Big Cats, Big Bucks and Big Deals

Last night after DJ got off work we went to the Big Buck Classic. DJ's sister and her husband (who live in Eureka Springs) have a guide service for hunting and fishing. They set up a booth at the Big Buck Classic this weekend so we decided to go see them and see what the expo was all about. I had heard there will be Tigers and Snakes there, so I wanted to take Hannah to show her the animals. I am not a big snake fan, but the tiger was pretty neat. She was even able to hold a tiger cub with my brother Matt for a picture. She did enjoy seeing the snakes too. I stood back at that point and let DJ take care of that part. We also got to see deer (one was albino) and an alligator snapping turtle. DJ had a great time too looking at the bucks and hunting gear. I had a great time in one booth buying a new purse and wallet! It was a good deal and set up right next to Betsy and Tim's booth. For anyone who is interested in hunting and doesn't really have much time on their hands, I would recommend Tim's services. Here is their website for more information and prices: http://www.ozarkmountainguides.com/. Here is the picture of Hannah and Matt holding the baby tiger cub. Very Cute!

Going back to work!

I have been blessed in so many ways. One in particular is that I get to say home with my daughter full time. I really only work on the days and times I choose (with my bosses approval, Thanks Shannon). As of right now I am working one 1/2 shift a week or 4 hours total. And I don't go in till 12:30, so I still get to sleep in some. During December I only worked 2 weeks and January and February I have one week off each month to do family things that were already planned.

Now here is what the email is all about: I have to go back to work today and tomorrow morning after having a week off. I know I don't work much, but it still feels like I am coming back from a week of vacationing and have to start back in the grind of working again. I don't want to complain, seeing how my boss and doctors I work for a very gracious to me in letting me have a flex schedule. I am just not looking forward to this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Especially tomorrow since I will have to get up very early and work half of my Saturday.

After Trey is born I will take the usual 6-8 weeks of leave and then start back with my 1/2 shift a week. Things will be very different then since I will have two little ones to leave with DJ or Sheila, my step mom. And I plan on breast feeding Trey so I will have to be mindful of that when I am working. Four hours is a long time to not feed your baby (or relieve yourself)! Moms out there know what I mean! So, lots to look forward to and think about! I am just thankful that I am able to stay home full time with my kids and give them the attention and love they deserve from their parents and not have to take them to daycare everyday.

Friday Night "Skaping"

Friday night my Sunday School class had a fellowship at Shotgun Dan's Pizza and Arkansas Skatium. Since I am pregnant and can't skate, DJ took Hannah on the ice and roller rink to skate for the first time. The ice was pretty hard for her! And it was so cold in there! So we decided to leave and go roller skating instead. She was given skates that had tighten wheels so she could "learn" how to skate without falling as much. The wheels, after inspection from us, were just perfect for her. She was pretty much able to "walk" instead of "skating" in them. She enjoyed this the most. The whole way home and next day she kept saying she wanted to go "skaping". I will have to take her back someday when I can go too! Here are pictures of the night.

Getting ready to ice skate.

Hannah is watching Daddy show her how it is done!
Having fun on the ice.

Very excited about roller skating!
Trying it out with Daddy first.

Doing it all by herself now!

Too Much

I am starting to rearrange the office and craft/spare bedroom for the arrival of Trey. We are going to do a switch-a-roo with the two and move all the office furniture into the middle room and Trey will have his own room/nursery in the back room where the office is currently. Many have asked me why I would do this (including DJ) and this is why: I need more wall space for the office and the middle room has it. Before we can move anything from the office, we have to clear out the middle room. There is not enough space in the room to house the current furniture and all the office furniture.

Here is what we have to get ride of/move somewhere else: two chest of drawers, one hope chest, a glider and an old kitchen table that now serves as my sewing/craft table. This is from the middle room alone. One of the chest of drawers is mine passed down to me from my great grandmother and has current be relocated back to my mother's house with the rest of the matching collection. DJ dresser is current located in the garage to await further placement (currently unknown). Both of which were not really being used but rather collecting dust. The hope chest and glider will be moved into Trey's room and the table will be broken down and thrown away. It is falling apart anyway and needs to be put in a final resting place. It was a good table and served us for a long time; it was DJ's table in his old apartment. The chairs to it have all finally broken and have been thrown away.

Once we have moved all the furniture out we can start moving the office furniture into the new office/craft room. We will also be moving our treadmill into the office to remove it from our bedroom. We would like to move some other things out of that room, but for now we are just focusing our efforts on these rooms. Trey is getting Hannah old crib and changing table. We will be buying Hannah a new bed and night stand for her room. We wanted to make her feel special and thought this would do.

With that all being said, my point of the blog was to say we have too much furniture. We have only been married just shy of 5 years. We have been blessed with a nice home that is 4 bedrooms and has plenty of space. But why do I feel like my house is cluttered with furniture. One reason could be we have a hard time getting rid of old furniture when we buy new furniture. We just hate wasting it. Other reasons could be due to our nature to hoard certain things. I am getting better with that and I am working with DJ too. We keep joking about getting a bigger house, but we don't need one. We need to do house cleaning!!! Maybe after Trey is here I will have more energy to battle this issue. Maybe we can get a hold on our furniture clutter. I would like to do something different with our bedroom too. We need to rearrange things in there so it doesn't look so cluttered. I have my work cut out for me. Any ideas?

