Fasten Your Seatbelts and Keep Your Hands and Feet Inside At All Times

Finally, I'm going to get to catch up from last week. Let me warn you ahead of time, this is going to be a long post so if you decide to just breeze through the pictures I will totally understand. Besides, even if you don't read a word I'll never know!

Last Tuesday morning we left our house at 4:15 am headed for the airport. The purpose of this trip was originally for Kyle to have a meeting in Texas and for us to spend a couple of days with my family in Arkansas and then go to Spiro for Easter and surprise Kyle's dad for his 70th birthday. Remember, that's why I couldn't blog before Friday because it would let the cat out of the bag. Well, Kyle's meeting in Texas was cancelled but we already had the tickets so off we went. I have to admit I was a little nervous about flying with both babies. Kade was always a good flyer this summer but this was Ryne's first flight outside of the womb. How did it go? Take a look:

Ryne slept most the time just like this in my lap. He was GREAT!! Couldn't ask for better.
Kade?

Well, he only slept about 30 minutes but was super great on both flights (we had a layover in Denver). Loved watching t.v. on the plane and drawing on his magnetic doodle pad. Besides the fact that our day started so early, I have to admit I couldn't have asked for better travelers!

Grandaddy and C.G. had arranged to pick us up at the airport in Dallas. That was such a blessing.

Grandaddy meet Ryne.

Ryne meet Grandaddy.

I think Grandaddy looks pretty proud. He said we would definitely keep him.

Kade immediately ran to his C.G. If you remember, he doesn't really like to share his C.G. I think he was trying to get to her first so that he could remind her of this fact.

But Kade was good and did share a little bit, besides he needed to hang out with Grandaddy some too.

Now, C.G. and Grandaddy know how to travel. Had Kade all fixed up with a portable DVD player. Plus they did manage to find a couple of SONICs on the way home for me to indulge in. Have I mentioned that I LOVE sonic? I do!

The first SONIC stop payed off for Kade, too. Grandaddy found the coolest place to stop....Sonic, gas, smokehouse, very nice bathrooms, and a texas gift house. C.G. couldn't pass up this cowboy had for Kade. He does look awfully cute in it.

We finally made it to Junction City where Monk Monk waited to greet us.
At this point Ryne had done a great job of sleeping most of the day. Kade, on the other hand, didn't sleep another wink after his 30 minute nap on the plane. And once we got to C.G. and Grandaddy's house he was all wound up and ready to play. I think he finally went to bed at 11:30 that night. I'm not entirely sure because he slept on his "pallet bed" in C.G. and Grandaddy's room.

I'm not sure what time he got up the next morning either because he was already gone to work at the Flower Shop with C.G. before we got up. I found him there later, still wearing his night-nights and having a ball playing with the barn that Mrs. Nancy brought for him. Apparently he immediately noticed that this barn came without a horse and that bothered him a bit until he decided to let the dog be a stand in horse.

Of course Mrs. Nancy was waiting for us to get to the Flower Shop that morning so that she could meet Ryne.

And Mr. Johnny came over from the bank as soon as he could to meet the little guy.

And as it worked out, our Granny Gayle from West Memphis happened to be about thirty minutes away from us taking care of her grandboys for the week so we got to meet up with her for lunch one day.

Monk Monk got to meet us for lunch too that day. Funniest thing happened. I noticed the ENGAGEMENT RING on her finger and said "nice ring, Monk?" Her response: "Oh, thanks, it was the cheapest real looking ring they had at Wal-Mart. I got tired of gross middle aged men coming in the office so I decided to solve that problem." I laughed so hard. She said the girls working there asked her "Dr. Williams, what if a cute young guy comes in?" To which she replied, "It comes off." Gotta love my kid sister!!

Now, the craziest thing that happened at lunch that day....Kade bought lunch. C.G. put the money in his pocket and told him to pay for lunch. (she was too busy working to get away for lunch) When the waiter brought our ticket, Kade dug in his pocket and pulled out his money. What's so crazy about that? Well, look closely at the next picture and you will see.

