Various updates

For those of you who didn't know, I no longer work in Fayetteville. Praise the Lord!! I now work for a long term care pharmacy in Fort Smith called Encompass Health Group. It is a new company, so we are starting from the ground up. I love it! I've been there for a couple of weeks, and I love the relaxed atmosphere. I really like my co-workers. They are very nice, but they work hard. It's exactly the kind of place that I have been looking for.

Shawn is doing great in school. Unfortunately, he is now driving 5 days a week to Fayetteville. We are hoping that he won't be doing that next semester, but with the classes that he needs to take to finish his degree, he probably will.

Alivia is also doing great in school. She is reading at the highest level in her Kindergarten class. We read every day, and she amazes me! She loves her teacher, which helps with her interest in school. The best part is that Alivia loves to teach Aleigh, and Aleigh wants to learn. When Alivia is doing her homework, Aleigh asks for homework, too.

Alivia had a Fairy Tale Ball at school a couple of weeks ago. She was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Even though I had only been at my new job for a week, my boss said I could go! We had so much fun! We danced, ate, and danced some more.

Halloween 2010

Jessie and Batgirl to the rescue!!

It took a while, but we finally convinced Aleigh to be a girl character for Halloween. After she found out that Alivia wanted to be Jessie (from Toy Story), she wanted to be either Buzz Lightyear or Woody. I'm not sure where Batgirl fit in to the whole scenario, but at least she's a girl!

Once again, we raked in the candy after just a few houses. We came back home early (like we always do) and managed to hand out 7 bags of candy in less than an hour. The girls are so generous! They would call to the kids as they were walking away "Hey, did you get one of these?!?". It was impossible to keep them from giving out less than 5 pieces of candy per kid!

And, no...I did not ask them to pose.

Kindergarten Orientation 2010

Alivia's kindergarten orientation was on August 17th at 6 PM. We decided to take Aleigh with us so she could get excited about school, too. Everyone was sent to the cafeteria where the principal spoke for a while. Tons of fun for the kids!! After that, the students went with their teachers to their classrooms while the parents listened to the PTA president give her pitch.

Aleigh was definately getting restless. After the kids were finished in their classrooms, they came back to the cafeteria to play while the parents went to meet with the teachers. Aleigh and I didn't last long in the classroom. She was cranky and loud, so I had to take her out while Shawn listened to Mrs. McKeown's presentation and filled out paperwork. We found Alivia and went back to look for Daddy. We met up with him in the hallway, and he said he had one more paper to finish filling out because he couldn't remember something. I told him what to put on the paper, and Alivia and I started looking at the class schedule that was posted outside of her classroom.

I thought Aleigh was standing right behind me. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise. I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I turned and saw Aleigh backing away from the fire alarm. Yep, she pulled it.

A couple of ladies walked up to make sure there wasn't really a fire, and they reassured me that this had happened several times before. Needless to say, we then left quickly and didn't let the girls stop to check out the firetruck parked outside.

Tyler and Katelin's Wedding

My nephew, Tyler, married his beautiful wife, Katelin, on June 19th of this year. Alivia and Aleigh were the flower girls, and I thought they did very good...with the exception of Aleigh's outburst after all of the clapping when the couple was introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Nicodemus. She started crying and saying it was too loud. I guess she's never heard how loud she can scream when she is wanting to get some attention. Also, she was quite the entertainer during the photo session.

Back to School

The big day finally arrived! First day of kindergarten. As you can probably tell, she was ready! She told us right before we left...."I am officially a Rena Rocket!".

I took the day off, and Shawn didn't start back to school until the following Monday. Shawn, Aleigh and I all piled into the truck to take Alivia to her first day of class. She was so big! I got out and opened the door for her. There were several ladies on the sidewalk helping the kids get from the cars to the playground. Alivia hopped right out and went with one of them. I really wanted to walk with her, but she seemed so comfortable. I teared up a little, but I didn't cry. I shocked myself and everyone else!

We got Aleigh a backpack to match Alivia's to take to Granny and Pops' house. She really wants to go to school, too! She packs it full of books, movies, and little toys.

Summer Fun!

Mimi and Papaw got a boat!! We spent the 4th of July weekend in Russellville with them, and stayed on the boat as much as possible. Alivia loves the water. Aleigh is still a little scared. Despite wearing a life jacket at all times, she thinks she is going to sink. She is content with hanging on to the ladder and slowly climbing down into the water, but she will not let go...even if we are right beside her in the water. Alivia's favorite thing to do is jump off of the side of the boat....

That picture cracks me up every time I see it!!. Look at those legs!

This is how Aleigh and I prefer to spend our boat time...

