Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Arkansas.....January Fun!!

Ready for the rest of the story????
We left Spiro with boys full of cake and ice cream.
They were asleep within 10 minutes and slept all the way to Little Rock.
We made pit stop in Little Rock to see some great friends of ours.
Mike and Deby!
Or as our boys call them, Grandpa Mike and Grandma Deby.

Here is Kyle and Mike


And Deby and me.
We met them for dinner at the Purple Cow....YUMMY and then just got to hang out for a bit.
We haven't seen them in quite a while. In fact, it was Mike's first time to meet Ryne and Deby hadn't seen him since he was a little baby. It was so good to get to spend some time with them!
Thanks, Mike and Deby, for meeting up with us!

Got to C.G. and Grandaddy's house pretty late.
So late in fact that Ryne was asleep and never even woke up.
Kade had to visit with everybody before he would go to bed, though.
On Sunday morning we all got to go to church together and that was really nice.
I got to see several old friends from school and catch up with them.

When we got home from church we had a quick lunch and wouldn't you know it C.G. and Monk Monk started bringing out the "prizes".

Here are the boys sitting on the bed getting all kinds of new socks.
Notice Ryne already has a sock off ready to try out a new pair.


I think they are a little big.
But since they are Buzz Lightyear, who cares!


Kade checking out some new super hero underwear.


and there were house shoes, candy, megaphones, thermal underwear, and lots of new books!

Later that night Mr. Johnny and Mrs. Nancy stopped by.


Mr. Johnny showed the boys that he could make the treadmill work without it being turned on.
Can't even tell you how many times after that that Ryne wanted to "run" on the treadmill. Of course that always meant he had to have someone run with him.


Mom gave the boys a ride on the stationary bike.


Then it was C.G.'s turn to "run" on the treadmill.

Monday morning we had a couple of special guests join us for breakfast....

Granny Gayle and Johnny came down to see us!
What in the world is she looking at?

Well, it is just the most awesome thing that you have ever seen....
something my sister did for us.
IT IS OUR BLOG 2008-2009 IN A BOOK!!!!
When she gave it to me I almost cried it is sooo cool.
She worked so hard and it is such a treasure.
Better than any baby book or scrapbook I ever could have put together for the boys.
Good thing, too, because I haven't done either one of those other things. Ha!

Okay, back to the story.
While Gayle and Johnny were checking out the book, Kade was in the kitchen doing this....

Helping prepare his birthday dinner!
Monday just happened to be his 4th birthday and we were having smoked ribs for supper, so that was his birthday dinner. That C.G. is so patient to let Kade and Ryne help her do things in the kitchen.

Ryne was hanging out with Johnny and Gayle...

But he couldn't sit still for long....

Found Grandaddy's boot polishing kit and gave Granny Gayle's boots a nice polish.
It was fun to have them come visit us.
Thanks Johnny and Granny Gayle for make a trip to Junction City!


Here are the boys enjoying Kade's birthday dinner at the nice little princess table the C.G. picked up at a garage sale for dirt cheap. Here's hoping that at least one of these twins is a girl so that princess table won't be so weird in future pictures. Ha!

Let's see...

What came next?
Well, after the birthday dinner it was time for Birthday presents.

But wait!

The boys had Christmas presents to give out first.


Monk Monk getting her gift.


We think she liked it!


C.G. and Grandaddy get their presents.
And some helping opening them up!


Okay, now where's that Birthday present you were talking about???


Opening gifts from Monk Monk.
New shoes!!!


Kade likes his!


And Ryne has to try his on right away!

And there were more gifts...

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...what could it be?


Kade peeking into his Birthday present.


Leapster Explorer!!!
Can you tell he likes it?


It's an Alphie!


C.G. and Grandaddy got big "thank you" hugs!


Trying out his new toy.


Grandaddy found a toy of his own to play with.


Kade's toy had to charge up some so he gave Ryne's toy a try.


Ryne was okay with that because he was having a great time just playing with the empty cardboard box.

Just when we thought the presents were all done and we might be able to figure out a way to get everything back to Washington with us, out came the stocking "stuff". There weren't any real stockings so they weren't "stuffers," just plain "stuff."
A lot of it was great deals that C.G. and Monk Monk came across while they were day after Christmas shopping.


Toy Story toothpaste and brush!


Crazy birds!
I didn't even begin to take pictures of all the stocking "stuff" there was so much.
Shampoo and Conditioner, toothpaste and brushes, hairdryer and straightener, candy, pj's, lots of great gift cards, oh dear, I can't even remember what all it was...and to be honest there is still at least one box of all that "stuff" that has yet to be unpacked. Maye I'll put that on my tomorrow's "to do" list.

Okay, my favorite memory of the trip may be what happened the very next morning.
I was getting ready, Kyle was in the shower and Kade and Ryne were watching t.v. in the living room. Or so I thought!
I heard a noise coming from my Mom and Dad's bathroom and went to investigate.
This is what I found:

At first I was horrified...then I checked the water temperature and it was perfect.