Yes, that is a hundred dollar bill! My mom put a hundred dollar bill in my two-year olds pocket!! (i had no idea) Guess there's a reason C.G. is short for Crazy Granny. Thanks for lunch, Mom. Wish you could've joined us.

Here's Grandaddy and Ryne talking things over. Looks like they're going to get along just fine!

Another day at the flower shop means another day of new faces. Here Ryne gets to meet his great-grandmother, Nanny.

And his great aunt Sue Sue.

Really wanted to get a good picture of Nanny with both boys. Sometimes two-year olds are not very cooperative. Kade is more interested in his balloon that he and Mrs. Nancy named Sam. Oh well, he is two! Thanks Nanny and Sue Sue for coming to spend some time with us. We really enjoyed getting to see you.

Thursday night we were getting all packed up to head to Spiro on Friday. Mom and Monk were at the Flower Shop working so that Mom could take off on Friday. It was about ten o'clock and they called and said storms were on the way to be watching the t.v. About twenty minutes later they came home to take cover. We were under a tornado warning and the sirens started going off. My family isn't afraid of storms...we are more fascinated by them and like to stand on the porch and keep an eye out. Well, good thing we were under the cover of the porch because look what started falling:

Yep, that is hail. It was about baseball sized and it was coming down.

The boys slept through all of it.

Yep, right there in the hallway are Kade and Ryne sleeping soundly all through the storm. Kade actually woke up when it was all about over and needed to know "what's happening?" Realized that he had gone to sleep in his clothes and just had to get his night-nights on.

We dodged the tornadoes that night and believe it or not there was no hail damage on any of the vehicles.

Here's our next adventure...we went R.V.ing across Arkansas. Yes, Yes, we all loaded up in the motor home and headed to Oklahoma. Don't worry the babies were all buckled up in their carseats. However, I did take advantage of the traveling bed and grabbed a little nap.

Once again Kade had it made with his portable DVD player. I'm totally convinced that these things are a necessity for anyone with children.

We did make one pit stop on our way. We stopped in Little Rock for lunch. However, lunch wasn't the most important part of that stop, getting to see some good friends who made arrangements to meet us there was a real treat. Thanks Ashley, Carly, Carson, Mrs. Judy, Ronda, Todd, Cameron, Nathan, Bill, Jennilee, Noah, Austin, Johnny and Ian for doing lunch with us!

Ryne gets to meet Aunt Red.

Can't even tell you how much I miss this crew. My camera was on a funny setting but had to post a pic of Carly, Carson, Ash and me. Marc we sure did miss getting to see you. Guess, that means you'll have to make a trip to Washington soon.

Sorry Rant Randa, sometimes he cries! And just look at how grown Nathan is sitting there with C. G.

And here's Johnny with Kade. Johnny belongs with Granny Gayle, who we got to see earlier in the week. We really miss these guys and not just because they always kept Kade so Kyle and I could have Thursday night date night.

I think Ryne thought we took him back home to DuPont when Bill Berry greeted him. Bill is a chaplain with the Army and he took off at lunch to come over with his sweet wife and boys to see us.

And here's Jennilee and Noah getting some Ryne time in.

Here are those cute Berry boys, Noah and Austin. We miss getting to spend time with them. Kade is right between the two in age so it is always fun to see them.

Noah, actually made Kade an Easter cupcake and brought it to him. Isn't that sweet?

Took the Berry boys out to the R.V. to hang out for a bit. Austin and Kade look like they've got things well under control, don't they? Sure wish I would've gotten a picture of Austin when he climbed up in the front window. Made the cutest dashboard ornament ever!

Said goodbye to our friends and headed on to Spiro. The plan: pick up Kimberly, Brian, Brandon, Taylor and Granna and call Paw and tell him that there were some missionaries up at the church in an R.V. that needed a place to park for Easter weekend. Of course we had to take a few minutes for Ryne to meet his Aunt, Uncle and cousins first.

Ryne, meet Aunt Kim.

