Last Thursday, Kristi and I took the kids to the Little Rock Zoo. If you've ever been there, you know that it really isn't that great, but the kids like it anyway. I really wish our zoo was a little better :(  Anyway, I had my doubts that the day would be incredibly enjoyable with 4 kids, but I was wrong! They were all 4 perfect that day! We couldn't have asked for better kids!

As you can imagine, we didn't have much time to take pictures. We were both pushing a double stroller and the kiddos were constantly yelling, "wanna see a-nuder one". However, we did get a couple right before we left. Here are all of the kids together!

And this is Gage holding "Baby Kin", otherwise known as Kinlynn ;)

We had a great day and I can't wait to do it again!

I'm back...again!

This month has been very crazy for us (hence the absence of my posts)! The past few months have been, actually. We have decided to sell our house, Gage turned 2, Michael has been playing lots of softball, and I've been crazy busy designing things for some very special customers! As a result of all this, I haven't had any time to blog! I guess I'll start by posting some pictures from Gage's Birthday Party...

To begin with, I went to pick up Gage's cake on the morning of the party. Leaving the cake lady's house, I had to hit the brakes and the rest was history. The cake went flying into the floor of my car and pretty much destroyed all the icing. I went back to Nikki and she did her best to fix what I had messed up. This would be the reason the cake is covered in cracks and the orange icing doesn't exactly match! Oh well, it was still delicious! 

Gage opened lots of gifts from lots of sweet friends! I have had to put some of them away in the closet to bring out as the year goes on. There was absolutely no way we would have a place for all of them if they were all opened. This child is WAY too spoiled! 

After opening gifts, Gage blew out his candles. He thought that was pretty neat!

Here is our only family picture from the day! I think he was enjoyed eating his cake way too much to mess with us!

I ordered these cupcakes to give to Gage's little friends and made the labels for them! I thought they turned out really cute!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my little man! I cannot believe he is already 2 years old! He is such a joy in our lives and we love him so much!!

My Angel...

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you probably knew that Michael and I were expecting a baby in August. As of last Tuesday, I was 12 weeks pregnant and feeling great! I had no complications, very few days of sickness, and I was looking forward to seeing the changes in my ever-growing belly. Unfortunately, on Thursday, our lives were turned upside down.

Michael and I went to the doctor on Thursday morning for our regular pre-natal check up. We went through the normal things you do there and headed to the ultrasound room. I had a terrible knot in my stomach and I had a feeling something wasn't right. As soon as the doctor started the ultrasound, I knew my feelings were correct. The baby had no heartbeat and measured to be about 7 weeks. My heart completely sunk, as I knew my Angel had gone to Heaven.

My days are really tough and my nights are even tougher. Often times I find comfort in knowing that my Granny Lou is spending her days rocking my sweet baby, until I'm there to take her place! God is good and I know eventually I'll see his blessings in this tough situation! Thankfully, I have another little Angel keeping me pretty busy and my mind (somewhat) off of things!

Thanks so much for listening and please keep us in your prayers!

Snow Day...

If you are one of the 3 followers of my blog, I'm sorry I've betrayed you. Last time I got on here to blog, I could not upload pictures and I just got fed up with it! I'm going to try again, but I'm not going to backtrack any. Let's just start on what's new. What do you say?

On Sunday, our local meteorologist had been calling for snow for several days. To be honest, normally when they call for snow, we never see it. I figured this time would be no different! To my surprise, I took a nap with Gage at 1:30 on Sunday and when we woke up at 3 it had started to snow and it was coming down quickly!! Shortly after, this is what we saw...

you got it! 6 inches of snow and it was still falling! This wasn't Gage's first snow, but it was the first one he was really able to enjoy! He had so much fun playing and all he could do was scream!

We didn't have any gloves for him to wear and the snow was still coming down pretty hard, so we decided we would go back in and wait until Monday morning to make a snowman. Little Man wasn't too happy about going in, but we promised to take him out again and he was fine!

Monday afternoon we went back out to play! He and Daddy threw snowballs for a while and I worked on his first Snowman. I knew he'd be so excited when it was finally done! He LOVES snowmen!!

He wasn't too sure about the snowman wearing his hat at first. It took him a minute to decide he was ok with it!

We made the mouth out of life savers that ended up falling off as soon as we put them there. Gage found them and couldn't let them go to waste. Oh the joy of being a child. I could never get away with that ;)

Apparently blogger is going to act right now! I hope you have enjoyed a little glimpse into Gage's Snow Day! Be back soon...

Day 2...Pensacola, Fl

By the morning of the second day, the rest of the family had made it and we were all in Pensacola. The kids couldn't wait to go to the beach, so around 9am we headed out there. The weather was beautiful...the perfect day for the beach! The little boys played with their sand toys and the big kids built a sand castle...

Perhaps they get their sand castle building skills from their Uncle Michael ;)

Gage threw more sand and got a little taste of it, too!

Big Daddy buried his legs and he thought that was pretty neat! Actually, he thinks everything Big Daddy does is pretty neat! 

This picture cracks me up every time I see it. Tammy (Michael's Sister) was trying to get Colson to sleep and I looked over to see this. The wind was blowing something terrible and it had blown her umbrella inside out...she had no idea! 

To end the morning with a bang, Michael took Gage swimming in the ocean for the first time. He loved splashing around, but the taste of the water...not so much! 

Late that evening we took the older kids crab hunting. I didn't have a big enough flash, so there are no pictures of that, but we did get these! Some of my favorite ones of the entire week...

 I hope you enjoyed a small recap of our 2nd day at the beach! Check back later for Day 3!!

Pensacola, Fl...Day 1 (cont.)

(Sorry it is taking me so long to tell about our vacation. I wrote this post several days ago, but Blogger and I haven't been good friends, so my pictures wouldn't upload. Honestly, I am just about at my wits end with the silly thing)

Mid-morning of our first day at the beach, we started seeing dolphins jumping in the water. It was so neat to watch them and they stayed out there for what seemed like hours. I was lucky enough to get a couple pictures of them. *I left my zoom lens in the room, so these aren't great, but they'll do!

Daddy and Gage spent the majority of the morning playing in the sand. Apparently, Gage was under the impression that the sand was there to throw. That's about all he did!

He and Daddy played in the water a bit and then, for the hilight of the day ;)

Michael attempted a sand castle and realized quickly, that wasn't his deal. I got tickled at all his castles falling as soon as he would pick the bucket up!

After a long day of playing, I looked over and this is what I saw...

Sleepyhead! It wasn't long before he was out like a light. He slept behind the chair for a while and he was up and at it again!

This is the end of our first day...stay tuned for the rest of the week! 

Pensacola, FL...Day 1

Last Tuesday night, we started the much-anticipated trip to Pensacola, FL! Michael's Dad and Stepmom invited us to go with them for the week, along with his sister and her family. We couldn't wait to get there, but we weren't too sure about traveling with a 19 month old. We decided it would be better to drive at night and worry about sleep later, so we did. Gage did really well on the way there and only woke up a few times. We finally made it there at around 5 in the morning on Wednesday and were able to get a couple hours sleep in before he woke up for the day. This was his first time to see the beach or the hotel swimming pool, and he said "iss-tha-water" about a thousand times!

He loves the water and he loves to play in the dirt, so there was no doubt in my mind he would love the beach! Here are those tiny toes in the sand for the first time! He loved it!!

Daddy finally took him to the water, but he wasn't too sure about it! I think it was just a little cool for him!

No more time for now, but I'll be back later to finish up our first day!

To be continued...