She's my little Sun Baby. (Yes, she is coated in sunblock. No sunburns were acquired in the making of this picture).

We are having a great summer, so far! Hopefully, we will have a few more weekends on the lake. It's going by so fast!

I can't believe that it's only a month until Alivia starts kindergarten and Shawn starts school at the U of A in Fayetteville. Aleigh wants to go to pre-school so bad, and it's hard to explain to her that she still has one more year until she can start. She wants to do everything Alivia does. I think I will have to buy her a lunchbox to take to Granny and Pops' house. She's already been looking at them because she knows Alivia is getting one for kindergarten. They are growing up!

Vacation 2010

We wanted to go back to the beach again this year, but decided it would be nice to go visit Shawn's grandparents since we don't get to see them very often. I guess we made a good decision! About a month after we changed our plans, the oil spill occurred.


We went to Memphis first. We've been wanting to take the girls to the Memphis zoo for a while now. They have one of four panda exhibits in the United States. It is a very beautiful zoo. They have made a couple of expansions since our last visit, and they are planning another one that looks amazing!

Our next stop was Holly Springs to visit Mamma. The girls enjoyed visiting her house, but they were a little shy. Finally, Alivia came out of her shell and sat down by Mamma and told her all about the nightmare that she had the night before. I have no idea of why she decided to tell her about that! Aleigh just asked for snacks...does this surprise anyone???

That afternoon, we left for Vicksburg to see Grandma and Grandpa Simons. Of course, Shawn called them right as we left Holly Springs to let them know that we were coming. That was fine with them. We had a huge, delicious meal waiting for us when we arrived that evening...steak with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, peas, jello with fruit, and cookies!! After all of the driving, we relaxed some the next day. We took the girls swimming and went back to Grandma and Grandpa's that evening for another great supper! Chicken, potatoes, green beans, cold macaroni salad, and more desserts!

Of course, I had to hit the outlet mall the next day. We bought a ton of clothes for the girls at the Osh Kosh outlet!! They are both shoppers, so they loved picking out and trying on several different outfits. I could have spent the rest of the day (and our money) at the Kitchen Collections store. Did I need anything? No. Did I want everything? YES!!!










It was a fun trip, but it's nice to be home. We definately want to go back soon!

Pre-School Graduation

Alivia graduated from pre-school on Thursday, May 27. They performed a Western themed program. It was so cute! They wore jeans, boots, bandanas and cowboy/cowgirl hats. They sang several songs and danced a little bit. I guess this is the beginning of all of the cute performances that we will be attending while the girls are in school. We were so proud of Alivia! She was not shy or nervous about being in front of everyone. After all of the kids received their diplomas, Aleigh said, "My turn!" and took off for the stage! Luckily, I caught her before she made it.

We were all excited when we walked into the pre-school and saw Grandma Garr sitting in the audience!! She has not been in good health, but she felt good that day and decided to come. She looked really good and enjoyed the ceremony!

Aleigh is 3!

Happy Birthday to Aleigh! She was really looking forward to her 3rd birthday party. Her theme was SpongeBob SquarePants. She got a lot of fun gifts and a new picnic table! She got her very own Tag reader like Alivia's, a princess dress up kit, some pretty dresses, a Play-Doh Ice Cream shop, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a princess keyboard, and lots of coloring things.

Kindergarten registration

Alivia is officially registered for kindergarten. *Sigh* Hard to believe she will be starting in the fall. August 19th to be exact.

She will be going to Rena Elementary, home of the Rena Rockets! It is about a mile from our house. I was really impressed at registration. I thought we would just fill out some paperwork, maybe look around for a little while, and be on our way. Luckily, I was wrong.

After we turned in the paperwork, they asked us to line up in the hallway for a tour. They gave all of the kids cowboy/girl hats. They could choose red or blue trim. Of course, Alivia chose red because it matched her red outfit! They took us to the library (where they had big comfy couches and chairs), the music room, and the kindergarten class rooms. There are five kindergarten teachers at our school, we met all of them, and visited all of their class rooms. Each teacher gave a 5-10 minute "mini-class" in each of their rooms. The kids sat on rugs in the middle of the floor and the parents stood at the back of the room and watched. It was so cute! We really liked all of the teachers, but Alivia and I have already picked our favorite...Mrs. Brown! At the end of the tour, the kids had a cookie and juice or milk, and they received a BIG bag of goodies! It had several books, crayons, scissors, glue, cards, magnetic numbers and letters with a magnet board, and Play-Doh. The teachers provided ideas on how to use everything over the summer to prepare for kindergarten. Alivia has already been writing stories, practicing with her scissors, and sorting her letters and numbers.

