Adriana's Trip to Bass Pro

Last week was Adriana's Spring Break. I tried to make the most of it, on a tight budget. On Friday, I took her to Bass Pro Shop. Now I know you must think that this is all we do (since we took Stephen and Kristal there a few weeks ago), but really we haven't been to the place in over a year, till a few weeks ago. When we took Stephen and Kristal, I just knew Adriana would love all the new things they have in it. We had taken her there when she was little, but I knew she wouldn't remember any of it. I figured she would love it, my kids could scream and their noises would blend in the the wilderness noises and it was FREE. I called Mom and Dad and they met us there. Adriana had a blast. I wasn't sure if she would like all the stuffed animals, but she ended up loving and hugging on them so much, I thought that might kick us out! At first she was a little intimidated by them, and asked if they were "real" or "pretend", and I told her they were pretend, so she was okay to take pictures with them. Her favorite part was the elevator. She loves pushing the buttons and she loved looking out through the glass and watching us go up and down. I would recommend taking your kids there if your ever bored, or if you come into town to visit. We aren't outdoorsy kinds of people, but its fun to look around.

Pa and Ana on a Gator.

This is the same pink 4 wheeler me and Ryan

sat on. Saw the weight limit this time. "Do

not exceed 150lbs". Oops!

Adriana practically hanging on the bear. She

kept kissing it and hugging it.

Us and the big bear.

(Note to self: Don't wear this shirt

anymore, it makes you look pregnant!)

Adriana doing the same pose as the

bear.

Adriana was a little scared of "the big bad wolf"

as she called it.

Paxton didn't get the note, that we were to

look at the camera for the picture!

Mimi And Pa with the grand babies.

Ana hamming it up.

I like this picture.

Fun Night Out

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Spring finally seems to be here and along with spring comes a lot of cleaning, which is what I did all day yesterday, so we didn't get out and enjoy the weather. When Ryan got home, he had the idea to go out and go to the park. We grabbed a $5 pizza from Little Ceasers and headed to the park. Of course, by the time we got to the park, it was drizzling, wind picked up and was getting a little cooler out. Adriana was so excited to be at the park, that none of these conditions seemed to bother her. We ate our pizza and Ryan and Adriana were off to play. Me and Mr. Paxton went for a walk, which he LOVED.



Then it was getting too cool and rainy, that we loaded up and headed back to Ozark. By the time we got back to town, it wasn't raining anymore, so we decided to stop off at a new walking trail that we had never been to before. It starts down by my old work place, Heritage Chrysler Jeep. We got out and quickly discovered that the trail goes on and on and on. It is a VERY nice walking/biking trail. We are anxious to go back when we are prepared to walk that far. Here are some pictures from our walking trail adventure, which Adriana LOVED by the way.

The trail is located right on the Finley River, Adriana LOVED

throwing rocks in it.

Adriana refusing to pose for a picture. Ahh, got to love

the independence of a 3 year old.

Paxton missed out on all the picture, because he was

sleeping through this whole adventure.

STOP! Its a construction zone!

We were almost done with our walk, and Paxton finally woke

up, so we got some picture with him.

Mommy Manners

If you remember, I wrote about a new way we are trying to get Adriana to start using manners in asking for things instead of demanding them. If she doesn't say please when asking for something, I'll say, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you". Well, if you ever think these kids aren't paying attention, you are wrong, they don't miss anything. Yesterday, I was telling Adriana to get into her car seat, and she said "Sorry mommy, I don't hear you". I almost started busting up! She did it to me later in the day too, when I asked her to pick up her toys, however, I didn't use the magic word. I guess I need a lesson in manners too....

Paxton Rolls Over!

For the last few days Paxton has been on the verge of rolling over. He is so close, you just want to help him. I have had the camera at the ready in case he rolled over. Well, last night it happened! And....I missed it! Adriana was in bath tub and needed to go to the bathroom, so I had to go in there and help her get out. I was in there for maybe 30 seconds, and came out and he had rolled over! So we got the camcorder out to record him doing it, and....the battery is dead. And sure enough, he rolled over again. So we set him back on his back to roll again, so I could go get the other camera, and start recording and.....NO rolling over. Of course! This first video is of him on the verge of rolling over. The second video is of him rolling over, but of course these batteries die right as he is rolling over, so its super short! What are the odds that both cameras would have dead batteries! RATS! Oh, well, I got it, even though its a short clip.

