Checking In...

This past weekend, Kendal had presbytery in Clarksville (AR) at the University of the Ozarks so we decided to make it a family trip. We headed out on Friday mid-morning, had a Chic-fil-A lunch in Little Rock and arrived in Clarksville around 3 p.m. Amazingly, they offered a nursery for the kids (the reason we all went!) so we dropped the kids off and headed for the meetings. After about 15 minutes of pre-presbytery discussions about form of government, Kendal winked and gave me the green light to explore the town. So I did! Clarksville isn't much bigger than Arkadelphia, but I did find a scrapbook store and a gift shop... I picked up the kids around 6 and we met Kendal in the cafeteria for dinner. The kids were wild (running all around, giggling and screeching) but in great moods and - hopefully! - we didn't disturb the crowd too much. I wish I'd gotten pics, but was way too busy chasing one or both babies all over the student center.

On Saturday, Kendal left early for his meetings but brought up some breakfast from the hotel buffet. The kids slept late (8 am!!!) then we enjoyed a picnic in bed. A huge mess, but they had a great time. After breakfast and a quick dress, I dropped the kids off at the nursery, took a good run around town (5 1/2 miles), grabbed a yummy mocha from the local coffee shop and spent the day on my own. Low-key, but wonderful just to have some time to myself! But soon enough, I was happy to get the kids at 2, pick up Kendal and hit the road for home.

From Collages

After we got home from Hot Springs, we drove up to find a flower delivery truck in our driveway. My heart started pounding - FLOWERS! I was so excited to see a dozen long-stemmed, pale pink roses. Many thanks and much love to Ben and Julia Claire (Papa and Nana) for the treasured gift! Kendal decided that he needed to prepare a romantic dinner to complement the roses. What a lucky girl I am!




Once we put the kiddos to bed, Kendal grilled two steaks to medium-rare perfection, concocted a red wine-mushroom reduction (amazing!) and baked potatoes with all the fixin's. We actually ate our meal at the table (with placemats!) and had a wonderfully quiet date at home.

On Saturday, the twins got a box in the mail. GanGan and Big Daddy sent V-day gifts! We ripped open the box to find candy/treats and two realistic, gadget-happy play cell phones that look very similar to the ones Kendal and I own :) They love, love, love the phones - Jackson has even been sleeping with his. Happy day! That night, two of the sweetest people in the entire world (Meagan and Rob) offered to keep ALL of the young kids at our church for FREE so the parents could go out to eat. Wow. So, we enjoyed another romantic dinner at our fave restaurant (The Honeycomb) with fab friends Mary Elizabeth and Conner. What a treat!

Today (Wednesday) the kids decided to hit the harmonicas. They have two play ones and also found Kendal's - and they ran and played and ran and played all afternoon! No doubt we have a musical duo! And, yes, Carlisle's bloomers say "Land's End."

From Collages

Friday at Chic

On Friday, the fam made a quick run over to Hot Springs for a few essentials and made a long stop at our favorite restaurant, Chic-Fil-A. I can't go there enough - the staff is almost unnervingly pleasant ("Can I have a refill of diet coke?" to which they reply "Absolutely, my pleasure!"). They also had two amazing, kid-friendly tools - disposable handiwipes AND disposable, sticky placemats. The kids chowed on waffle fries and chicken nuggets (and one of my strips) before wearing us down to hit... the playground.

Love the Chic playground as it's clean, colorful and contained. The issue is that you're technically supposed to be well under 4 feet tall (and no telling the weight limit!) to climb up into the tunnels/slides/hanging cars. So, the kids climbed and slid and made new friends in the tunnels above while we anxiously kept guard below. A little stressful, but they loved it. Kendal happened to look out the window and noticed our Jeep had a flat - so he ran out and changed it in record time (18 minutes!). We thought that was our sign to head out so we made a Hobby Lobby run (thanks, Kendal!) then north toward home...

From Collages

Yo-Yo

I may have figured out how to post a video - we'll see! This clip was taken in January as we were trying to build spoon skills.... we have a little ways to go...

Love, Love, Love...

From 2009 - Winter pics

Cupid came to town :) Today was the Valentine's Day party at the twins' nursery school. Their teacher could not have done a better job putting it together! She set their little table with a cloth, Valentine's plates/napkins, balloons and cupcakes. The kids were on the playground when I arrived and it was so much fun to watch them come in from "recess" and stop and stare at the treats laid out for them! Jackson Camper just pointed and looked, too cute.

From 2009 - Winter pics

Both Carli and Jackson were so sweet as they ate their treats - no tears, thank goodness! All the parents were official paparazzi as we ran around snapping our cameras, but it was worth it! After snacks, they sang Valentine's songs and played with rose petals - such a good time. We LOVE our teacher, Ms. Nikki, and our school!

From Collages

From 2009 - Winter pics

From 2009 - Winter pics

On Friday night, some friends got together to throw our buddies Elaine and Drew a baby shower for their Alice - due to arrive in a matter of weeks! The theme was "Welcome to the Jungle!" (yes, G 'n R power chords are appropriate here) and we had a blast living up to the decor expectations (well, creative M.E. and Karen did!). There was a great turnout and we all had such a relaxed time celebrating with Elaine and Drew. Karen made the best shower punch ever - she found diced and frozen tropical fruit and simply poured the fruit into a pretty glass pitcher, poured in ginger ale and that's it. Yum! Once the party ended, we hostesses cleaned up while watching the Inauguration Concert in D.C. - Karen made us watch Bono twice and I had no idea the history of the song "In The Name of Love" before she and M.E. set me straight.

From Collages

On Sunday, the Lands (aka Nana and Papa) came up for a lecture series at our church. If you've not heard Dr. Cynthia Rigby from Austin Seminary speak before (okay, I'm really just talking to seminary friends here!), she is fantastic, amazing - the Reformed Beth Moore and I told her just that! The afternoon was so warm and pretty that we got some good playtime outside. As always, our dog Gabby was the perfect watch-dog and so sweet to the kids (thank goodness!). The neighbor's new basset puppy waddled over and the kids loved playing with her - too cute and nice to have a dog that's smaller than they are!

From Collages

We just got back from a Super Bowl party where the kids outnumbered the adults! It was a zoo, but tons of fun. The twins played so well with the other kids (ranging in age from 12 months to 10 years). Carli was a little shy at first, but Jackson Camper jumped right in, playing and running and throwing everything in sight! Carlisle quickly warmed up to the other kids, especially Jordan (10) who helped her onto all the big toys. The group split into boys/girls halfway through the night - the girls built block towers while the boys jumped in and out of a tent. Crazy, loud and fantastic! And, I'm totally stuffed from enchiladas, cheese dip, brownies and tons of other yummy goodies that I am now banned from eating!

2009 - Winter pics

This weekend was a good one, though I'm completely exhausted. Friday, Kendal and I got to go to a "fancy dress party" - a cocktail party for Group Living. Nana came up to love on the kids while we went to the party. I accidentally bid on a two-night stay at Diamond Jack's Casino in Shreveport - I thought I was just starting the bidding, but we won the stay so I guess we're planning a big casino trip in the near future! On Saturday, after I slept in a bit, my friend M.E. and I went for a 5 mile run - our marathon relay is in 6 weeks but I'm feeling good about being ready to run the 6-7 mile stretch. This morning, we had eight kids in our church nursery - that's pretty outstanding for our church! Unfortunately, we didn't have a nursery worker so the kids were stuck with me! We just played and I tried to make sure no one jumped off a chair (or stood on one) - they did great but I definitely know I'm not cut out to be a preschool teacher, ever!!