We all feel so much better about kindergarten now! I think this is going to be a great school. Alivia is excited and ready to get started!

Easter 2010

Happy Easter!!

Alivia and Aleigh enjoyed their Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny left them lots of surprises in their Easter baskets. They found all of the eggs that he hid in the house, then we went to a field by our house to hide the eggs again. Surprisingly, I got more pics of Aleigh than Alivia. Usually Alivia hogs the spotlight, but I guess she wasn't in the mood for pictures today.

Alivia is 5!

Needless to say, Alivia was very excited about turning five. She wanted to go to a restaurant for her birthday dinner on Thursday, her actual birthday. She chose The Lighthouse. It's a more up-scale seafood place that is right on the river. No McDonald's for our girl! We all enjoyed the nice dinner together. Before we left for the restaurant, we gave Alivia her "big" birthday surprise....a princess bicycle!

Alivia's birthday party was on the following Saturday. Her theme was Yo Gabba Gabba, which I thought she was too old for, but that's what Aleigh had for her 2nd birthday, so Alivia had to do that, too.

Granny and Pops got her the pearl necklace that she wanted, and we got her a jewelry box to keep it in. She also received some pretty clothes, Zhu Zhu Pets with a playhouse, a Tag reader with books, movies, a puzzle, and lots of other surprises!

Happy birthday to Alivia!

Fun in the Snow

Another fun snow day! I haven't seen this much snow since I was a kid! I was supposed to work on Friday, but one of the other pharmacists volunteered to spend the night and work by herself so I wouldn't have to worry about driving. So, I had a three day snow weekend!

We thought the sleet and freezing rain would start Thursday night, but we stayed above freezing until about noon on Friday. School wasn't cancelled Friday morning, but Shawn's professor had cancelled his 10:00 class because he lives in Fayetteville and didn't want to drive because the weather was really bad up there. Shawn went to his 11:00 class, but the sleet started and UAFS closed at 1:00. The sleet lasted for about an hour and then started mixing with snow....then all snow for hours!!

We got up this morning, had breakfast, bundled up, and went outside to play! Alivia made snow angels and instigated a snowball fight. Aleigh seemed almost scared of the snow. She would walk out into it and then call for me to come pick her up and take her to another spot.

We built "Bob" the snowman and gathered clean snow for snow ice cream. Note to self: less sugar in the ice cream next time!! It was my first attempt, and it was good...just VERY sweet.

Favorite Alivia quotes and other funny things

Aleigh and I picked Alivia up early from pre-school the other day to surprise her with a girls day out to lunch. When I asked her where she wanted to go, she asked if Red Lobster was open. I told her it was and she said that's where she wanted to go. While we were driving, she tells me, "Mommy, when I'm 32, I'm going to like to eat fish".

When asking Alivia about where she would like to eat, she usually names 3 places: The Lighthouse Inn (and upscale seafood reastaurant), Red Lobster, or "Old McJakins". Old McJakins is what she calls Big Jakes, a family owned restaurant down the street from us that serves home style food. I don't know how she came up with that name, but it cracks me up every time she asks to go there!

Overheard from the backseat while driving home one evening...Alivia to Aleigh: "Aleigh, if you don't share, God will magically spank you".

Shawn and I were watching some old Saturday Night Live re-runs. One of the actors called one of the actresses a stupid b****. Of course, Alivia happened to walk by at the same time. She stopped and turned to look at us with a shocked expression on her face and says "Mommy, that man just said a bad word! He said stupid!". Needless to say, we will now watch SNL after she's in bed.

While patting me on the back, Alivia counted to 14. She said, "Mommy, I patted you on the back 14 times because that's how old you are". Yep, I guess you guys didn't know I had her at the young age of 10.

Aleigh says some funny things, too, but right now it's more about how she says things than what she says. She surprises me with new words everyday. My favorite is when she told me that she did something and it was "an accident. I didn't do it on purpose". So cute!

Aleigh has also developed quite the taste for different foods. I was chopping a yellow bell pepper for stir-fry last weekend. I turned around after putting my knife in the sink to find Aleigh grabbing a piece of the pepper off of the cutting board saying "what is it?". Before I could stop her, she was eating it! She loved it and proceeded to eat two more pieces. She loves sushi, peas, shrimp, carrots, sardines, spinach, salad, and even broccoli. She loves to dip food into anything. For example, dipping lettuce in mashed potatoes and gravy, and garlic cheese biscuits into ketchup. One of her favorite lunches is liver cheese "ginswiches". That's what she calls a sandwich!



Alivia looking like Jennifer Aniston.



















Aleigh doing acrobatics on New Year's Eve.