see Him. Isn't that cool?"
AK: "Yea, but I like him," (She's never even met him)
AK: "Why did they cut his legs off?" (Caskets are opened only from the waist up)
Me: "Oh, they didn't, his legs are under there."
AK: "So they only cut his feet off?"
Me: "No, no, his legs and feet are in there."
AK: As she looks under the casket, "This box isn't big enough for all of him."
Me: "Yes, it is, I promise."
Mark's aunt walked up about that time and was touching him. You know what's coming.
AK: "Why is she touching him?
Me: "Because she loves him"
AK: "Can I touch him?"
Me: "Not right now, let's go see what Dad's doing"

We walked away, I didn't want to offend the aunt and have a six year old touching her husband.
For the next twenty minutes she kept wanting to go back up. I told before we left that she could take one more look. We answered questions about how old he was (64), how old I was etc., and I kept reminding her my grandparents are much older than that and no one knows when they will die, but she shouldn't worry about it. He was very sick, and now he's not and feels much better.

That night when we put her to bed she still couldn't understand the leg thing. She just didn't think his legs were in that box. We assured her they were and showed her with the blanket how he was laying, etc.

Then last night she asked:

AK: Did daddy's uncle die in the morning?
Me: Yes.
AK: Before he went to church on Sunday?
Me: Yes.
AK: Do you faint when you die?
Me: If you standing up, I guess you fall down, but he was laying in bed.
AK: So he got up and got ready to go to church, then went back to bed?
Me: No, I'm sure he was in bed in his pajamas.
AK: Then how did he get his Sunday clothes on????

Of course, he was in his Sunday clothes in the casket, so he must've died getting dressed for church. That one about put me over the edge. I laughed so hard.

Mark's mom says we're in alot of trouble because AK will never leave a stone unturned. You've just got to love her.

A Texas Christmas

We left Sunday to go to my parents' house in Tyler for Christmas. During the day on Christmas Eve, Blake and Claire helped Nana get the sugar cookie dough ready for later that night when cousins were all there.

Claire, Blake, Clay (3), Anna Kate, Sydnie (4 1/2) All ready to open presents.

Anna Kate really wanted a denim jacket. Nana found one with a little extra bling and of couse it was pink.

Be careful what you do in the Farley house these days, we have a resident spy, Blake got lots of Spy Gear this year.

A new purse

At the top of Anna Kate's Christmas list was a flannel nightgown, so Claire benefitted from this too. We can't get Anna Kate out of her gown. She lives in it everyday.

Lip gloss, fingernail polish, and new purses. What more could 2 girls want??

Now time to finish those sugar cookies for Santa.

Waiting for them to cool is so hard.

All ready for Santa.

The next morning....did Santa come??

Ho!Ho!Ho!

Blake got lots of KNex and Claire asked for lots of arts and crafts supplies. Santa delivered.

So there it is. Our Christmas. Hope you had a good one too and I promise to blog more than once every 3 months in the future. I added other posts today below about birthdays and more. Enjoy.

All I Want for Christmas....

Anna Kate pulled her two topped teeth herself. She pulled one two weeks before Christmas and the second on the last day of school before break. She was so excited!! She immediatley began singing "All I want for Christmas". She is definetly the entertainer of the family. Here are a few more pictures we took one morning before church:Imagine.. you just came in from the mailbox, you've opened an envelope and awww, it's the Farley family's Christmas card, here it is. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!The TwinsSistersBlakeClaire

Anna Kate turns 6 + Farley Family Christmas!!

This year we had a very hard time finding a time to celebrate Anna Kate's birthday. We had already decided not to have a big party, we were just trying to get 2 friends together but could never get their schedules to come together. So... we decided to just have her birthday cake at the Farley Family Christmas. It was crazy and chaotic but she had a what she considered a birthday and got more presents than anyone else since she got Christmas plus birthday. I'm not sure I'll ever do that way again, but it worked this year.This is on AK's actual birthday. Our birthday tradition: the only time you get donuts with sprinkles is on your birthday and only the birthday child gets the sprinkled donut. We put candles in it and sing happy birthday first thing in the morning. Notice she dressed herself for school all in PINK (necklace, headband, shirt and even pink candles). Can you guess what her favorite color is???

Grammy made this cake for her birthday. She loved it!!Jackson is having fun eating dinner with his cousins.

Uncle Scott and Aunt Ashley won the prize for one of the coolest presents, a Cardinals jersey.

Sierra and Anna Kate with their new baby dolls.

Claire has never wanted a baby doll but this year that is all she talked about it. And not just any baby doll, she wanted one that did not make any noise or anything else and we had to have twins, of course. Grammy came through on that one.

Babies, babies everyone... This is our real life baby doll, Mia