And your cousin Brandon who likes to give sweet kisses.

And cousin Taylor. I LOVE this picture of the babies. They look like they really understand each other, don't they?

Surprise Paw! It's us! Paw says he knew we were coming. Paw's not big on surprises and doesn't like to get got. So, we're not sure how surprised he really was. But he did let us know that he was really glad that we came.

Kade and Brandon got to ride on the bed with C.G. as we drove just across town. Now, how bout that for a little kid memory?

When we got to Granna and Paw's house, Granna had a bed full of monkeys waiting for the kids. Look close and you'll notice Ryne sitting with the monkeys in the bed. He kind of blends in.

Friday night Brian and Kimberly had us all over to their new house for dinner. It was YUMMY! Monk came cruising in later (she had to work on Friday) and Brandon and Kade would hardly let her eat because they needed her to play. They played, and played, and played with Monk Monk and I think Monk slept really good that night.

Ryne is up and ready to go on Saturday. Somebody must have told him it was going to be a busy day. Egg coloring, visit from Aunt Bib and Maw Maw Frances, Easter egg hunting...better gear up.

Anybody tired of reading yet? I told you this was going to be a doozie. Get ready for some serious fun coming up.

Kade and Brandon coloring eggs before they are dyed.

Kade and Brandon checking on the eggs while they are hanging out in the dye.

Look how well they are sharing the stool. This is my "proud of the boys for sharing" picture! They had a really good time getting the Easter Eggs ready. Thanks Aunt Kim for hosting the Easter Egg Coloring event.

Had to get home and get lunch and a GOOD nap so that we would be ready for the big Easter Egg Hunt. We had decided we better hunt for eggs on Saturday because the forcast for Sunday was R.A.I.N.

Look who showed up while Kade was napping. Aunt Bib!

And Maw Maw Frances!

Kade must have heard them because he got up from his nap. But look at this poor guy....he was NOT awake. He leaned on the wall and went back to sleep. Of course, we all laughed hard enough that it woke him up for good.

Granna had said after nap time that they could have their Easter baskets. Kade was most interested in his Chocolate Bunny. We don't usually let Kade have chocolate so this was a rare treat. And LOOK....he's sharing!!! In fact, he shared with everyone who asked for a bite. So here is another "proud of my boy for sharing" picture. Seriously, I'm proud, because I'm not so sure I would have shared my chocolate bunny!

It was beautiful Saturday so we had to get outdoors. Brandon and Kade got "carrot" bats in their Easter baskets from Granna so the Grandpas took the boys out to play ball. We quickly figured out that Kyle needs to work with Kade on his baseball skills. He mostly wanted to play golf with the bat and ball. Brandon however, is a little slugger!

And an Easter basket from Maw Maw Frances, too. Oh boy!

Everyone came outside to enjoy the goodies from Maw Maw Frances' Easter Baskets....BUBBLES!!!

Here is Billye, skillfully instructing Kade on how to blow bubbles.

Here is Kade skipping down the sidewalk to reload his bubble wand. I love this picture because it totally captures Kade's little skippy-jummpy-walky thing he does. If any of you have ever seen "Sid the Science Kid" on PBS then you know exactly the kind of skippy thing I'm talking about. Sid is my favorite PBS show of all time....if you haven't watched it, you should try to catch it sometime. Kade really does remind me a lot of Sid.

See how well Bib's teaching skills are....one bubble blowing pro!
She somehow managed to forget to tell him that he's not supposed to dump the cup of bubble juice into his lap when he's done blowing bubbles.

Maw Maw Frances, the bubbles were a BIG hit! Way to go! Thanks so much for driving to Spiro to come see us, doesn't mean you're off the hook for a trip to Washington, though!

It was time for the Easter Egg Hunt. Had to bathe off the bubbles and head over to Brian and Kimberly's to get the eggs hidden. Kyle and Brian hid the eggs while the boys waited inside.

On your mark, get set, hunt eggs!
You can tell Brandon is already looking as soon as he walked out the door.

Kade found one on top of the tractor tire.