I asked him just what in the world he thought he was doing.
To which he replied, "I take a bath, Momma."
Well, duh!
All I could say was, "Buddy, you forgot to take off your clothes."
Then of course I had to tell him that he could never just go get a bath on his own and how dangerous that could be. Which is completely true. But I must admit, these pictures still make me laugh.

What else did we do while we were in J.C.?
Had birthday parties, of course!

Buzz was there.


And so was Spiderman.


A Super Hero cake for Kade!

And this is going to look familiar...

A Toy Story cake for Ryne!


We had a two-themed party!


Kade was happy!


And Ryne was too...as long as he was getting to hang out with his Monk Monk.


Checking out a party-favor.
It shot little red discs.


Ryne was quite fond of that party favor as well. He is grinning here because he just launched his little red disc across the room at someone. Probably me!


Cake time!


Mrs. Nancy, Keely, Kassidy and a friend of theirs sing "Happy Birthday" to the boys.


More party-goers.
Seriously, I saw aunts, uncles and cousins that I hadn't seen in I can't even tell you how many years.


Yes, there were a few more presents.


Monk Monk and Grandaddy hanging out in the calmer room to enjoy their cake and ice cream.


Mr. Johnny and the girls had the same idea.

And then the party moved outside.

I found Kade and Ryne hanging out in the back of the truck entertaining the girls.


See, doesn't he look like an entertainer?


I think these folks are being entertained as well.


Ryne had a fun time playing with Buster Brown.


He really liked throwing the ball for him.


It is so nice to have a big yard to run through.


And I just couldn't pass up showing you this pic of Kade because I think it is so cute. And he was actually trying to hide from my camera.

My days all run together and my pictures didn't all end up in perfect order since I was using two cameras on this trip so at this point I will just say, "this is what else I remember going one while we were in J.C."....
On Wednesday, the boys (all three of them) and Mom went to meet Monk for lunch in El Dorado.

Here is the best picture I got from that trip.

Most of them look something like this...

Apparently Kade was the photographer of the day.
Why didn't I take pictures?
Well, I wasn't there.
Why wasn't I there?
Well, my sweet Mom had arranged for me to get my hair did on Wednesday afternoon.
Hadn't been to the salon since before we went home for my class reunion in August so I was in desperate need. Thanks, Mom, for the hair appointment!

The boys hung out with C.G. as much as they could.

She would even have lunch on the bed with them so they could watch a movie.
Plus, she let them sleep in the room with her and Grandaddy every night so Kyle and I never had to get up with them. Can't even tell you what a nice break that was. Plus we didn't have to get up with Ryne at the crack of dawn either. Super Duper nice!!! Thanks again for that C.G....I've been realizing this week in particular just what a nice blessing that was for us!

Oh, look what Monk taught the boys while we were home....

How to make a Mamaw tent!!!
When we were little girls our Mamaw used to always let us set up chairs and put blankets all over them to make "tents" to play in. We would play there for hours...and she would play with us. Kade was especially loving this new found tent building technique.
Ryne had a bit of trouble keeping from tearing the blankets down.

Oh, yes, Kade played in there for hours.
I'm guessing our boys will probably not call these "Mamaw tents" but "Monk Monk tents" instead.

Apparently tent building took a lot out of Kade.
He was laying on the bed watching a movie and I went in to check on him.
This is what I found...


He was out cold!!


Ryne couldn't even get him to wake up to try out the potato chips he helped C.G. make.


And that is a shame because Ryne was NOT sharing with anyone else.
He was crazy protective of his potato chips.

We planned on taking some new family pictures for Mom and Dad while we were there.
For some reason we saved it for the last day. Not such a wise choice because "we" just weren't in picture taking mood that day and we didn't have any other days to choose from.
Here is the best of what we got:


Yes, I promise that is the best picture we got of Grandaddy, C.G. and the boys.




Sisters!

And to make everything better after the photo shoot. We headed to Hollis' Seafood Buffet for dinner.
It was yummy!

Kade was especially fond of the ice cream cones there.


So was Ryne!


That was one serious ice cream cone this boy ate.
What better way to end a trip to J.C. than with a big fat ice cream cone?

And the trip did end. Sad face.
Friday morning C.G. took us back to the airport...

Ryne saying goodbye.


Kade saying goodbye.


And we were off.
Look out Washington we are on our way back!

That is after a three hour lay-over in Dallas.

Where Kade had plenty of time to watch a movie.
And for poor little Ryne to start running a fever and feel terrible.
Thankfully, he was like this on the long flight home....


What did Kade do on the long flight home?

Played his new Leapster Explorer, of course!
Doesn't he just look like a professional traveler?
He is!

And we did make it home late Friday night.
That was the rest of the story!

We had a fabulous time getting to see our families and will cherish this trip for years to come. Last trip we will make there for a while. Remember, we have twins on the way!
I can't even imagine what it will be like traveling with four tots. One day I will find out!

1 comment:

Kristen said...

WOW!! Looks like a great visit! =) Such wonderful pics of your sweet family!