Playing Games

Hannah is old enough now to enjoy playing games. For Christmas she received this elephant game where you catch flying butterflies that fly out of the elephants trunk. LOVES this game. We played it with all her cousins while they were down visiting for Christmas. Recently we bought her the Hungry, Hungry Hippo game too. She loves playing this game. Now she is not quite old enough to understand all the correct rules for the Hippo game, but she does understand that if you hit the hippo's lever the hippo will eat the marbles. She thinks that is the neatest thing. She will play with these games over and over and over. I have to watch her when she is playing the hippo game, but if I let her she would play with them all day! Thanks Grandma for the Elephant game!

Happy Birthday DJ!

Yesterday was DJ's 29th birthday. Since he had to work all day we didn't do anything to fancy. We ate dinner with his mom at Colton's, a family favorite restaurant. I made some cupcakes for us to have after dinner (Hannah helped with the icing). Hannah was really good a dinner, she ate a lot of food (for her) and the top of a cupcake. She wanted another after the first, but we limited her to just one. That caused a small scene, but nothing we are not used to. Thankfully it only lasted for a few seconds! Here are some pictures of the night.

DJ enjoying his cupcake.

Hannah and Cindy playing.

Hannah eating a big bite of mac and cheese.

Sweet time with Grandma.

Really into that cupcake.

I only have one picture of the birthday boy and tons of Hannah, but if DJ would have been doing cute things like Hannah he would have had more pics too! Happy Birthday Honey!

My New Year's Resolution

The following 4 post are all from this last year. I have been pretty bad this past year about taking photos and posting about them. So these next post are my catch up posts dating all the way back to Halloween. I didn't have any photos from Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I will have to get some from other family members to post about.

I don't normally make New Year resolutions but I will now. For this next year I am going to take more photos of my children and post more stories about them and the family. So here is to a new year and more photos. Enjoy!

Good Times

This Jump-0-lene was a Christmas gift to Hannah from DJ's parents. It is the greatest little thing. It is small enough to fit in my living room and large enough to have 3-4 kids in it at once. It acts like a trampoline, but for small kids. Hannah loves it! Her cousin Iva got one too and we first played in one at her house this past weekend when we were in Eureka Springs. When the weather gets warmer, I plan on having it outside. For now it serves as a good alternative when the weather is cold and wet. It is easy to assemble and disassemble too. So I will not have to leave it inflated in my living room the whole winter!

Hannah resting after playing in it.

One big jump!

Look at her static hair!

Happy Birthday Iva!

In November we celebrated Iva's 2nd Birthday in Eureka Springs. Iva is our niece from DJ's sister, Betsy and her husband Tim. They moved to Eureka Springs last winter and this was the first time we got to spend a lot of time with them since they moved. Iva and Hannah are about 9 months apart in age and they play so well together. Here are some photos of the party in November.

Iva playing on a toy guitar! Very cute!

Hannah and Iva playing together.

Iva getting ready to blow out the candles.

Iva playing with the balloons.

Helping with Laundry

Hannah loves to help with laundry. Some of her favorite things to help with are carring laundry to the washer in the hamper, loading the washer, loading the dryer, and helping put away the laundry. This is a welcomed help since I don't like doing any of these things! Here are a few pictures of Hannah as she helped me one day. Notice the socks on her hands. This is another thing she likes to do: wear socks on her hands instead of her feet. ** Those are clean socks by the way! ** :)

Halloween Pictures

Here are some old photos of Hannah at Halloween. I know, a little late! But here they are none the less. I don't have any photos of Thanksgiving and Christmas on my camera. I will try to get some from other family members. I have been so bad this year about taking photos. I am going to do better! Here is Halloween '08.

Hannah riding the train at our church GS Fest on Halloween.

Jumping in an inflatable at GS Fest.

These are our neighbors, very sweet people. They passed out a BAG of candy to each child. Hannah wanted to give a bag to daddy too!

Here is Hannah, DJ and Lexi ready to go Trick or Treating before going to GS Fest.

Tooth Talk

Today I had an appointment to have my teeth cleaned. I decided to make the appointment on a day DJ had off so he could help me with Hannah. I wanted her to go with me to see what it was like at the dentist's office. I am preparing her for her first visit in a year or so. I don't want her to be scared when she goes, so we showed her what it was like when they polished my teeth at the end. She got a prize and a new toothbrush. She also got to play with the mirror tool too. She really enjoyed all the fun stuff, but would not allow Angela (my hygienist) to look at her teeth. She like the TV right above my head and demanded to watch cartoons on it. I thought that would for sure get her in the chair, but not this time. So next time I will take her back with me and maybe we can make more progress then. I am not in a rush to get her to the dentist since her teeth are fine. There is one tooth we are watching to make sure it doesn't have damage. She fell on it earlier this year and now it is starting to look a shade darker than her other ones. But other than that she has good gums and teeth. She loves to brush them (more like lick the toothpaste off the brush) and she will let me brush them so they get cleaned right. Hopefully she will enjoy going to the dentist as she gets used to it. She has gotten better with her doctor, so I am sure with time the dentist will not be a scary place either!