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.

Summer is here...

Well another school year is almost finished...the kids have their picnic on Friday, May 30th. Technically they go through June 3rd - but there are ready to be finished. I can't believe Natalie will be in the 6th grade and Nathan will be in the 4th grade. They are growing up so fast! We have already been at the pool some and looking forward to more lazy days at the pool. We really enjoy these times watching the kids play and visiting with good friends. The kids are doing their part to keep me busy for the summer. Natalie is going to be a "mother's helper" for a couple of ladies in our church. She is too young to babysit, but a mother's helper is just that - she will be at the house and play with the kids so the mom can get things done. She is very excited about this. Also, she is going to take sewing classes. She has to get this gene from Tim's mom, not me. Both of my kids have this craft bug - they want to sew, crochet, etc. Nathan is going to participate on the Hammerhead Swim Team this year - he loves the competition. Also, he is going to take some art lessons. He was so excited when Tim said he could do this. The week of June 8th we are going to attend VBS with their cousin and I guess I will be helping my sister with crafts - I just can't get away from it. This is pretty much it for the summer and then in August we have our family vacation to Washington, DC. I will try to post some pictures next time.

Steven Curtis Chapman

This is tragic for this family. Check out the story - http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/TUNEIN/80521174/1005/ENTERTAINMENT

Guys/Girls Weekend

Well, we are about to wrap up another school year. I can't believe next year that Natalie will be in 6th grade - just yesterday she was born! Nothing really exciting going on in our lives - just life. A couple of weekends ago, Tim and Nathan went to RazorFest at University of Arkansas. This was a guys only weekend and the first. They had so much fun and I think Nathan might have bathed once...not very important to a 9 year old boy. They spent Saturday playing games and walking around the campus. Tim took him around and they found Tim's name, Ed's name and Stephen's name on the sidewalks. Nathan also took lots of pictures - some of the same scene. They had a great time and Tim really enjoyed one on one time with Nathan.

At the same time, Natalie and I enjoyed a girls weekend. We made a quick trip to West Memphis for my 8 year old niece's birthday party. It was a swim party at a local hotel. Natalie had a lot of fun. We spent the night at the hotel and then had get back home Saturday for a soccer game. After all of that, we rented a couple of movies and enjoyed relaxing at home. And of course, no girls weekend would be complete without a little shopping. We bought Natalie some summer sandals and I got a new pair of tennis shoes for work (The Container Store). We finished the night off with dinner at Chili's.

It is so great having the kids at the ages they are at - so many fun activities to enjoy!

Sorry for the delay...

I know I haven't posted in a while - just been busy and not a whole lot going on. Natalie started playing soccer last Saturday - Upward with a local church. She has the same coach as last year and is enjoying it. She isn't much of a natural athlete, but it is good exercise for her. She is really blossoming into a young lady and I am trying to guide her in the right directions. This summer we are going to go through Girl Talk by Carolyn Mahaney. Also, next weekend we are having a girls weekend while the guys go to Fayetteville. Tim is taking Nathan to Fayetteville for RazorFest and the Red/White football game on Saturday night. They are staying both nights and Nathan is very excited to be going. We all went last year, but Natalie and I were really not into it all. So, this year I thought it best for just the guys to go. Nathan of course is keeping us on our toes as always. He isn't playing any sports right now, but really loves basketball. So he and Tim play a lot of the Playstation. He is still excelling in math and we have met with the school administration to hopefully have a game plan for next year. He will begin next year changing classes and because of this, he will a teacher who only teaches 4th grade math. I am hoping with her help and some computer software, we can continue to challenge him. Homeschooling is always in the back of my mind and wondering if we should just talke the plunge and go for it. However, because we need the little income I make, I am not sure when that will happen. My heart's desire is to begin when Natalie goes into 7th grade. The thought of her being on that campus scares me - just the influence of older students is frightening.

I am getting ready to take a part-time job at The Container Store. We are going to give this a trial run for the summer. I am not sure I can do this when school starts back up or not. But we are going to try. It really is a great store - you should go to www.containerstore.com and look at all the great stuff they have.

I'll try and write more soon and maybe include some pics.