And another here on the trailer.

Before he even knew it he had a basket full of Easter eggs.

Striking a nice pose with one of the "special" eggs he found.

And another "special" egg....look what is inside....MONEY!

Yep, there was more money is this "special" egg, too. Kade ended up with $6.75. That's a lot of money for a two year old. I think I'm going to hunt Easter eggs next year.

Once the eggs had all been found and Brandon and Kade went through their baskets, it was their turn to hide the eggs from Brian and Kyle. I think Brandon liked hiding them for his Daddy and Uncle Kyle just as much as he liked finding them himself.

Kade wasn't much into hididng his eggs....thought he'd make it easy for somebody and left all but three of his in the same spot. Funny thing is, this chair is the first place that he found an egg when it was his turn to hunt. I think he thought he was being nice.

Uncle B won the egghunt because he found Kade's prized hiding place.

So, as his prize for winning he got to take Brandon and Kade on a little four wheeler ride.

And for a trip to the chicken yard. I didn't make this journey but Kyle told me that Kade was chasing the chickens and wanted to catch them. They look like pretty big chickens to me so it's probably a good thing that he wasn't quite fast enough.

It was a fun afternoon of egg hunting and hanging out BUT my worst fear came to pass....ALLERGIES struck!!!! I was sneezing my head off and had to go inside and sit all alone a couple of times just to get a break from the pollen. But that's not the worst part. Allergies struck KADE, TOO! Poor guy was sneezing and sneezing but of course he didn't care and certainly wasn't up for going inside alone for a pollen break.

After a long day of hard work, Brandon and Kade decided that C.G. should read them one of their new Easter books to wind down.

If only Kade would have really been able to wind down and get some good sleep. His afternoon of sneezing had done him in. He was all stuffy and couldn't sleep well at all. I guess somehow we did manage to get a few winks in because before we knew it, Easter morning was here.

I LOVE EASTER! Why? Because I get to celebrate my Hope....my Living Jesus! Thank you Jesus for enduring death on the cross to cover my sins! Thank you Jesus that up from the grave You AROSE to conquer death and give me hope of life!

It didn't take Kade long to discover his Easter goodies waiting for him on Granna's couch.

Climbed right up in the middle of them and started checking it all out. Guess that stuffy nose wasn't bothering him too much then.

Ryne was pretty excited about his Easter basket, too. Grabbed right on to it and gave us the biggest grin just like he really understood.

Now we have encountered a problem. Note that I have told you about three Easter baskets that Kade and Ryne have gotten already and I didn't tell you about a backpack full of dinosaurs and a sleeping bag and a slinky and who knows what else from Grandaddy and C.G. for Easter. Nor did I tell you what all was in Kade and Ryne's Easter baskets from Granna and Paw and Maw Maw Frances. And I didn't tell you that Aunt Bib came bearing Easter baskets as well. We planned on boxing up some of Brandon's hand-me-downs as our third piece of luggage but quickly realized that we would have to forget the clothes for now and try to get the Easter goodies home. Gee, our boys are so blessed to have family that loves them so much!!!

Ryne is all dressed and ready for church and wants to give a little Easter Peace shout-out to the people.

Not sure what all Kade got to do in children's church but I know as soon as he found his way to us in the sanctuary afterwards the piano is right where he wanted to be. He played us a nice little special that he composed all by himself.

Here's our family Easter pic. Not the best picture ever but it will do for how antsy Kade had become at this point.

Me and my Kid Sister! I can't even tell you how cool it was to have ALL of our family, both mine and Kyle's, together for Easter. Quite likely a once in a lifetime event. Thanks for making it happen families...We love you all so much!

Daddy and Ryne.

Mommy and Kade.

Note....the colors and coloring book were a big hit with Kade. I think he ended up with three coloring books and has colored every page in all three of them already. Thanks for the great gifts Granna and Aunt Bib!

Now this is what I like to call a "self-portrait"....one of my favorite ways to take a picture. I taught Brandon how we could take a picture of ourselves. I hear from his mom that he's been practicing this newly learned skill!