Are You Ready For Some Grillin'?

AHHH! Spring is in the air...Finally! Starting to smell fresh cut grass, uncover the patio furniture, fly kites and best of all...GRILL!
I LOVE to grill! There is not a better taste than having some grilled meat! I have grilled almost every nice day we have had thus far. We have had chicken, steak and kabobs. YUM! Last night we had my parents over for a last minute BBQ. We made Honey Teryiaki kabobs, twice baked potatoes and salad. It turned out really good! Here's to a WONDERFUL grillin' season!

Girls Day Out

This week is Adriana's spring break. I was trying to think of things that I could do with her that is inexpensive, yet gets us out of the house. I thought it would be fun to have just a "girls day" and just spend time with me and her. My parents so graciously took care of Paxton all day so we could do our own thing.
We started out eating lunch at Chick-Fil-A.



Then it was off to Chuck E. Cheese to play some games. We had some tokens left over from the last time we went, so that saved us some money and Adriana had a blast! The child LOVES the barney ride the most. She would spend all the tokens on this ride, if I would let her. She was hugging it and kissing on it. It was kind of embarrassing, yet cute.

Next we were off to the movies. We stopped at the Dollar Tree to grab candy to sneak into the movies. We got to the store and she said, "Mommy, is this the movies". I thought that was cute. She was so excited to get to pick out her own candy. I'm kind of a stickler when it comes to sweets with her, so she thought it was so special to get candy. We went to the dollar theater to go see "The Princess and the Frog". Adriana isn't much for sitting through long movies, so I knew we wouldn't see the whole thing, but she stayed longer that I thought we would. We stayed for about an hour. She was getting real antsy and whispered to me, that she was ready to go home. So we left. We had a great day and I had fun just spending time with her. Hopefully we can have girls day again, soon.

The car ride back home was pretty quiet.

You tell me, do you think she had a good day?

Cupcake Monster

Adriana's Prayer

"Dear God,
Thank you for Mommy, Daddy and Zoe. Also, thank you for Barney, Baby Bop, Bj, and Cinderalla. And Thank you for Mommy and daddy. Amen".
(Notice she forgot to thank God for the newest member of our family?)

In Remembrance

Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of Ryan's Grandpa. This picture I have posted is one of my favorites. I always loved watching the relationship between him and his wife. They were so sweet with each other and a great example of how a true loving marriage should be. Papaw was a great, Christian man, who had a strong, quiet spirit. I know it has been a rough year learning to live life without him for Mamarine and all their kids, but to know that he is in Heaven watching over us, is a great comfort.

It was also a year ago today that we found out we were pregnant with Paxton. So when they say, that when one life ends, another begins, this is a great example. And as this is also Paxton's 4 month birthday, I can only hope that he grows up like his great grandpa and lives a life that makes us all proud.

We love and miss you Papaw, you are forever in our hearts....

Fun In the Sun...FINALLY

Yesterday and today have been SO nice outside. After such a long, COLD winter I think everyone is welcoming the nice warmer weather with open arms! Adriana was so anxious to go outside yesterday, that she gave up watching her favorite show to go out and play. We went on a short walk and played out in the driveway with bubbles and chalk. Ryan even got out our kite and flew it around for a little while. It was so nice to get out and get fresh air. Now tomorrow, its suppose to snow! Go figure! Welcome to MISSOURI! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of Paxton just chillin' in the stroller. He LOVED the fresh air!

Here's a short little video of him "talking" to me. Never mind the crazy mom's voice, whatever it takes to get my boy to smile.

We have been working on manners with Adriana. I'm so tired of her being so demanding. "Mom, I want some milk", "Mom, I want to watch a video" and so on, you get the picture. I always say, "what do you need to say" and her response is then always "please" or "thank you". I'm tired of having to remind her to ask nicely, so I have been starting to say, after a demand, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you". This normally results in her demand being voiced louder, and still missing the key words I'm looking for. So I'll tell her again, that I can't hear her. After about the third or forth time, she finally gets what I'm trying to get her to say, and then she will will ask in a nice way. Its cute, though, because sometimes I don't understand what she says, so I'll ask her "what?" and she'll say "please" real loud. Well, that's not why I'm asking what, its that I don't understand what she is saying. Its too funny though. We are starting to get better with the manners, slowly but surely.

