Natalie sewing

Natalie just finished up her last sewing class. She had been taking lessons at The Stitchin Post in Little Rock. She is so excited about sewing - not sure where this comes from, maybe her Mawmaw. She made a pillowcase, square pillow and a tote bag. She had so much fun and is actually getting pretty good. This week she is spending a few days at her MawMaw's house sewing some more. I will post pictures later of her creations.

Visit to Grandma's

Wow, these past few weeks have been busy - the summer is flying by so fast. The kids and I alongwith my sister and her 3 girls visited our grandmother and aunts the week of June 28th through July 4th in Houston, MS. We both have such fun memories of summer visits. My mom had 5 sisters under her, 4 of which still lived at home when we would visit for the summer. We have always had good relationships with all of our aunts. Since my grandfather passed away in January 2007, the visits are a little different. Walking into their house and not having him there is sad. We spent the week staying our Aunt Linda's and the 2 older girls stayed at my grandma's house. On Monday of that week we hit the local shoe store - the last family owned store is going out of business. I bought shoes for the kids, but my sister - well she hit the jackpot. Everything was 30-50% off - so she was like a kid in a candy store. On Tuesday, the kids suprised my grandma by repainting an old swing frame for her. My aunt is going to have the swing repaired. They had so much fun doing this and she was very pleasantly surprised. On Wednesday, the girls, my sister, Aunt Linda, grandma and myself had a special lunch at My Friend's Place. This is a tea shop in Houston - the girls love it. On Thursday, we drove to Starkville to see Kung Fu Panda and had dinner with my Aunt Amy and Uncle Donnie. Amy is my mom's youngest sister and only a few years older than myself - so she is like an older sister to me. Sadly, we had to pack up and return home on Friday morning. As always, we made a lot good memories, stayed up way to late playing spades (they tried to teach me Rook - but I am no good) and played a lot. We are already looking forward to next year.

Sleep issues...

Okay, so by now I would think I would be sleeping through the night - right?? Well, for some reason Natalie is waking up a lot and then wakes me up to say she can't go back to sleep. We have done everything possible to try and fix it and it is still going on. There is always a reason why she needs me. I will admit as an infant, I rocked her completely sleep - bad idea - but this only started really happening this past year. HELP!!! Last night Tim finally said she could lay on our floor. A friend said this is what they do and after a few nights, the child stays in their bed. She doesn't like waking up and being the only awake - very fearful. We have talked with her about praying and trusting that God will protect her and we as best as we can. Any thoughts or ideas would be most helpful.

Gardasil vaccine...

Does anyone know anything about this vaccine? I am taking Natalie in for a checkup next week and this is a shot they are recommending. Not sure if it is really needed for her right now.

More waterpark pics...

Mother's Helper

Natalie went last week to help out a friend with her kiddos. She has 4 - 3 girls under the age of 5 and 1 little baby boy. So, Natalie to play with the girls and keep the occupied for about 3 hours. They also made a trip to the library. I really think she is going to enjoy this and of course receiving pay was great. This is the first time she has really earned money - so she was very excited. I can't believe next year she will actually start the youth group at church, she has grown up so fast.

Fun day...

Today we enjoyed a fun day at a waterpark in Paragould, AR. You may be thinking where is this? Well it is about 20 miles outside of Jonesboro, AR. At their community center they have this awesome waterpark. And it is so affordable - $3 for adults and $2 for kids. It had 2 fun slides for the big kids and a great place for little kids. My mother-in-law and aunt went with us. Tim's aunt and uncle live in Paragould - so he was the perfect time to visit with them. After we enjoyed the waterpark, we went back to their house and enjoyed pizza and good conversation. We don't get to see them often, so this was a special day. I will post some pictures later. So, if you are ever in the Jonesboro area, check out the Paragould Community Center. It is also very near a Holiday Inn Express.