Just look at my baby...He was sooo sick by Sunday afternoon that I wanted to just bundle him up and hold him and rock him and kiss all his snot away. His little eyes were so swollen and every time he would sneeze, snot would fly everywhere. His voice sounded so funny when he would try to talk, poor guy. Kyle and I actually ended up taking turns sleeping with him that night so that we could keep him propped up a little so that he could breathe.

Looking and feeling better on Monday morning, Kade was ready to pose with all the rest of the monkeys. They all have a Curious George shirt to go with their Curious George's from Granna. Aren't these the cutest little monkeys ever?

Here are two of our little monkeys watching some t.v. Kade thought he had to be right on top of Brandon all the time. Guess he was afraid Brandon might try to run away without him or something.

Can't tell you how hard Kyle and I have laughed at this picture. Ryne is having a serious one on one with his George.

Now here are the boys all dressed back up in their Easter duds on Monday night just waiting for Taylor to wake up from her beauty sleep to go take family pictures and celebrate Paw's birthday. Isn't this just a group of charmers?

We had a great time at MarketPlace (one of my favorite places to eat out...you'll see why in just a bit) celebrating Paw's 70th birthday. All the kiddos were well behaved and the food was yummy.

Now here is one reason that MarketPlace is on my favorite list. A PeanutButter Chocolate MESS. Oh it is every bit as delicious as it looks and this is how we celebrated Paw's birthday. I say this is better than a birthday cake anyday.

Had to get a quick shot of Paw and Granna with the grandkids on this special occasion.

Taylor and Ryne were both in great moods when we got home...maybe somebody snuck them some peanutbutter chocolate mess???.....so we got a couple of pictures of just the babies.

Aren't they just adorable?

And what birthday is complete without presents? Here comes cowboy Kade to wish Paw a very Happy Birthday.

Got all packed up on Tuesday morning to make our journey back to Dallas. Our cousins David, Chasity, Zachary and Charity were kind enough to let us come stay with them so we would be ready to fly out on Wednesday morning.

This is Kade waiting to get into an Italian restaurant in Krebs, Oklahoma. Tiny little town that is known for its Italian food. Seriously, I think there are more italian restaurants there than there are homes. It was a yummy lunch stop, plus it gave Kade an opportunity to color so he was happy.

We made it to Texas! And one of my dear friends Beth a couple of cities over to see us and meet Ryne. That was really sweet of her. Thanks Beth!

Another precious friend from college drove over to see us, too. Thanks so much Patti Kaye!!! Loved getting to see you and G. Must get our boys together more often to play.

And here is cousin Chasity getting some Ryne time in. She really made him laugh. Chasity cooked us up some yummy chili and cheesecake that night for dinner. Had a great time getting to visit with David and Chasity. Thanks a lot for letting us crash with you guys!

I think Zachary is trying to play cards with Paw and Kade just keeps acting like he's playing, too. I certainly wasn't going to tell him any different.

Kade gave up on card plaing and went to watch some Veggie Tales with Charity....looks like he helped make one really big mess, too. Guess he didn't want Texas to soon forget him.

Those are the last of the pictures because Wednesday morning came way too early ( I was up at 3 am) and Kade still did not feel so good when he woke up and the trip home was tiring to say the least. Kade felt bad enought that he actually cried as we got onto both of our flights. Thankfully he eventually calmed down and slept. Ryne was a dream baby...oh what GREAT timing Ryne...THANK YOU littlest man of mine! Flew back into Seattle at 10 o'clock that morning and I was so tired I probably couldn't have even told you where my camera was at that point. I was very glad to be back home and I think the rest of the family was as well. Managed to work a little nap into the schedule before we had to be ready for Bible study at our house Wednesday night. Right back into the swing of things!

So, if any of you made it all the way through this post, I commend you! Thanks for caring enough about my crazy life to stick with me. At least I did give you fair warning that this would be a doozie!

Next post....yard work at 1227 Evans Court.....just wait until you see how much Kade loves the dirt!