A Day On The Farm

A couple of weeks ago our sweet babysitter, Sara, invited us to spend a day on her family's farm.  It was probably one of our most favorite family days to date.  Rhonald was off on the day we planned to go and I was so glad because then we all got to enjoy the day.  Sara and her family really feel more like family to us than anything and getting to see where they live was priceless.  Cole was in total heaven the whole day!  He loved chasing the chickens and riding the horses.  He was able to bottle feed a baby goat and thought that was so funny!  Lily Kate on the other hand took forever to warm up to farm life.  She was not very impressed with any of the animals but she finally came around when Sara's mom gave her a Popsicle.  Lily Kate also loved the bumpy ride on the four wheeler and the creek.  She totally came to life walking around in the water.  Sara and her siblings (there are 8 total) had a lot of fun teaching Cole and Lily (and Rhonald and I for that matter) about country life.  And we loved learning about it!  In fact we all hated to leave at the end of the day.  It was so peaceful and beautiful and relaxing.  I hope so much we get to go back soon!

Showing Paw Paw and Grandma The Town

Several weeks ago Rhonald's mom and dad made a trip up to our house to see Cole play soccer.  He loved having him at his game and showing off in front of a new audience.  After soccer we decided to show them around Crystal Bridges.  Cole was an expert tour guide and made sure they saw all of his favorite areas.  Once we had walked our hearts out we made our way over to The Flying Fish for dinner.  Yum!  Normally when they are here we stick fairly close to home so it was nice to take them out and show them some of our favorite places in Northwest Arkansas!

Arkansas Summer Fun

Nothing says Arkansas like stripping down to your undies and playing in the sprinkler on a hot Spring day!  There was a time, a long time ago, when I was not a permanent resident of Arkansas.  I had this idea that being "Southern" was silly.  I will be the first to admit that those feelings did not last long and I absolutely love living here.  I love raising our family here.  So....turn up the country music, pass me a glass of sweet tea and turn on the sprinkler because this Southern family is having some fun!

Thankful Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

"Hi, my name is Trouble!"

It is no secret that Lily Kate is a trouble maker and totally in to everything and so full of life she can hardly stand it!  We change her clothes about 3 times a day because she cannot stay out of a good dirt pile, water puddle or other messy temptation.  She laughs...like a belly shaking laugh...as she gets messy.  She sneaks around in order to find new and possibly "against the rules" things to do.  This girl lives life to the fullest for sure.  She climbs everything she can and she runs her heart out as often as she can.  When she is quiet for very long we know we are in trouble when we find her but we love it.  We love watching her explore....watching her test her limits and try knew things.  She has confidence...life changing, "no one is going to stop me" confidence and I admire that in her.  And the girl has fun....she has a whole lot of fun.  While her independence and spirit wear us down at times we are so excited to see where they take her in this life.

"Catching" Strawberries

This week we did something that both Rhonald and I loved doing as kids...we went strawberry picking.  Cole loves a good garden and all things "country" so he was in complete heaven in the middle of that strawberry patch!  He doesn't even like to eat strawberries but he absolutely loved "catching" them.  He kept saying that, "I love catching these berries!"  Lily's favorite thing to do right now is to organize...she love to sort and stack anything, including strawberries!  She was so happy to sit by the buckets and move the strawberries around into different piles.  About half way through Lily figured out she could eat the berries...as many as she wanted and boy did she.  I think she ended up taking one bite out of a million strawberries.  The freedom to roam and explore was perfect for both of the kids in their own way.  Cole was so proud of every berry he picked and wanted us to see each and every one.  We ended up picking 9 quarts in about 45 minutes.  Cole would have stayed out there all day if we would have let him!  It was an absolute amazing morning of fun and family time for us.  Rhonald and I already plan to take them back later in the summer when the blackberries are in season.  It was simple and fun and completely yummy!