No more KINDERGARTEN!

We love you Lydia! This is Lydia's teacher Mrs. Colvin. Then with one of her very dear friends! Kylie!

Gentry Safari With My Kindergartener!

I had such a wonderful day hanging out with Lydia for her field trip! When we arrived the teacher assigned each of the Volunteers 4 students. I really enjoyed the group I had they were so good. We were able to walk around the "petting zoo" area. We had lunch then loaded in the bus for the drive thru safari.

One of our very favorite parts was being very quite and careful around the Kangaroos! We had so much fun watching the mom and her joey and seeing the BIG daddy!







Finally, we saw a new baby leopard, and a tiny sweet Raccoon!(I am not sure why this is not lining up:(

CUTENESS!

Ben has joined the ranks of over half his family-He is now the proud owner of GLASSES!

Trolley Ride, Surgery, New Puppies!

Crazy Mother's Day weekend. Lydia had to have Surgery in Ft. Smith for some dental work. So in desperate need of a break, we decided to drive down the day early and spend the night. Who wants to get up at 4:00 am anyway? While in Ft. Smith we took the kids to the Trolley yard and rode the Trolley. It is quite fascinating that an electric trolley from 1926 is still operable! They have just received funding to extend the track and hope to make a complete loop in the near future!

Before Lydia went into surgery we got to sit with her in pre-op. She only wanted for her brother to sit on the bed with her! (Mom's heart melts!-we don't many of these!) They didn't know we took like 20 pics of them! Lydia loves her dog Beasley, who of course had to come with us. So, while she was "under" her dog had puppies! WHO KNEW?!?!
She was absolutely ecstatic! It really helped distract her from what was going on!

Pinewood Derby 2009

After having JUST started scouts the week before we were given Ben's first Pinewood car! He was so excited him and his Dad worked so hard. We arrived at the Derby and there was a practice track! The boys played and played. It was so fun to see them actually enjoy their cars. I had never seen this before. After getting all the cars weighed in, the race was on! On a different track of course! Ben's car came in 2nd twice and third once! He didn't win overall, however he did take home an award for Best Paint Job! Way to go Ben and Dad!

Ice Storm 2009

This is a little overdue. I wanted to share some of the fun times of the Ice Storm we had in 2009. We had electricity so we had a family from our ward stay with us Daniel and the kids had SOOOOO much fun dipping icecicles in strawberry lemonade powder! The pic of the windshield is a little deceiving, it was 3 inches, we measured it!



Also, I got a few pics of the "aftermath" at one of MANY locations in NW ARK where they are dealing with all the broken trees. Many locations are burning the remenants. However, most are mulching and hauling off wood chips. The mountains of chips are amazing. Note the pic with the SEMI TRUCK next to the pile for the true size.

Benjamin's First Boy Scout Day!

Ben is 8! He started Cub Scouts this week. It was during Spring Break, so he got to go on an outing. Lydia and I were invited. It was to the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks. It is one of our NEW favorite place to hang out! So, we were excited. Ben had to use the "buddy" system, but they wouldn't let them pick their "friend" they wanted them to meet all the boys. So Ben is with Seth. With Lydia is Abby, her other 2 sisters were asleep. There were lots of siblings, just no other girls.
The Gardens are so neat, if you haven't been there I would love to take you! There is a Japanese Garden, a Vegetable Garden and A Children's Garden among others.
Good Times. Wednesday we will have a scout shirt and our first meeting!