First Bath Together

Tonight we went out on a limb and tried to get Paxton and Adriana to take a bath together. I was mainly wanting to do this to help Paxton stay awake a little longer. I was anxious to see, first, if Adriana would let him take a bath with her, and second, see if he could take a bath sitting up. All in all, it went well. Paxton didn't really know what to think about the whole thing, but I think he enjoyed it. I think he was too tired to fully enjoy it, but he liked watching Adriana splash around. We never could get a good picture of the two of them, here are many attempts of a picture of the both of them looking in our direction and getting Adriana to smile at the camera.

Mr. Paxton sitting with the help from his daddy.


Yesterday Paxton had his 4 month check-up. I hate when he has to get shots. He is growing like a weed, of course, the boy doesn't miss a meal. He is in the 75-90th percentile for his weight (surprise, surprise) weighing in at 16.9lbs. He is in the 50-75th percentile on his height, at 25" tall.

It is hard to believe that he is going to be 4 months old in just a few days. Time just goes by too fast. Here are some pictures of Paxton playing with his daddy.

Here are some random shots taken tonight.

Me and Mr. Man after bath time.

Me and all 3 of my babies. Times like these

make all the tough times worth it.

Long Distance Friends

This weekend we had the privilege of having Ryan's best friend, Stephen, and his wife, Kristal, come from Alabama to visit us. They are on their way to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas and went out of their way to come and see us for a day. They got in late Friday evening and stayed all day Saturday and left at 6am on Sunday, so it was a short visit, but a fun one.
On Saturday, we dropped the kids off at my parents house, and took them out on the town. We first took them to Bass Pro Shop. (We really couldn't think of anywhere else to go, so we settled on this.) We actually had a good time looking around. They have redone the place, so there is more to see now. We had a great time seeing all the live (and stuffed) animals. Here are some pictures of us at Bass Pro.

They have a live gator there now, although it
didn't look like alive to me, but it was cool to see.

Two different shots of Ryan and Stephen in front

of the alligator (I know they look the same, I didn't

mean to upload both of them).

Me and Ryan on what seems to be

a child's 4-wheeler. Pretty sure

we exceeded the weight limit.

A razor back or wild boar, either way, would

not want to see this thing running after me in the

woods. Scary!

The turtles were pretty neat to watch (as neat

as turtle watching can be). There were quite a

few and this little guy in the bottom picture was

trying his hardest to get on the log with all the other

turtles, he was having quite the time getting up there

but finally made it. You could tell he was tired, because

as soon as he made it up there, he just laid his head on the

shell of the turtle next to him.

LOOK OUT! Stephen and Kristal

don't know there is a bear behind them!

Don't worry, Stephen will fight him off...

Me and the wolf posing together. I have to say,

it was pretty creepy to get this close to scary

animals. Its as if they could come to life at any

time.

Don't ask, because I don't know....

I think I was trying to be loving towards the

wolf, but just ended up looking stupid.

(By the way, we all felt his tounge and it felt so

weird.)

After fighting off the big bear, he had an encounter

with a Ram...tough day for Stephen.

After we got done posing with all the animals at Bass Pro (which I'll have to say was the highlight of the trip there), we took them to Cheddars. I'm going to go out on a limb and say its our favorite restaurant here in Springfield. We took them there and stuffed ourselves, but had a great time. Next, we were off to bowling. We played 3 games. I won the first game, Stephen won the second game and Ryan won the last game. We had a great time trash talking each other and hanging out!

Random shots of us at the bowling alley.

We ended the night (after we got the kids in bed) with some card games. Which, by the way, it was girls vs. boys and the girls won (just had to throw that out there!).

We had a great time and wish they could have stayed longer, but am thankful they got to come and visit us. Stephen and Kristal, you are welcome to come and visit anytime. The only thing we ask of you, is that you stay a little longer!